I Have A Very Good Brain And I've Said A Lot Of Things
May 22, 2017 10:23 AM Subscribe

It's the 122nd day of the Trump Administration and his whirlwind diplomatic tour continues, moving on from the Middle East to … Israel? Israel, which, the President clarified, is definitely not a word that he said when meeting with Russian officials last week. Meanwhile, a sinkhole has formed in front of Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort which is almost certainly not a metaphor for his presidency. Unless it is. In which case, Vox makes the argument that there is no one to blame except Donald Trump.
posted by murphy slaw (2913 comments total) 106 users marked this as a favorite

Trump speaking in Israel right now
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:26 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

No role-playing game publisher in the world will ever put out a "bad guys sourcebook" with a cover as ominous and plainly evil as that creepy glowing orb pic. (Link shows it uncropped, because damn.)
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:26 AM on May 22, 2017 [78 favorites]

Trumpy started well, no question in Israel.
Shining like a globe through the smoky haze,
A beautiful reminder of the care free days.

He almost captured the Israelis, he sure had the chance,
But suddenly he seemed to lose interest,
He seemed tired.
(Tired?! Trump?! Tired?!)
posted by charred husk at 10:29 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Thanks, murphy slaw... As the author of one of those big long potus45 thread intros, while they're great, they do get, err, trumped by the administration's minute-by-minute lunacy pretty damn quickly. Feels almost beside the point.

In other words - this is great, just what we needed!
posted by martin q blank at 10:30 AM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

16 square foot sinkhole? That's 4 by 4, barely larger than the manhole necessary to swallow the healthiest President in our history.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:30 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

16 square foot sinkhole? That's 4 by 4, barely larger than the manhole necessary to swallow the healthiest President in our history.

as the republicans said of trump, give it time.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:31 AM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

that glowing orb really reinforces my theory that this entire reality is the result of a failing Sharper Image store in a dying mall being granted a wish to become a real human being and get elected president
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:31 AM on May 22, 2017 [100 favorites]

I feel like this post does not pay sufficient respect to the terrible and all-seeing powers of the orb. Are you trying to displease the orb? That would be unwise.
posted by indubitable at 10:32 AM on May 22, 2017 [42 favorites]

(Link shows it uncropped, because damn.)

Did Alex Ross paint that?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:32 AM on May 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

the orb is so 24 hours ago. we all worship the all-devouring hole now.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:34 AM on May 22, 2017 [98 favorites]

Melania appears to slap 45's hand away on the tarmac
posted by holborne at 10:34 AM on May 22, 2017 [24 favorites]

The Onion dropped a load of [fake] Trump Documents today. Lots of funny stuff to dig through in there.
posted by msbutah at 10:35 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Also happening in the Holy Land today.
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:35 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

What I really find incredible about the Orb is how after 4 solid months of chaos, disaster, and constant weird nonsense, Trump is somehow still able to surprise us.
posted by Copronymus at 10:36 AM on May 22, 2017 [47 favorites]

Please, refer to the orb by its proper name: the Loc-Nar.
posted by gurple at 10:36 AM on May 22, 2017 [40 favorites]

It does not redeem Melania any, but if that was intentional then good for her. Seriously, fuck that abusive asshole.
posted by lydhre at 10:37 AM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

I know we're talked about how Back To The Future's Biff Tannen was based on Trump's '80s persona, but the recent "Biff To The Future" comic book dials this comparison up past 11. The mini-series shows how young Biff rose to power after being given Gray's Sports Almanac by his future self. Basically, it's the backstory to Back To The Future Part II. Biff uses his gambling winnings to take control of real estate holdings, opens a casino, threatens people around him, etc.

What really made me sit up and take notice was issue #4. Set around the time of the Watergate break-in, Biff buys the Washington Post in order to silence a who was writing negative editorials about him. He renames it The Biffington Post and fires Woodward and Bernstein as their investigation is in its infancy, thus preventing the Watergate scandal and keeping Nixon in power. Nixon invites Biff to the Oval Office and personally thanks him for his assistance. "Thanks to you, the Senate hearings have been canceled and there won't be any scandals," Nixon tells him.

This issue was published the same week that Trump fired Comey and I'm sure we all remember Trump's later comments to the Russians that "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off.". I'm starting to wonder if the comic writers have a time machine or futuristic almanac of their own.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:39 AM on May 22, 2017 [32 favorites]

I would really like to see a sincere Free Melania campaign. Imagine being exposed to Trump for hours every single day 💀.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Vox makes the argument that there is no one to blame except Donald Trump.

In a sane world, this case would not have to be made at all, and certainly not with 3500-some odd words chronicling, in meticulous detail, just some of the most prominent of the five-alarm infernos that Trump has caused.

Still, don't be misled by the headline -- what Klein says in the piece is that there is no one for Trump to blame except himself. This is true, but it doesn't account for any of the blame for Trump being elected in the first place, or for the support from the GOP that allows him to remain there despite being manifestly unfit to serve in government in any capacity. Trump can't point the finger at anyone else, but if he were gone tomorrow, many of the same bad actors who allowed him to get this far will still be around. Let's save some of our outrage for them, even as he provides steady doses of outrage fuel on an hourly basis.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

guys I've played a lot of point and click adventure games in my day and I'm pretty certain that the way we defeat Trump is by dropping the orb down the sinkhole
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2017 [262 favorites]

... we worship the all-devouring hole now.

Soon someone will notice that there's a bigger glowing orb down in the hole.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:41 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I sure hope that Melania divorces him in the middle of a protracted impeachment. That would just be *kisses fingers*
posted by bracems at 10:42 AM on May 22, 2017 [39 favorites]

guys I've played a lot of point and click adventure games in my day and I'm pretty certain that the way we defeat Trump is by dropping the orb down the sinkhole

i wouldn't even be that surprised if we got a Monkey Island sort of reaction out of that
posted by indubitable at 10:42 AM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

You know we live in an alternative timeline when not even comic book writers can surpass reality.

Also.

What the fuck is the deal with the orb?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:42 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

I am, generally speaking, a rational-minded person who isn't religious or even especially spiritual. I have a normal number of superstitions that I recognize are just that, superstitions.

And yet, when I heard about the sink hole, I immediately turned into a wild-haired hag of a witch prophetess hissing "it is an omen! heed the omens!!!!"
posted by yasaman at 10:43 AM on May 22, 2017 [45 favorites]

What the fuck is the deal with the orb?

Do not question the orb.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:43 AM on May 22, 2017 [35 favorites]

I'm still annoyed that we're never going to get a proper Phoenix Wright villain meltdown out of him because he's too dumb to understand when he's been caught doing something illegal.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:44 AM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

All Hail the Glow Orb.
posted by delfin at 10:44 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

creepy glowing orb pic

The ARG for the new Twin Peaks is getting really fucking weird.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [21 favorites]

a refresher on the Loc-Nar: Photo of President Trump and the glowing orb inspires new meme (USA Today)
posted by murphy slaw at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

I have to admit that this was my first thought upon seeing that Orb. Maybe we're all living in Lorac's nightmare now. And Bannon is Cyan Bloodbane.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

so tomorrow he, uh, prays at the western wall and visits the church of the holy sepulchre

the day after that he goes to the vatican

there's gotta be at least one apocalyptic wingnut out there who's keeping tabs on this shit, because this fucking trip has all the greatest hits. this is like if netflix decided to make a sumptuous adaptation of your very favorite book, except this is reality and the book series ends in the destruction of the world
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

I believed the orb was fake news for hours yesterday, because there's no way anyone would be that insane BUT WAIT.
posted by corb at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [37 favorites]

The video of Trump's "I never mentioned the word or the name Israel" is something to behold. He's supposed to be leaving and suddenly he just stops and tries to quiet everyone down so he can announce this.

The Election Law Blog brings us some analysis of the North Carolina Racial Redistricting ruling: part 1, part 2.

BuzzFeed confirms that Flynn will not comply with the subpoena and invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, while Brian Beutler goes there: Democrats Should Proudly Call for Trump’s Impeachment: "Some rank-and-file members are doing it. Why aren't the party's leaders showing the same courage of conviction?"

What’s ultimately making Democrats uncomfortable with the word “impeachment” is not any doubt that Trump has earned it, but the shambling speed with which he did so. It is undeniable at this point that Trump has committed impeachment-worthy offenses, and that—should the political atmosphere in Washington ever allow it—he should be removed from office.

posted by zachlipton at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2017 [41 favorites]

Orb / Sinkhole 2020
posted by mikepop at 10:46 AM on May 22, 2017 [102 favorites]

Do not taunt Glowing Creepy Orb.
posted by Mayor West at 10:46 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Guys, we all love and fear and worship the orb but let's try not to draw too much of its attention here lest we hasten our eventual glorious destruction, and also to keep the comment count under control.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:46 AM on May 22, 2017 [213 favorites]

Regarding Flynn, given that the public aspect of the investigation seems to be centered directly on him it seems entirely reasonable to take the fifth rather than testify before Congress, but I held out hope that he'd be joining the Carter Page School Of Saying Stupid, Self-Incriminating Shit In Public.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:48 AM on May 22, 2017

I believed the orb was fake news for hours yesterday, because there's no way anyone would be that insane BUT WAIT.
posted by cORB

don't think i don't see that
posted by indubitable at 10:48 AM on May 22, 2017 [153 favorites]

Thank you for the new thread!

If Trumpcare passes, his budget proposal will cut approximately $800 billion in funding from Medicaid over the next 10 years, leaving an estimated 10 million people (15-20%) without benefits. The majority of non-elderly recipients who would be affected are White, and Trump vowed to leave Medicaid alone during the campaign. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP -- food stamps) would be cut by about $193 billion -- about 25% of its budget. Republicans have been trying to reduce SNAP (or defund it entirely) for years, on the "reasoning" that people with incomes up to 130% over the poverty line are an unsightly drag on society and the most humane thing Republicans can think of to do is to starve them to death in pursuit of a balanced budget that rewards rich people for being wealthy.

The budget's total proposed federal funding cuts for Medicaid + anti-poverty programs is about $1.7 trillion over ten years.
posted by zarq at 10:48 AM on May 22, 2017 [98 favorites]

The thing that gets me about the orb is that it's supposedly for the opening of a "center for combating extremist ideology." But it's in Saudi Arabia which is one of the biggest creators and exporters of extremist ideology in the world. If that center is doing anything real at all, it's probably there to promulgate Sunni Wahhabism over Shiites.
posted by dnash at 10:49 AM on May 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

there's gotta be at least one apocalyptic wingnut out there who's keeping tabs on this shit, because this fucking trip has all the greatest hits.

It's like the chapter in From Hell where Dr. Gull has his carriage driver take him to all of the sites of occult power in London, and at the end he draws a giant pentagram on the map connecting all of them. I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but I'm terrified of people who behave as though they're part of one.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:51 AM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

> The budget's total proposed federal funding cuts for Medicaid + anti-poverty programs is about $1.7 trillion over ten years.

Do they also specify the amount of tax cuts for the rich, or is that too obvious to make explicit?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:51 AM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

speaking of images of horror and hilarity, here's trump imitating a 5-yo dancing at the recent saudi palantir uncovering
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:53 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Its not a sink hole -- its a short cut to hell. Trump hates the long commute.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 10:54 AM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

The thing that gets me about the orb is that it's supposedly for the opening of a "center for combating extremist ideology."

right, like liberalism, SJWs, etc
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:54 AM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm gonna predict it ahead of time so we can be pre-gobsmacked: most of his ardent supporters will simply believe that these medic(aid|are) cuts will only impact The Wrong People and not them so it's really no problem. Only after it actually hits them will they believe it and we'll get to ~~read~~ mostly ignore and froth about dozens of articles talking to these people like their opinions mean shit.
posted by phearlez at 10:55 AM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Its not a sink hole -- its a short cut to hell. Trump hates the long commute.

any minute now, the nydus worm should emerge
posted by murphy slaw at 10:56 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

How likely are these budget cuts to actually pass?
posted by prefpara at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm still annoyed that we're never going to get a proper Phoenix Wright villain meltdown out of him because he's too dumb to understand when he's been caught doing something illegal.

You might get your wish... it's likely a large part of his problem is sleep deprivation.
posted by Coventry at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

If Trumpcare passes, his budget proposal will cut approximately $800 billion in funding from Medicaid over the next 10 years, leaving an estimated 10 million people (15-20%) without benefits.

p.s., this is violence. not "calling someone mean names on Twitter" violence or "beating on people at a protest" violence. it's "bulldozers pushing the bodies into trenches" violence.
posted by indubitable at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2017 [53 favorites]

From the AP, Turkey slams US over ‘aggressive’ acts against bodyguards:

Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to protest what it called “aggressive and unprofessional actions” by American security personnel against Turkish bodyguards in Washington during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit last week.

Inwardly marvelling at how confident I am that the President of the United States is going to side against the DC police and American citizens exercising their first amendments rights, and in favor of the violent autocratic president of a foreign country.
posted by galaxy rise at 10:57 AM on May 22, 2017 [69 favorites]

The orb turned on the new counter extremism center which is a good idea but when you just leave the orb there any terrorist can saunter by and turn the whole thing off again.
posted by shothotbot at 10:58 AM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Okay, you guys heard corbtex. Cut it out.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:58 AM on May 22, 2017 [29 favorites]

What I really find incredible about the Orb is ...

that they're going to be touring Canada in August.
posted by philip-random at 10:59 AM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

Thanks for the new post! I was muddling through an overly-long post, so I'll drop some links in here:

Trump is on the witness list in the underage sex abuse case against Jeffrey Epstein, "a billionaire money manager who loved to party," who President Donald Trump called a "terrific guy" back in 2002, saying that "he's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
The lawsuit questions why Trump's nominee for labor secretary, former Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday, cut a non-prosecution deal with Epstein a decade ago rather than pursuing a federal indictment that Acosta's staff had advocated.
The unforeseen impacts of of the languishing health bill (NPR) -- by not having a reliable budget for Federal healthcare for the near future, states are cutting back federally-funded programs.
One of the immediate casualties is the renewal of the Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP covers just under 9 million children in low- and moderate-income families, at a cost of about $15 billion a year. Funding for CHIP does not technically end until Sept. 30, but it is already too late for states to plan their budgets effectively. They needed to know about future funding while their legislatures were still in session, but, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the local lawmakers have already adjourned for the year in more than half of the states.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Saturday blasted President Trump for ignoring a court order demanding he release a memo drafted under former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's guidance that outlined a plan to implement a travel ban without making it seem as if it was directly aimed at Muslims. (The Hill) and
the general murmurs and potential routes to Trump's impeachment (538)

Some links pulled from What The Fuck Just Happened Today, which is now up-to-date (into Day 123).

And if you need a break from current politics but you want to keep in the political frame of mind, here's Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment from the Poetry Foundation. I was going to use a line from Boy Breaking Glass by Gwendolyn Brooks as the post title.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:59 AM on May 22, 2017 [65 favorites]

The Freedom Caucus of the house will view the Medi(x) cuts as not deep enough and torpedo them, the left will think their protest worked and let the pressure off, Ryan will adjust them to extra fuck some poor people somehow and the Freedom Caucus will join in, pushing enough support over. Then it's up to the Senate to water it down in reconciliation (because they know it won't survive a full vote). Off to DJTs desk for his ego scribble.
posted by msbutah at 10:59 AM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

@IvankaTrump:

Could her profile signify whiteness any less subtly?
posted by Sophie1 at 10:59 AM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

chris24: @IvankaTrump:
It was deeply meaningful to visit the holiest site of my faith and to leave a note of prayer.
📷 Associated Press (AP) [pic]

@Yair_Rosenberg:
Someone might want to tell Ivanka's social media person that the Temple Mount, not the Western Wall, is the holiest site in Judaism.

And that she's littering.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:00 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

You know we live in an alternative timeline when not even comic book writers can surpass reality.

We've replaced your regularly scheduled reality with Calvinball until further notice.
posted by azpenguin at 11:01 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Its not a sink hole -- its a short cut to hell. Trump hates the long commute.

Wait, so you're saying Mar-a-Lago is actually built over a hellmouth? That explains not only the Trump presidency but also the general wacky terribleness that tends to happen only in Florida.
posted by zrail at 11:02 AM on May 22, 2017 [29 favorites]

That explains not only the Trump presidency but also the general wacky terribleness that tends to happen only in Florida.

I do have to admit I'm intrigued by the notion that at long last we've unmasked Florida Man, but he is now the president of the nation.
posted by Mayor West at 11:04 AM on May 22, 2017 [22 favorites]

Do they also specify the amount of tax cuts for the rich, or is that too obvious to make explicit?

Sort of. Details on the tax cuts were released at the end of April. The Times also has estimates regarding how the budget will increase the federal budget.
posted by zarq at 11:07 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

How likely are these budget cuts to actually pass?

My feeling is not likely. They'd hit a lot of places that have R senators and reps and while Trumpteam doesn't care if those people keep their jobs, they do. But my confidence on predicting spending decisions was brought way low when sequestration kicked in and wasn't stopped; I was sure there'd be a deal to preserve mil spending being hit there.
posted by phearlez at 11:08 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

In a way, Melania demonstrates how inequality really works - she has to marry this awful man if she wants to be rich, and people judge her for it (kind of appropriately) and then she has to be married to him. On the one hand, what a sordid, money-oriented choice to make, and what it says about her values! On the other...I am reminded of people like Betsy De Vos, who are born rich, and who can be just awful while never having to marry the Trumps of the world. Not that anyone should have that kind of money/power, but it just seems like one additional way that ordinary people get it in the neck - rich people can be rich and evil with no effort, so to speak, while regular people have to marry Trump.
posted by Frowner at 11:09 AM on May 22, 2017 [22 favorites]

Well, Infowars just got official White House press credentials.

Looks like I'm drinking early today.
posted by bluecore at 11:09 AM on May 22, 2017 [75 favorites]

[Guys, we all love and fear and worship the orb but let's try not to draw too much of its attention here lest we hasten our eventual glorious destruction, and also to keep the comment count under control.]

What? No, this isn't a thing to be a afraid of. That orb is one of at least three. It's simply "Orb A" or, as it will prefer to be known when it eventually gains full sentience "Aorb". "Borb" is still lost out there somewhere but we're safe from any of them as we've got "Orb C" as Mefi's own...
posted by VTX at 11:10 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Bloomberg BNA: Math, Politics Create Headwinds for Looming Trump Budget

Every President's budget tends to be declared "dead on arrival" in Congress, until, you know, it isn't. Even Republicans are skeptical of some of the cuts: the farm bill (which includes SNAP) was just negotiated a couple years ago, and proposed cuts to foreign aid and HHS haven't gone over too well. But when billions of dollars can be stricken with the stroke of the pen in a last-minute deal, yeah, it's terrifying. Large chunks of them almost certainly won't pass, but could they slash Medicaid or SSDI: absolutely.

Related to the budget, Dylan Scott has a good explainer on the Byrd Rule, which will become quite relevant again on Wednesday when the CBO score drops on the AHCA and the question of "what can pass the Senate" becomes a thing.

Anyway, someone just gave White House press credentials to Infowars, so we'll probably be reading something about precious bodily fluids tomorrow.

It was deeply meaningful to visit the holiest site of my faith and to leave a note of prayer.

The working theory on Twitter is that the President left a copy of his electoral map in the wall.
posted by zachlipton at 11:10 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Uhhhh. Turkey condemns U.S. over ‘aggressive’ acts against its bodyguards during Erdogan’s visit to D.C.

American and Turkish officials have provided directly contrasting versions of how the violence unfolded. Local police said the Turkish guards savagely attacked a peaceful protest outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence as Erdogan was visiting. The melee, which was recorded by video journalists, showed what appeared to be Turkish security guards kicking and choking protesters as D.C. police struggled to contain the unrest. The footage also showed that Erdogan was watching, from a distance, as the fighting raged.

Turkish diplomats have criticized the local police for failing to quell an “unpermitted” and “provocative” demonstration.

So Erdogan sends his goons to beat up American protesters, then summons our Ambassador to blame us for trying to stop them?
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

> Well, Infowars just got official White House press credentials.

Seems like a waste of effort when they already have a direct line into the President's brain.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:13 AM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

I doubt it's how Trump intended it to be used, but I strongly suspect the Republicans will be using the proposed Trump budget as a sort of lowball first offer to drag negotiations their way. Trump, I'm sure, expects his budget proposal to be passed in full.

Problem is that even if the Republicans only get 10% of what Trump is asking for, that's still hurting a whole lot of people for no reason but to give massive tax cuts to the richest people on the planet. And they'll probably get more than 10% of what they want.

The Democrats could, in theory, shut down the government by filibustering the budget. But in practice that's not so easy or simple. First, I'm not at all sure the Republicans would't just nuke the filibuster for budgets too. More important, in a way shutting down the government is inevitably a Republican win. That's, ultimately, what they want. The Democrats want a functioning government, and that puts them at an inherently weaker bargaining position.

I'm also not at all sure that self interest and fear of their voters will stop the Republicans much. They seem disturbingly unconcerned with their electoral futures. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they passed a massively harmful budget and then counted on cruising through the elections on racism, nationalism, and cheating.
posted by sotonohito at 11:17 AM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Anyway, someone just gave White House press credentials to Infowars

I for one, look forward to questions from the underserved Sasquatch contingent.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:17 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

So Erdogan sends his goons to beat up American protesters, then summons our Ambassador to blame us for trying to stop them?

Ah, the classic "Stop Hitting Yourself" defense.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 11:17 AM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

The Times also has estimates regarding how the budget will increase the federal ~~budget~~ deficit.

FTFMe
posted by zarq at 11:17 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

So Erdogan sends his goons to beat up American protesters, then summons our Ambassador to blame us for trying to stop them?

No, it sounds like he blames us for allowing this disgusting demonstration of the peaceful expression of free speech to take place at all
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:18 AM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

I'm just amazed at how little stamina he has. Reportedly "exhausted" after a couple of days.

Must be withdrawal from golf, he's gone a whole couple of days without it. SAD!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:18 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile, a sinkhole has formed in front of Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort

Umm...

ahem... "Come on, impeachment by Friday!"
posted by jason_steakums at 11:20 AM on May 22, 2017 [26 favorites]

Trump (probably) didn’t do anything illegal in revealing this information to the Russians. The president can declassify what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. But that power is predicated on the idea that presidents won’t misuse it.
To paraphrase Captain Picard (Season 1, Episode 26), the reason the com system isn't secured is because a certain measure of self-control is expected of all on board.

chris24: "Someone might want to tell Ivanka's social media person that the Temple Mount, not the Western Wall, is the holiest site in Judaism."

Note that Ivanka said her faith and considering the reality distortion bubble she lives in that may not (probably isn't in the details) @Yair_Rosenberg's faith.
posted by Mitheral at 11:20 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Turkish diplomats have criticized the local police for failing to quell an “unpermitted” and “provocative” demonstration.

Yeah, see buddy, despite Trump winning the Presidency over here we've still got freedom of speech and assembly. We're allow to be provocative and we don't need your permission to criticize thin skinned would be dictators. Or Erdoğan for that matter.

I'll admit that we're fighting a bit of a rearguard protective action over our freedom, but your side still hasn't achieved full victory over here yet.
posted by sotonohito at 11:21 AM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

huh - here's a surprise: Transportation Secretary Chao has approved federal funding for California's CalTrain electrification project.

i wonder if she did it while trump was out of town on purpose?
posted by murphy slaw at 11:23 AM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

Just finished reading this and came here. Thank you for this new FPP
posted by infini at 11:25 AM on May 22, 2017

I'm just amazed at how little stamina he has. Reportedly "exhausted" after a couple of days.

Well we have to keep in mind that Trump doesn't exercise because he believes that he would deplete his body's finite amount of energy [not fake] [i swear].

Actually, i'm surprised he hasn't been reduced to Bernie in Weekend at Bernie's.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:27 AM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm just amazed at how little stamina he has. Reportedly "exhausted" after a couple of days.

Hey, remember when Hilary canceled her campaign activities for three days when she was diagnosed with pneumonia, and the entire goddamned world leapt down her throat because she obviously didn't have the stamina for the job?

That was less than eight months ago. What naive summer children we all were.
posted by Mayor West at 11:29 AM on May 22, 2017 [95 favorites]

I wasn't naive about any of it. Scared to death then and now.
posted by agregoli at 11:30 AM on May 22, 2017 [28 favorites]

That was less than eight months ago. What [sexist] ~~naive summer~~ children we they all were.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:31 AM on May 22, 2017 [60 favorites]

Wait, so you're saying Mar-a-Lago is actually built over a hellmouth? That explains not only the Trump presidency but also the general wacky terribleness that tends to happen only in Florida.

The Hellmouth in CA was closed on May 20, 2003. We're just past the fourteenth anniversary. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by Ber at 11:31 AM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

@IvankaTrump:
It was deeply meaningful to visit the holiest site of my faith and to leave a note of prayer.
📷 Associated Press (AP) [pic]

@Yair_Rosenberg:
Someone might want to tell Ivanka's social media person that the Temple Mount, not the Western Wall, is the holiest site in Judaism.

He's right, but I can sorta understand her shorthand. Jews can't walk on the Temple Mount, so the Western Wall is considered the holiest place we can say prayers. I've called the Wall our holiest place myself on mefi before for the same reason.
posted by zarq at 11:32 AM on May 22, 2017 [36 favorites]

I had almost forgotten about this amidst all the other news, but one thing to look forward to this week is the release of the CBO score for the revised, even-more-awful AHCA, which may force the House to vote on it again if it isn't found to meet the requirements for reconciliation.

So. much. winning. either

1. All those stupid fuckers vote for it again, but this time after the CBO score showing they'll be kicking XX million off of healthcare (and we can run ads against them. "Congressman Fuckmook voted twice to steal your healthcare!") All this knowing that it'll still never pass in the Senate.

2. Some of those stupid fuckers wise up and use the CBO score to vote against it, killing the bill in the House and making Ryan & Co. look look a bunch of losers.

Talk about an own goal.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:33 AM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

not to doot doot my own horn but i was less summer child and more shriveled testicle in the winter night even back in the day 8 months ago peace be upon us 🙏
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:35 AM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

He's right, but I can sorta understand her shorthand. Jews can't walk on the Temple Mount, so the Western Wall is considered the holiest place we can say prayers. I've called the Wall our holiest place myself on mefi before for the same reason.

I mean, if we want to get REALLY specific, the whole Temple Mount isn't the holiest place, that's the Holiest of Holies where sat the Ark of the Covenant (containing the two tablets, manna, and Aaron's staff). We're just not exactly sure where it's located since the destruction of the temple.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:36 AM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

The InfoWars press pass is only a day pass. Not that it matters very much, but it's a meaningful distinction.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:37 AM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

We're just not exactly sure where it's located since the destruction of the temple.

just walk Trump around the site until he starts melting, that should narrow it down
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:38 AM on May 22, 2017 [77 favorites]

That's not gonna help; Trump looks like he's been melting since he started his campaign.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:40 AM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

another trump campaign staffer has been called to testify in the house:

NYT: House Inquiry Turns Attention to Trump Campaign Worker With Russia Ties

Michael Caputo, who served as a communications adviser to the Trump campaign, has been asked by the House committee investigating Russian election meddling to submit to a voluntary interview and to provide any documents he may have that are related to the inquiry.

The House Intelligence Committee, which is examining possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, made its request in a letter on May 9. Mr. Caputo, who lives near Buffalo and spent six months on the Trump team, worked in Russia during the 1990s and came to know Kremlin officials. He also did work in the early 2000s for Gazprom Media, a Russian conglomerate that supported President Vladimir V. Putin.

posted by murphy slaw at 11:40 AM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

huh - here's a surprise: Transportation Secretary Chao has approved federal funding for California's CalTrain electrification project.

I bash Dianne Feinstein plenty, so it's only fair I give her credit, as someone who had to stand in the sun yesterday waiting for a delayed Caltrain, for consistently pushing this issue.

Meanwhile, in healthcare news, Delay on Obamacare Subsidy Decision Leaves Insurers in Limbo

President Donald Trump’s administration asked for another 90 days to resolve a lawsuit over subsidies that help poorer people afford to use their Obamacare insurance plans, further delaying a long-running legal fight that’s already destabilizing the health law.

The U.S. Department of Justice and House Republicans made the joint request Monday as they “continue to discuss measures that would obviate the need for judicial determination of this appeal, including potential legislative action,” such as the Obamacare replacement plan known as the American Health Care Act, according to a court filing.

Without the payments, insurers have threatened to drop out of the Affordable Care Act’s markets or substantially raise premiums, and customers could face thousands of dollars in unexpected costs. The Trump administration could still choose to drop the appeal, though other parties are trying to defend the payments.

posted by zachlipton at 11:41 AM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

filthy light thief that poetry link should be it's own FPP
posted by infini at 11:41 AM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

The InfoWars press pass is only a day pass. Not that it matters very much, but it's a meaningful distinction.

Didn't Jeff Gannon have day passes?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:43 AM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Democrats want a functioning government, and that puts them at an inherently weaker bargaining position.

hey, you know who else had a functioning government?

i'm dead serious about this, too - there are times and conditions when you don't want a functioning government and we seem to be approaching that
posted by pyramid termite at 11:47 AM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

The video of Trump's "I never mentioned the word or the name Israel" is something to behold. He's supposed to be leaving and suddenly he just stops and tries to quiet everyone down so he can announce this.

That was the best part. He made sure everybody got really quiet so they wouldn't miss the profoundly stupid thing he was about to say.

Although his face when he gets the idea to say it is also pretty great. One half of his brain is like "I just thought of something really dumb to say out loud." And the other half of his brain pauses for a second and then goes "Yes, I love it! Let's do this!"
posted by diogenes at 11:48 AM on May 22, 2017 [30 favorites]

I would really like to see a sincere Free Melania campaign. Imagine being exposed to Trump for hours every single day 💀.

The rumor mill says that Donald and Melania have loathed each other for years now, and rarely spend time together outside public appearances. Supposedly they occupy separate floors in ~~Orthanc~~ Trump Tower, and Melania has her own entrance to the apartments through which she and her friends can come and go without having to see Donald. I have no idea if these rumors are true, but it's pretty clear from her public actions that Melania is no fool, and understands exactly what bargain she's made. By playing the role of Glamorous Madonna at Donald's side, she shores up his public image while receiving in exchange the kind of opulent lifestyle that consumes resources which would sustain a thousand normal families.

Certainly now, with Donald in the White House while she remains in New York at ever-ballooning cost to the taxpayers, Melania's not spending anything like hours per day around Donald. If she weren't happy with the arrangement, she could have tanked Donald's campaign at any time by speaking out about what kind of man he is, but she chose instead to support his candidacy for her own gain. I have no sympathy for her or any other member of the Trump tribe.
posted by biogeo at 11:48 AM on May 22, 2017 [181 favorites]

Sacramento Bee, May 19th: Nurses heckle Democratic leader, threaten legislators over health care.

As California Democrats kicked off their weekend convention here with a cocktail reception featuring trays of scallion pancakes with Hoisin sauce and red grapes rolled in blue cheese and coated in pistachios, the throng advocating for a statewide publicly funded, universal health care system snaked down a staircase behind Perez, shouting down his calls for unity.

“This gathering kind of reminds me of Thanksgiving dinner at my house with my extended family,” Perez said, trying to lighten the mood.

As Perez launched into a riff about shared party values, California Democratic Party John Burton told activists he backed universal healthcare before many of them were born, in 1998. He jabbed at a protester: “Put your (expletive) sign down...We’re all for it.”

I guess that settles that.

The Hill, May 21st: Sanders backers fall short in California Democrat race.

Though both Bauman and Ellis did not want to frame the race as a contest between the establishment wing and the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, their supporters largely embraced that view.

Bauman had the support of the vast majority of the Democratic members of the state legislature, most politically active unions and local party organizations. Ellis was backed by Our Revolution, the outgrowth of Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, and a California nurses union that backed Sanders.

There were few differences between the two candidates, both of whom adopted much of Sanders's 2016 platform. The main differences surrounded Bauman's work as a political consultant against a ballot measure dealing with pharmaceutical prices last year, and Ellis's pledge not to take money from the oil, tobacco or pharmaceutical industries.

Still, the race became politically fraught for some of California's most prominent Democrats. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (D), the leading candidate in the race for governor, endorsed both candidates rather than choosing a side.

posted by Rustic Etruscan at 11:51 AM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

by the way, a general comment - is it just me? - it seems like the more i read and hear about our cheeto in chief and the more i'm confronted with his black hole soul of stupidity, the dumber, less witty, less thoughtful and less focused i feel
posted by pyramid termite at 11:51 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

I wish that a Saudi had thrown a shoe at him.
posted by brujita at 11:51 AM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

I just wanted to say that I really, really like the mega-threads on the political dookiefest and wanted to thank everyone for A) keeping me company B) keeping me sane and C) having brains and rationality most of the time.
posted by yoga at 11:52 AM on May 22, 2017 [71 favorites]

The rumor mill says that Donald and Melania have loathed each other for years now, and rarely spend time together outside public appearances

I was honestly totally surprised last week when I found out she was going on this trip. As far as I can see the only things she's been to are the inauguration and the Easter Egg Roll. The joke I keep making is that we actually don't have a First Lady, her title is The President's Estranged Wife.
posted by dnash at 11:53 AM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump's accusations that Hillary was low-energy make sense now that I know about his theory of human bodies having finite amounts of energy. Hillary has accomplished SO MANY things in her life that, if energy is finite, she MUST be running on fumes.

Trump, having accomplished JACK SHIT in his entire life, is obviously still chock full o' the energy juice!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:53 AM on May 22, 2017 [86 favorites]

The rumor mill says that Donald and Melania have loathed each other for years now, and rarely spend time together outside public appearances.

I continue to hope that she is a loving and tender mother, and that Barron has lots of people around him who show him affection. My own son is exactly Barron's age, and I can't help but think of him from time to time as I watch my child grow older and gain independence. Melania may have signed up for this, but he sure didn't and all the money in the world won't buy you the kind of love a child truly needs.
posted by anastasiav at 11:53 AM on May 22, 2017 [20 favorites]

[old thread] Press statement @WhiteHouse says 1 goals of @POTUS Israel trip is "promote the possibility of lasting peach"

Wait a minute. This was a thing that happened?? I thought it was a typo by a Mefite. Good lord.
posted by Melismata at 11:54 AM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Hellmouth in CA was closed on May 20, 2003. We're just past the fourteenth anniversary. Coincidence? I think not.

What I wouldn't give for a blonde teenager with superpowers to have her school librarian explain her duty to her right about now.
posted by biogeo at 11:56 AM on May 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

it seems like the more i read and hear about our cheeto in chief and the more i'm confronted with his black hole soul of stupidity, the dumber, less witty, less thoughtful and less focused i feel

oh no, I feel like unto a genius in comparison. I'll grant you the less focused though. Also I'm more consistently, constantly enraged.
posted by yasaman at 11:56 AM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Wait a minute. This was a thing that happened?? I thought it was a typo by a Mefite. Good lord.

It's [real]: Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians
posted by zachlipton at 11:58 AM on May 22, 2017 [22 favorites]

There were few differences between the two candidates, both of whom adopted much of Sanders's 2016 platform. The main differences surrounded Bauman's work as a political consultant against a ballot measure dealing with pharmaceutical prices last year, and Ellis's pledge not to take money from the oil, tobacco or pharmaceutical industries.

As long as there's some sort of microscopic sliver we can put between ourselves and other people with mostly the same goals, we're set.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:58 AM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

NBC alert states that Former Trump advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone have turned over documents to Senate Intel Committee. as part of the Russia investigation.

I'm super interested if anyone wants to be our 5pm leak today.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:59 AM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

Indeed, zachlipton. I only knew it was a real thing after the entire internet blew up (yay, we all still appreciate correct spelling!).
posted by Melismata at 12:00 PM on May 22, 2017

He made sure everybody got really quiet so they wouldn't miss the profoundly stupid thing he was about to say.

It reminded me about Jeff Sessions going out of his way to incriminate himself.

Franken: ...if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?

Sessions: Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn't have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it.

posted by kirkaracha at 12:00 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

On the plus side, the 2020 US Presidential Election cycle has definitely begun, so I'm considering re-engaging to a point. US elections are my drug of choice; the bits in between less so. Plenty of odds here.

Go Klobuchar/Kennedy 2020!
posted by Wordshore at 12:01 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

zachlipton: It's [real]: Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians

Visualize whirled peas.
posted by klarck at 12:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians

Nic Cage as Castor Troy: "Ah could negotiate a peach for hours..."
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:03 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Go Klobuchar/Kennedy 2020!

The hell you say! We still have a chance!

VOTE GIANT METEOR AND BUTT STUFF 2020.
posted by loquacious at 12:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Go Klobuchar/Kennedy 2020!

My money's on Deep Mind[Seed0x4b213a2fa163bc38]/Deep Mind[Seed0x09b76e65677c9b09]
posted by contraption at 12:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

That would just be *kisses fingers*

Someone should notify the Unicode Committee, because that needs to be in the next batch of emoji.
posted by acb at 12:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

As long as there's some sort of microscopic sliver we can put between ourselves and other people with mostly the same goals, we're set.

I'm glad to see continued agitation for Medicare-for-all and hope politicians continue to feel the pressure. The number of people whom the AHCA would strip of insurance and the number of people left uninsured under the ACA who would receive it under Medicare-for-all is roughly the same. It would disappoint me greatly if the plan were put off indefinitely because its professed supporters in government supported it only in the long term, and never in the present.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach"

Um, guys, I just got a shiver down my spine. What would be a poetic way to describe a peach in the sun? Think about it... And be afraid.
posted by diogenes at 12:09 PM on May 22, 2017

The peach industry is probably very very happy right now.
posted by Melismata at 12:09 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Here's the rub on universal healthcare in California: The price tag on universal health care is in, and it’s bigger than California’s budget

It would cost $400 billion per year to remake California’s health insurance marketplace and create a publicly funded universal heath care system, according to a state financial analysis released Monday.

California would have to find an additional $200 billion per year, including in new tax revenues, to create a so-called “single-payer” system, the analysis by the Senate Appropriations committee found. The estimate assumes the state would retain the existing $200 billion in local, state and federal funding it currently receives to offset the total $400 billion price tag.

By comparison, the entire state budget right now is $180 billion. I want to see it happen, but that's a huge ugly number, and nobody has yet put forward a plan to raise it.
posted by zachlipton at 12:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

On the plus side, the 2020 US Presidential Election cycle has definitely begun

Old news. Donald Trump started spending money on the 2020 race on Nov. 24

January 11: Report: Trump Keeping Campaign Headquarters Open During Presidency With Eye On 2020 Run

January 18: Donald Trump Trademarks 2020 Campaign Slogan: ‘Keep America Great!’

January 20: President Trump tells the FEC he qualifies as a candidate for 2020
posted by kirkaracha at 12:11 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I realized recently that "but her emails" is the new "but what about black on black crime".
posted by Groundhog Week at 12:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

Go Klobuchar/Kennedy 2020!

Which Kennedy? The senator from Louisiana?
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:12 PM on May 22, 2017

Someone should notify the Unicode Committee, because that needs to be in the next batch of emoji.

👨‍🍳💋
posted by sideshow at 12:13 PM on May 22, 2017

FFS, Klobuchar has been around for awhile and was well known as being the only Minnesota Senator for a time. Calling her "little known" really doesn't make any sense. It's not like there are that many female senators to keep track of or anything...

From the 2009 article:

Since joining the Senate, Klobuchar's national image has also benefited from key committee appointments. And being an early supporter of President Barack Obama hasn't hurt. In fact, rarely does a news article go by that doesn't mention her combination of wit and composure and her potential to be a leader in the Democratic Party.

"Even if none of this had happened, you would still be getting a buzz about Amy as a rising star," said Ornstein.

posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 12:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

By comparison, the entire state budget right now is $180 billion. I want to see it happen, but that's a huge ugly number, and nobody has yet put forward a plan to raise it.

How much do California residents pay in health insurance premiums per year?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [46 favorites]

huh - here's a surprise: Transportation Secretary Chao has approved federal funding for California's CalTrain electrification project.

Hopefully they'll also reprieve Amtrak from being completely defunded. I'm hoping to catch one of those unpunctual yet spectacularly scenic trains across the USA at some point after the country's political climate stabilises.
posted by acb at 12:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

By comparison, the entire state budget right now is $180 billion. I want to see it happen, but that's a huge ugly number, and nobody has yet put forward a plan to raise it.

That article goes on to point out that actually the numbers they're referring to don't include the current $100-$150B being spent on health insurance by employers (who could presumably get out of the game once a public option is established.) So it's still a big number, but I think the Bee has a bit of an agenda.
posted by contraption at 12:16 PM on May 22, 2017 [26 favorites]

When I read that Trump's speech said that Islam was one of the world's great faiths, my first thought was "does Trump know that followers of Islam are called Muslims?"
posted by rmd1023 at 12:27 PM on May 22, 2017 [47 favorites]

it's baffling to me how so many people who claim to be opposed to inequality in this country come crawling out of the woodwork to shit on any politician with a chance of doing anything about it.
posted by indubitable at 12:27 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Couple comments removed, let's for the love of god head off yet another "are their crappy Bernie supporters, etc" go-around.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

Why is the WaPo referring to Klobuchar as 'little known'? That's...weird.

I think you're severely overestimating the average person's political awareness. Scott Walker is a more headling-grabbing politician from the same part of the country, but in 2014 he still only had around 35% name recognition nationwide only two years after the very high-profile recall election. I would imagine Klubuchar is well below that level. People just typically don't have that much knowledge of governor/senator-level politicians from other states until they mount a presidential run.
posted by parallellines at 12:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

Chris Christie: I warned Trump about Flynn: "I think it's safe to say that General Flynn and I didn't see eye-to eye," Christie told reporters at a news conference in Trenton, New Jersey. "I didn't think that he was someone who would bring benefit to the President or to the administration, and I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

it's baffling to me how so many people who claim to be opposed to inequality in this country come crawling out of the woodwork to shit on any politician with a chance of doing anything about it

If they only care about equality for some at the expense of others -- say along racial or gender lines -- they're just pushing another form of inequality. Perhaps not a surprise that actual people would be unhappy about that, in addition to whatever you think crawls out of the woodwork.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

It would cost $400 billion per year to remake California’s health insurance marketplace and create a publicly funded universal heath care system, according to a state financial analysis released Monday.

Currently the U.S. already spends $10,400 per person per year for health care. There are 40 million people in California. That's a total of $416 billion to spend on Californians.

Boom. Done.
posted by JackFlash at 12:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [35 favorites]

It is mind blowing to me that Chris Christie didn't meet the "corrupt enough" threshold for a formal position in the Trump administration.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

This was a reminder I needed to read this week, for sure...

Step Around the Benghazi Trap

As the Trump scandals deepen, Democrats should learn from Republican mistakes: If you let your expectations get too far ahead of what’s known, confirmation bias can lead you into an a universe of alternative facts.
...
It may have taken four years and eight investigations for their Benghazi insanity to play out, but when exactly did Republicans start making the fatal mistake that eventually drove them insane?

Early days, I think. Right about where we are now.

And here’s what I think the fatal mistake was: convincing themselves that they already knew what had happened and how everything was going to play out. Within days or weeks, they knew that this was the big one, the scandal that was finally going to bring Obama down.
...
It’s tempting to believe that we already know what’s going to happen: We know what James Comey is going to testify to, we know that Michael Flynn and/or Paul Manafort are going to flip on Trump and what they’re going to say; we know where the money trail is going to lead; and so on. We’re just waiting for that inevitable future to arrive, when Trump is ridden out of town on a rail.

But I don’t know any of that stuff, not yet. So I’m going to have to listen to the witnesses as they testify. I’m going to have to read the investigators’ reports as they come out.

I may have become a little too enamored of my own theories lately, personally. The point is theories aren't enough. We need facts.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [60 favorites]

Wait a minute. This was a thing that happened?? I thought it was a typo by a Mefite. Good lord.

It's [real]: Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians

Less dramatically, the same document speaks of America's commitment to "the Israeli's security," without specifying which one. Best case: Gal Godot.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [34 favorites]

By comparison, the entire state budget right now is $180 billion. I want to see it happen, but that's a huge ugly number, and nobody has yet put forward a plan to raise it.

It was never going to be free but if you look at the size of California's private healthcare insurance market it was ~ $160 billion in 2015 (you can assume it has gone up by a fair bit since).

So the cost looks pretty close to break even and that ignores the publicly born costs of the uninsured. So it will probably still work out to be a net savings for taxpayers.
posted by srboisvert at 12:37 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

It's more likely to refer to Sheldon Adelson, with the "security" being a sum he donated and expects a return on.
posted by acb at 12:38 PM on May 22, 2017

The hell you say! We still have a chance!

VOTE GIANT METEOR AND BUTT STUFF 2020.

We should debate this further. I feel the sudden strong urge to write and post the first US 2020 Election FPP, but I'd probably better wait until Uncle Cortex goes off shift so it doesn't get nuked.

Which Kennedy? The senator from Louisiana?

This one (twitter)
posted by Wordshore at 12:39 PM on May 22, 2017

the Israeli's security [sic]

Good grief. Are there any native English speakers on staff at the WH?
posted by orrnyereg at 12:39 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

This Vox piece (linked in the last thread) makes a pretty good case that we're not in the same position as the early days of the Benghazi or Watergate scandals because Trump's big mouth has already shown us where evidence is likely to lead. The Mueller-led investigation is a good thing to have, but if he weren't immune from arrest Trump would have been charged with obstruction based on his interview with Lester Holt alone.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

For whatever it's worth, here is an account of the CA dems stuff that argues that the "berniecrats v clintonites" narrative doesn't meaningfully describe the actual events that happened, though SOME PEOPLE have applied that frame to the contest in order to rehash old arguments from the primaries / maintain that the divisions that happened during the primaries are TEARING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY APART.

Anyway. If you're concerned about divisions in the democratic party breaking along the exact same lines over and over again, it may be useful to step back and consider whether disputes within the party are actually driven by that particular division, or if instead you're seeing those divisions everywhere because the media you read project that division onto any intra-democratic-party dispute.

The "Sanders wing" as a framing for left-wing dissenters within the party annoys me because it centers that dissent on one old man who lost his most important election and will probably die in a few years. He's very popular, but as far as I can tell, he doesn't have a lot of followers in government. It isn't all about him, he isn't to be supported uncritically, and "his" politicians are candidates and politicians in their own right. He hasn't built that kind of clique around himself. Framing all left-of-center policy as emanating from him only makes it harder to evaluate on its merits, because his name brings out all the personal loyalties and conflicts of 2016.

Which is to say that I agree. It's important to evaluate any report you read for undue adherence to common cliches about the current political situation.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:42 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

Currently the U.S. already spends $10,400 per person per year for health care. There are 40 million people in California. That's a total of $416 billion to spend on Californians.

that sort of assumes that single-payer will have exactly the same amount of overhead as private insurance. hopefully it doesn't. it's also not clear how much of that 400 billion estimate is startup costs and how much is the annual recurring cost?
posted by murphy slaw at 12:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

"Bro, is perfectly good English, bro. You see, we are attending finest school in all of Mother Russia, bro."
posted by entropicamericana at 12:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

It's [real]: Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians

HAIL THE ~~ORB~~ PEACHOID!!
posted by octobersurprise at 12:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yes, murphy slaw. I wanted to say, does that $10,400 include a 9-dollar aspirin, or a five-cent one?
posted by Melismata at 12:44 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

even the gray lady finds it necessary to run an Orb Explainer

NYT: What Was That Glowing Orb Trump Touched in Saudi Arabia?

posted by murphy slaw at 12:50 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

It is mind blowing to me that Chris Christie didn't meet the "corrupt enough" threshold for a formal position in the Trump administration.

Oh, no. Christie couldn't join the administration. It wasn't that he wasn't corrupt enough, it was that he needed to be punished.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:50 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Wait, what would be a poetic way to describe a peach in the sun?
posted by Naberius at 12:51 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

ALSO IT IS 2017 AND

What Was That Glowing Orb Trump Touched in Saudi Arabia?

IS AN ACTUAL HEADLINE IN THE NEW YORK FUCKING TIMES

i need so much sleep
posted by murphy slaw at 12:53 PM on May 22, 2017 [100 favorites]

Wait, what would be a poetic way to describe a peach in the sun?

a Langston Hughes first draft?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:53 PM on May 22, 2017 [32 favorites]

Chris Christie: I warned Trump about Flynn

And the rats are putting on their life preservers.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:56 PM on May 22, 2017 [20 favorites]

Perhaps the glowing orb is the lasting peach he promised?
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:57 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

WaPo: ‘Radical Islamic terrorism,’ Trump said over and over. But not in Saudi Arabia.

That Trump slipped by using “Islamic” instead of “Islamist” also suggests a few other possibilities.

“It could've just been that he's used to saying 'radical Islamic terrorism.' Or he himself may not be aware of the distinction,” Hamid said.

Or, as what reporters were told, it was a simple mistake brought by exhaustion.

Remember that time he said Clinton doesn't have the stamina to be President?
posted by zachlipton at 12:57 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Nixon invites Biff to the Oval Office and personally thanks him for his assistance.

Worth noting that Richard Nixon actually did write a letter to Donald Trump in 1987, telling him "whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!"
posted by designbot at 12:59 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Worth noting that Richard Nixon actually did write a letter to Donald Trump in 1987, telling him "whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!"

Guess where that letter is now
posted by theodolite at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

I had almost forgotten about this amidst all the other news, but one thing to look forward to this week is the release of the CBO score for the revised, even-more-awful AHCA, which may force the House to vote on it again if it isn't found to meet the requirements for reconciliation.

So. much. winning. either
[list of 2 ways this could go]

There's really three ways. The third possibility is that they just decide to completely ignore the rules and pass a bill through reconciliation that isn't revenue neutral. So this score could come back indicating that the House needs to revote on it... and they just don't. What happens then? Who the fuck knows? But the people who control congress control the system that enforces these rules. Is there a judicial recourse? Again, WTFK?
posted by phearlez at 1:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

The occasion was the opening of a new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, based in Riyadh, and the orb was in fact a translucent globe, with the world’s waters represented in light gray and the continents in black. Its purpose appeared to be decorative.

The globe did not appear to have any magical powers, but when the king and Mr. Trump touched it, background music of the kind that might accompany a reality show’s elimination sequence or introduce a cable news program soared and pulsed. The screens glowed with statistical displays and videos about fighting terrorism. An unnamed official who narrated the features of the new control center said the displays used artificial intelligence to track, in real time, news reports and online statements.

Every explanation of that orb fails to address my central question, which is WHY. I felt like I was losing my grip on reality yesterday as I kept asking people who posted it on twitter what on earth it meant and no one would answer. They just kept parroting that it was the opening of the center without any further explanation. That did not help my massive anxiety.

It would have been more intelligible if they'd just said HAIL THE ORB instead of the non-response that the media is providing about WHY.
posted by winna at 1:03 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

Wait, what would be a poetic way to describe a peach in the sun?

a Langston Hughes first draft?

ITYM a Lorraine Hansberry first draft?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

When I read that Trump's speech said that Islam was one of the world's great faiths, my first thought was "does Trump know that followers of Islam are called Muslims?"

This week is when Trump really highlights how many sides of his mouth he can speak out of. Narcissists will always try to please those in front of them to get praise in return, even if it directly contradicts what they just told someone else to elicit the same reaction from them.
posted by scalefree at 1:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

So if you are King Salman, a Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology is just the kind of thing you want to have on the shelf. It looks good from the outside, because - terrorism. And what they appear to do is content monitoring, which you can claim is spying on the bad guys, but is simple population control. You can be pretty sure that if you are Saudi, they know what you say and do online. With the anti-terrorist veneer, though, it is the kind of idea that might spread . . .
posted by stonepharisee at 1:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

Hellmouth/Wilkins 2020

"It Eats You Starting With Your Bottom"
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [24 favorites]

Margaret Sullivan: Sinclair’s TV deal would be good for Trump. And his new FCC is clearing the way.

When French voters resoundingly elected a centrist president rather than a right-leaning antiglobalist this month, one reason may have been the nation’s news media.

As a French newspaper editor commented: “We don’t have a Fox News in France.”

The United States certainly does have one. Pretty soon, it may have the equivalent of two.

posted by zachlipton at 1:09 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

considering how much distortion oil revenue causes in an economy, i would not be surprised if the entire Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology is left running with all the lights and orbs on and no staff until someone else decides to build the next Burj Khalifa on the spot.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:10 PM on May 22, 2017

GLOWING ORB/SINKHOLE 2020
posted by Omon Ra at 1:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

That would just be *kisses fingers*

Someone should notify the Unicode Committee, because that needs to be in the next batch of emoji.

💋👌

Also 🌎🍑 in our time!
posted by Existential Dread at 1:13 PM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

currently waiting for somebody to photoshop that glowing orb into a glowing peach...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:16 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

It would have been more intelligible if they'd just said HAIL THE ORB instead of the non-response that the media is providing about WHY.

Why was Wolf Blitzer presented as a hologram? It's just spectacle, made more effective by the fact that it's weird.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:16 PM on May 22, 2017

Less dramatically, the same document speaks of America's commitment to "the Israeli's security," without specifying which one.

Haim Saban
posted by OverlappingElvis at 1:17 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have no idea what this tweet means, but now I really want to work for the Washington Post. And if anyone can decipher it, please let me know.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:18 PM on May 22, 2017 [21 favorites]

And what they appear to do is content monitoring, which you can claim is spying on the bad guys, but is simple population control. You can be pretty sure that if you are Saudi, they know what you say and do online. With the anti-terrorist veneer, though, it is the kind of idea that might spread . . .
...way ahead of you.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:19 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Are we sure it's an orb and not a shrieking white-hot sphere of pure rage?
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 1:21 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

roomthreeseventeen: this.
posted by prefpara at 1:21 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

And this.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:23 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Every explanation of that orb fails to address my central question, which is WHY. I felt like I was losing my grip on reality yesterday as I kept asking people who posted it on twitter what on earth it meant and no one would answer. They just kept parroting that it was the opening of the center without any further explanation.

OTOH, it's an arm of the Saudi government and it will do however much or little the Saudi government wants it to do, OTOH, it's a Potemkin village, a purely decorative movie set designed to humor a President to whom everything is reality TV, on the third hand, it's the home of a huge ever growing pulsating brain that rules from the center of the Ultraworld.

HAIL THE ORB!!
posted by octobersurprise at 1:23 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

I mean, other countries seem to have a free press and freedom of speech without this insanity, right?

Real question: does any other country have as broad a free speech law as the First Amendment?
posted by OverlappingElvis at 1:26 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He "Just Got Back From the Middle East"
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:26 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

I mean, other countries seem to have a free press and freedom of speech without this insanity, right?

I have some bad news for you about where Rupert Murdoch started.
posted by Etrigan at 1:27 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Uh, the hivemind tends to know a lot of stuff, so...

CAN we get rid of Fox News? Like in general...and I don't know how this would work...but allowing media monopolies that function as propaganda arms without any obligation to tell the truth is not really sustainable for a republic, no?

I mean, other countries seem to have a free press and freedom of speech without this insanity, right? How is this workably regulated?

Well, when this was attempted in Venezuela, many people did not take it well. I doubt it would go better for a militantly liberal republic, as much as something like that can be imagined outside of the 19th century, than for a militantly socialist one.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 1:28 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Real question: does any other country have as broad a free speech law as the First Amendment?

I don't know! Literally the only thing I remember about the first amendment is that it doesn't extend to shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater, and even then I don't know how immediate the reasonable cause and effect needs to be. But it really does seem as though we have a bunch of assholes screaming "Fire!" on a national scale for profit.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

In my original post I meant is there anyway we can regulate something like cable networks (or Facebook, frankly) within the scope of the first amendment. Like is there a reasonable argument there, or are we just perma-fucked.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:31 PM on May 22, 2017

The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He 'Just Got Back From the Middle East'

וזרועותי בהחלט עייפות
posted by kirkaracha at 1:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [46 favorites]

The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He "Just Got Back From the Middle East"

No Word Yet on Whether His Arms Were Tired.

Edit: dammit!
posted by The Tensor at 1:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

The Fairness Doctrine seemed to do fine for about 40 years until Republicans started whining that it took away freeze peach.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [33 favorites]

"The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He 'Just Got Back From the Middle East'"

וזרועותי בהחלט עייפות

💋👌
posted by Existential Dread at 1:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

@tedlieu: "As a Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I can confirm on the record that Israel is in the Middle East."
posted by zachlipton at 1:37 PM on May 22, 2017 [78 favorites]

The rumor mill says that Donald and Melania have loathed each other for years now, and rarely spend time together outside public appearances.

A Politico story linked in the previous thread mentioned that Melania Trump spends significant amounts of time looking for bits of press coverage that make 45 look bad, and telling him about them.

What's interesting about this, to me, is that it's the exact opposite of what the staffers say they do to keep (the vaguest possible semblance of) a lid on him.

Which makes me wonder: Is she fucking with him? Is she trying, in her soft-spoken and impeccably composed way, to get him to shit himself, violently and publicly, as much as possible?

She's not just a pampered little doll, after all. Plagiarized speech aside, folks she's done business with say she's quite smart and highly focused. I think's quite possible that some of the meltdowns we've seen have been the product of Melania getting her licks in.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:39 PM on May 22, 2017 [34 favorites]

What's Hebrew for "bless your heart"?
posted by orrnyereg at 1:40 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

currently waiting for somebody to photoshop that glowing orb into a glowing peach...

There is absolutely no way that 2017-me could make 2016-me understand this sentence.

Or hell, I guess pre-24 hour me would be lost as well. I don't like this timeline.
posted by bibliowench at 1:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Have we already noticed that @realDonaldTrump's twitter profile pic has changed to an image of him at the Western Wall?
posted by Westringia F. at 1:41 PM on May 22, 2017

Ted is really the happy warrior in this dark timeline.
posted by angrycat at 1:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Sinclair’s TV deal would be good for Trump. As a French newspaper editor commented: “We don’t have a Fox News in France.” The United States certainly does have one. Pretty soon, it may have the equivalent of two.

Come on, would either of the "Liberal Media" entities that own the other two cable news channels hesitate for a second to sell to Sinclair if the money's good? The potentially-good news is that both of them have been out-rating the FauxNews channel during the Trump scandals, and with Rupert's "pure businessmen/notsomuch idealogues" sons gaining more control, they may yet start leading the True Believers away from their common delusions, just for the advertising $$$. Of course, it will have to be a gradual move.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:42 PM on May 22, 2017

The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He "Just Got Back From the Middle East"

jeez he seems not all that smart

anyone else picking up on this
posted by beerperson at 1:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [59 favorites]

The orb.
posted by klausness at 1:44 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

School here in New York ends about a month from now. It'll be interesting to see if Melania and Barron actually move.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:45 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Which makes me wonder: Is she fucking with him? Is she trying, in her soft-spoken and impeccably composed way, to get him to shit himself, violently and publicly, as much as possible?

Instant headcannon
posted by schadenfrau at 1:46 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

Well, the White House is a big building...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:46 PM on May 22, 2017

Who wouldn't hate Donald Trump? Occam's Razor, people.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:46 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

> Which makes me wonder: Is she fucking with him? Is she trying, in her soft-spoken and impeccably composed way, to get him to shit himself, violently and publicly, as much as possible?

No. She is complicit and I really dislike this fantasy we have of her and Ivanka as secretly working to save the world from him. This isn't specifically directed at you, palmcorder_yajna, but in general: women are capable of being selfish, money grubbing assholes too, just like men!

She may hate him and want to undermine him (though the story linked about her scouring the media for negative stories about him frames it as her protecting him, so I don't think that's proof) but she's not doing it because she gives a shit about anyone else. So far she hasn't done a single thing to stop him from hurting an untold number of people and slapping away his hand isn't going to save people from his massively harmful policies.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 1:48 PM on May 22, 2017 [59 favorites]

Hasn't he already made his two-so-far ex-wives sign NDIs?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:49 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

She may hate him and want to undermine him (though the story linked about her scouring the media for negative stories about him frames it as her protecting him, so I don't think that's proof) but she's not doing it because she gives a shit about anyone else.

For the record, I absolutely do not think that Melania gives a shit about anyone besides herself and her son. If she's trying to get him to humiliate himself, it's most likely for her own gratification, and not because she's some kind of secret hero of the republic. I probably should have made that clear.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:54 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

She is complicit and I really dislike this fantasy we have of her and Ivanka as secretly working to save the world from him...in general: women are capable of being selfish, money grubbing assholes too, just like men!

I feel like there's a big part of the country that projects what they want to see on Ivanka and Melania as much as another part does with Donald.
posted by bongo_x at 1:55 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

In my original post I meant is there anyway we can regulate something like cable networks (or Facebook, frankly) within the scope of the first amendment.

Well, that would certainly be the end of things. Please don't make me fight for Fox News rights. I'm pretty sure every time free speech is shut down it's "for the good of the country".
posted by bongo_x at 1:57 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

Breaking now that Rep. Cummings (MD) is claiming that Flynn lied during his security clearance interview.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [48 favorites]

Oh Melania is still a monstrous asshole. I just love the idea that there's anyone in Donald's life who deliberately tries to make him as miserable as possible. Let us have that.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

Go, Elijah, go!
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:03 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

I know the answer but this has to be asked: why is there no video of Ivanka giving the speech?
posted by scalefree at 2:04 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sinclair brokered a deal with the Trump campaign to get "straighter coverage". A deal that they offered to the Clinton campaign without reply. They've pushed must-air packages on local market stations. They're bumping up against FCC law with market share limits and household reach with their proposed purchase of Tribune. Lo and behold, Ajit Pai is at the helm of the FCC and has already slated revoking rules about station ownership and market presence. They've hired someone direct from the Trump Campaign to be a political analyst (conveniently packed into must air programming). So you'll get one station in a large area building programming for most swaths of DMAs and professionally produced packages from DC.
posted by msbutah at 2:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Have we already noticed that @realDonaldTrump's twitter profile pic has changed to an image of him at the Western Wall?

And that his yarmulke has been cropped out of the image?
posted by pjenks at 2:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

My sympathy for the grown-ass members of the Trump family is limited. I think they are all complicit to one degree or another (though we hear so little from Tiffany that her complicity is probably limited). The only one I am going to spare sympathy for is Barron, who is a child, is therefore not capable of being complicit, and in any case did not choose his parents.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know the answer but this has to be asked: why is there no video of Ivanka giving the speech?

Yesterday's? Here's a random YouTube channel that has the full thing. Or was there another speech since then?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump close to choosing outside counsel for Russia investigation

The attorneys who have spoken to the White House and are widely seen as the finalists are Marc E. Kasowitz; Robert J. Guiffra Jr.; Reid H. Weingarten; and Theodore B. Olson, the people said.

posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Rarely is the question asked: Is our Ivanka speeching?
posted by komara at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

Flynn lying is good news for Pence and Trump. Plausible deniability.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ivanka Trump Saudi Arabia Speech May 21, 2017
posted by erisfree at 2:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's [real]: Official White House Document Promotes Goal of "Lasting Peach" Between Israelis and Palestinians
posted by zachlipton at 1:58 PM on May 22

Oooh, he's going to blow his top when he finds out we sold 110 billion Doll Hairs worth of arms to Saudi Arabia.
posted by onehalfjunco at 2:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

Let the nightly bombs begin to drop
posted by rc3spencer at 2:11 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Flynn lying is good news for Pence and Trump. Plausible deniability.

doesn't plausible deniability fly out the window when they were warned by Yates and still didn't can his ass for 18 days? plus trump still insists that he would hire flynn back in a hot minute if everyone would just calm down.

this is bad for flynn and bad for anyone who vouched for him, including trump ("he's a good guy")
posted by murphy slaw at 2:13 PM on May 22, 2017 [21 favorites]

doesn't plausible deniability fly out the window when they were warned by Yates and still didn't can his ass for 18 days?

Yes, for sure.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yesterday's? Here's a random YouTube channel that has it. Or was there another speech since then?

I looked for it yesterday & didn't find it, haven't seen it in any coverage since. Thanks.
posted by scalefree at 2:16 PM on May 22, 2017

In my original post I meant is there anyway we can regulate something like cable networks (or Facebook, frankly) within the scope of the first amendment.

I have a notion that there's somehow a way to regulate what can be claimed as "news" without restricting free speech. Like, you can say what you want, but you can't claim to be capital-n News unless you adhere to certain standards. Lawyers can say whatever they want, but there are a lot of circumstances where they have to be very clear that it's not legal advice.

No idea if it's constitutional or even a good idea, but it's something I think about.

Deciding the qualifications for what qualifies as News® is a whole 'nother mess, of course.
posted by stet at 2:17 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

By comparison, the entire state budget right now is $180 billion. I want to see it happen, but that's a huge ugly number, and nobody has yet put forward a plan to raise it.

That analysis doesn't count the $100-150B that employers spend per year that would be freed up by public healthcare that can go towards a public healthcare system.

There's not that much difference once you factor in the revenue of the private health insurance system.
posted by Talez at 2:19 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

doesn't plausible deniability fly out the window when they were warned by Yates and still didn't can his ass for 18 days?

You have to remember, these guys probably think crossing their fingers and saying "King's X" absolves them of any criminality. And their base will agree.

I have a notion that there's somehow a way to regulate what can be claimed as "news" without restricting free speech.

I love it. Fox will have to change their last name to Nooz. Like Cheez Whiz, because there's no real cheese in it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:20 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

I looked for it yesterday & didn't find it,

It's hilarious how quickly we get used to C-SPAN and Twitter and other live streams. My sister was a part of a news segment in her home town this morning and I had to wait a whole! 3! hours! before the station posted the clip.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:20 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

The attorneys who have spoken to the White House and are widely seen as the finalists are Marc E. Kasowitz; Robert J. Guiffra Jr.; Reid H. Weingarten; and Theodore B. Olson, the people said.

For lawyer-watchers playing along at home:

- Kasowitz is, y'know, that Kasowitz in Kasowitz Benson Torres
- Giuffra is Sullivan Cromwell
- Weingarten is Steptoe & Johnson
- Olson is that Ted Olson of Deflategate, Perry v. Schwarzennegar, and yes, Bush v. Gore fame. Currently at Gibson & Dunn.

IIRC, Kasowitz Benson Torres is Trump's long-standing major litigation counsel. Giuffra is a white-collar crime specialist. Weingarten does white collar but also general litigation. Olson is Olson.
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:21 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

re: Ivanka's speech. What was the circumstances that led to Fox New's 6pm news anchor (Bret Baier) introducing Ivanaka? That seems odd and out of place.
posted by mmascolino at 2:21 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

- Olson is, y'know, that Ted Olson of Deflategate, Perry v. Schwarzennegar, and yes, Bush v. Gore fame. Currently at Gibson & Dunn.

God I hope his wife threatens to divorce him if he helps that man.
posted by Talez at 2:22 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here's the letter from Rep. Cummings to Rep. Chaffetz requesting that he subpoena Flynn (not that Flynn will comply) and the White House and laying out the problem:

Specifically, the Committee has obtained a Report of Investigation dated March 14, 2016 showing that General Flynn told security clearence investigators that he was paid by "U.S. companies" when he traveled to Moscow in December 2015 to dine at a dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actual source of the funds for General Flynn's trip was not a U.S. company, but the Russian media propaganda arm, RT.

They have documents showing that RT paid Flynn more than $45,000 through the speaker's bureau, and RT directly paid for his airfare, lodging, and expenses. Flynn also denied contact with foreign government officials on his SF-86 form, stating in an interview he only had "insubstantial contact" on his foreign trips, something that is pretty flatly untrue.
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on May 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

One America News: Three White House staffers have been identified for leaking classified info. POTUS will fire 'multiple people' when he returns to DC.

Does anyone know how reliable OANN is? I really, really hope one of the leakers is Spicer.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:23 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

School here in New York ends about a month from now. It'll be interesting to see if Melania and Barron actually move.

They're moving, Barron is enrolled in a DC-area private school:

The school is known for research-informed teaching and the use of neuroscience and other brain-based research, both to help high-achieving students unlock their potential and to tailor education to children with learning disabilities or differences.
posted by Rumple at 2:25 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Does anyone know how reliable OANN is?

It's not.
posted by theodolite at 2:26 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

God I hope his wife threatens to divorce him if he helps that man.

Okay, that comment was a bit beyond the pale. (If you didn't know, his wife died in the 9/11 attacks.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:26 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

They're moving

And stay out.
posted by Artw at 2:28 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

HHS posted its budget summary early [since taken down] and it's looking like it calls for an additional $610 billion in cuts to Medicaid on top of the AHCA's massive cuts. The document echos the Republican calls to focus it just on "the elderly, people with disabilities, children, and pregnant women," because fuck everyone else I guess?
posted by zachlipton at 2:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

- Olson is, y'know, that Ted Olson of Deflategate, Perry v. Schwarzennegar, and yes, Bush v. Gore fame. Currently at Gibson & Dunn.

God I hope his wife threatens to divorce him if he helps that man.

I mean she stayed with him through Tom Brady, so....

(I kid because I love.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:29 PM on May 22, 2017

Okay, that comment was a bit beyond the pale. (If you didn't know, his wife died in the 9/11 attacks.)

Per the Wikipedia article linked above, he remarried in 2006.
posted by anastasiav at 2:30 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Okay, that comment was a bit beyond the pale. (If you didn't know, his wife died in the 9/11 attacks.)

He has remarried.
posted by mmascolino at 2:30 PM on May 22, 2017

HHS posted its budget summary early [since taken down] and it's looking like it calls for an additional $610 billion in cuts to Medicaid on top of the AHCA's massive cuts. The document echos the Republican calls to focus it just on "the elderly, people with disabilities, children, and pregnant women," because fuck everyone else I guess?

Too many people are going to die unnecessarily.

Greatest country in the world my fucking ass.
posted by Talez at 2:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

He has remarried.

To a staunch democrat. Hence my comment.
posted by Talez at 2:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

> And that his yarmulke has been cropped out of the image?

Lest this become A Thing, the image itself is not cropped, but some browsers don't display the whole thing. On iOS safari, the kippah he is wearing is plainly visible.
posted by Westringia F. at 2:56 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Step Around the Benghazi Trap
As the Trump scandals deepen, Democrats should learn from Republican mistakes: If you let your expectations get too far ahead of what’s known, confirmation bias can lead you into an a universe of alternative facts.
...
It may have taken four years and eight investigations for their Benghazi insanity to play out, but when exactly did Republicans start making the fatal mistake that eventually drove them insane?

Early days, I think. Right about where we are now.

Isn't the fact that Trump and all of his merry men are lawyering up a contradiction of this?

Earlier, this comment included a long rant about how ridiculous this tour of holy lands is, but I gave up thinking because my anger overwhelmed me.

I do think a huge arms for infrastructure deal with the biggest sponsor of terror in the world is a scandal, but I am just not able to calm down enough to make an informed statement about it. I'm waiting for some smart person to bring it on.
posted by mumimor at 2:58 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Meanwhile, a sinkhole has formed in front of Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort

He's supposed to be gone all summer.

He's actually OUT of the country right now.

And he's still mucking up traffic.

Sinkholes happen, but MAN. Makes me want to sell and move to Oregon or Colorado or something.
posted by tilde at 3:01 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Does anyone know how reliable OANN is? I really, really hope one of the leakers is Spicer.

OANN now says "Names are given to the Office of Government Ethics, who will investigate further."

This is Marshal of the Supreme Court-style moon law stuff: OGE doesn't investigate leaks to the best of my knowledge, and the Administration is currently in a battle with the ethics office over oversight and transparency. If they want to fire people, they can fire people, and I don't know why they would wait. But this report is garbage.
posted by zachlipton at 3:04 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

I wish I could add something meaningful to this thread but I'm too busy favoriting the brilliant comments of others.

Lasting peach needs to be a B&J flavor.
posted by datawrangler at 3:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

> Meanwhile, a sinkhole has formed in front of Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort

This is why you don't defy the Orb.
posted by guiseroom at 3:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

In (more) "Obvious Metaphors for the Presidency" news, from the WaPo: A belligerent man in a Trump hat was kicked off a flight as a crowd chanted: ‘Lock him up!’

The man took an aisle seat three rows in front of her. She said he refused to let anyone sit beside him.

“He wanted to sit in the whole row by himself,” Zimmerman said.

Her video shows him leaning back in his seat — hands folded behind his red hat, feet propped on someone else’s arm rest — while a woman in crutches and many others stand in the aisle, snap photos and glare.

posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 3:09 PM on May 22, 2017 [52 favorites]

If they want to fire people, they can fire people, and I don't know why they would wait.

I believe the Ritual of Purging (a.k.a. DeFlynnestration) customarily takes 18 days.
posted by Freon at 3:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

A belligerent man in a Trump hat was kicked off a flight as a crowd chanted: ‘Lock him up!’

One way for United to deflect its bad press: find someone with even worse press.
posted by AndrewInDC at 3:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

CAN we get rid of Fox News? Like in general...

Sure, by boycotting them and making them lose money.

I mean, other countries seem to have a free press and freedom of speech without this insanity, right?

Their freedom of speech laws aren't as strong as the USA's laws which (as others alluded to) are among the strongest, if not the strongest, in the world.
posted by Justinian at 3:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

WaPo: Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:26 PM on May 22, 2017 [60 favorites]

CNN: Trump to Comey: Throw journalists in jail

President Donald Trump told then-FBI Director James Comey he should throw journalists in jail during the same meeting in which he asked Comey to end the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a source close to Comey has told CNN.

In the February 14 meeting in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration about news stories detailing his private conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia the previous month, saying Comey needed to go after the leakers, the source said.
When Comey tried to explain to the President that leak investigations are difficult to pursue because law enforcement officers often end up having to threaten to jail journalists, Trump said he should throw the journalists in jail, the source said.

posted by Mister Fabulous at 3:28 PM on May 22, 2017 [36 favorites]

A peachy reference.

CAN we get rid of Fox News? Like in general...
Sure, by boycotting them and making them lose money.
I've always wanted and never been able to find a good reference for a fairly complete and reliable list of FauxNews advertisers to boycott, but I'm halfway afraid I'd run out of things I can buy. The "Boycott Trump" app seems to have all the advertisers on The Apprentice and the other shows from the same production company...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo: Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence

Deeper in that article is more evidence of obstruction:

In addition to the requests to Coats and Rogers, senior White House officials sounded out top intelligence officials about the possibility of intervening directly with Comey to encourage the FBI to drop its probe of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. The officials said the White House appeared uncertain about its power to influence the FBI.

“Can we ask him to shut down the investigation? Are you able to assist in this matter?” one official said of the line of questioning from the White House.

posted by zachlipton at 3:30 PM on May 22, 2017 [20 favorites]

The "top intelligence officials" don't have to give these stories to the press. It looks to me as if they're coordinating with each other for political ends. That's not good, even if the Trump presidency is worse.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

From the WaPo boom of the day: "Senior intelligence officials also saw the March requests as a threat to the independence of U.S. spy agencies, which are supposed to remain insulated from partisan issues. The problem wasn’t so much asking them to issue statements, it was asking them to issue false statements about an ongoing investigation,” a former senior intelligence official said of the request to Coats."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:36 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

It looks to me as if they're coordinating with each other for political ends.

If saving the country from destruction by its enemies is "political ends," then sign me up.
posted by diogenes at 3:40 PM on May 22, 2017 [36 favorites]

It's bad precedent, to be sure, but I'm not certain what the better alternative is. Maintain silence in the face of bald-faced lies from the administration? Maintain silence when/if they think the republic is endangered? The WaPo article suggests to me that they wanted to stay out of it in public, but now they're giving these stories to the press in an effort to maintain and protect their independence from the administration. The political end here is maintenance of our institutions.
posted by yasaman at 3:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [30 favorites]

I mean, yes, top intelligence officials coordinating to take down a President is indeed disturbing. Top intelligence officials revealing that the President asked them to do things that they found to be deeply improper if not illegal, on the other hand. Remember that Nixon tried to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the Watergate burglary. That's exactly what's happened again here.
posted by zachlipton at 3:42 PM on May 22, 2017 [44 favorites]

The political end here is maintenance of our institutions.

And conducting some semblance of the oversight function that the Republican congress has utterly refused to fulfill.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

Poll: Dem up 7 Points in Georgia House Race
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [56 favorites]

It's bad precedent, to be sure, but I'm not certain what the better alternative is.

Particularly since the nature of the inquiry and the identity of the person sitting in the Attorney General's office means that they have to question who else is already compromised.
posted by AndrewInDC at 3:44 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

you can say what you want, but you can't claim to be capital-n News unless you adhere to certain standards.

The problem is they're all perfectly capable of saying, "The news the government doesn't WANT you to hear" and then their viewership doubles.
posted by corb at 3:45 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Republicans are willing to overlook massive transgressions by Trump, but it's possible that there's a limit. Information like this serves to push them closer to that limit.
posted by diogenes at 3:48 PM on May 22, 2017

How the heck are things so bad that the bit about the White House doing the exact same thing Nixon did during Watergate (trying to get intelligence officials to get the FBI to back off) is buried in paragraph 13 of the story?
posted by zachlipton at 3:49 PM on May 22, 2017 [32 favorites]

That would just be *kisses fingers*

Someone should notify the Unicode Committee, because that needs to be in the next batch of emoji.

😘👌

[surely this]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 3:51 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

I'm still Tehhunding through the dredges of the last thread, but it's my birthday, so according to age old MeFi custom (because what is time anymore?), I'm registering my wish. It's not much, just that my Kid doesn't have to live in an Cormac McCarthy wasteland. That is all.
posted by Ruki at 3:54 PM on May 22, 2017 [69 favorites]

Daily Beast: Fox News Staffers ‘Embarrassed’ by Hannity’s Conspiracy Theory Crusade

tl;dr everyone at Fox is super embarrassed that Hannity won't stop talking about Seth Rich! but not enough to stop him or prevent other on-air personalities from picking up the thread!
posted by murphy slaw at 3:55 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

The really outrageous bit about "doing the exact same thing Nixon did during Watergate" is that we're now operating in the post-Church Committee intelligence world. That would, I suspect, make the mere suggestion that the (e.g.) CIA could or would just put the screws to a domestic law enforcement agency distasteful in the extreme.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:57 PM on May 22, 2017

It's not much, just that my Kid doesn't have to live in an Cormac McCarthy wasteland.

the soft bias of low expectations strikes again
posted by murphy slaw at 3:58 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Republicans are willing to overlook massive transgressions by Trump, but it's possible that there's a limit.

The limit is the analysis that Trump is causing so much damage to the Republican Brand that it will lose them Congress and a lot of local races. A solid Ossoff win in a fairly-Red part of Georgia is a large step in that direction.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:59 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

The limit also has to do with trying to calculate how bad it will get- if donnie goes down for treason, spying, or laundering sex trade money, those who broke away sooner will have less of the stench on them. There will be a tipping point where it will be too late to defend him, or even equivocate.
posted by vrakatar at 4:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Republicans are willing to overlook massive transgressions by Trump, but it's possible that there's a limit.

Highlighting because it's an important qualifier.
Remember that their strategy for the last 8+ years has been to double down at every turn. And it's getting increasingly clear that key figures like Pence, Ryan, McConnell, McCarthy, Priebus (as head of the RNC) and others knew this whole campaign was dirty all along.

They doubled down and undermined Obamacare, got away with stealing a Supreme Court seat, and ultimately got the White House. Also, literally all of these guys & the majority of the rest have benefited from straight-white-male privilege all their lives (and wealth, too). So far the lesson they've all gotten is to just keep pushing and things will turn out for them.

I really hope we'll eventually see some breaks in the ranks, but I won't be shocked if they stick with it 'til the bitter end.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

Breaking now: Special Counsel Mueller has been briefed on Comey memos
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:07 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Finally, finally, I reach the end of the current thread!... two days after my birthday, so I never got to register my own birthday wishes. My actual birthday party is next weekend -- does that count? If so, you know what I want.

Anyway, a Jon Ossoff sign just appeared on my porch as if by magic (I'm in the DeKalb part of GA-6). Let me add a resounding Ossoff victory to that belated birthday wish. I don't mind that the present will be late. I'm OK with that.
posted by litlnemo at 4:09 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

the manchester incident probably deserves its own thread once details emerge. maybe we can hold off on speculation in this one?
posted by murphy slaw at 4:09 PM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

And the outright ratfucking has begun in my fucking home state.
posted by NoxAeternum at 4:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

Got it! Bridgegate isn't why Reek got the boot - this is. Come for the picture, stay for the hindsightilicious body:

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who attended a recent classified security briefing as an advisor to Donald Trump, interrupted intelligence officials so many times that Chris Christie had to intervene, according to a Thursday report from NBC News.

The Aug. 17 briefing at the FBI’s New York bureau, which was delivered by career staffers of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, prompted repeated questions from Flynn, three anonymous sources familiar with the matter told NBC.

The interruptions were enough to prompt the New Jersey governor, who also attended the briefing as a Trump adviser, to touch Flynn’s arm in an effort to calm the general down, one source said.

Both presidential candidates have received classified intelligence briefings in recent weeks.

In a Wednesday night Commander-In-Chief forum on NBC News, Trump said he learned in the briefing that President Barack Obama didn’t follow the advice of policy experts, saying, “I was very, very surprised.”

But members of the national security community were quick to point out that intelligence officials do not offer policy advice. An anonymous source told the network that officials are even trained not to allow their body language to betray their personal opinions, as Trump claimed at the forum.

Critics also slammed Trump for discussing the content of the briefing at all.

Michael Morrell, a former Bush administration acting CIA director who now supports Clinton, called Trump’s remarks “highly inappropriate” and said he “crossed a long standing red line respected by both parties.”

Mmmmmm that's good hindsight! Reek was mean to Flynnsie! He ought to eat submission meatloaf! Also, ("Note to self, leak everything they tell me from the get-go")
posted by petebest at 4:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Daily Beast: Fox News Staffers ‘Embarrassed’ by Hannity’s Conspiracy Theory Crusade

Wait, now they're embarrassed? How about the years of racist Birther bullshit? They should be embarrassed for working at Fox News, period.
posted by joedan at 4:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

by the way, a general comment - is it just me? - it seems like the more i read and hear about our cheeto in chief and the more i'm confronted with his black hole soul of stupidity, the dumber, less witty, less thoughtful and less focused i feel

It is not just you
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

one narrative thread that is emerging in trump's alleged attempts as obstruction of justice:

he is a total outsider in washington who seems to think that the respect people have for the office of the president will cause them to comply with clearly illegal requests, and he's surprised and frustrated when it doesn't work out.

I'm so angry that this isn't slapped down immediately at every turn. Last I checked, ignorance of the law was not a valid defense. Beyond that, how many times has Trump been involved in lawsuits? He's 70. He's allegedly educated. He has people advising him. That fucker does not get to claim he doesn't know better.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

he is a total outsider in washington who seems to think that the respect people have for the office of the president will cause them to comply with clearly illegal requests, and he's surprised and frustrated when it doesn't work out.

He can't believe Washington isn't as corrupt as his own operations are. It's genuinely hard for him, I bet, to believe that other people aren't as snakey as he is.
posted by fatbird at 4:16 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

Mueller briefed on secret Comey memos, source says
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 4:21 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Chaffetz is resigning for a reason. The actual law is catching up with Republican unwillingness to follow said laws.

scaryblackdeath is spot on but the Republican leaders are as wound up as Trumpco in this mess now.
posted by Max Power at 4:22 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

maybe we can hold off on speculation in this one?

Or to quote @IrvineWelsh: "Terrible stuff from Manchester. I wish all the creepy twitter ghouls who already know all the causes of this would fuck off."

(and the major twitter threads are full of horrific point scoring and dick waving).

Still there is a lot of people pitching in as well:

For all updates on the incident at Manchester Arena please follow @gmpolice on Twitter

Holiday Inn Manchester is taking in children without parents. Try giving them a ring(UK code if your abroad +44) 0161 836 9600

BREAKING NEWS: manchester taxis and cabs offering free rides home for people around #manchester Arena. One love.
posted by Buntix at 4:24 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

the respect people have for the office of the president

What respect? For the office of the President of the United States? An office that can be held, however poorly, by Donald Trump? How do you respect something like that?
posted by Naberius at 4:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

What's Hebrew for "bless your heart"?

I don't know about Hebrew, but in Yiddish, I believe it's "Gey kaken afn yam."
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Let's hold off on more Manchester stuff for the moment; we don't know anything right now and the traditional problems with Breaking Newsfilter apply.]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:29 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Sessions' Senate testimony canceled this week. They're citing a "scheduling conflict," but I don't know you guys. It's almost like they're trying to avoid questions or something.
posted by zachlipton at 4:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [39 favorites]

NYT: Alone on the Open Road: Truckers Feel Like ‘Throwaway People’: At a moment when President Trump has ignited a national discussion of blue-collar labor and even climbed into a truck during a White House event, trucking, which was once among the best-paying such jobs, has become low-wage, grinding, unhealthy work. Turnover at large for-hire fleets hauling freight by the truckload — the backbone of the industry — runs an astonishing 80 percent a year, according to a trade group. Looming over the horizon is a future in which self-driving trucks threaten to eliminate many drivers’ livelihoods.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Plausible deniability (sure I used a slur, but my intentions were pure!) makes it easy to get out of hate crimes charges: "The shooting death of a Richmond musician [named Willie Sims] is no longer being prosecuted as a hate crime, after a grand jury indicted three men on murder, assault and robbery charges but refused the prosecution’s request to say the homicide was motivated by the victim’s race. . . . Cooper [lawyer of defendant Porter-Kelly] said Porter-Kelly and his friends used the N-word as a term of endearment and didn’t mean it in a hateful way. He described the homicide as a tragedy and said prosecutors had assumed it was a hate crime because it happened four days after Donald Trump was elected president."

One of the commenters says, as if it makes a difference, "he used the word, 'nigga' not ['N-word']. [Cooper] described the word "nigga" as an idiom, not a term of endearment."
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 4:36 PM on May 22, 2017

My expectation that officials refrain from political manipulation may be unrealistic under the circumstances, with a compromised Administration and a legislature that's unwilling to investigate. I believe the USA will get past this, but if you allow security officials to manipulate the political process on this occasion, how do you put the genie back in the bottle? If you rely on security officials' discretion, then how can you keep them constrained when they abuse it?

Vladimir Putin notoriously rose to power through his earlier positions in the FSB (successor to the KGB); a rogue security establishment is at least as dangerous as a rogue President, because you don't get to vote for intelligence officials and they can potentially install (or bring down) Presidents of their choosing. I'm kind of glad that these guys are coming forward, but at some point there will have to be a house-cleaning and for the good of the Republic they're going to have to go.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:45 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

the soft bias of low expectations strikes again

Kid was born in December of 2001. I've spent Kid's entire life wishing for something better than a Cormac McCarthy wasteland. Not sorry for using my MeFi birthday wish on that. (I commented in an earlier thread about the CBO score coming out for the AHCA, but that has been, go figure, delayed.)

I'm going back to the Fanfare threads now, because it's my birthday and I want to be happy for once.
posted by Ruki at 4:47 PM on May 22, 2017 [22 favorites]

Wait, now they're embarrassed? How about the years of racist Birther bullshit? They should be embarrassed for working at Fox News, period.

How about their very start: the Clinton impeachment. Monica Lewinsky had some things to say about Roger Ailes today in the NYT Opinion section (paywall).
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:49 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

Some analysis on the latest WaPo article. This quote from the analysis was of interest to me:

The increasingly alarmed comments from people on the inside of this unfolding drama suggest they, too, would like to see some kind of accountability for the president's recent actions.

zrail: Wait, so you're saying Mar-a-Lago is actually built over a hellmouth? That explains not only the Trump presidency but also the general wacky terribleness that tends to happen only in Florida.

I believe you have misunderstood on which side of the hellmouth Mar-a-Lago is located.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:52 PM on May 22, 2017 [53 favorites]

I believe the USA will get past this, but if you allow security officials to manipulate the political process on this occasion, how do you put the genie back in the bottle? If you rely on security officials' discretion, then how can you keep them constrained when they abuse it?

These will be interesting questions to ponder if we get through the existential crises we are facing in the present.
posted by diogenes at 5:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

I know we're not supposed to compare Donald to children, but his comments about peace in the middle east being "the toughest" deal of all reveals a cartoon like understanding of, well, everything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

His comments about "good versus evil" were also just totally not thoughtful. (Every thing he thinks is automatically good. People who disagree with him are automatically bad, I think.)
posted by puddledork at 5:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I believe you have misunderstood on which side of the hellmouth Mar-a-Lago is located.

so you're saying it may actually be a portal to a better world?

ADIOS SUCKERS! I'LL SAY "HI" TO PRESIDENT CLINTON FOR YOU!
posted by entropicamericana at 5:15 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

He can't believe Washington isn't as corrupt as his own operations are. It's genuinely hard for him, I bet, to believe that other people aren't as snakey as he is.

We keep being surprised by this but we have to remember that Trump's brain doesn't work like a normal person's and his perception of reality is VERY different than ours. You just need to follow a chain of logic that results in the conclusion that Trump is the greatest and ignore any facts that disagree with that conclusion.

"Every successful organization is run the same way as mine because I am the greatest so everyone wants to be like me. Even if they don't, it is objectively the best way to run any organization because I would run it differently if there were a better way to run it and I don't so it must be the best."

He was told that the best people work in the White House so he assumed that they'd be used to working in an organization that runs like his. So I guess those folks must not have worked at truly successful organizations otherwise they'd have worked in an organization that runs like his.

Like, when people tell him things that he doesn't understand, I think he assumes that they don't understand it either and are just making things up to try to appease him. After all, if he doesn't understand it, no can since he's the best.

Any time objective reality gets in the way, he invents some excuse like that.

He started on 3rd and thinks he hit a triple, every time he tries to steal home he gets another shot and they've been scooching 3rd base close to the plate a little at a time his whole life. The whole time everyone close to him has been telling him he's the greatest to ever play the game. It's resulted in a person that simply doesn't think like a human rational human being.
posted by VTX at 5:16 PM on May 22, 2017 [59 favorites]

How do you respect something like that?

In my feverish utopian dreams this whole thing makes people go "wow we need to roll back the powers of the executive branch NOW" like a roll back to 1980 would be fine, really, but stripping away the respect and mystery of the office would be great.
posted by The Whelk at 5:28 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

stripping away the respect and mystery of the office would be great

Well, that's one down.
posted by contraption at 5:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

MSNBC reporting that Trump has been just been briefed in Israel on the terrorist attack in the UK. It's a little after 3:30am in Israel.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:35 PM on May 22, 2017

> MSNBC reporting that Trump has been just been briefed in Israel on the terrorist attack in the UK. It's a little after 3:30am in Israel.

Well, I feel safer already.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:36 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

NO NEWS RIGHT NOW KTHANX
posted by vrakatar at 5:37 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sorry, no news right now, I'm exhausted.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 5:37 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

MSNBC reporting that Trump has been just been briefed in Israel on the terrorist attack in the UK. It's a little after 3:30am in Israel.

Low grade anxiety nausea I just can't quit you.
posted by corb at 5:38 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

MSNBC reporting that Trump has been just been briefed in Israel on the terrorist attack in the UK. It's a little after 3:30am in Israel.

A preview of how he handles the proverbial 3:00am phone call in the US?
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:39 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

MSNBC reporting that Trump has been just been briefed in Israel on the terrorist attack in the UK. It's a little after 3:30am in Israel.

Hopefully someone had the sense to tiptoe up to his door and whisper the briefing in the keyhole, so they could tell reporters he'd been briefed without him actually, you know, getting involved.
posted by MrVisible at 5:40 PM on May 22, 2017 [16 favorites]

Ugh. Already seen racist cultures circling around this one, no doubt the shithead in chief will be joining them shortly.
posted by Artw at 5:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jinx Emperor SK.
posted by vrakatar at 5:43 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ha! There's video from Trump's "back from the Middle East" comment, and you can see someone almost do a facepalm, then think better of it and do a hair flip instead.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:44 PM on May 22, 2017 [18 favorites]

One comment deleted. Pre-emptive note here, if other people are saying terrible racist shit, we don't need to reproduce that here, and please skip the anti-Ariana Grande remarks, wtf.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:45 PM on May 22, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump only watches Fox, right?
Israeli ad spoofs Trump after speech
(video translation in the body of the article)
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:47 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

According to this link private healthcard expenditures in CA are ~$73 Billion. $400 Million is a steal.
posted by pdoege at 5:48 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

$400 billion, pdoege. Billion.
posted by Justinian at 5:51 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

I know we were asked not to, but I felt this orb photoshop needed to be shown here just to show that it's really, really creepy.
posted by mephron at 5:55 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

What changed, mephron? I can't see a difference from earlier.
posted by Archelaus at 5:58 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

(god, people, give the orb and the sinkhole a rest already, I'd love it for once if a slow news day actually meant a slow trump thread)
posted by ragtag at 6:01 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

Philip Kennicot, WaPo,, reports from his fainting couch: The world is going to $#!+, but our language shouldn’t

The resistance, by indulging profanity, has taken the bait and fallen into a trap. The current crisis, which has come from the right, in the form of a man who thrives on creating crisis, threatens to drag language with it into the abyss. The essence of Trump’s crude rhetoric is a sense of grievance, that someone is always about to get the better of him, or us. For Trump, the social norms are always just breaking, so the response is always to rush the line. The use of profanity doesn’t just register outrage at Trump, it also adds to the general level of crisis — and that’s the danger of it.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:03 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Prediction: Trump uses the tragedy in Manchester as an excuse to cut short his trip.
posted by chris24 at 6:04 PM on May 22, 2017 [12 favorites]

News liveblogs for Manchester:

Guardian

BBC

Telegraph

Facebook has a safety check for it
posted by Buntix at 6:04 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Well, fuck HIM. (Philip Kennicot, that is.)
posted by delfin at 6:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

$400 billion is still a steal comparatively; it's 15% of the state's GDP, which is less than the national average for healthcare expenditures.

Vox had a story today that highlighted some of the polling on this (based on a KFF poll from last year). Nationwide, 50% are in favor of single-payer vs 43% opposed, but it's hard to keep people on board if you tell them they'll have to pay higher taxes to pay for it. Even though many people would come out ahead on the deal compared to the premiums they pay now, it's a tough sell.

The price tag doesn't mean single payer is a bad thing, but it does mean we have to have an honest conversation around where the money is coming from, how much of the cost is picked up by employers, and how the resulting system will be administered. The response to these numbers should be "ok, how do we make it work?" and not some variation of "don't try to scare people with an analysis of the costs."
posted by zachlipton at 6:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

NYT: President Trump's budget proposes deep cuts to programs for the poor, lowers taxes sharply and assumes improbable economic growth:

It calls for an increase in military spending of 10 percent, spending more than $2.6 billion for border security — including $1.6 billion to begin work on a wall on the border with Mexico — as well as huge tax reductions and an improbable promise of 3 percent economic growth.

The wildly optimistic projections balance Mr. Trump’s budget, at least on paper, even though the proposal makes no changes to Social Security’s retirement program or Medicare, the two largest drivers of the nation’s debt.

To compensate, the package contains deep cuts in entitlement programs that would hit hardest many of the economically strained voters whose backing propelled the president into office. Over the next decade, it calls for slashing more than $800 billion from Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor, while slicing $192 billion from nutritional assistance and $272 billion over all from welfare programs. And domestic programs outside of military and homeland security whose budgets are determined annually by Congress would also take a hit, their funding falling by $57 billion, or 10.6 percent.

The symbolism of releasing this budget while the President is out of the country is not great:

The president’s absence, which his aides dismissed as a mere coincidence of the calendar, seemed to highlight the haphazard way in which his White House has approached its dealings with Congress. It is just as much a sign of Mr. Trump’s lack of enthusiasm for the policy detail and message discipline that is required to marshal support to enact politically challenging changes.

“If the president is distancing himself from the budget, why on earth would Republicans rally around tough choices that would have to be made?” said Robert L. Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that promotes deficit reduction. “If you want to make the political case for the budget — and the budget is ultimately a political document — you really need the president to do it. So, it does seem bizarre that the president is out of the country.”

posted by zachlipton at 6:10 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

I'd love it for once if a slow news day actually meant a slow trump thread

Heh, slow news day. That WaPo article would have blown everyone's mind two weeks ago.
posted by diogenes at 6:13 PM on May 22, 2017 [23 favorites]

The resistance, by indulging profanity, has taken the bait and fallen into a trap.

You've got to be fucking kidding me. That's the stupidest fucking argument I have ever heard.

Also, I indulged profanity before Trump. I indulge profanity because sometimes profanity is fucking awesome. Or at least the best way to convey whatever it is I want to convey.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [60 favorites]

God help us all if this is what counts as a slow news day moving forward.
posted by Justinian at 6:17 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

The resistance, by indulging profanity, has taken the bait and fallen into a trap. The current crisis, which has come from the right, in the form of a man who thrives on creating crisis, threatens to drag language with it into the abyss. The essence of Trump’s crude rhetoric is a sense of grievance, that someone is always about to get the better of him, or us. For Trump, the social norms are always just breaking, so the response is always to rush the line. The use of profanity doesn’t just register outrage at Trump, it also adds to the general level of crisis — and that’s the danger of it.

This pisses me off so much. This is the problem: The people on the right who try to draw attention to this greatly overlap "so much for the tolerant for the left" on the old venn diagram. There is not one person that exists that would be leftist if not for all the naughty things some leftists say. Not one. They're not actually trying to make a point in good faith. They're just looking for something to pick apart because their rhetorical strategy is always to be on the attack. They never let up, they have no intellectual honesty, and they have no sense of shame.

And we have commentators that fall for it hook, line, and sinker as some sort of plea. Like the poor and sick may as well be all "hail conservatives, we who are about to die will maintain decorum". They have a fucking right to be pissed off. Their lives, their livelihoods, they all depend on these shitty sports style political games. But since a college student wrote "fuck" on a sign or a late night comedian went blue we lost the game and now millions of people now at least have a "valid" reason to die in the gutter, right?

Fuck these people.
posted by Talez at 6:17 PM on May 22, 2017 [65 favorites]

Regular Outrage Fatigue + an actual bombing = entirely new levels of fatigue I don't usually get to. Slow News Day it ain't.
posted by Archelaus at 6:18 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

See, this is what I'm talking about.

Heh, slow news day. That WaPo article would have blown everyone's mind two weeks ago.
God help us all if this is what counts as a slow news day moving forward.

I've got no clue what the heck you're talking about because we're 350 comments in to a shiny new thread and it's mostly jokes.

I'd really, really appreciate it if people could take them to a forum more amenable to that. Some of us use this thread as a news and commentary source.
posted by ragtag at 6:20 PM on May 22, 2017 [24 favorites]

Ignoring Manchester, which is certainly significant news but also not really on-topic, it bears repeating in as clear language as possible: the White House tried to get the intelligence agencies to interfere with an FBI investigation into whether his campaign colluded with a hostile foreign power.

They're about to release a budget proposal that is centered around denying food and healthcare to the poor on a massive scale.

The former National Security Advisor announced he'll invoke his 5th Amendment rights.

Trump randomly announced that he never told the Russians the word "Israel," much to the surprise of the Israeli Prime Minister standing next to him.

The White House and the Office of Government Ethics are pretty much in an open war now.

It's not a slow news day.
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on May 22, 2017 [164 favorites]

zachlipton's summary is a good one. Today would have been the single worst day in the Presidency for most Presidents (which didn't involve an attack or something which killed a ton of Americans.)
posted by Justinian at 6:27 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

And I'm ignoring stories like the White House backtracking on whether Abbas is "of Palestine" or "of the Palestinian Authority" or the shift to "Islamic extremism" because the President was "exhausted" that would normally trigger days of outrage over whether this stuff represented massive shifts in government policy, since everyone just knows nobody in the White House thinks before they open their mouths so the details don't matter.
posted by zachlipton at 6:31 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

The world may be entirely consumed by crisis, but language must stand apart.

Thanks asshole, now I've gone and dropped my fucking monocle into my fucking tea. This article is a cartoon dog sitting in a burning house, except instead of "this is fine," he's shocked to the core because someone said a swear.
posted by Behemoth at 6:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [39 favorites]

Ignoring Manchester, which is certainly significant news but also not really on-topic

It shouldn't be, but it's going to be, both for the Trump circus and UK election.

Anyhoo: Radio Manchester - late night call in show keeping it sane and positive
posted by Buntix at 6:33 PM on May 22, 2017

Today would have been the single worst day in the Presidency for most Presidents

In 2017 we just call that Monday.
posted by gatorae at 6:38 PM on May 22, 2017 [34 favorites]

The fatigue created by Trump has peaked a bit for me. This is a big news day, but it feels that everything is exhaustedly waiting for Trump to return, before it all explodes (or not?). The policies and budgets put forward today by the White House are exceedingly, shockingly terrible: Attacks on the poor, government institutions run roughshod, and again, strangely, a big push for cuts to the NIH and CDC (Why???) For me the catastrophic scale of the situation is moving beyond the sensible, and the air is being completely sucked out. Call it fatigue, call it living in the Trump bell jar, whatever it is, it's real and it's noise that dampens the reflexes and dulls the senses. Hopefully, when the substance of these various government investigations comes to the light of day, we can cut through that noise. But a hammer needs to drop, and soon.
posted by kuatto at 6:46 PM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

This will help, right? Politico: Trump eyeing Lewandowski, Bossie as crisis managers

Bossie’s addition to the White House in a crisis management role would mark an ironic turning point for a man who spent much of the 1990s as a top investigator for the Oversight and Government Reform Committee working to stoke the many scandals that swirled around the Clinton administration.

“He certainly knows how to set fires, whether he’s good at putting them out or not, I have no idea,” Fabiani said.

It's hard for me to imagine a situation that could possibly be improved by adding Corey Lewandowski.
posted by zachlipton at 6:47 PM on May 22, 2017 [24 favorites]

Bad news, everyone: CNN just reported Jared & the rest of the Trump team don't have their hopes up that a Israel-Palestine peace deal can by struck on this trip

I swear, it's like a couple hours of half-hearted work just aren't enough these days.
posted by Copronymus at 6:52 PM on May 22, 2017 [115 favorites]

It's hard for me to imagine a situation that could possibly be improved by adding Corey Lewandowski.

Robert Lewandowski, on the other hand...
posted by orrnyereg at 6:55 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Every successful organization is run the same way as mine because I am the greatest so everyone wants to be like me. Even if they don't, it is objectively the best way to run any organization because I would run it differently if there were a better way to run it and I don't so it must be the best."

I want his next interviewer to ask him if he's the best president. Bonus points if they get him to say that he's better than W. I would love to have that soundbyte playing as a contrast.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 6:55 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

POTUS Itinerary:

May 22-23  
    Tel Aviv
    Jerusalem
    Bethlehem

May 24
    Rome
    Vatican City

May 24-25
    Brussels

May 26-27
    Taormina, Sicily (G7)
    Sigonella, Sicily (G7)

posted by kuatto at 6:58 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump's budget plan continues his deceitful attack on the disabled — and violates a campaign pledge
It turns out that Mulvaney was setting up a flagrant deception during that “Face the Nation” appearance. He asked moderator John Dickerson, “Do you really think that Social Security disability insurance is part of what people think of when they think of Social Security? I don't think so. ..
A four-page “talking points” memo being circulated by the White House and published by Politico gives the game away, by stating the budget “does not cut core Social Security benefits.” (Emphasis ours.) This shows that on Face the Nation, Mulvaney was merely seeding the landscape with a rank deception.

Republicans are explicitly saying Social Security Disability isn't "real" Social Security.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:12 PM on May 22, 2017 [50 favorites]

Bad news, everyone: CNN just reported Jared & the rest of the Trump team don't have their hopes up that a Israel-Palestine peace deal can by struck on this trip

Wait, did they seriously think this was possible? Like the only reason it hasn't been done was because nobody /tried/???
posted by corb at 7:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [26 favorites]

I know this is so sixteen hours ago, but I feel collectively embarrassed for white people when watching this. We're historically bad at finding the beat and dancing, yes. We are raised this way. But the goddamn drums are RIGHT BEHIND HIM. I would like to think most of us could at least sway in rhythm if the drums were FIVE FEET FROM OUR EARS.

/pettyrant
posted by Anonymous at 7:15 PM on May 22, 2017

Wait, did they seriously think this was possible? Like the only reason it hasn't been done was because nobody /tried/???

Nobody knew that the Middle East could be so complicated
posted by chris24 at 7:17 PM on May 22, 2017 [63 favorites]

Like the only reason it hasn't been done was because nobody /tried/???
Nobody who'd written a book titled "The Art of the Deal"...

Republicans are explicitly saying Social Security Disability isn't "real" Social Security.
Well, I've been surviving on Social Security Disability for 11 years... interestingly, I'll have my 62nd birthday right at the end of the current fiscal year, so I might be able to qualify for a 'less reduced' amount if I switch to Minimum Retirement Benefit...
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:18 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is like the time Beyonce performed at the CMAs and every time the camera switched to the crowd we were forced to watch an audience that was packed with musicians and yet perhaps 10% of them were capable of finding the beat.
posted by Anonymous at 7:19 PM on May 22, 2017

Republicans are explicitly saying Social Security Disability isn't "real" Social Security

Nazis gonna Nazi
posted by schadenfrau at 7:20 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

I had never heard of One America News Network, so I googled it a little and found an interesting sideways source for information: GlassDoor.com reviews by employees.

Very interesting reading. Apparently they're based in San Diego, that hotbed of Washington DC news, and the owner (Mr. Herring) is a controlling asshole. Some funny quips. EG:

PROS:
A seat to work from
Lunch room
Bathrooms??
posted by msalt at 7:23 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

No, corb, they thought the only reason it hasn't been done is because the anointed Dealmaker Trump had yet to bestow his blessed Art upon the unwashed masses.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:23 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Bloomberg: Trump Proposes Selling Off Half the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve

This seems like a great idea that will not hasten the collapse of american civilization.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:24 PM on May 22, 2017 [40 favorites]

I do agree with Ragtag that it was a little hard to pick out the actual news of the day from between the endless orb and hole jokes. The beginnings of threads are always like that though. I actually dread New Thread Day.
posted by threeturtles at 7:30 PM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

One other great thing about the insane, and profoundly stupid, idea that "government should be run like a business" is that American businesses are almost entirely incapable of long-term planning these days, thanks to wall street and pressure for "good quarterly numbers".

So if and when you get a CEO-type jerkoff into office, they have no concept or interest in what effect their proposed policy changes will have in 10 years, or even two. They have no idea you can actually invest in an idea and nuture it to fruition.

They do know their mission is to sell whatever actual assets are present, pocket the money, and pull the rip cord on their gold parachute as the agency they were in charge of collapses.
posted by maxwelton at 7:31 PM on May 22, 2017 [38 favorites]

i like the orb jokes
posted by EarBucket at 7:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [76 favorites]

Which is to say, I like that these threads are both my best resource for the news of the day, and the funniest political commentary I've found anywhere. The jokes are part of the character of the place; it wouldn't be Metafilter without them.
posted by EarBucket at 7:33 PM on May 22, 2017 [90 favorites]

We haven't had a slow news day since Balloon Boy
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [15 favorites]

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established after the 1973 oil embargo imposed by Arab states in retaliation for the US's support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. It's there to protect America's interests im case of a further embargo or national disaster threatening US oil supplies. It also, incidentally, makes the US less vulnerable to market manipulation. I don't think it costs much in comparison to the insurance it provides, but I'm pretty sure that both Russia and Saudi Arabia would be happy to see it go.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [72 favorites]

Trump’s first complete budget proposal, released in part on Monday, would raise $500 million in fiscal year 2018 by draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and as much $16.6 billion in oil sales over the next decade.

16.6 billion over ten years? and then when you're done the US can survive an oil embargo for half as long?

i would critique this idea but there's really nothing to say except "durr".
posted by murphy slaw at 7:38 PM on May 22, 2017 [7 favorites]

Scrolling down the Bloomberg site, underneath the article Rust Moranis links to above, here's this one: Trump Seeks $3.6 Trillion in Cuts to Reshape Government

Mick Mulvaney on social safety net programs, Trump-style:

"We’re no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs," White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said. "We’re going to measure compassion and success by the number of people we help get off those programs and back in charge of their own lives."

I gotta admit, dying of compassion and success does sound more dignified than dying of starvation and untreated illness.
posted by Rykey at 7:46 PM on May 22, 2017 [44 favorites]

Bloomberg: Trump Proposes Selling Off Half the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve

Classic Republican move. Sell off irreplaceable arrests to make your faulty budget plans look good in the short term. Jindall did this more than once in Louisiana.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:50 PM on May 22, 2017 [49 favorites]

In an administration packed full of cartoon villains, Mick Mulvaney always manages to be a real standout.
posted by gatorae at 7:50 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

I gotta admit, dying of compassion and success does sound more dignified than dying of starvation and untreated illness.

Compassionate conservatism is back from the dead and hungry for human flesh.
posted by Talez at 7:52 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

fatbird: "He can't believe Washington isn't as corrupt as his own operations are. It's genuinely hard for him, I bet, to believe that other people aren't as snakey as he is."

Corrupt people are all like this so it isn't surprising. They often experience disbelief when encountering honest people thinking the honesty is a long con of some sort.

roomthreeseventeen: "President Trump has ignited a national discussion of blue-collar labor and even climbed into a truck during a White House event, trucking, which was once among the best-paying such jobs, has become low-wage, grinding, unhealthy work. Turnover at large for-hire fleets hauling freight by the truckload — the backbone of the industry — runs an astonishing 80 percent a year, according to a trade group. "

I'd say they need a union but the teamsters twice endorsed Reagan FFS; even after he busted the air traffic controllers.
posted by Mitheral at 7:53 PM on May 22, 2017 [9 favorites]

mick mulvaney is like a charles dickens villain with organic brain injury
posted by murphy slaw at 7:54 PM on May 22, 2017 [19 favorites]

Wait, did they seriously think this was possible? Like the only reason it hasn't been done was because nobody /tried/???

Yes. They seriously did. This is the Dunning-Kruger presidency*, after all.
posted by CommonSense at 8:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

It's hard for me to imagine a situation that could possibly be improved by adding Corey Lewandowski.

Try setting the situation at the sinkhole.
posted by that's how you get ants at 8:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump budget seeks huge cuts to disease prevention and medical research departments [WaPo]:

President Trump's 2018 budget request to Congress seeks massive cuts in spending on health programs, including medical research, disease prevention programs and health insurance for children of the working poor.

The National Cancer Institute would be hit with a $1 billion cut compared to its 2017 budget. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute would see a $575 million cut, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would see a reduction of $838 million. The administration would cut the overall National Institutes of Health budget from $31.8 billion to $26 billion.

(Note that congress did the exact opposite of this in their 2017 CR, raising the NIH budget. I'd like to believe this means they'll ignore Trump's request here too, but I am making no assumptions, TTTCS, &c.)
posted by Westringia F. at 8:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

Some budget links:

NYT: Trump’s First Budget Works Only if Wishes Come True, featuring a hilarious quote from Mulvaney that we can get 3% growth through optimism or something:

“The C.B.O. assumes that we’ll never grow at more than 1.9 percent again,” said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget. “That assumes a pessimism about America, about the economy, about its people, about its culture that we refuse to accept.”

But economists generally regard the projection of 3 percent annual economic growth as highly optimistic. The Federal Reserve estimated in March that the maximum sustainable pace of economic growth is around 1.8 percent. The Congressional Budget Office puts the ceiling at 1.9 percent. Those are low numbers by historical standards, but growth is determined by the expansion of the work force and the improvement in the amount that workers can produce. The growth of both the working-age population and productivity have slowed in recent years.

“Without violating some of the most basic laws of economics and history, we are not going to get the kind of growth that will yield a balanced budget in 10 years,” said Steve Bell, a former staff director at the Senate Budget Committee who is now at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

That would leave two possible outcomes: deeper spending cuts or larger deficits.

As that article and other analysts have noted, the budget contains virtually no details on the massive tax cuts that are coming, except to claim that they'll essentially pay for themselves, despite the fact that has never actually worked. The budget assumes they exist, but they still have no tax plan besides that one-page thing that was hatched on a napkin in a bar in a week in April after Trump surprised everyone by saying they'd release it soon.

WaPo: Trump’s budget proposal slashes spending by $3.6 trillion over 10 years, along with some excellent graphics on What Trump’s budget cuts from the social safety net

He singled out the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the modern version of food stamps, which grew rapidly after the financial crisis and had 44 million beneficiaries in 2016.

“We need people to go to work,” Mulvaney said. “If you are on food stamps and you are able-bodied, we need you to go to work. If you are on disability insurance and you are not supposed to be, you are not truly disabled, we need you to go back to work. We need everybody pulling in the same direction.”

SNAP already has work requirements, but around 2/3rds of recipients are children, elderly, or disabled, and the majority of the rest are employed, most of those who didn't fit in the above categories worked within the past year. And, you know, it's food, which you need to live, and hunger doesn't really care if you have a job.

One important thing is this article is that it reveals that a chunk of Trump's budget magic actually relies on leaving defense spending alone. There's a $43B spending increase for next year, but it then stays pretty close to the baseline for future years, which isn't going to deliver the massive military build-up he promised. "A White House official said that is because the military is still planning spending priorities for those years and that the budget would eventually change." Of course, if you change to spend more on the military, the balanced budget myth goes out the window.

Politico: Trump's budget hits his own voters hardest. Who'd have thunk that it would be all Mulvaney and none of that populist stuff?

Rather than breaking with Washington precedent, Trump’s spending blueprint follows established conservative orthodoxy, cutting taxes on the wealthy, boosting defense spending and taking a hatchet to programs for the poor and disabled – potentially hurting many of the rural and low-income Americans that voted him into office.
...
“I’m deeply concerned about the severity of the domestic cuts,” Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), a long-time member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, told POLITICO on Friday.

Rogers has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s proposed cuts to programs that benefit rural regions like his home state, like the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“I think we do need healthcare reform. I think we do need welfare reform. But the kinds of reductions that he’s talking about go exactly against the states that brought [Trump] to the dance, so to speak,” said G. William Hoagland, a former long-time Republican Senate budget aide.

And Chris Christie may swallow Trump's meatloaf, but Medicaid cuts may be a bite too far:

“I don’t know the specifics of the proposal but it sounds like a lot of money,” Christie said at a Statehouse press conference in response to a reporter question. “That’s all I know and all you know right now is that the rumor is that the budget is going to contain an $800 billion cut over a period of time in Medicaid. I would be concerned about that being a state that has a lot of people who utilize Medicaid, not only normally but due to the decision I made in 2013 to expand Medicaid.”

WaPo: EPA remains top target with Trump administration proposing 31 percent budget cut

BuzzFeed: Trump Budget Plan Calls For Cuts To Medicaid And Public Health Agencies. Lays out the cuts to public health, including ~$6 billion to the NIH. That's a 19% cut to the National Cancer Institute and a 20% cut to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, among others.

Military Times: Trump budget trims payouts for vets, government retirees

President Donald Trump’s “taxpayer focused” budget for fiscal 2018 includes smaller cost-of-living adjustments for veterans benefits payouts and eliminating those adjustments for some federal civilian retirees altogether.
...
Trump’s plan calls for eliminating annual cost-of-living increases Federal Employee Retirement System enrollees completely, and lowering the adjustments for Civil Service Retirement System enrollees by 0.5 percent.

Together, those changes generate more than $500 million in savings for fiscal 2018 and almost $42 billion in savings over 10 years.

But they also represent substantial reductions in payouts for the estimated 70,000 federal retirees each year, along with the hundreds of thousands more already collecting their pensions. CSRS beneficiaries are not eligible for Social Security payments. FERS employees are, but those government pensions still make up a significant portion of their retirement income.

posted by zachlipton at 8:08 PM on May 22, 2017 [57 favorites]

Trump Proposes Selling Off Half the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve

At last Trump reveals the secret of his business success: Buy high, sell low, make it up in volume.
posted by Coventry at 8:11 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

He was probably just negging the Saudis though.
posted by Coventry at 8:12 PM on May 22, 2017

this budget is selling our seed corn to pay for tax cuts for the rich. it will leave the country more desperate, hungrier, sicker, and less educated.

every time you hear a republican talk about responsibility, family values, or patriotism, remember this budget proposal. it's a betrayal.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:25 PM on May 22, 2017 [82 favorites]

I don't know if I've mentioned this in one of the other threads, but this budget proposal makes me want to remind everyone who has not read or listened to The Iron Heel, by Jack London, written in 1908. I know Jack London isn't who comes to mind when thinking about socialist manifestos in a deeply, deeply dystopian world controlled by the plutocracy, but there you are, none the less. I have found the audio, by Matt Laur to be a lovely way to absorb the story. It's rather frighteningly prescient.

Librivox written

Internet Archive Audio
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:35 PM on May 22, 2017 [17 favorites]

Well, the good thing is that fascist governments tend to rely on the unquestioning support of people whose loyalty has been bought by government pensions, insurance, housing and so forth. I find it hard to believe, but the current administration is going out of its way to be the literal negation of economic populism.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:41 PM on May 22, 2017 [26 favorites]

Like Mike Huckabee, Hannity is having trouble with the acronym CNN: original tweet—CLINTON COLLUSION NETWORK), replacement tweet—CLINTON (COLLUSION) NEWS NETWORK.
posted by zachlipton at 9:00 PM on May 22, 2017 [13 favorites]

I'm no longer astonished by it, but I just had a bit of a mind boggle about how no one except Clinton herself has been able to let go of the 2016 election. I mean, the electoral victory thing President Insecure keeps pushing is just plain nuts, and on the other side, the bros will, at a drop of a hat, re-litigate the democratic primaries. I can recall no other election, including the hanging chads supreme court gift to GWB, that has lingered for so long. It's pathetic.

tldr: misogyny.
posted by maxwelton at 9:19 PM on May 22, 2017 [69 favorites]

Someone may have already beat me to it, but I just did a thing I thought might give folks here a chuckle. (TW: crappy cell phone photo editing)
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 9:28 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

"Who paid for you?"
posted by loquacious at 9:32 PM on May 22, 2017 [42 favorites]

I'm sure this isn't news to most MeFites, but apropos of 45's trip to Saudi, I decided to watch Saudi Arabia Uncovered on Netflix. (Link goes to the YouTube video of same.)

Again, nothing most of us don't already know, but certainly worth reminding ourselves of who we're in bed with.
posted by CommonSense at 9:47 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

I believe you have misunderstood on which side of the hellmouth Mar-a-Lago is located.

In that case, I eagerly await the blonde teenager with superpowers to come through it and put all us demons out of our misery.
posted by biogeo at 10:03 PM on May 22, 2017 [10 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS

** MT-AL special:

-- Internal GOP poll has Gianforte lead at 2-4 points.
-- Nate Silver points out that even a tight Gianforte win bodes badly for the GOP in the midterms.
-- WaPo piece on Bernie role in Quist campaign.

** GA-06 special: New SurveyUSA poll has Ossoff with a 7 point lead over Handel, 51/44.

** UT-03 special: A new centrist party, United Utah, has formed and is looking to have a candidate ready for the Chaffetz replacement election.

** VA gov: New WaPo poll has either Dem candidate significantly ahead of GOP likely candidate Gillespie. Perriello leads 50/37, Northam 49/38.

** 2018 Senate: 538 piece on the outlook - neither party likely to do too much.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:06 PM on May 22, 2017 [34 favorites]

Today I recalled one of the interviews Trump gave where he was asked if he asked Comey for loyalty and he said he did not but that it would be a good question to ask -- for loyalty to the country, etc.

It just occurred to me how utterly dumb this exchange is. He is denying it while at the same time transparently setting up an alternative defense that it could have been asking about loyalty to the country.

Why in the world would you do that unless you actually did ask that question?

What could be more inane than asking the FBI director if he's loyal to the country? - "No sir, I'm not - i've been working for the Russians but I kept it a secret for 30 years but now that you brought it up, I feel like, what the hey, maybe I should fess up?"

Not to mention that it's a grave insult to ask an official if he's loyal to the country.

"So how is the wife? Good, good, by the way are you a traitor .. naw, me neither, just making small talk .. and how are the kids .. ahh splendid."

Is it me or is he getting worse and worse at lying? He used to be pretty good. It's almost as if his heart is not in it anymore.
posted by rainy at 10:14 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm so tired of headlines referring to "Trump's budget" and "Trump's plan" and "Trump proposes," as though he gives enough of a shit about anything besides himself to have an opinion about it. HE HAS NO PLAN. He's a malevolent disorder in a skin suit that people keep trying to ascribe motives to.

/GRAR
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:34 PM on May 22, 2017 [31 favorites]

Do they tell Trump about Trump's Plan ahead of time, or does he hear about it when the rest of us do?
posted by bongo_x at 10:40 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

Today I recalled one of the interviews Trump gave where he was asked if he asked Comey for loyalty and he said he did not but that it would be a good question to ask -- for loyalty to the country, etc.

Trump has demonstrated again and again that he thought the job of POTUS was like the job of a king. He's frustrated he can't say whatever he wants to whomever he wants, he's frustrated he can't hire whomever he wants, he's frustrated there are rules about what he can do, he's frustrated that Congress and the judiciary won't bow to his whims. I would guess that someone had to explain to him that loyalty to the POTUS and loyalty to one's country are two different things, and he's probably still working through that concept. He heard somebody say "To Queen and Country" at some point, and assumed the conflation of the two things worked the same way in the USA.
posted by Anonymous at 10:47 PM on May 22, 2017

I'm so tired of headlines referring to "Trump's budget" and "Trump's plan" and "Trump proposes," as though he gives enough of a shit about anything besides himself to have an opinion about it. HE HAS NO PLAN. He's a malevolent disorder in a skin suit that people keep trying to ascribe motives to.

So Trump is a Cylon?
posted by mazola at 10:49 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

No way, Cylons had ALL KINDS of plans. If there was one thing Cylons had, it was plans.

(well, until about halfway through Season 3, then it wasn't clear anybody had plans, including the writers)
posted by Anonymous at 10:52 PM on May 22, 2017

But cylons believed in god.
posted by mochapickle at 10:54 PM on May 22, 2017 [4 favorites]

Well, the scientific community is still hesitating about calling him a fungus because at least a fungus can be useful. Sometimes even delicious.

Some have proposed the word algae but there was a lot of pushback from the marine biologists, and we can't just use "slime" because Ted Cruz locked that one in for life a long time ago. Entomologists have also argued energetically that even cockroaches and tapeworms are pretty awesome relatively speaking.

Even the gastroenterologists aren't willing to loan any useful words from the scatological end of things, declaring the comparison utterly insulting, though we're waiting to hear back about what possible use a dingleberry could possibly be.

So far the best suggestion anyone can come up with is just writing in a new dictionary entry for the matter that is Trump as simply "trump", and roughly defines it as "A noisome, useless and often dangerously noxious goo that is appears to be some form of a non-Newtonian oobleck."
posted by loquacious at 11:16 PM on May 22, 2017 [25 favorites]

Carlos Maza, Vox: Fox News’s 5 steps for handling a Trump scandal

And though the Russia leak and Comey memo stories are different, Fox handled them both in strikingly similar ways. In both cases, Fox’s first response was to raise doubts about the story -- echoing the White House’s talking points, describing the stories as “fake news” or conspiracy theories, and generally expressing disbelief about damaging reporting. The network attacked the sources, describing the Washington Post as part of the “destroy-Trump media” and painting Comey as a vengeful, unreliable “drama queen.” It fixated on the government sources who leaked damaging information to reporters, describing them as a threat to national security. And when all else failed, Fox personalities dismissed the scandals as silly, suggesting that other news networks were overreacting.

Informative video with too many shots of Hannity's literal low brow.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:42 PM on May 22, 2017 [14 favorites]

Wow. WOW. My head just exploded at the mind boggling stupidity of selling off the SPR.

Not only from the national security point of view cited above, but because of what extra volume on the market actually does for a commodity- depresses the price even further. OPEC, and particularly the Saudis have been over producing to intentionally keep the price low. The whole purpose of this is to drive out American tight oil. The American in the ground reserves that were being developed recently are massively expensive and require a significant lead time to get up and running. The Saudi reserves are extremely inexpensive to access- they basically just scratch the surface with a fingernail. *

So not only is this plan epically stupid on its face, it plays directly into the market forces to the great benefit of OPEC, and undercuts the US' ability to access our own fields if and when we might need to. (And there's a whole other aspect here with Russian gas reserves that I won't even go into because I have to go access my own strategic bourbon reserves because GRAR.)

* At Aramco headquarters there is an absolutely stunning map that covers a whole wall. It shows, in precious stones, the oil reserves and their depth (different stones for different depths). This visual really drives home how much there is and how incredibly easy it is for them to get.

At last Trump reveals the secret of his business success: Buy high, sell low, make it up in volume.
posted by Coventry at 8:11 PM on May 22

posted by susiswimmer at 11:44 PM on May 22, 2017 [51 favorites]

And now I'm wondering if this wasn't actually a part of the plan all along. So I have to go fashion a tin foil hat while accessing my bourbon reserves.
posted by susiswimmer at 11:46 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]

Selling strategic oil reserves is a fantastic way for people with the right connections to make a shit ton of money.
posted by PenDevil at 12:11 AM on May 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

Also interesting that the trip to KSA had to be this week, despite everything else going on and KSA being an odd choice for a first trip. Interesting item to note: OPEC meets Thursday in Vienna. Iran, also a member of OPEC, just elected a moderate President and can't be terribly pleased with rhetoric re "good" and "bad" Islam we heard out of Riyadh this weekend.

I have now upgraded from wearing a tin foil hat and drinking bourbon to crouching under my desk wearing a tin foil hat and not drinking bourbon.
posted by susiswimmer at 12:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's time to get rid of Donald Trump A Der Spiegel editorial

Also, it's really a pity Robert Fisk has discredited himself, because this rant is a beauty.
posted by mumimor at 1:43 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

In response to Manchester, Trump called terrorists losers. (Real bbc)
posted by AlexiaSky at 1:45 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Losers! Well, that'll learn 'em. They're sure to go slinking back to their hidey-holes now.
posted by GrammarMoses at 1:57 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Salient point of the Spiegel editorial:

Crises, including those in Syria and Libya, are escalating, but no longer being discussed. And who should they be discussed with? Phone calls and emails to the U.S. State Department go unanswered.

(emphasis mine, because this needs to be emphasized. This in a nutshell is the problem - he's not taking care of business, not the bare minimum. Generally shrill editorials like this are worth your average David Brooks fart but this data point, that the State Department, run by Trump appointee Tillerson, isn't doing it's job is bad. )
posted by From Bklyn at 1:59 AM on May 23, 2017 [46 favorites]

because this rant is a beauty.

Thanks. Fisk at his finest.
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:11 AM on May 23, 2017

At his Fiskiest, rather. I agree with Fisk about "the Arab NATO", though, (and when did Trump become a fan of Nato?); it's a transparent attempt to create a market for US arms... and a need for them, too.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:28 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mouthing off about slashing half the strategic petroleum reserve is typical Trumpian bluster, but there are reasonable arguments for reducing the SPR. Net oil imports by the US are at their lowest levels since the early 1980s while domestic US production has almost doubled in the past decade. As a result the number of days of import coverage provided by the reserve have pretty much doubled over that period.
posted by dmh at 2:28 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

He's not mouthing off, is he? It's written down.

Why would we want fewer days of import coverage?

If the price of oil is low right now, isn't that a good time to add to to reserves rather than selling them (for not much)?

I seem to remember when had prices were really high for a little while, it was considered a big deal that wee taped the strategic reserve to help bring them down. Because there was a limited amount and it was meant for emergencies... Now it's not a big deal to just sell half of it off?
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:37 AM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

He's literally becoming the SNL parody of himself. BBC:

More on what US President Donald Trump said in response to the attack.

During a speech in Israel he said "so many young beautiful innocent people. They were murdered by evil losers.

"I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that's a great name.

"I will call them, from now on, losers, because that’s what they are.

"And we will have more of them but they are losers, just remember that...

"Our society can have no tolerance for this continuation of bloodshed.

"This wicked ideology must be completely obliterated."

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.
posted by Westringia F. at 3:09 AM on May 23, 2017 [41 favorites]

Losers! Well, that'll learn 'em. They're sure to go slinking back to their hidey-holes now.

my theory is that the worst Don has ever felt, in his entire life, and that he still remembers to this day, is when his dad used to berate him for being a loser. and that's why, in his mind, it's the very worst thing you can call someone.
posted by russm at 3:13 AM on May 23, 2017 [65 favorites]

If the price of oil is low right now, isn't that a good time to add to to reserves rather than selling them (for not much)?

The facilities for the reserve are close to capacity, so you can't really add more even if you wanted to, and I think reasonable people can differ over whether you would want to given that domestic production has grown tremendously, and keeping oil around that's actually depreciating in value is just not very efficient.

For these and other reasons the decision to sell of a (relatively small) portion of the SPR was already made under Obama back in 2015. What I think happened is that somehow this nugget of information got through to Trump's thick head and he then decided the numbers should be bigger.
posted by dmh at 3:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

These constant news alerts are really fucking with me. Last night I had one of those dreams where you wake up convinced it was real. In this case the news was that Melania had announced that she and Trump were separating. In the dream, the news had popped up as a Flipboard alert on my phone and I picked up my laptop and starting reading very detailed announcements about how it had been announced in Israel and that Melania had been taken to an undisclosed location for her safety.

It serves me right for watching slo-mo replays of the hand slap before going to bed, I guess. But also, I think it's time for a media break guys.
posted by jeremias at 3:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Man, the vacation scrapbook of this trip is going to be something else. Trump riding the escalator with his thumb in the air, the gathering at the orb, Trump calling the press corps back from leaving to bring up the intelligence thing, Netanyahu beside him trying to sink through the carpet. And it's not even over!
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:00 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

depreciating in value

I mean, it's not supposed to be a financial investment? It's supposed to be for, like, in case there's a world war. Or our relationship with Saudi Arabia deteriorates and they decide not to sell to us anymore, or to charge exorbitant prices. Or some kind of natural disaster destroys shipping facilities or pipelines. All the sudden nobody can drive to work and our economy grinds to a halt? Our society could just collapse. That reserve is supposed to provide us a very temporary cushion. Time enough to figure out some response to the crisis. Of course the long term solution is to transition to renewable energy. That's very much a national security issue. But until that happens the strategic reserve is like having a fire ladder in your house. You don't buy a fire ladder as an investment. You don't sell it because the weather has been rainy lately.

Yeah, we have more domestic capacity now, but in the 1940s we were the world leaders in oil production, I think? And by the 1970s there were lines at gas stations.

It's a strategic reserve. Decisions about it ought to look decades ahead, not just at the remainder of the fiscal year.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:21 AM on May 23, 2017 [100 favorites]

According to PenDevil's link above, crude oil is presently in a contango situation where the future price is higher than the present one. Far from depreciating, it's worth more the longer you hold on to it. As long as storage costs aren't an issue, as in the present case.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Specifically, the Committee has obtained a Report of Investigation dated March 14, 2016 showing that General Flynn told security clearence investigators that he was paid by "U.S. companies" when he traveled to Moscow in December 2015 to dine at a dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actual source of the funds for General Flynn's trip was not a U.S. company, but the Russian media propaganda arm, RT.
They have documents showing that RT paid Flynn more than $45,000 through the speaker's bureau, and RT directly paid for his airfare, lodging, and expenses. Flynn also denied contact with foreign government officials on his SF-86 form, stating in an interview he only had "insubstantial contact" on his foreign trips, something that is pretty flatly untrue.

What are the potential penalties for Flynn's lying like this? If they have documented evidence of it, that's some leverage over him regardless of whether he pleads the Fifth over releasing any further documents. Unless, of course, what he's covering up is even worse than a rap for lying to Federal authorities.

My mind continues to boggle that despite all we've learned of Trump's incompetence and malfeasance over the last three or four months, much of this fail parade kicked off by Trump hiring a Russian agent to be National Security Adviser (!). Now can the media please stop presuming that Republicans are "strong on defense"? (I know: no.)
posted by Gelatin at 5:21 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

This is the same media that was really impressed with him blowing up random objects to little effect.
posted by Artw at 5:30 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Here's the [strange] note Trump left at Yad Vashem
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:31 AM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

Remember that Nixon tried to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the Watergate burglary. That's exactly what's happened again here.

Did no one in this misbegotten administration think that re-enacting the Nixon Presidency wouldn't end well for them?
posted by Gelatin at 5:31 AM on May 23, 2017

If we are going to link twitter jokes it is not too much to ask that they be labeled as jokes.
posted by winna at 5:36 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here's the [strange] note Trump left at Yad Vashem

Umm, gonna need some real/fake tags on that one.
posted by threeturtles at 5:37 AM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

you can say what you want, but you can't claim to be capital-n News unless you adhere to certain standards.

The problem is they're all perfectly capable of saying, "The news the government doesn't WANT you to hear" and then their viewership doubles.

Weighing in on the "what is news?" question, the answer has to come from professional journalists themselves. They need to stop pretending that FOX is anything other than a propaganda arm of the Republican Party, and make clear that going to work for them destroys a reporter's credibility -- and future employ-ability -- as scribbling for the National Enquirer.

At long last, they seem to have figured out that letting Matt Drudge set the agenda is a fool's game, so perhaps they can take the next step.
posted by Gelatin at 5:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

What are the potential penalties for Flynn's lying like this? If they have documented evidence of it, that's some leverage over him regardless of whether he pleads the Fifth over releasing any further documents. Unless, of course, what he's covering up is even worse than a rap for lying to Federal authorities.

Ten grand fine and/or five years prison. No wonder Flynn is using the fifth as leverage for immunity.
posted by Talez at 5:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I've completely lost track of the very many things I've called "the worst thing about these people, this situation is," but certainly top of that very long list is the eagerness with which they would sell out our wonderful renewable resources, our parks and wetlands and forests et al, for the FINITE resources contained within just to pad their already incredible fortunes in the here and now. This party of "family values," (and reader, you must just imagine for yourselves the sneer with which I write that term) cares not a whit about the world they are leaving their very own grandchildren, much less yours and mine. This short-sighted greed, and for what, for WHAT? makes me incandescent with rage.
posted by thebrokedown at 5:39 AM on May 23, 2017 [36 favorites]

And now I am reminded that launching a terror attack that killed an eight year old was one of Trump's first acts as president.
posted by Artw at 5:39 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

HOLY SHIT it was REAL.
posted by threeturtles at 5:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [60 favorites]

i'm continuously surprised at the depths of this fresh hell we find ourselves in. the telegraph reports:

social media has been swamped with false reports of missing children and other seemingly-intentional hoaxes in the wake of the suicide bomb. Images and posts widely shared across Twitter included false photos of the scene and claims that terrorists had posted online warnings in the hours leading up to the attack.

posted by localhuman at 5:45 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

According to the Times of Israel, it's real, but the photo credit is missing (it just says 'Courtesy').
posted by jack_mo at 5:46 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

I actually think ISIS are losers, and that's how they should be treated in general. They recruit people that think ISIS is a great power taken seriously by other great powers. But really, ISIS are nobodies completely incapable of running Rhode Island let alone a world-spanning caliphate, and the world would be better off if everyone thought that. They happen to be part of a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia; so what, join the club.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 5:48 AM on May 23, 2017

HOLY SHIT it was REAL.

What the actual hell 2017. What the hell?!?!??!

Text of his note in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial guestbook in Jerusalem: "It is A great HONOR TO BE HERE WITH ALL OF MY FRIENDS - So Amazing & will Never Forget!"

I transcribed it with the capitalization as it appears to be in the note.
posted by winna at 5:51 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

2 COOL
2 BE
4 GOTTEN

~DONALD

[fake]
posted by entropicamericana at 5:53 AM on May 23, 2017 [22 favorites]

Remember that their strategy for the last 8+ years has been to double down at every turn. And it's getting increasingly clear that key figures like Pence, Ryan, McConnell, McCarthy, Priebus (as head of the RNC) and others knew this whole campaign was dirty all along.

A sly Democratic strategy could be to accuse Pence, Ryan, McConnell, and every other Republican politician of exactly that -- knowing Trump was dirty and going along with it. Doing so puts them in the position of (falsely, of course) denying knowing about Trump's corruption, which accepts the premise.

Or, you know, doing the usual Republican thing and insisting that corruption and collusion with a hostile foreign power is the American way and only liberals think otherwise, but somehow I sense that claim might be a bridge too far for many -- but, sadly, not all -- Republicans.
posted by Gelatin at 5:57 AM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

The printed writing seems very neat and tidy and the exclamation point with an 'o' as a dot? Seriously? Is this his style? It's something my niece would have done when she was 9.
posted by michswiss at 5:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I actually think ISIS are losers, and that's how they should be treated in general.

Not to derail, but *this*. The more we act scared of them, the more attractive they are to some people.
posted by Slothrup at 5:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I guess Quebec City didn't rate in the "terror is terror" for Bibi.
posted by Yowser at 5:59 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I actually think ISIS are losers, and that's how they should be treated in general.

The term "terrorist" should be depricated, it gives them a warped bit of credit for "a cause", just call them criminals. Sad pathetic evil loser criminals.
posted by sammyo at 6:01 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Floating the sell off of half of the strategic oil reserve immediately after a trip to Saudi Arabia is a spectacular way to undo any possible good will from the visit.
posted by srboisvert at 6:02 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Donald is so deluded, he thinks he has friends.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:02 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Every once in a while there's something that pierces the scar tissue I've accumulated around the original wound from Nov 8, and for some fucking reason, that goddamn note is one of them.

I will never, ever forgive anyone who had anything to do with this. We're not at state sponsored Nazi hunters level of vengeance, and for the love of God I hope we never even approach that, and still this burns.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:10 AM on May 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

Marco Rubio on Trump: 'People got what they voted for'

“I don't understand why people are that shocked,” Rubio told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. “This president ran a very unconventional campaign. I was there for a big part of it at the beginning alongside, being one of his competitors.”

And, he added, “that’s what the American people voted for. And, in essence, this White House is not much different from the campaign. People got what they voted for. They elected him.”

If you're not happy about it either, Marco, why don't you do something about it in your own party? Oh, right, you're too busy going along with this madness and putting party over country. Again.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:19 AM on May 23, 2017 [51 favorites]

Business Insider: A major money-laundering case set to go to trial last week in New York was suddenly settled three days earlier, with both the US government and the defendant, the Russian firm Prevezon Holdings, claiming victory.

"We reluctantly agreed to accept the government's offer when it became clear that the fine proposed was no more than we would have spent fully litigating the case, and that no admission of guilt, forfeiture or continued seizure of any assets was required," Dillard added. "Essentially, the offer was too good to refuse."
posted by PenDevil at 6:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

I remain glad that my spouse, my child (and spouse), a colleague (and spouse), and a handful of people that are more or less my servants don't constitute "all of my friends".
posted by Copronymus at 6:28 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Compare Trump's note with Obama's.
posted by octothorpe at 6:29 AM on May 23, 2017 [49 favorites]

“I don't understand why people are that shocked,” Rubio told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. “This president ran a very unconventional campaign. I was there for a big part of it at the beginning alongside, being one of his competitors.”

And, he added, “that’s what the American people voted for. And, in essence, this White House is not much different from the campaign. People got what they voted for. They elected him.”

Fair enough, Marco. But why the fuck did you endorse him?

Listening to the last Pod Save America (from LA) so glad to hear that their contempt for the smallness of Marco Rubio* knows no bounds.

* not his height, mind you. His essential smallness inside, of courage, spirit, bravery, soul, ethical standards, basic human decency, etc.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:31 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

From the NYT late night wrap up for 5/22:

Rachel Maddow recently became the highest-rated cable news host. On “The Late Show,” she told Stephen Colbert that she had begun to feel the Trump administration may have lost some of its ability to manipulate the media.
“With this trip, The Washington Post announces Friday night that there’s a significant ‘person of interest’ working actively in the White House as a senior adviser to the president. And so now we’re trying to figure out who the person of interest is in this F.B.I. probe who’s currently working in the White House and isn’t one of the people who’s on the trip with him — and then mysteriously Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon got sent home early today. What are they going to be doing? I don’t know but Mike Flynn’s pleading the Fifth. I feel like they don’t really get to make their own news anymore.” — RACHEL MADDOW

“Once you’re the first president in American history who’s under counterintelligence investigation by the F.B.I. and likely under a criminal obstruction of justice probe, for something that you openly committed and then bragged about to the Russians before you bragged about it on NBC News, you don’t get to make your own news anymore. At this point the news of the Trump administration is the news of people investigating it and figuring out what’s really going on.” — RACHEL MADDOW

posted by ZeusHumms at 6:31 AM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

So this Florida DNC BS and the CA kerfuffle, and the Arizona (?) healthcare protests - we're at 17 months and counting out from 2018. We need to see some metaphorical rock-hard abs and steely eyes in the DNC like yesterday or so help us we'll kickstart something that will.

Imma give the DNC their opening slogan for free: GET OUT.

It works on a lot of levels and it's coming out message a-blazin'.
posted by petebest at 6:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

That link is to a thread with both Obama's and Clinton's notes.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:37 AM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

I actually think ISIS are losers, and that's how they should be treated in general.

I have mixed feelings about this line of reasoning. Things would not be so immensely fucked up in the Middle East if we - the United States - had not fought two incredibly pointless wars with Iraq*. I remember the status quo before Gulf War I and it was...meh. I remember the new status quo that evolved under sanctions before Gulf War II and it was pretty bad, but it was fucking massively better than that whole area is doing now. There are whole countries that were modern, developed nations in the 80s that are substantially rubble and militias now. What changed was that we decided we'd gain some domestic advantage and some crony arms sales and maybe some oil and make our little presidents feel like big men and knock the foundations out.

Now we drop bombs on weddings, we kill kids, our people attack journalists and double-tap people coming in to rescue the victims of bombings. We do that, and we run torture prisons - even if we've dialed that back a bit. Those things aren't mistakes. We act as though they're errors but they're built in.

We're not losers, we're war criminals. ISIS is war criminals. This is a conflict between two very, very unpleasant players which is given impetus by the pain felt by ordinary people. Ordinary people see these deaths, both here and there, and they are moved to support or at least tolerate the conflict.

If we're willing to call our horrible imperial project a loser project, I will call ISIS losers.

*I mean, technically you could say "if the imperial powers generally had kept their paws off the oil instead of meddling, generally, pretty much starting about 1900 if not earlier".
posted by Frowner at 6:37 AM on May 23, 2017 [40 favorites]

@Burhanistan: Obama's note was above Clinton's. (That is, scroll the Twitter feed up.)
posted by ragtag at 6:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh Rubio. He's experienced. He knows "the people" is a smear of desires and that strongly voiced opinions by people folks in a group trust matter a lot. Would Trump really have won if significant numbers of high profile republicans actively campaigned against him? It seems extremely doubtful. But getting the agenda passed was more important than the risk of national embarrassment (pretty certain), chaos and mismanagement of the executive (likely) and more war (also pretty likely.)

Rubio will probably not be strongly challenged on it, but I would hope that every time a national level republican gets all "regrets" about it, they are asked about their role. It won't happen but I can dream. Trump is a symptom but it's easier to pretend if we get rid of him, things are fixed, just as folks thought Obama meant be could stop talking about rascisn.
posted by R343L at 6:40 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

ABC: Livestream of DNI Coats testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee
posted by murphy slaw at 7:00 AM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

If we're willing to call our horrible imperial project a loser project, I will call ISIS losers.

I'm sorry, this is...beyond the pale.

Stipulating to the fact that the US has, under primarily Republican administrations, fucked the world up for entirely venal reasons, there is no moral fucking equivalence between the United States and a sadistic, misogynist rape-and-murder death cult that revels in its cruelty. Come the fuck on.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:00 AM on May 23, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump's Russian Ties (Spring Collection)

It appears you can actually order these (via Zazzle). I really like the Spicey one.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:01 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Compare Trump's note with Obama's.

I thought these notes were supposed to be private.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:04 AM on May 23, 2017

I thought these notes were supposed to be private.

You might be thinking of the Western Wall notes.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:05 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

These are guest book entries.
posted by PenDevil at 7:06 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

I thought these notes were supposed to be private.

The notes being compared are from the public guestbook at Yad Vashem. Are you thinking of the prayers placed in the Western Wall?
posted by murphy slaw at 7:07 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Couple comments deleted - Sorry, we don't need wildly triggery graphic descriptions of atrocities in here, when the point can be made without the graphic bit - let's try not to ruin each other's day any more than the news already does.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:14 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

Here's the [strange] note Trump left at Yad Vashem

For those who have never been to Yad Vashem, you must understand that it is filled to the brim with horror. Children's drawings. Torah scrolls made into bags. Piles and piles and piles of glasses and books and shoes and baby dolls and hanukkiot and candlesticks and and and. Things taken away from human beings each one of whom packed the things they could carry for a relocation and then were suffocated with gas and burned in the crematoria. Photos and passports of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people stretching up into the sky and down every hallway. Surrounded. Art from people who survived long enough to describe the fires and the smoke and the stench.

Amazing? A great honor to be here with MY friends?

I'm speechless.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:15 AM on May 23, 2017 [149 favorites]

I figured it was real because it was very similar to the note he wrote in the official visitor's book when he arrived in Israel which was something like: "it's a great honor to be here with great friends." Printed ( rather than cursive) in all caps with random lower case like this: gREAT.

Took me awhile (I had to look at all of the twitter pictures of Trump in Israel) but here is Trump's note in the official state guestbook as well as Obama's Turns out it was also in Matt McDermott's twitter feed.

As to his note that he tucked into the wall, my husband speculated that he wrote nothing because he is that lazy and uninterested. I think he probably just wrote his name. (Hope it isn't sacrilegious to speculate.)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:15 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Jared Kushner’s Other Real Estate Empire (NYT Magazine): In the cases that Tapper has brought to court on behalf of JK2 Westminster and individual Kushner-controlled companies, there is a clear pattern of Kushner Companies’ pursuing tenants over virtually any unpaid rent or broken lease — even in the numerous cases where the facts appear to be on the tenants’ side. Not only does the company file cases against them, it pursues the cases for as long as it takes to collect from the overmatched defendants — often several years. The court docket of JK2 Westminster’s case against Warren, for instance, spans more than three years and 112 actions — for a sum that amounts to maybe two days’ worth of billings for the average corporate-law-firm associate, from a woman who never even rented from JK2 Westminster. The pursuit is all the more remarkable given how transient the company’s prey tends to be. Hounding former tenants for money means paying to send out process servers who often report back that they were unable to locate the target. This does not deter Kushner Companies’ lawyers. They send the servers back out again a few months later.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:16 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

"And we will have more of them but they are losers, just remember that..."

What a great comfort that must be to those whose loved ones have been murdered.
posted by amarynth at 7:18 AM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

you must understand that it is filled to the brim with horror.

His visit was scheduled to be 15 minutes long. After you stand around for photos and sign the guest book, there isn't a whole lot of time for the contents of the museum.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:18 AM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

moral equivalence aside, there's a huge conversation to be had about the way that US politicians continually refer to terrorism originating in the middle east in completely ahistorical terms - these people are monsters, they do these things for no reason, they hate us because of our freedom, etc.

every aspect of politics and conflict in the middle east is shaped and distorted by the legacy of imperialism and oil, overlaid on existing sectarian conflicts within Islam (and every other abrahamic religion).

but when we talk about it in US politics, everything is steamrolled down to "islamic militants hate us because hate is their creed", which conveniently absolves us of any agency or responsibility for the conditions that foster terrorism, and then we swat at the embers while the fire that we fueled rages on.

it's another case, like slavery and native genocide, of the US being unwilling to face the realities of our history, and therefore being unable to escape the consequences of that history.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:18 AM on May 23, 2017 [92 favorites]

His visit was scheduled to be 15 minutes long. After you stand around for photos and sign the guest book, there isn't a whole lot of time for the contents of the museum.

It's kind of like counting a layover in an airport as "having been to a given state".
posted by jferg at 7:20 AM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

America 2017: somehow this nugget of information got through to Trump's thick head and he then decided the numbers should be bigger.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

This might be getting a little derail-y but my attitude towards U.S. atrocities is that they are "flukes" in one sense (that only a small fraction of soldiers do them) but certainties in another (we have a lot of soldiers out there in every conflict, so large numbers being what they are atrocities are going to happen and that needs to be part of the moral calculus of deploying them).

ISIS really is different in the sense that atrocities aren't flukes in any sense. Their atrocities are used in their ads. It's part of their selling proposition. This isn't going to attract 95 upstanding folk for every 5 psychopaths. The ratio is going to be much worse. (Hence not being able to run Rhode Island- they're like a living demonstration of that game theory paper showing that the population of always-defect is limited by the fact that they need a sufficient cooperative society to parasitize).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Here's the [strange] note Trump left at Yad Vashem

"I shoah had a great time at yad vashem!" -DJT

It's like every day he wakes up and thinks, how can I humiliate 300 million people today?
posted by uncleozzy at 7:27 AM on May 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

"We reluctantly agreed to accept the government's offer when it became clear that the fine proposed was no more than we would have spent fully litigating the case, and that no admission of guilt, forfeiture or continued seizure of any assets was required," Dillard added. "Essentially, the offer was too good to refuse."

THIS IS FINE.
posted by acb at 7:31 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Text of his note in the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial guestbook in Jerusalem: "It is A great HONOR TO BE HERE WITH ALL OF MY FRIENDS - So Amazing & will Never Forget!"

I transcribed it with the capitalization as it appears to be in the note.

Honestly, his handwriting is better than I thought it would be, but going by his... creative use of letterforms, it's more like:

IT is A gReAT HO|\|OR TO Be HeRe witH ALL OF MY FRie|\|DS - So AMAZI|\|g + wiLL /|/eveR FORgeT.

What's up with those three-stroke capital N's Donnie?
posted by Rock Steady at 7:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

If the current wave of bombshell stories is in any way planned, or a concerted effort to shape the narrative, I can't help but wonder if it's meant to be a series of questions: is this enough? is this enough? will you do something now? no? how about this? Eventually the do-nothing Republicans might be implicated.

The do-nothing Republicans are implicated right now for ignoring Trump admitting in public to conduct that would have gotten Nixon impeached had he not resigned. It's up to Democrats and the media -- admittedly not voices Republicans will listen to, but hopefully independents -- to hammer home the message that all Republican officials who aren't holding Trump accountable are enabling him.

And then, hopefully, some will face criminal charges as well. I wonder if there's evidence that will make conspiracy or racketeering charges stick against McConnell or Ryan.
posted by Gelatin at 7:33 AM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Trump campaigned on the targeted assasination of terrorist's kids and then launched a raid that killed Nawar al-Awlaki, incidentally or otherwise. Moral relativism aside, under trump the US has sent out the message that it is all about killing kids.
posted by Artw at 7:35 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

it's another case, like slavery and native genocide, of the US being unwilling to face the realities of our history, and therefore being unable to escape the consequences of that history.

You're absolutely right. Remember when Jeremiah Wright was absolutely pilloried for saying that?
posted by Miko at 7:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

Let's not forget about our home grown terrorists:

Miami Herold Admitted neo-Nazi stopped in Keys wanted for making explosives at home, cops say

A Tampa man arrested in Key Largo Sunday afternoon following a traffic stop is a confessed neo-Nazi who manufactured explosives in his apartment, where police also found radiation materials, according to a federal arrest affidavit.

The case is related to a double homicide in Tampa, also involving white supremacists, federal agents say.

FBI and Tampa Police Department officers found a cooler containing a white cake-like substance in Brandon Russell’s garage, underneath his apartment, that tested positive for hexamethane triperoxide diamine, which is a precursor to several different types of explosives. He was arrested Sunday on possession of unregistered destructive devices and unlawful storage of explosive charges, and charged federally on Monday.[...]He had just returned from U.S. Army National Guard duty May 19 to discover that his roommate, Devon Arthurs, 18, murdered two people in the apartment they shared in in the Hamptons at Tampa Palms complex.

Devon Arthurs is a White Nationalist who converted to Islam who is reported to have killed two of his friends for mocking his new religion.

Also chilling, they found a framed photograph of Timothy McVeigh inside Russell’s bedroom.

I'm telling you we have plenty of trouble right here in River City, and it is really unfortunate our President wants to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:39 AM on May 23, 2017 [34 favorites]

I didn't get the memo. Why don't we like Robert Fisk?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:41 AM on May 23, 2017

refer to terrorism originating in the middle east in completely ahistorical terms - these people are monsters, they do these things for no reason, they hate us because of our freedom, etc.

also, this is another case where the reality is complicated but the electorate has a bias towards rewarding oversimplification and pat solutions. "forget the namby-pamby liberals and their 'nuance' - i'm going to take bold action and settle this once and for all!"

trump is the apotheosis of this tendency - every problem has a simple solution that only he can achieve, because he can see through all the nuance to the single button you have to press to fix the whole thing.

of course, now that he's in office the result is that he continually has to fall back on "it was harder than anyone thought! who knew?"
posted by murphy slaw at 7:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Honestly, his handwriting is better than I thought it would be

Me too but somehow the little circle for the dot of the exclamation point is crushing my spirit most of all.

It's like an exhibit for the banality of evil.
posted by winna at 7:43 AM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

I didn't get the memo. Why don't we like Robert Fisk?

fisking is a term that originated in the run-up to the second iraq war.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:44 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, we have more domestic capacity now, but in the 1940s we were the world leaders in oil production, I think? And by the 1970s there were lines at gas stations.

There were lines at gas stations, but not because there wasn't any oil. Oil imports into the US never decreased over the period 1970-1977. Rather, price controls limited supply. It's doubtful whether the SPR would have solved that.

crude oil is presently in a contango situation where the future price is higher than the present one. Far from depreciating, it's worth more the longer you hold on to it.

There's been surplus supply for years, with corresponding drop in prices, and therefore people expect demand to increase and prices to go up in the future. But that effect has by now mostly dissipated (the article you're referencing is from Aug 2016). Eg. CL futures for Dec 2018 and Dec 2019 are at 51.10 and 51.37, respectively, versus a spot price of 48.86 on Mar 15. That's only a marginally better return over the 2 year treasury rate, and hardly risk-free.
posted by dmh at 7:44 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

>>I didn't get the memo. Why don't we like Robert Fisk?

>fisking is a term that originated in the run-up to the second iraq war.

Which really doesn't explain things. Many don't like Fisk's hyperbole. He is well informed from a particular perspective, as someone who lives in the Middle East and speaks to many protagonists. As with any such perspective, much of what he says rubs others up the wrong way. He can be annoying, partisan, and illogical. He can also be brilliant and insightful.
posted by stonepharisee at 7:47 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Haaretz Hamburgers, Steak and 'Beautiful Chocolate Cake': Israel Plays It Safe When Feeding Donald Trump

The only originality in Trump's menu in Israel was in the names — a salmon dish enigmatically called 'The Path to Peace'

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:47 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Please God, tell me it was served with peaches.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:48 AM on May 23, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump is the apotheosis of this tendency - every problem has a simple solution that only he can achieve, because he can see through all the nuance to the single button you have to press to fix the whole thing.

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:49 AM on May 23, 2017 [40 favorites]

fisking is a term that originated in the run-up to the second iraq war.

Fisking, an example: fisking is a term that originated in the run-up to the ~~second iraq war~~ hostile takeover of Iraq in 2003.
posted by Mister Bijou at 7:51 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Or, as Mencken actually wrote, "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem: neat, plausible and wrong.” Since I'm sure this White House cares so much about proper attribution.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:51 AM on May 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

schadenfrau: "Stipulating to the fact that the US has, under primarily Republican administrations, fucked the world up for entirely venal reasons, there is no moral fucking equivalence between the United States and a sadistic, misogynist rape-and-murder death cult that revels in its cruelty. Come the fuck on."

How dare you. Artw was nicer about it, but killing non-white people has been an American value for its entire history. We even still can't fucking figure out that goddamn Chief Wahoo is a national embarrassment. How naive: "rape-and-murder death cult"--you don't think that police wearing "I can breathe" shirts seems a little like a death culty thing to do?

There is no moral equivalence--when you have an ostensibly 1st world country that has never even taken a moment to assess how thoroughly fucked it is, America is much worse.
posted by TypographicalError at 7:57 AM on May 23, 2017 [31 favorites]

TPM: Brennan: Intel Showed Contacts Between Russian Officials And People Working On Trump Camp

“I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign,” he said. “I was concerned because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals. And it raised questions in my mind again whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals.”

posted by murphy slaw at 7:59 AM on May 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

>>I didn't get the memo. Why don't we like Robert Fisk?

I always really liked Robert Fisk and also wondered why he was in disgrace. It seems that there have been some false claims about Saudi Arabia (which was admitted to by The Independent) and Israel in Lebanon in his articles
posted by Myeral at 7:59 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Politico has this also: Brennan: Russia tried to recruit U.S. persons to influence presidential campaign
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:02 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

I edited down an rather inflammatory comment to this:

Maybe we could head off the "U.S. is/isn't worse than ISIS" talk before people start ripping each other's heads off in here.
posted by Gaz Errant at 8:03 AM on May 23, 2017 [54 favorites]

Maybe we could head off the "U.S. is/isn't worse than ISIS" talk before people start ripping each other's heads off in here.

Yes, without help from the moderators.
posted by kingless at 8:05 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Congresswoman Jackie Speier just asked Brennan something about "Russia's attempts to cultivate then-real estate developer Trump for eight years" and he immediately said he'd talk about that later in closed session. Was that a known thing? I can't keep anything straight anymore
posted by theodolite at 8:11 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

What's up with those three-stroke capital N's Donnie?

At this point, I'm honestly surprised he didn't slip up and write them as И's.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:13 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

one thing to note about the Coats/Brennan disclosures about Trump's attempts to shut down the investigation - Coats is a former republican senator with no real experience in intelligence work, and was appointed by Trump.

that he was willing to rebuff Trump's request and then testify openly about it is an encouraging sign that when the full extent of the administration's bad acts becomes public, republicans may be willing to put country over party after all.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:15 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

What's up with those three-stroke capital N's Donnie?

It looks like what kids do when they're first learning to write. Like writing the numeral 8 with one circle on top of another.
posted by orrnyereg at 8:15 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Was that a known thing? I can't keep anything straight anymore

Russian oligarchs have been suspected of bailing Trump out of bankruptcy.
posted by PenDevil at 8:16 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

republicans may be willing to put country over party after all

All the trees in the history of planet Earth have not produced enough wood to knock on.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:17 AM on May 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

An awful lot of things in the Steele dossier have turned out to be true and confirmable - leading to the horrifying possibility that the pee-pee tape may air one day.
posted by Artw at 8:19 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Like writing the numeral 8 with one circle on top of another.

I hate Donald Trump, too, but must we really point out how his handwriting is evidence of stupidity and evil? As a point of fact, I write my numeral 8s as two circles balanced on top of one another and I am neither a child nor a fool.
posted by xyzzy at 8:22 AM on May 23, 2017 [68 favorites]

Devon Arthurs is a White Nationalist who converted to Islam who is reported to have killed two of his friends for mocking his new religion.

I hope he has some independent evidence of his conversion otherwise it sounds like an incredibly transparent attempt to incriminate a religion he hated up until what? a week ago?
posted by srboisvert at 8:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

that he was willing to rebuff Trump's request and then testify openly about it

welp. i spoke too soon.

TPM: DNI Coats Won’t Comment On WaPo Report On Trump Russia Request

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats would not comment during a Senate Armed Services hearing Tuesday on the Washington Post report that he was asked by President Trump to push back on the FBI probe into Russia-Trump campaign links.

Asked if by Armed Services Chair John McCain (R-AZ) if the Post report was accurate, Coats said he did not feel it was “appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president.”

:-/
posted by murphy slaw at 8:25 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

that he was willing to rebuff Trump's request and then testify openly about it is an encouraging sign that when the full extent of the administration's bad acts becomes public, republicans may be willing to put country over party after all.

There is no evidence of this. None. Zero. Rats running from the sinking ship that's also on fire is not "putting country over party", it's trying to salvage anything they can when the damage is already done. Republicans are fully complicit in covering up for Trump's treasons and destruction in their blind lust for tax cuts. If/when Trump finally goes down, it will be 100% in spite of the Republican coverup. They've had months, years at this point, to do literally anything to hold Trump accountable, and have done nothing but prop him up with sham investigations while shuffling ever closer to ending the social safety net and domestic programs as we know them.

Trump won't be impeached until at least the Democrats retake the House. Because no Republican will ever put country over party. He won't be removed in the Senate even if he's impeached. Because no Republican will ever put country over party.

They never once have. Past performance is future behavior. They never will.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [35 favorites]

i am charlie brown to 2017's lucy, again
posted by murphy slaw at 8:29 AM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

I remember the status quo before Gulf War I and it was...meh.

Iraq-Iran war. 8 years, 500,000 dead. For nothing.
posted by srboisvert at 8:30 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Dana Milbank, WaPo: Trump’s budget is so cruel a Russian propaganda outfit set the White House straight

Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, unveiled Trump’s ghastly 2018 budget proposal Monday afternoon in the White House briefing room, and one point of pride was that it proposed that the child-care tax credit and the earned-income tax credit — benefits for working families — be denied to illegal immigrants. “It’s not right when you look at it from the perspective of people who pay the taxes,” Mulvaney declared.

But Andrew Feinberg, a reporter with Russia’s Sputnik news outfit, pointed out that many of the children who would be cut off under Trump’s proposal are U.S. citizens. “Whether they’re here illegally or not,” Feinberg noted, “those families have American-citizen children.”

Mulvaney, who probably didn’t know he was being interrogated by Sputnik, argued back, saying that Feinberg wasn’t duly considering taxpayers and that “we have all kinds of other programs” for poor kids.

At this, another reporter in the room interjected: “You’re cutting that, too.”

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:30 AM on May 23, 2017 [101 favorites]

TPM: DNI Coats Won’t Comment On WaPo Report On Trump Russia Request
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats would not comment during a Senate Armed Services hearing Tuesday on the Washington Post report that he was asked by President Trump to push back on the FBI probe into Russia-Trump campaign links.

Asked if by Armed Services Chair John McCain (R-AZ) if the Post report was accurate, Coats said he did not feel it was “appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president.”

That he didn't deny the report or say it was inaccurate is key. That's basically confirming it. And if it's possible evidence of a crime, he's probably not at liberty to disclose more at this time.
posted by chris24 at 8:30 AM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

@BraddJaffy: This is a notable comment from Brennan: “frequently, individuals who go along that treasonous path” don't even realize it till it's too late

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 8:33 AM on May 23, 2017 [28 favorites]

Mulvaney is moving up rapidly on my list of Most Punchable Faces. Currently #3, behind McConnell and Chaffetz.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

So...the image in Trump's latest tweet about solidarity with the UK...is it me or is the Union Jack upside down there?
posted by uosuaq at 8:35 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

So...the image in Trump's latest tweet about solidarity with the UK...is it me or is the Union Jack upside down there?

Just you. St Patrick is in the right place.
posted by Talez at 8:38 AM on May 23, 2017

So...the image in Trump's latest tweet about solidarity with the UK...is it me or is the Union Jack upside down there?
posted by uosuaq at 8:35 on May 23 [+] [!]

Just took a look at the wikipedia page and yes apparently it's the wrong way up.
posted by Erberus at 8:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

In more heartbreaking shit, LT, I Wish I Could've Met You, by a military member on the lynching of Lieutenant Richard Collins III.

When someone asked you to move from where you were standing and you said, “no”. In that moment Richard, you defended what you swore you would. I’m thankful that you did. I wish that you were still here though, but you’re in a better place. A place that they say is paradise, a place that they say is incredible. I hope that you’re able to enjoy it, Richard. Don’t fret, let us fight for your memory and honor. When we see you again, or for me, the first time, I’ll shake your hand and offer a salute.

posted by corb at 8:39 AM on May 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

Somehow I just assumed that you are pretty much always upside down yourself, uosuaq
posted by thebrokedown at 8:39 AM on May 23, 2017 [26 favorites]

Mulvaney is moving up rapidly on my list of Most Punchable Faces. Currently #3, behind McConnell and Chaffetz.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:34 AM on May 23 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]

He's such a fucking ghoul. It embarrasses me that he has any connection to the White House whatsoever. He's my #1.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

I think this tweetstorm is probably a good reflection of the best case scenario for Trump. Which is not a good place to be. And given Trump's Razor, very possible it's much worse and stupider.

@normative
1/ Here's the bet I'd place now, FWIW: Russia hoped to gain influence over numerous people in Trump's circle via a combination of shady
2/ financial entanglements and compromising information (some of the latter pertaining to the former, probably). They fed info to Team Trump
3/ during the campaign via various cutouts not overtly linked to Russian intelligence (e.g. "Guccifer 2.0"). They probably didn't loop in
4/ Trump's people directly on their campaign interference, b/c there was no need to. So likely no "knowing collusion," narrowly construed.
5/ Trump has been *acting* like a guilty person partly b/c he's just a narcissist & wants anything questioning his victory out of the news
6/ But probably also partly b/c he understands that what WILL come out as investigators turn over rocks is at the very least embarrassing
7/ ...and maybe involves other criminal conduct. We already know Flynn almost certainly broke the law in a few different ways.
8/ ...and probing Trump's company's or his staff's financial links to Russia is apt to turn up a whole host of other stuff.
9/ Most of which would probably be fodder for SEC/IRS rather than CIA/NSA/FBI, except it's all potential leverage now.
10/ TL;DR: A probe is likely to turn up lots of bad & unlawful conduct, & Trump is scared of that. But it won't be election conspiracy.
11/ Also I could easily imagine Trump being even *more* afraid of being exposed as a dupe than a co-conspirator.
posted by chris24 at 8:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

So...the image in Trump's latest tweet about solidarity with the UK...is it me or is the Union Jack upside-down there?

Yeah, the hoist is on the viewer's right, so it should look like this. More complete explanation here. Looks like they did a slapdash photoshop job.
posted by jedicus at 8:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

is it me or is the Union Jack upside down there?

The correct phrase to use here is "Jacked up", I believe.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm not sure about that Union Jack but benson do you know your feet are on the ceiling

that might be it
posted by miles per flower at 8:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

¡lɐɔᴉɹǝʇsʎuodǝ
posted by tonycpsu at 8:44 AM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

I'm not sure about that Union Jack but benson do you know your feet are on the ceiling

Lionel Richie's disease is a serious problem. It's even worse when it happens all night long.
posted by Talez at 8:45 AM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, WaPo: Trump’s budget is simply ludicrous

"Details of President Trump’s first budget have now been released . . . My observation is that there appears to be a logical error of the kind that would justify failing a student in an introductory economics course."
posted by mcdoublewide at 8:53 AM on May 23, 2017 [58 favorites]

Does anyone actually think it's "election conspiracy" as in "Trump and Russia somehow worked to change the result of the election"?

The DNC was hacked around the same time Trump changed his policy on Russia and Ukraine, and then the stolen information was strategically leaked to influence the election in his favor as much as possible.

So...yes. The hacking was a crime committed in exchange for policy changes.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [60 favorites]

Does anyone actually think it's "election conspiracy" as in "Trump and Russia somehow worked to change the result of the election"? Voting machines weren't hacked, the election was lawful. Russia exploited many existing weaknesses in our system, it didn't create new ones.

Given that Trump asked in a press conference for help from the Russians, I think it's completely possible that he or people in his campaign did ask for and/or coordinate with Russia for help in the election. That the help wasn't hacking voting machines would not make it any less of a crime or any less of a traitorous assault on our democracy.
posted by chris24 at 9:02 AM on May 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

I agree with schadenfrau, this was definitely a tit-for-tat.

On the other hand, I don't think there was a physical manipulation of election equipment. What our job is, is to reiterate that the conspiracy is a crime regardless of the direct and tangible influence on the physical votes. Just because they didn't change votes for Hillary Clinton into votes for Donald Trump in the actual voting booth, they conspired to change the outcome of the election in exchange for favorable terms for Russia.
posted by lydhre at 9:03 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

"further evidence that the current White House staff isn't exactly detail-oriented"

Well if they could just get some time to think, maybe a little peach and quiet, these kinds of mistakes wouldn't happen.
posted by komara at 9:03 AM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

it seems likely that it will be the cover-up rather than the crime that eventually gets them. actual collusion seems like it will be much harder to prove than obstruction of justice.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:04 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

One thing that's very noticeable in all of this stuff that's coming out about Trump leaning on intelligence officials is that with Yates, Comey, Brennan, Coats and Rogers speaking some truths that Trump doesn't want to hear, there's a very obvious Pompeo-shaped bit of negative space forming. I wouldn't be surprised if he took that loyalty pledge, we've already gotten indications that he's been carrying water for Trump on this.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:09 AM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

Trump asked in a press conference for help from the Russians

Not a press conference, it was a debate. He was standing on a stage with Clinton, with 80 million people watching live when he directly addressed Russian government, saying "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30000 emails that are missing." How the fuck did that not end his run right there?
posted by contraption at 9:10 AM on May 23, 2017 [50 favorites]

It was a July 27th press conference. And yes, should've ended the run there. As should have:

1) Mexicans are rapists
2) Second amendment folks should stop Clinton
3) Mocking Serge Kovaleski for his disability
4) Grabbing pussy
5) Attacking Judge Curiel
6) Attacking the Khan family
7) "I like people who weren't captured"
8) Bragging about penis size in a debate
9) Etc. etc.

For the Republican in your life who likes to pretend they have moral or patriotic superiority.
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on May 23, 2017 [157 favorites]

Is it me or is he getting worse and worse at lying? He used to be pretty good. It's almost as if his heart is not in it anymore.

He's been bad at it, very bad, all thru the campaign, believe me.
posted by Gelatin at 9:22 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

AFO is about to land in Rome. Let the papal games begin.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:23 AM on May 23, 2017

I hate Donald Trump, too, but must we really point out how his handwriting is evidence of stupidity and evil? As a point of fact, I write my numeral 8s as two circles balanced on top of one another and I am neither a child nor a fool.

Donald Trump writes just like a lot of my creative friends who are not really literate, but are succesfull in their business/craft. Some of them have similar speech patterns to Trump. Most are really good, compassionate people who align politically with most MeFi contributors. One, who is a baby-boomer and also is diagnosed with borderline might be a Trumpist, I haven't dared to ask. I love her dearly, and I have always found her writing style charming.

For a while, I've been trying to find an argument against the perception that Trump might be in the early stages of dementia. Part of it is personal. My dad became (early stage) demented before he died, and it was agonizing, but in my view, it was nothing like Trump. And on the other hand, I have relatives who are similar to Trump in manner and style (not all Trumpists), who have been that way all their lives.

But my personal experience is not what is important here. The important thing is that Trump is a crook and he needs to face justice. He should have gone to prison already decades ago.

That note is an abomination. He is a person with no empathy or knowledge and he should not be president. But his writing is deliberate and accurate within its style, both in its language and in its form.
posted by mumimor at 9:24 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Yeah the graphology thing is a total derail; the content of the note is sorta the point.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Hey, is Bannon still on the plane? Cause I bet the Pope can banish the demon back to whatever circle of hell he crawled out of. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be an autonomous reaction by most priests confronted by the meat monster that calls itself Bannon, but surely the Pope has the best chance of defeating the Beast.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:27 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

It was a July 27th press conference.

n.b. Trump didn't hold another press conference for the rest of the campaign. With the benefit of hindsight, as we've now seen from how he handles TS/SAP intelligence, it would almost seem as though someone told him to stop taking open questions if he couldn't keep his big stupid mouth shut about hacking ops.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:29 AM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

For the Republican in your life who likes to pretend they have moral or patriotic superiority.

Never Trump! Remember that Rubio was their wet-dream alternative (!).

I cannot shake the idea that the end goal of the players behind the Trump campaign was never winning, but almost winning with the most idiotic candidate possible to de-legitimize the office, and then four more years of endless obstruction. I mean, republicans lost their shit over 8 years of a black man being president; put a woman in charge after that? We're pretty thoroughly broken now, but I honestly believe we would have literally no government at all due to obstruction if Clinton was in the white house.

From the POV of corrupt sacks of shit republicans (but I repeat myself), a Clinton presidency would have absolutely cemented innumerable local races for their candidates--and the house and senate in veto-proof majorities--while giving a smear of legitimacy to their hateful, idiotic practices by having the opposition party in the white house.

The ideal republican government is (R)s everywhere BUT the white house, which is simply a place to dump blame for all the shit they fuck up. Without that, it's quickly apparent how dumb and absolutely abhorrent republicans, officials and voters alike, actually are. (Republicans are aroused by misery and hate, but hate to have it actually underlined for all to see.)
posted by maxwelton at 9:33 AM on May 23, 2017 [49 favorites]

Hey, is Bannon still on the plane?

I think he's actually back in DC now. Left the trip early.
posted by azpenguin at 9:38 AM on May 23, 2017

It was a July 27th press conference.

Holy shit, you're right. I didn't even look it up since I had such a clear memory of watching it live, during one of the debates. It's like trying to remember something that happened 15 years ago.
posted by contraption at 9:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Yeah the graphology thing is a total derail; the content of the note is sorta the point.

I just find the blend of upper and lower case combined with the non-standard N kind of interesting. His penmanship is actually fine, especially for an elderly man who has been in very senior positions much of his life. In my experience with architects, doctors and professors, nearly illegible handwriting is very common.

I picked up the two stroke 8 in an Architectural Drafting class in college and it's been stuck in my brain ever since. I did the angled horizontal strokes for a while, but those fell away over time while the 8 remained.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Hey, is Bannon still on the plane?

I think he's actually back in DC now. Left the trip early.

Too bad. Bannon didn't face-melt in Jerusalem but who knows, another holy city might have had a better shot at it.
posted by lydhre at 9:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

AFO is about to land in Rome.

The spirit of Nero returns to Rome in his seventh and final stage
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:45 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

Air Force 0 lands in Rome. So much love.
posted by scalefree at 9:48 AM on May 23, 2017 [22 favorites]

Sarah Jones in The New Republic: Why do Democrats care what Rahm Emanuel thinks?

When a party has lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress, the response, according to some Democrats, is to listen to one of the country’s most unpopular mayors. Politico reported yesterday that “three senior House Democrats” are about to travel to Chicago, where they will pay their respects to Emanuel. They are doing so because they reportedly believe that Emanuel’s 2006 tactics for delivering a House majority may succeed again:

[...]

This is a bad idea. As several analysts told Politico, the political landscape has changed. Emanuel’s chief strategy—recruiting centrists to tip Republican districts—is now at odds with the party’s energized progressive base. Activists are demanding movement on single-payer health care and the minimum wage, and they are not likely to tolerate a candidate that opposes abortion rights. Conservative Democrats are an increasingly risky investment for the party.

This doesn’t mean that the party is wrong to invest in conservative areas; it has to, if it wants to win elections. But the suburban territory Emanuel favors is also toughest for his party to conquer. As Eric Sasson reported for this magazine last year, Trump owes his victory largely to suburban whites, not working class whites. If the party runs moderates and conservatives in a bid to appeal to the suburbs, it also weakens its ability to adequately rebut Trumpism. The party has a real chance to promote an authentic progressive populism that offers an unmistakable contrast to the scam perpetuated by Donald Trump, and this is not in line with Emanuel’s 2006 strategy.

posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:48 AM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

On a similar note, I asked my family in Italy if they missed Berlusconi enough to just keep Trump around indefinitely for entertainment purposes and they said no. :(

It was worth a shot.
posted by lydhre at 9:50 AM on May 23, 2017 [28 favorites]

Axios: Copying Clinton, Trump Builds Scandal War Room

"Day 124... White House officials tell me they're gearing up for months, and likely years, of Russia defense. Trump and his inner circle are belatedly scrambling to install war-room-like mechanisms designed to prevent the drama and threat from consuming the entire West Wing, and derailing everything else. Trump aides have studied precedents, including the Reagan White House's handling of Iran-Contra and President Clinton's scandal machinery."
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:50 AM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Now I don't like to spoil a wonderful story
But the news from Rome isn't quite as good
He hasn't gone down like they thought he would
Italy's unconvinced by Trumpian glory
They equate Trump with Mussolini, can't think why
posted by charred husk at 9:52 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Air Force 0 lands in Rome. So much love.

Wowzers. I wasn't convinced that Melania was avoiding Donald's hand until now. The other times were, IMHO, odd situations and strange camera angles, but this one? Yikes. That's a reflex if I've ever seen one.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:53 AM on May 23, 2017 [31 favorites]

Opinions of Trump aren’t just polarized — they’re Republicans vs. everyone else

Democrats Don’t Need Trump’s Voters To Retake The House
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:54 AM on May 23, 2017 [42 favorites]

Anyone have a running supercut of Melania avoiding his touch?
posted by komara at 9:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Air Force 0 lands in Rome. So much love.

Yo sound the bells school is in sucker u can't touch this
posted by octobersurprise at 10:06 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

AFO is about to land in Rome.

The spirit of Nero returns to Rome in his seventh and final stage

Turns out he's come to give us Corsica back!
posted by progosk at 10:06 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Dude was just asking for help going down the stairs! C'mon you guys.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:09 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can't be the only one who watched that clip of the non-hand-hold and saw that after she avoids his hand, Trump then goes on to grab her ass, right?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:11 AM on May 23, 2017 [72 favorites]

Turns out he's come to give us Corsica back!

Not just that, according to that map, he's giving the Vatican City back to Italy as well...
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 10:13 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can't be the only one who watched that clip of the non-hand-hold and saw that after she avoids his hand, Trump then goes on to grab her ass, right?

No I raised my eyebrow at that one too.
posted by Talez at 10:16 AM on May 23, 2017

NYT: Jared Kushner’s Other Real Estate Empire - "Baltimore-area renters complain about a property owner they say is neglectful and litigious. Few know their landlord is the president’s son-in-law."
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:19 AM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

Turns out he's come to give us Corsica back!

Not just that, according to that map, he's giving the Vatican City back to Italy as well...

Gah, the shoddy typo/infographic design... THE VATICAN ITALY and TAORMINA ITALY.

(Corsicans know, of course: he's no irredentistu, he's just ignurante.)
posted by progosk at 10:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can't be the only one who watched that clip of the non-hand-hold and saw that after she avoids his hand, Trump then goes on to grab her ass, right?

There's steps, and she's blocking the other banister - he needs to hold on to something!
posted by Mchelly at 10:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wow, the first polling link posted by T.D. Strange above is really something else. Particularly comparing graphs 2 and 3 on the page. Independents seem to hate Trump almost as much as much as conservative Democrats do; compare that with Obama, where Independents and moderate Republicans liked Obama both at around 50%. Given that the bottom pie-chart suggests that Independents went about equally for Clinton and Trump, I don't quite know how to reconcile these numbers with the claim that 85% of Trump voters still support him -- I guess you can disapprove without necessarily not supporting him. But still, if Independents remain of this view in 2018, Republicans are going to get crushed. It also suggests that GOTV efforts aimed at disgruntled Independents might have a big payoff.
posted by chortly at 10:25 AM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

Pete Souza is, as usual, devastating in his quiet annihilation of the Trump circus.
posted by lydhre at 10:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [43 favorites]

Matthew Yglesias/Vox: The dumb accounting error at the heart of Trump’s budget - “The same money cannot be used twice” — unless it can.

Here’s how it works. The budget is counting on economic growth — and a lot of it — to overcome what otherwise would be a projected $1.3 trillion deficit in 2027 and instead achieve balance. A big part of that growth comes from a deficit-neutral tax proposal whose details aren’t spelled out in the budget document.

That’s a bit odd, because the administration has already sketched out the broad contours of its tax policy. That proposal would, on a conventional account, lead to a massive increase in the deficit. The administration says that’s okay, though, because the extra growth unleashed by the tax cuts will offset the loss in revenue.

See the problem? Trump is not only counting on supply-side magic growth to make his numbers work, he’s using the same magic bean twice. First the tax cuts provide enough extra growth to make the tax reform deficit-neutral. Then the deficit-neutral tax reform provides enough extra growth to make the overall budget balanced. It’s ridiculous. Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and National Economic Council director, calls it “a logical error of the kind that would justify failing a student in an introductory economics course.”

posted by ZeusHumms at 10:29 AM on May 23, 2017 [63 favorites]

Random thoughts:

A. It is probably wishful thinking, but let's assume 45 does not fill out one term. Impeachment is probably the least likely path, even if it seems obvious that should happen.

Here are my guesses, in order:

1. Resigns out of frustration, but claims a big win. "I was able to do more in 200/300 days than most other presidents have ever done! I have set up a system that other presidents can follow to achieve even more! Our wonderful Vice-President Pence is already on board to continue our amazing progress and I will continue to help in the best way possible by taking my negotiating skills to companies in and out of America as well as to heads of states to KEEP. AMERICA. GREAT!"

(I'm not even joking about that. He might resign under pressure of being impeached, but that will be the spin. I feel a little queasy how easily I was able to write his words for him.)

2. Old age/illness of some form.

3. Drinking radioactive tea, if he upsets Putin. (not joking)

4. Impeachment.

B. If I have seen this mentioned before, I don't recall a clear response.

I was unable to find a link, but I recall the final reason Merrick Garland was denied an opportunity to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice was because the 2016 campaign had already started. (That makes more sense than saying Obama was a lame duck, so let's just wait a year, but I get ahead of myself.) IIRC, Biden was the one who orginally suggested the latter idea to Senate when it was Dem controlled, and it did not gain traction.

Fine. A Dem suggested the idea. It didn't take hold. R's ran with it and got Gorsuch.

Keeping all of that in mind, Trump had his first re-election rally on 02/17. Gorsuch was nominated 02/01, so we can let that slide, right?

But, if Trump has already started his re-election campaign, by the R's rules, no nominees for the next three years, right?

I know how they will weasel out of this. Blah blah blah, it's just fundraising at this point. But, still, I haven't seen any discussion of this anywhere.

(And, I am not against Republicans, per se. It's just the bs I have seen lately coming mostly from them.)

C. Derail - I do the the two circles on top of one another to make an 8. In elementary school, I had too many math problems marked incorrect because the teacher that I had written a 6 instead of an 8. So, I do the two circles to clearly convey meaning. On the other hand, I find Trump's penmanship highly stylized and am still trying to grasp what it says about him. (Yes, you can learn something about someone by they way they write.)
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 10:32 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Mulvaney is moving up rapidly on my list of Most Punchable Faces. Currently #3, behind McConnell and Chaffetz.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:34 AM on May 23 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]

He's such a fucking ghoul. It embarrasses me that he has any connection to the White House whatsoever. He's my #1.

Is Ted Cruz in the Hall of Fame for these rankings and thus ineligible for your lists?
posted by mmascolino at 10:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Here are my guesses, in order

You left out death, and the 25th Amendment.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:37 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

When I saw that hand swat clip down the red carpet I thought that someone who was really into Trump could look at that and see that as a low-five between couples who get each other at a fundamental level. Like they'd go: Trump is all "do I got this?" and Melania gives a quick "yeah you do!". If you squinted hard enough. So I paid no mind.

That plane exit hand swat though... I can't see any alternate theory that holds up to even the slightest scrutiny. It's clearly "I don't want to hold your hand" followed by "I'll hold onto your lower back/upper butt which you can't swat away". Sadly it's a speck of a clue into what's going on in her head that doesn't really mean anything unless/until she does something that can't be ignored like publicly calling him out or punching him or something.
posted by Green With You at 10:40 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

You left out death, and the 25th Amendment

Death is the ultimate illness. I guess I didn't spell that out in B.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 10:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

3. Drinking radioactive tea, if he upsets Putin. (not joking)

Oh COME ON, you expect us to believe that Donald J. Trump is going to drink tea?
posted by contraption at 10:41 AM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

3. Drinking radioactive tea, if he upsets Putin. (not joking)

Oh COME ON, you expect us to believe that Donald J. Trump is going to drink tea?

He'll do what he's told by his handler.
posted by Etrigan at 10:43 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Putin has a button that delivers "Coke 210"
posted by cmfletcher at 10:44 AM on May 23, 2017 [31 favorites]

Some odds and sods as I try to catch up with this horror show:

Seth Rich's brother writes a letter pleading Hannity's executive producer to stop this. Soon after the letter is published, Hannity persisted.

STAT News consults medical experts to ask Trump wasn’t always so linguistically challenged. What could explain the change?. It's very much in the form of speculation, and some would say irresponsible or even unethical speculation, but you can't watch clips of him from 20 years ago and today and not have some questions.

Margaret Sullivan: The Seth Rich lie, and how the corrosion of reality should worry every American

We know now that it’s far worse than that. Given tacit or explicit approval by the administration, this anti-truth movement — championed by Alex Jones, a Trump shill — erodes reason and reality. And those are the basis for a functioning democracy.

The growing absence of truth should worry every American citizen.

“If everybody always lies to you . . . nobody believes anything any longer,” said Hannah Arendt, the German American political theorist. “And with such a people you can then do what you please.”

So if you’re wondering why bottom-dwelling conspiracy theorists are allowed in the briefing room, or why Trump insiders promote lies about a young man’s death, you have your answer.

I'd also note that his remarks at Yad Vashem appear to come from a completely different universe than his International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement. It mentions Jews, just to name one such difference.
posted by zachlipton at 10:46 AM on May 23, 2017 [28 favorites]

We know now that it’s far worse than that. Given tacit or explicit approval by the administration, this anti-truth movement — championed by Alex Jones, a Trump shill — erodes reason and reality. And those are the basis for a functioning democracy.

The growing absence of truth should worry every American citizen.

The injection of phony talking points and conspiracy theories from wingnut blogger -> right-wing news -> mainstream media has been documented for years. Al Franken wrote about it in one of his books before he ran for Senate. I mentioned the Drudge Report upthread; a member of the so-called "liberal media" once remarked, to much scorn, "Matt Drudge rules our world."

It's nice of Sullivan to notice and all, but that horse has left the barn, died, and been made into glue that was used to make another barn that an entirely different horse left a long time ago as well.
posted by Gelatin at 10:54 AM on May 23, 2017 [42 favorites]

Also, I've been waiting for a good story on what the budget does to foreign aid, because there were basically none yesterday and I wanted to include it. The Post delivers: Foreign aid under the ax in State Department budget proposal

“The budget proposes to reduce or end direct funding for international programs and organizations whose missions do not substantially advance U.S. foreign policy interests,” the administration said in a statement accompanying the budget. “The budget also renews attention on the appropriate U.S. share of international spending at the United Nations, at the World Bank, and for many other global issues where the United States currently pays more than its fair share. In addition, this Budget request focuses on making the Department of State and USAID leaner, more efficient, and more effective, and streamlines international affairs agencies more broadly.”

In one concrete example of this approach, the White House would drop almost 45 percent of the countries receiving economic and development assistance from the U.S. Instead, it would train the focus not to countries most in need but to those deemed most critical to U.S. national security.

Who cares what people need? What can they do for us? That's the guiding strategy here.
posted by zachlipton at 10:58 AM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

It's nice of Sullivan to notice and all, but that horse has left the barn, died, and been made into glue that was used to make another barn that an entirely different horse left a long time ago as well.
posted by Gelatin at 12:54 on May 23 [3 favorites +] [!]

Eponydreadful
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:59 AM on May 23, 2017 [84 favorites]

John Brennan, the former director of the CIA, stopped by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. He was there to talk about Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. The Republicans on the committee responded by chalking up a bushel of own goals.
...
For example, Trey Gowdy, the lopheaded Javert of the endless Benghazi investigations, asked Brennan whether he had seen evidence of "collusion" between the Trump campaign and the Russians. This allowed Brennan to say that he saw evidence that "in my mind raised questions of whether it was collusion" and that he'd seen enough to encourage the FBI to keep "pulling threads" on that particular issue.

GOOOAAAALLLLLL!

posted by kirkaracha at 11:01 AM on May 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

phony talking points and conspiracy theories from wingnut blogger -> right-wing news -> mainstream media has been documented for years

I think there is a clear difference, though. Can't remember where I first read this observation, but it seems like elected Republicans used to tolerate nonsense being fed to their base, but not partake of it themselves. Whereas now they are high on their own supply, so to speak.

In any case, the consequences weren't as dreadful back in the day. Even in the crazy Gingrinch years, no one would've proposed a budget like the one Trump just proposed.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:01 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

He'll do what he's told by his handler.

Or King Salman, whichever comes first.
posted by Copronymus at 11:03 AM on May 23, 2017

Richard Painter and Norman Eisen: The White House may claim Mueller has conflicts of interest. That’s ridiculous.
posted by homunculus at 11:04 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Now is the time for President Trump to deliver a clear message to Turkey.
The Trump administration is obviously not putting an emphasis on promoting our values abroad. But it’s one thing not to go on a democratizing crusade; it’s another to shrug off an assault on the rights of protesters on our own soil. If nothing else, President Donald Trump’s nationalism and sense of honor should be offended. Not only did the Turks carry out this attack, they are thumbing their noses at us by summoning our ambassador over it.

In which the National Review pretends like Donald Trump gives a shit about thuggish attacks by the Turkish dictator, instead of applauding and desiring to emulate them.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:04 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Republicans on the committee responded by chalking up a bushel of own goals.

the "nice" thing about the tea party and the takeover of the republican party by dudes who buy their own propaganda is that the republican primary process now selects strongly for total dumbasses.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:05 AM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

Who cares what people need? What can they do for us?

Well Donny, if people get everything they need to live a peaceful and fulfilling life then they have stuff to lose. People with nothing have nothing to lose and those people can be dangerous and looking for someone to blame.
posted by VTX at 11:06 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think there is a clear difference, though. Can't remember where I first read this observation, but it seems like elected Republicans used to tolerate nonsense being fed to their base, but not partake of it themselves. Whereas now they are high on their own supply, so to speak.

Ronald Reagan based his economic policy on Arthur Laffer's supply-side-tax-cut napkin.
posted by Gelatin at 11:08 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Seth Rich's brother writes a letter pleading Hannity's executive producer to stop this. Soon after the letter is published, Hannity persisted.

On topic, the responses to Hannity's efforts to flog his Kim DotCom show are lolleriffic. "What you're doing to this guy's family is absolutely sick & disgusting. & now you're using it to promote a shitty EDM album."
posted by octobersurprise at 11:10 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ronald Reagan based his economic policy on Arthur Laffer's supply-side-tax-cut napkin.

the difference is that even if reagan didn't understand that the laffer curve was bullshit, his budget director david stockman did.

i honestly can't tell if mulvaney is an bullshitter or a true believer. i can tell that he's a moron.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:13 AM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Now is the time for President Trump to deliver a clear message to Turkey.

Dressed in black suits, they behave like drunken British soccer hooligans or anti-fascist agitators. Clearly, assaulting innocent people is a core competency.

Go fuck yourself, NR.
posted by dhens at 11:15 AM on May 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

( the stockman money quote was:

"The hard part of the supply-side tax cut is dropping the top rate from 70 to 50 percent—the rest of it is a secondary matter," Stockman explained. "The original argument was that the top bracket was too high, and that's having the most devastating effect on the economy. Then, the general argument was that, in order to make this palatable as a political matter, you had to bring down all the brackets. But, I mean, Kemp-Roth was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.")
posted by murphy slaw at 11:16 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a good, albeit puzzling development: The Trump administration won’t block an Obama-era consumer protection rule

The Obama regulations require financial advisers to follow the fiduciary rule, a legal standard that means advisers have to always offer advice that's in the best interests of their clients. Right now it's completely legal for an adviser to steer clients toward financial products that pay big commissions to the adviser — even if that means the client will get a lower rate of return on his or her investment.

The new rules that take effect next month require advisers to disclose this kind of conflict of interest, and they open them up to lawsuits if they took a commission after giving bad advice. To avoid lawsuits, many firms may shift to a model where they charge customers directly rather than taking commissions from mutual fund companies.

I wonder what's going on here. It doesn't make sense as a PR move given how little news it would have made if he followed through on his threat to kill the regulations. Maybe some lobbyists who stand to gain from the new rules intervened?
posted by tonycpsu at 11:19 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

the difference is that even if reagan didn't understand that the laffer curve was bullshit, his budget director david stockman did.

So did George H. W. Bush, but he went along anyway, after correctly calling Reagan's supply-side fantasies "voodoo economics" in the debates. Of course, the fact that he didn't really believe it cost him re-election because he raised taxes.
posted by Gelatin at 11:20 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

WaPo: Trump’s ‘balanced’ budget relies on $2,062,000,000,000 in mystery money

It is not just that Trump is counting on a rapid acceleration in economic growth that economists believe is unlikely, which the budget projects will yield $2.1 trillion in new revenue ($2,062,000,000,000, to be more exact). Besides that bonus from growth, the budget also assumes that Trump's tax cuts -- which he has said will be the largest in history -- would not affect the government's bottom line at all.

And even with optimistic assumptions about the tax code specifically and the overall economy more broadly, the White House still needed to claim over $1 trillion in unidentified cuts to miscellaneous programs to balance the budget.

It's not enough that it's cruel and heartless and designed to punish poor people by denying them food and healthcare; this budget is an actual joke. A disproved theory on a cocktail napkin is miles above this mess with a $2 trillion dollar hole and a giant question mark under "tax plan."
posted by zachlipton at 11:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

I was not expecting this. Fox News: Statement on coverage of Seth Rich murder investigation

On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.

We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted.

Everyone's question now is what is Hannity going to do?
posted by zachlipton at 11:25 AM on May 23, 2017 [47 favorites]

Can't remember where I first read this observation, but it seems like elected Republicans used to tolerate nonsense being fed to their base, but not partake of it themselves. Whereas now they are high on their own supply, so to speak.

Maybe
Chris Hayes, 2012?

If you read it recently, it may have been from remorseful ex-right-wing-radio personality Charlie Sykes, who's had a couple NYT pieces I think.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

For those who have never been to Yad Vashem, you must understand that it is filled to the brim with horror.

It has been... man, I was gonna say 25 years but I guess it's been 30. Thirty years since I've been to Yad Vashem. And despite having now lived just a few miles from the Holocaust Museum in DC for over a decade I still haven't been able to bring myself to go. Both because YV was so overwhelming and because I don't think I want to go to another memorial to the tragedy and possibly be even marginally less horrified. That's not something I want to feel about the Holocaust, if that makes any sense.
posted by phearlez at 11:26 AM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

that retraction seems to be very specific to the May 16th story about the "private investigator", and "we will continue to investigate this story" sounds like they will probably not tug on hannity's leash very hard.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:28 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Turns out he's come to give us Corsica back!

And, um, that map just gave the entire West Bank and Gaza to Israel. Not that it's necessarily intentional mind you, it looks like an intern was just told to vaguely outline Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium in MS Paint, and that's what happened. Oops.
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:29 AM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

laffer curve was bullshit

As long you don't label the axes, the Laffer curve is kind of impossible to argue with. And while serious economists knew we weren't even close to the turning point where cutting taxes actually starts raising revenue (hence Bush's voodoo economics line) you could argue that before Reagan no one had really tried it, so it was just barely possible that it would work.

I'd argue that while the Laffer curve was indeed bullshit, it was at least halfway plausible bullshit. Not grade "A" WTF like the Birther lie, Benghazi!, or the Seth Rich Scandal.

I don't think anyone linked yet to this excellent Max Boot piece in Foreign Policy?

The Seth Rich ‘Scandal’ Shows That Fox News Is Morally Bankrupt

Re: the "What to do about Fox News?" problem, I'm leaning toward the "Sleeping Giants" solution at the moment. Ask their advertisers if this shameful crap is what they want their brand associated with. Bill O'Reilly lost almost all his advertisers this way before he was pulled from the air, and Sleeping Giants has cut down Breitbart's funding stream hugely, and possibly prevented them from opening a European branch.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [26 favorites]

When a party has lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress, the response, according to some Democrats, is to listen to one of the country’s most unpopular mayors. Politico reported yesterday that “three senior House Democrats” are about to travel to Chicago, where they will pay their respects to Emanuel. They are doing so because they reportedly believe that Emanuel’s 2006 tactics for delivering a House majority may succeed again:

Given that Rahm barely survived a poorly funded progressive challenge by a little known local pol in the last election for mayor of Chicago despite spending almost 5 times as much in campaign funds and a 10X advantage in PAC support tells you something about why nobody should be listening to Rahm.

Also there is the somewhat disturbing fact that some of his biggest contributors and closest confidants are staunch Republicans.
posted by srboisvert at 11:36 AM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

Now is the time for President Trump to deliver a clear message to Turkey.

He probably thinks he has until Thanksgiving.
posted by bonehead at 11:36 AM on May 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

Now is the time for President Trump to deliver a clear message to Turkey.

God knows he has just the right messenger boy for the job, without many other tasks on his plate right at the moment.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

but when we talk about it in US politics, everything is steamrolled down to 'islamic militants hate us because hate is their creed', which conveniently absolves us of any agency or responsibility for the conditions that foster terrorism, and then we swat at the embers while the fire that we fueled rages on

It's hard to make any progress against terrorism if you only talk about the supply side and don't address the demand side. "Drive them out of your holy land and drive them out of this Earth" is just going to produce more terrorists. The War on Terror has resulted in a massive increase in people getting killed in terrorist attacks.

A two-state solution with a secure Israel and Palestine would help. So would a US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:38 AM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

And, um, that map just gave the entire West Bank and Gaza to Israel. Not that it's necessarily intentional mind you, it looks like an intern was just told to vaguely outline Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium in MS Paint, and that's what happened. Oops.

I'm working on a web tool that requires showing a world map and outlines of countries, and we're so sensitive to feelings on the matter we don't even call them "countries", but territories. Also, we've had a million of meetings on who gets a dotted line vs solid line, what's a separate "territory" to customers in one place but is not separate to customers in another, the exact wording of names in each localized language which also have to change depending on the customer's location, etc.

I'm glad to know we're more careful with our stuff than the clowns who can easily cause an international incident between multiple nuclear powers.
posted by sideshow at 11:42 AM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

Even if you believe in the Laffer curve you still don't get to put together a budget that assumes economic growth from tax cuts, and then calculates revenue based on current tax rates. That goes beyond having your cake and eating it too! In Trump terms, it's as if he were planning to demolish a family-owned bakery to make way for a new casino, and also advertising the same casino's convenient access to fresh desserts thanks to the nearby bakery.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:47 AM on May 23, 2017 [42 favorites]

So I just had a thought inspired by the article zachlipton linked above about Trump's linguistic decline.

I used to administer IQ tests to kids as part of my job. I administered probably hundreds of IQ tests to kids, kids with a wide range of cognitive abilities. I tested many kids with serious delays and some with severe cognitive disorders of various kinds. Let me tell you, you've never lived until you've done five hours of testing on a kid with severe ADHD who is ready to leave after 15 minutes.

So the thought that I had was: Imagine giving an IQ test to Donald J. Trump. I can't do it. Not just I can't imagine him doing well. I can't imagine him BEING ABLE TO TAKE THE TEST.

I mean, his national security briefs are written in bullet points and make sure to constantly mention his name so he'll pay attention. How do you get him to concentrate long enough to understand and answer a question? How would you even motivate him to participate? He would be the definition of non-compliant with the testing procedures.

And that man is our fucking president.
posted by threeturtles at 11:55 AM on May 23, 2017 [53 favorites]

In a weird way, Trump's embrace of fake news outlets (Breitbart, OANN, InfoWars, the 12 year old boy who got credentials) may be creating an opportunity to knock Fox News down into their category, where they belong.

I think it will require a concerted grass roots effort to deprecate them as not news, in private conversation, and e.g. to reques a channel change any time you see them on a public TV (e.g. doctor's office, tire store, mall, etc.)

My favorite talking point: they don't break any original stories, and that's what news is - it has to be NEW. They're basically talk radio with pictures.

Challenge any defenders to name a story that Fox broke. The only current example is the Seth Rich story which they clearly manufactured, as even the Rich family's private investigator -- planted and paid for by a Fox and Breitbart contributor -- admitted a day later. Even the conspiracy theories they trumpet usually originate with Breitbart, Gateway Pundit or some other fringier source, which is amazing considering that the Trump Administration could easily just leak stuff to them.
posted by msalt at 12:04 PM on May 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

I really want to read those briefings that jam his name in as much as possible.

"The Free Syrian Army, known as the FSA to Beloved President Donald Trump has been driven from its strongholds in Aleppo by occasional enemy of Esteemed Military Strategist, President Donald Trump, the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Turkish leaders at a rally in Istanbul, site of an Incredibly Luxurious Trump Hotel, denounced this. Elsewhere, Kim Jong Un, who compares poorly to Noble Leader Donald Trump in every way, continues to develop missile technologies in the hope of someday having a military as mighty as Wonderful American President Donald J. Trump."
posted by Copronymus at 12:06 PM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

[fake] tag provided by Mesmerizing and Dazzling Donald J. Trump.
posted by Namlit at 12:13 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think the Onion has a pretty good take on what the Trump briefings look like now.
posted by emjaybee at 12:16 PM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

The Hill Carrier plant that Trump saved will lay off hundreds right before Christmas: report

The Indianapolis furnace plant pledged to stay in the United States late last year after making a deal with President Trump, but announced today that it will lay off more than 600 workers, the final 290 of which will be fired just before the holiday season.

The move isn't a complete surprise for the company. In their initial announcement last year, the company revealed that while the plant would remain in the U.S., the factory would be cutting down on labor to reduce costs.

Trump took credit for saving 1,100 jobs at the factory in December.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:28 PM on May 23, 2017 [34 favorites]

Fox News retracts Seth Rich bullshit due to bullshitness? Truly, Generalissimo Rogerio Ailés is still dead
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:32 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Hill Paul plans to force vote on $110B Saudi defense deal

Sen. Rand Paul intends to force a vote on a $110 billion defense deal President Trump signed with Saudi Arabia, according to an aide to the Kentucky Republican.

Paul is expected to introduce a measure to disapprove of the sale later on Wednesday, the aide said, over concerns that the deal may pull the U.S. into Yemen's civil war.

The move will allow Paul to force a vote in early June. Under the Arms Export Control Act, he can bring the measure up on the Senate floor after 10 calendar days, but the Senate is leaving town on Friday for a week-long Memorial Day break.[...]The package is expected to include U.S. missiles, bombs, armored personnel carriers, Littoral Combat Ships, terminal high altitude area defense missile systems and munitions.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

BuzzFeed A Top Republican Backs A Federal Legal Aid Agency The White House Is Trying To Defund

The president’s proposed budget released by the White House on Tuesday calls for a complete defunding of the Legal Services Corporation. The agency, which received $385 million this year from Congress, gives grants to 133 legal aid organizations across the country. Trump’s 2018 budget would provide $33 million to wind down its operations.

The fate of the agency’s budget ultimately lies with Congress, though, and several Republicans in the House and Senate have already joined Democrats in opposing the cut. In a May 18 letter obtained by BuzzFeed News, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn — the second ranking Republican in the Senate — and two other Senate Republicans joined Democrats in urging the Senate Committee on Appropriations to provide “robust funding” for the agency.[...]Cornyn on Tuesday released a statement praising Trump’s focus on military spending in the White House's 2018 budget proposal, but a day earlier had tweeted a gentle reminder that it is Congress, not the president, that controls the budget.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Promoting knowledge of Trump's chaotic evil among the populace may or may not get him removed from office, but it will certainly make it harder for him to pass despicable legislation! This is valuable to humanity!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:41 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Pete Souza is, as usual, devastating in his quiet annihilation of the Trump circus.

Looks like he's found work with a new administration.
posted by PenDevil at 12:42 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

How the fuck did that not end his run right there?

Indeed. There are so many reasons for Trump to have his run stopped that the list of them is clearly on an astronomical scale and astronomical scale is difficult to comprehend. In terms of human "social astronomy" we now have a shitload of evidence that human bullshit has an astounding amount of mass that the resultant gravity has proven to difficult to ignore. Trump and his minions are so full of shit it laces every word they speak and every thought they have. Furthermore, their assholes are so tight they've gotten used to shitting out of their mouths. This great gathering of utter bullshit continues to accumulate and threatens to crush us all. It is extremely alarming and the current U.S. leadership is just the sort to pretend it's not happening.

I can only hope that as we get closer to the event horizon we stand up and refuse to be drawn to and by it any longer.
posted by juiceCake at 12:43 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Intercept: Homeland Security Hires Anti-Islam Activist Katherine Gorka as Trump Makes Overtures to Muslim States

That's Sebastian Gorka's wife, and she's as much of an Islamophobe as her husband.
posted by zachlipton at 12:47 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Op Ed by Mick Mulvaney

Post and Courier Budget to balance the books

For years, we’ve focused on how we can help Americans receive taxpayer-funded assistance. Under President Trump’s leadership, we’re now looking at how we can respect both those who require assistance and the taxpayers who fund that support. For the first time in a long time, we’re putting taxpayers first.

Taking money from someone without an intention to pay it back is not debt. It is theft. This budget makes it clear that we will reverse this larceny.

[my bold]

My eyes damn near popped out of my head. So all those kids getting free lunches are thieves. As are the disabled, the elderly, the poor, the vets and anyone else who has ever gotten help by way of the safety net. Good to know this is how they think.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:48 PM on May 23, 2017 [117 favorites]

Is it gorkae or gorkas? Gorchids? Or is the plural just gorka, like moose?
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:49 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

That's Sebastian Gorka's wife, and she's as much of an Islamophobe as her husband.

Also, like her husband, she has no discernible qualifications for the position. What a couple of gargoyles.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:50 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

lots of extremely good shit going on here
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

What a couple of gargoyles.

Gorkoyles, please.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

My eyes damn near popped out of my head. So all those kids getting free lunches are thieves. As are the disabled, the elderly, the poor, the vets and anyone else who has ever gotten help by way of the safety net. Good to know this is how they think.

"Taxation is theft" has been a rallying cry among the nuttier of wingnuts for years. Apparently they've never read Hobbes, to say nothing of the founding documents of the United States.
posted by Gelatin at 12:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [19 favorites]

the orb photo is unsettling
and the uncropped version is a bit more diabolical
but the reverse shot is just straight out of a bond film
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

homunculus: Richard Painter and Norman Eisen: The White House may claim Mueller has conflicts of interest. That’s ridiculous.

No worries, they backed down and approved (waived?) him for the full investigation.
posted by msalt at 12:52 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I like to think Gorka is a postpositive adjective here like in "Attorneys General," so the correct answer is: Islamophobes Gorka
posted by zachlipton at 12:52 PM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

This budget makes it clear that we will reverse this larceny.

Notice also that Mulvaney is specifically saying he wants to take from the poor to give to the rich.
posted by Gelatin at 12:53 PM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

lots of extremely good shit going on here

No one is even commenting on the two guys standing behind a pane of glass.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:55 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

No worries, they backed down and approved (waived?) him for the full investigation.

Ponder the significance of the fact that an administration not afraid to say, publicly and in print, that they intend to take from the poor to give to the rich is apparently concerned about the optics of blocking the independent counsel so blatantly.
posted by Gelatin at 12:56 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

In one concrete example of this approach, the White House would drop almost 45 percent of the countries receiving economic and development assistance from the U.S. Instead, it would train the focus not to countries most in need but to those deemed most critical to U.S. national security.

Who cares what people need? What can they do for us? That's the guiding strategy here.

When you consider that Jordan, Egypt and Israel already make up the bulk of US foreign aid this once again is spitting directly in the face of people they just met and shook hands with.
posted by srboisvert at 12:56 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

How the fuck did that not end his run right there?

I saw a depolorable reacting to the trump Muslim speech after it happened, and the general text of their tweet was:

"This was so inspiring and powerful. If the liberal media debunks it [his exact words] then they're traitors to the nation."

Even in his own thought, he seemed to be acknowledging that there was almost no content to the speech other than emotion. He specifically said that debunking it would be traitorous, not going against it, or even disagreeing. Debunking. There is nothing beyond narrative for these people. They have nothing else in their lives, other than the narrative that they are special because they are white and American. There is nothing more to them than an identity built on a lie, which is that they are heroic, unique, and strong. The "snowflake" shit, and the "liberal identity politics" shit, and the "libs detached from reality shit" is all pure projection. These people (and I'd argue most modern American conservatives) have no politics beyond their own toxic, garbage identity politics founded in a fucking fantasy. Denying that fantasy is treasonous to them.

trump spoke directly to that fantasy, and indeed, stopped ignoring the few safeguards that the cowardly and idiotic Republican party had put onto the Southern Strategy. When you see some redfaced, MAGA-hatted middle manager type in the mid-west proclaiming that trump tells it like it is, what he really means is, "He told it like I want it to be." These people are a lost cause. There is no getting to them, other than the off chance that some of them come back to reality at some point. trump could shit on the American Flag, and folks like that would claim that the American Flag had always been shat upon, and why didn't Obama do it sooner? I'm not sure what the solution is to these people (I have a feeling its ignoring them, while we fight in the courts and the streets to protect civil liberties while we wait for them to die), but you cannot engage with someone who is living in a fantasy. Especially when that fantasy is all that they have.
posted by codacorolla at 12:57 PM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

Taking money from someone without an intention to pay it back is not debt. It is theft. This budget makes it clear that we will reverse this larceny.

Rev. Rul. 2005-19:

The Fifth Amendment prevents the federal government from taking property without due process of law. U.S. CONST. amend. V. Due process generally includes a right to notice and an opportunity to be heard. The Supreme Court has held that the procedures contained in the Internal Revenue Code fully satisfy the due process rights of taxpayers.[...]
The federal income tax only requires payment of taxes on a person’s income. It does not force a person to labor involuntarily, or to labor at all. The Thirteenth Amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment when convicted of a crime. U.S. CONST. amend. XIII. The Thirteenth Amendment does not proscribe taxation. See Abney v. Campbell,[...]
Persons, including return preparers, who promote these frivolous positions and those who assist taxpayers in claiming tax benefits based on these frivolous arguments may face penalties and may be enjoined by a court pursuant to sections 7407 and 7408.

posted by melissasaurus at 12:57 PM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

lots of extremely good shit going on here

Has Jared always been this thin? I swear his posture is screaming, "Don't look at me. I'm not really here."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:00 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

The president’s proposed budget released by the White House on Tuesday calls for a complete defunding of the Legal Services Corporation. The agency, which received $385 million this year from Congress, gives grants to 133 legal aid organizations across the country. Trump’s 2018 budget would provide $33 million to wind down its operations.

Remember that thing about Jared Kushner being a shit landlord?

One of the major things Legal Aid does across the country is landlord-tenant law. When I was interning with my local Legal Aid, landlord-tenant law was one of the few areas where the organization seemed to routinely be able to actually help people that showed up because the ways the landlords were shitty were so completely cookie-cutter. (Seriously, all the notice rules are right there! No, you can't keep deposits just because you feel like it!)

This does not, to me, seem coincidental. Their budget is a totally incidental amount compared to the US budget as a whole. This isn't like Planned Parenthood where part of the population thinks Legal Aid is evil. Among other things, Legal Aid orgs don't just exist to pay attorneys to do stuff--they also help to coordinate a lot of local attorney's pro bono time to where it's most helpful. (And ditto with the hours of law school interns.) They don't need huge budgets to do this, but they do need at least some resources. It's one thing to fight over exactly how much money these groups need to do what they do; to shut down the LSC entirely takes an agenda.
posted by Sequence at 1:01 PM on May 23, 2017 [89 favorites]

What's Kushner smirking at?
posted by orrnyereg at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Jared is so honored to have his Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

There are so many reasons for Trump to have his run stopped that the list of them is clearly on an astronomical scale and astronomical scale is difficult to comprehend.

But the Mainstream Press had spent the previous 30 years giving the false impression that Donald Trump isn't evil, he's just kinda funny. This segment from a standup comic at his Comedy Central Roast (linked in the first comment to the Roasts post) show exactly how much he was "normalized" years before his run.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:05 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I am admittedly immature but #16 is cracking me up.
posted by orrnyereg at 1:08 PM on May 23, 2017 [28 favorites]

Even in his own thought, he seemed to be acknowledging that there was almost no content to the speech other than emotion. He specifically said that debunking it would be traitorous, not going against it, or even disagreeing. Debunking. There is nothing beyond narrative for these people.

Charitably, I think this is one of those words which is commonly misunderstood and misused by some people. I suspect the Trumpist really intended something more like "disputing". Of course, I think there's a reasonable argument to be made that the actual reason this word is so commonly misunderstood is because many people do not have a clear mental distinction between debunking (disproving a verifiable claim with objectively valid evidence) and disputing (defending a counterargument on the basis of differing opinion, values, or uncertain evidence). This, of course, is because many people lack or fail to engage their critical thinking skills to understand the difference between fact and opinion. Which I think supports your larger point.
posted by biogeo at 1:12 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Bloomberg Mnuchin’s Recruiting Tool: Titles That Don’t Need Senate Confirmation

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is trying to fill a leadership vacuum in his department by increasingly recruiting financial industry executives for senior positions that come with a perk: a title that doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

Mnuchin has so far hired four people as top aides with the title "counselor," including Craig Phillips, an ex-BlackRock Inc. executive and Hillary Clinton fundraiser. The Senate won’t vote on any of them, even though Mnuchin’s own party is in charge.

The hiring tactic is driven to some degree by necessity. The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Mnuchin wanted as his deputy, Jim Donovan, pulled out on Friday, shortly before his Senate confirmation hearing was to be scheduled. Donovan said his withdrawal stemmed from a family matter.[...]Mnuchin was already leaning on Donovan to help manage the department, even though he had not officially left Goldman Sachs. One of Donovan’s tasks was to recruit people for other senior positions in the agency.

[my bold]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:17 PM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

Craig Phillips, an ex-BlackRock Inc. executive and Hillary Clinton fundraiser

Oh this guy should definitely be blackballed.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:19 PM on May 23, 2017

I so hope that the inevitable movie manages to get Michael Cera to play Kushner, and that he just uses his George Michael Bluth persona straight-up.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:19 PM on May 23, 2017 [22 favorites]

He specifically said that debunking it would be traitorous, not going against it, or even disagreeing. Debunking.

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

Teddy Roosevelt
posted by kirkaracha at 1:22 PM on May 23, 2017 [94 favorites]

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is trying to fill a leadership vacuum in his department by increasingly recruiting financial industry executives for senior positions that come with a perk: a title that doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

Mnuchin has so far hired four people as top aides with the title "counselor," including Craig Phillips, an ex-BlackRock Inc. executive and Hillary Clinton fundraiser. The Senate won’t vote on any of them, even though Mnuchin’s own party is in charge.

This has been another edition of Imagine The Republican Reaction If Obama Or Clinton Had Done So. More in a moment...
posted by Gelatin at 1:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you need to know why Legal Services of America is a good thing and also see exactly why Trump et al would want to defund it (Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid is a beneficiary and good example of the work they do):

"I think that [TRLA] is the problem because they're supplying these people with the information and they're telling them all about the federal laws and everything."

Deaf Smith County Sheriff Travis McPherson
Howard Gault co. v. Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc.
615 F Supp. 916 at 925 (N.D. Tex-Amarillo Div 1985)
posted by avalonian at 1:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

I swear his posture is screaming, 'Don't look at me. I'm not really here.'

I'd go with "I have to pee" or "I have a boner."
posted by kirkaracha at 1:26 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mulvaney is a rotting dog dick but the sad thing is that he is hardly unique. All he is doing is stripping the varnish off of the core of Reaganomics: more money for us, fuck you.

This is the Paul Ryan mantra, the Paul family motto, the Scott Walker credo, the new official anthem of North Carolina. This is the Southern Strategy boiled down; you deserve what THEY have because they're not worthy of it. And this is one of many reasons why I drink.
posted by delfin at 1:26 PM on May 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

Michael Cera is 28. I think he might already be too old to portray the 36 year old Kushner. The role requires someone younger and more androgynous.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:27 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

The role requires someone younger and more androgynous.

Motion-capture Andy Serkis to the rescue!
posted by Behemoth at 1:29 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

He's already doing Gollum for Sessions.
posted by mochapickle at 1:31 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

The role requires someone younger and more androgynous.

A bowl of warm plain spaghetti poured into a cheap suit it is.
posted by PenDevil at 1:32 PM on May 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

TheVerge: Here's Trump's plan to destroy the US science budget
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:36 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Secret Life of Gravy: "Mnuchin’s Recruiting Tool: Titles That Don’t Need Senate Confirmation"

I could have sworn that there was some kind of rule regarding installing people in non-Senate-confirmed positions. Namely, that people in non-confirmed positions had some kind of limitation on their power, e.g.: they could not supervise or have authority over or give orders to career civil servants or something like that. The idea was that non-confirmed positions could give advice and consultations but couldn't actually be in charge (for some definition of "in charge"). Otherwise, this would be a pretty convenient loophole to circumvent Senate confirmation (e.g.: Senate won't confirm your nominee for some position? No prob. Just create a new, non-confirmed position with the exact same powers and install your chosen nominee.)
posted by mhum at 1:37 PM on May 23, 2017

"The Administration has proposed terminating funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in FY 2018. Toward this end, the FY 2018 budget requests $42.307 million to begin the orderly closure of the agency." ... "NEH will not invite or accept any new grant applications nor make any new grants, in FY 2018."

On top of every despicable inhumane act these craven ghouls have concocted, they have at long last pretty much gutted the professional lives of those of us trying to make a living in higher education in the Humanities. I await the re-introduction of debtor's prison for those of us who will never be able to make a dent in our student loans.
posted by Heretic at 1:39 PM on May 23, 2017 [46 favorites]

Kushner: A puddle of luke-warm mayonnaise, swimming with bacteria, viruses and parasites.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2017

Otherwise, this would be a pretty convenient loophole to circumvent Senate confirmation (e.g.: Senate won't confirm your nominee for some position? No prob. Just create a new, non-confirmed position with the exact same powers and install your chosen nominee.)

This is literally what Obama did with at least some EPA positions -- when the Republicans stonewalled his pick for EPA assistant administrator for water, the nominee was made deputy assistant administrator for water, which doesn't require Senate confirmation, and since there was no AA at the time he was the highest official at the water office and thus in charge of the whole thing. GOP never raised a fuss about it, which leads me to believe there's no law against it because otherwise somebody would have brought that up.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:43 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yeah, definitely nothing fishy here:

(BNA) -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has refused Federal Election Commission requests to provide more details about $1 million in bank loans that helped finance his original 2012 campaign for the Senate, according to a new memorandum from FEC staff auditors.

Questions about Cruz’s loans were raised in news reports during last year’s presidential campaign, when he was running for the Republican presidential nomination. The questions have never been fully resolved, according to the FEC auditors.
posted by H. Roark at 1:45 PM on May 23, 2017 [50 favorites]

There is only one Gorka, a rotting mycelium hidden in some dark, damp cellar that rarely -- and yet too frequently -- sprouts a disgusting fruit sac.

You do not want to see how Kathy v Seb eat.
posted by orange ball at 1:49 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has refused Federal Election Commission requests to provide more details

I love the way all these law and order types are just fine with disobeying laws they don't like. Hypocritical scumbags.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:02 PM on May 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

Affidavits from Giuliani and Michael Mukasey
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:03 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Guardian: The only good news about Trump's budget? It's unlikely to pass

So now what? US budgets are always more philosophical tracts than blueprints. The plan will have to fight its way through Congress, where Democrats and more liberal Republicans are already balking at plans to cut holes in a social safety net that has been saving down-on-their-luck Americans from penury and worse since Lyndon Johnson was president. Try selling cuts to Meals on Wheels to constituents already worried about losing Obamacare protections.

The president, meanwhile, is on his first overseas trip and unavailable to push forward the budget’s ambitious agenda – almost as if he, too, thinks the plan is dead in the water.

But the bad taste that this budget will leave in the mouth of America should not be forgotten if and when it gets eviscerated in Congress. What the budget proves is the Trump agenda to make America great again means making it better for the rich and worse for the poor.

posted by ZeusHumms at 2:04 PM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

Buzzfeed: The UK’s terror threat level has been raised from severe to critical, meaning “an attack is expected imminently”

Please stay safe, folks. And please hope that Donald Trump never makes a comment about the terror level threat to the US.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:06 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

that mulvaney op/ed makes me feel like i have been thrown through a spatio-temporal vortex and now dwell on bizarro world

in bizarro world, the purpose of elections is to choose those least willing and able to serve for the highest positions of government.

in bizarro world, the purpose of government is to promote the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few and curtail the liberties of the many.

in bizarro world, all the churches proclaim that mutual respect, understanding, charity are the gravest sins, and avarice, hatred, and ignorance the greatest virtues.

To quote Bizarro himself: "Me go home to Bizarro World where everything backwards. There, losing equal winning."

i am tired of winning.
posted by murphy slaw at 2:07 PM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

I like to think Gorka is a postpositive adjective here like in "Attorneys General," so the correct answer is: Islamophobes Gorka

That sounds more like a really bad entree at Trump's restaurant. I do like Erlich's attempt (on Silican Valley) to insist that the plural of "hard on" is "hards on" though it seems more like something Richard would insist on.

I think this is one of those words which is commonly misunderstood and misused by some people.

How do you bunk a conspiracy theory, anyway?
posted by msalt at 2:12 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Theresa May has also said she's putting the army onto the streets to back up the police, a move which defies my attempts to find a bona fide reason, especially with the election barely two weeks away.

So while my fear of terrorism remains at its normal practically-zero level, my fear of weak leaders trying to look strong is substantially raised. Be sure 45 is watching.
posted by Devonian at 2:15 PM on May 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

So Giuliani swears under oath that "In particular I have never served on any Trump administration Commission "relating to the so-called Muslim Ban Executive Orders." I have not participated in writing any of the Executive Orders on that subject issued by the Trump Administration."

However, Giuliani in January:

"I’ll tell you the whole history of it: When he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban,'" Giuliani said on Fox News.

"He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’"

Giuliani said he then put together a commission that included lawmakers and expert lawyers.

"And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger," Giuliani said.

And the Trump Administration is refusing to hand over a memo, despite a court order, that Giuliani supposedly wrote on the subject.

I suppose he can argue it wasn't a real formal "commission" and that he didn't actually participate in "writing" the documents, but these statements are pretty damn contradictory.
posted by zachlipton at 2:16 PM on May 23, 2017 [20 favorites]

zachlipton Everyone's question now is what is Hannity going to do?

Rant on his radio show that, "I retracted nothing!"
posted by mlis at 2:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

The White House justifies its savage budget with a divisive lie
Or let’s take another example: help for those with disabilities. The administration is proposing $72 billion in cuts to disability programs, mostly from Social Security. When asked, Mulvaney said that while there are some people who are legitimately disabled getting that help, there are others who aren’t. But he didn’t discuss any new measures to identify these nefarious swindlers; instead, the White House just wants to cut the entire program. We see this logic at work again and again: White House officials assert that there are some unknown number of people mooching off the system, then use that as a justification for punishing everyone who gets that benefit, including the overwhelming majority of those who get it legitimately.

You’ll notice, however, that Republicans only propose doing that when the people they’re victimizing don’t have enough political power to fight back. Let’s take a counter-example: Medicare. Medicare fraud is an enormous problem; this Government Accountability Office report estimated that we lost $60 billion to it in 2014. So does the Trump administration use that as an excuse for sweeping across-the-board cuts to Medicare benefits? No it doesn’t, because seniors have enormous political power and would never stand for it. People who are poor or disabled, on the other hand, aren’t as organized, so they’re a target.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:26 PM on May 23, 2017 [31 favorites]

I'm sure he's thinking that there wasn't a Trump Administration before 45 got sworn in, and that he didn't contribute directly to the wording of the EOs.

Which is crappy sophistry, probably not perjury (although I'm open to persuasion from those better versed in the nuances), and won't help him much (quite the opposite) when he comes to testify.
posted by Devonian at 2:27 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Democrats should play the same stupid game and come to the table with their own budget that's as far left as Trump's budget is right.

It's not supposed to pass, he's trying to establish a starting position for negotiations. It's yet another shitty used car sales tactic showing up where it has no business being. It really only works if the other party doesn't understand their own leverage.

When you're buying a car, the customer actually has a LOT of leverage because there are a LOT of cars available so you don't particularly need mine and there is nothing I can do to compel you to buy the car, you have to agree to it. If you have a realistic number that the dealer has to hit for you to agree to buy the car, it doesn't matter what the starting price is.

Salesman VTX: If I can make the numbers work for you will you drive this new car home today?
Customer: Sure!

sVTX: The MSRP on that car is $23,100 but I talked to my manager and got him to knock the price down to $22,950, will that work for you?
Customer: No. I know that the invoice price on that car is $21,354 but you've got a make a little bit of money on the deal so if you can sell it to me for $21,750 I'll buy it right now.
sVTX: Okay, I'll see if I can make that work.
sVTX: We can't quite do that but we could let it go for $22,500?
Cust: $21,750
sVTX: $22,250?
Cust: $21,750
sVTX: $22,125?
Cust: $21,750
sVTX: $21,950?
Cust: $21,750
sVTX: $21,783.57?
Cust: $21,750
sVTX: Okay, $21,750

I made up the numbers but I sold more than one car where the negotiations went just like that. Well, it actually goes a lot faster in real life before because salespeople will get a sense that that is how it will play out and just jump down to $21,750 and save everyone some time.

There is a LOT of bullshit built into the car sales process that is meant to deal with people who don't really know how the system works but THINK they know how to "play the game".

When I go shopping for a car, it's a MUCH different process because I'm up-front with them that I'm a former sales person. There is a bunch of stuff sales people do to help customers get out of their own way, they simply wouldn't bother to try any of that shit with me because they know that I'll know exactly what they're doing.

Trump is supposed to be some master negotiator but the "Art" of his deals are more paint-by-numbers than Picasso. It's shady used car sales 101.
posted by VTX at 2:33 PM on May 23, 2017 [39 favorites]

I searched to see if anyone posted this link to a MediaMatters article listing advertisers, both primary and secondary, on Sean Hannity's shows. This is useful for those who support product boycotts and writing to those companies as methods of persuading advertisers to abandon this show.
posted by Silverstone at 2:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

AP news alert: Senate Intelligence Committee to Subpoena Two of Former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn's Businesses
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

Wasn't the CBO score of the Republican Death Bill supposed to be out by now? When is this going to happen?
posted by Justinian at 2:36 PM on May 23, 2017

^ CBO score for the AHCA should be out tomorrow, Justinian.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Theresa May has also said she's putting the army onto the streets to back up the police, a move which defies my attempts to find a bona fide reason, especially with the election barely two weeks away.

Things are getting just a little bit too V for Vendetta lately. I do not want anyone "putting the army on the streets" unless there's actually an enemy army mustering on the borders. What is the army supposed to do against, like, two suicide bombers? The answer of course is nothing, that's not why you put the army on the street. Ugh.
posted by Frowner at 2:40 PM on May 23, 2017 [49 favorites]

why, it's almost like authoritarians, autocrats, and fascists take advantage of acts of terror to further their goals
posted by entropicamericana at 2:46 PM on May 23, 2017 [46 favorites]

The Trump budget process, explained—@DukeStJournal: "Gobsmacking detail told by @PeterWSJ to @juliemason: Mulvaney listed budget cuts to Trump who simply answered "yes" or "no" in Oval Ofc mtg."

I mean, I knew the budget was all Mulvaney, but I didn't realize it was that literally all Mulvaney.

And NBC has a good wrap-up: Donald Trump’s Budget Breaks These 7 Campaign Promises
posted by zachlipton at 2:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [40 favorites]

"Gobsmacking detail told by @PeterWSJ to @juliemason: Mulvaney listed budget cuts to Trump who simply answered "yes" or "no" in Oval Ofc mtg."

this is slightly more sophisticated than the method i envisioned, which involved a dart board.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:03 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

Taking money from someone without an intention to pay it back is not debt. It is theft. This budget makes it clear that we will reverse this larceny.

No, it makes it clear that you will CONTINUE this larceny and ACCELERATE this larceny. This larceny that has been several decades of removing every obstacle standing between the predators and the prey, shackling the prey down and covering them with barbecue sauce.

You got blue shinin' skies
We got the sun in our eyes
And we're goin' blind
We don't want your money
We want mine
posted by delfin at 3:14 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Theresa May has also said she's putting the army onto the streets to back up the police, a move which defies my attempts to find a bona fide reason, especially with the election barely two weeks away.

Given that this election will give the Tories a mandate to do everything from locking down and censoring the Internet to replacing all electoral systems in the UK with first-past-the-post (wiping out minority parties), not to mention legalising the ivory trade, it looks like they've picked up the Manchester attack as their Reichstag Fire.
posted by acb at 3:16 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Matt Fuller: Treasury Secretary Suggests Trump Opposes Border Adjustment Tax

You almost, emphasis on almost, feel bad for Paul Ryan. The one thing he adores, the most obvious budget policy he ought to agree with Trump, who ran on massive tariffs, about, is the border adjustment tax, and now Trump opposes it.
posted by zachlipton at 3:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

and now Trump opposes it

it would be more accurate to say "and now Trump completely forgot about it, so his subordinates are making up policy on the fly according to their own whim"
posted by murphy slaw at 3:28 PM on May 23, 2017 [37 favorites]

why, it's almost like authoritarians, autocrats, and fascists take advantage of acts of terror to further their goals

Terrorists and fascists feed off of each other.
posted by Artw at 3:36 PM on May 23, 2017 [23 favorites]

My understanding of the critical threat level is that it is neutral. However, Operation Temperer has been triggered, and that allows up to 5,000 armed forces on the streets, in coordination with the police. So although this is being sold as a suspension of the rule of law, it's actually something pre-planned.

But the important (and on-topic for this thread) thing is that when things are spun as the suspension of the law, that's a large weakening of the rule of law. Keep Calm and Carry On, guys.
posted by ambrosen at 3:39 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Michael Cera is 28. I think he might already be too old to portray the 36 year old Kushner. The role requires someone younger and more androgynous.

I dunno, I think they could do something with this idea on the new season of Arrested Development...
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:39 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

So, about that Yad Vashem note. This tweet indicates he just wrote "SO AMAZING" while he added "& will NEVER FORGET" after. And this tweet backs it up.
posted by Sophie1 at 3:48 PM on May 23, 2017 [27 favorites]

on the new season of Arrested Development...
George Bluth Sr. was obviously based on The Donald, but the concepts that he could go to prison for his financial crimes and have a son with any scruples were pure fantasy.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:48 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's amusing that the name for this scandal is "The Russia Stuff".
posted by chrchr at 3:49 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

George Bluth Sr. was obviously based on The Donald, but the concepts that he could go to prison for his financial crimes and have a son with any scruples were pure fantasy.

He may have committed a little light... treason.
posted by Justinian at 3:50 PM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

he was "normalized" years before his run.

Absolutely. The shit has been building in size for years and those who peddle it have been getting more and more emboldened. I've been posting articles for years that I've had friends react to in shock and disbelief over what Republican and Tea Party politicians have been up to and saying not to mention much of a human history.

Anyone whose paid any attention to the history of Fox News will have seen this normalization.

Still, I'm still just as astounded now as I was then (I well remember the disbelief of some colleagues when I showed them what Fox News was doing of the "What! They can't say that!" variety).

Now that more people are seemingly more aware of this deplorable nonsense, even if not fully understanding its history or depth, perhaps tolerance for this shit will decline but it may be the old story of humans having to hit rock bottom before they can change.
posted by juiceCake at 4:03 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

^ Dingell is a national treasure, and we're proud to call him Michigan's own. If you don't already follow him on Twitter, I highly recommend it.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:16 PM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

So, about that Yad Vashem note. This tweet indicates he just wrote "SO AMAZING" while he added "& will NEVER FORGET" after. And this tweet backs it up.

And it's obvious why. He made his initial comment, and then someone said, "Mr. President, you should say something about, you know, the Holocaust." So he grabs the nearest cliché.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:17 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

So, about that Yad Vashem note. This tweet indicates he just wrote "SO AMAZING" while he added "& will NEVER FORGET" after. And this tweet backs it up.

wait wait wait slow down back it up we got a buried lede here

what in the ever-living fuck is the deal with that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thing in the second tweet
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:17 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's amusing that the name for this scandal is "The Russia Stuff".

Perhaps we should start calling it Russia-lago.
posted by shponglespore at 4:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

So, about that Yad Vashem note.

Have a great summer! See you next year!
posted by kirkaracha at 4:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump calls Kim Jong Un a ‘madman with nuclear weapons,’ according to transcript of Duterte call: Duterte responded that Kim is “playing with his bombs, his toys” and offered that “his mind is not working well and he just might go crazy one moment.” That prompted Trump to point out that the United States has “a lot of firepower over there,” including “two nuclear submarines” sent by the Pentagon to the region last month.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:27 PM on May 23, 2017 [16 favorites]

"Gobsmacking detail told by @PeterWSJ to @juliemason: Mulvaney listed budget cuts to Trump who simply answered "yes" or "no" in Oval Ofc mtg."

this is slightly more sophisticated than the method i envisioned, which involved a dart board.

And you are far more generous than I am because I would have assumed Mulvaney came at him with a pile of ideas and DJT just waved him off saying, "Whatever you want. My show is on. Just make sure I get the biggest tax cut."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:29 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

prize bull octorok: "what in the ever-living fuck is the deal with that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thing in the second tweet"

Trump has the habit of taking critical newspaper or magazine articles (either clipped from a physical copy or printed out), scrawling his comments in sharpie, and sending the marked up articles to the authors. He's been doing this since at least the Graydon Carter, Spy magazine, "short-fingered vulgarian" days.

As for "why Kareem?", well it turns out that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has quietly become a pretty good writer/columnist in his post-NBA career. And he's written critical stuff about Trump. And he's a celebrity in his own right so, naturally, it would come to Trump's attention and demand a response.
posted by mhum at 4:33 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Now that not merely one, but two, videos of Melania refusing to hold hands with Donald have gotten publicity I confidently predict that for the rest of the trip we will be seeing Donald holding Melania's hand at every stop.
posted by sotonohito at 4:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

Trump calls Kim Jong Un a ‘madman with nuclear weapons,’ according to transcript of Duterte call:

From same article:

In their call he praised Duterte for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem.”

“Many countries have the problem, we have the problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that,” Trump said, according to the transcript.

What Duterte's "doing" is killing people. Thousands of extrajudicial killings.
posted by chris24 at 4:36 PM on May 23, 2017 [87 favorites]

Now that not merely one, but two, videos of Melania refusing to hold hands with Donald have gotten publicity I confidently predict that for the rest of the trip we will be seeing Donald holding Melania's hand at every stop.

Squeezing the shit out of it painfully, no less.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:36 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

not to mention legalising the ivory trade

Le- . . . The Fuck?!?
posted by petebest at 4:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

She campaigned for this guy, she gave a speech at the RNC endorsing him, she is complicit.
posted by Justinian at 4:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

Infowars granted White House press credentials, promptly smears victims of Manchester bombing
posted by msalt at 4:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

And it's obvious why. He made his initial comment, and then someone said, "Mr. President, you should say something about, you know, the Holocaust." So he grabs the nearest cliché.

I think you give him too much credit, actually. I think it was more like, "Sir, you might want to add something. I find that with the Jews, they like to see you say something about 'never forgetting' or whatever."
posted by CommonSense at 4:39 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

As for "why Kareem?", well it turns out that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has quietly become a pretty good writer/columnist in his post-NBA career. And he's written critical stuff about Trump. And he's a celebrity in his own right so, naturally, it would come to Trump's attention and demand a response.

naturally

I mean, I knew he did the writing back to Vanity Fair thing, but...I guess this is like the difference between knowing, as a matter of trivia, that monkeys fling their own shit, and seeing it for yourself splattered on the pavement at the zoo

I'm just gonna do that Looney Tunes thing now where I bonk myself repeatedly on the head with a mallet and stagger off-stage, thx
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:41 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

She campaigned for this guy, she gave a speech at the RNC endorsing him, she is complicit.

She also echoed and defended his birtherism on multiple occasions, attacked the women accusing him of sexual assault, and plagiarized that speech at the RNC from Michelle.

Complicit indeed.
posted by chris24 at 4:42 PM on May 23, 2017 [43 favorites]

Le- . . . The Fuck?!?

They've moved the goalposts right on past Batman-bad-guy levels to, like, Captain Planet-type villainy, eh?
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:44 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

No one is even commenting on the two guys standing behind a pane of glass.

Ballistic glass. Bullet- & bomb-proof. Mythbusters used them a lot.
posted by scalefree at 4:50 PM on May 23, 2017

Infowars granted White House press credentials, promptly smears victims of Manchester bombing

I believe that's just a one day pass which are much easier to get.
posted by scalefree at 4:54 PM on May 23, 2017

Recode: Republicans want to leave you more voicemail — without ever ringing your cellphone: "It’s part of a push by groups, including the U.S. Chamber, to relax the FCC’s robocalling rules."

It's super hard for me to name a government policy more popular than the Do Not Call list and anti-telemarketing rules, to the extent that everyone just takes it for granted now and forgets how bad it got. While this is a far cry from the "starve children and cut their healthcare" policies in the budget, it's so damn incredibly unpopular. WTF?
posted by zachlipton at 5:07 PM on May 23, 2017 [61 favorites]

Why isn't The Rock taunting him then? He was impressive on SNL.

I think you mean why isn't Trump angrily writing about/at Mr. The Rock? That's because it is physically impossible to be angry at Mr. The Rock.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:18 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

From the voicemail article:
Failing to permit the practice, the RNC warned, could threaten the First Amendment rights of political groups. [real]

The RNC went on to protest the practice of locking doors at private houses, stressing that the Founding Fathers didn't intend for "just anyone to be able to stop a speaker from having an audience." [fake]
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:24 PM on May 23, 2017 [18 favorites]

I believe that's just a one day pass which are much easier to get.

They were on one day press passes. They got their big boy credentials a day or so ago.
posted by Talez at 5:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Here's the full Deterte transcript

I'm still not sure I believe this, but wow. I mean, the Post says "a senior Trump administration official acknowledged that the transcript is accurate," but chunks of this seem like they have to be fake, right?

That said, there's some stuff that rings very Trumpian, like a riff on how our submarines are "the best in the world" (he has a weird submarine obsession, as we've noted before in these threads), a North Korea policy that basically consists of essentially "tell China to deal with it. We have more firepower than North Korea, but we don't want to use it, so 'we are all counting on China,'" and an obsession with the Oval Office:

If you want to come to the Oval Office, I will love to have you in Oval office [sic]. Anytime you want to come. I will be in the Phls in Nov, but anytime if you are in DC or anywhere, come see me in the Oval Office. Work it out with your staff. Seriously, if you want to come over, just let us know.

posted by zachlipton at 5:31 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

While this is a far cry from the "starve children and cut their healthcare" policies in the budget, it's so damn incredibly unpopular. WTF?

Why would they care about popularity? It's not like they'll be offered a second term. This is the political equivalent of what happens in Goodfellas or The Sopranos when the mob takes over a business: they run it into the ground extracting as much cash as possible as quickly as possible, because they're going to be out of there before the bills are due.

Trump's gang is the Mafia, and the Republicans are the business owner that is just now realising that criminals don't care about business longevity.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:31 PM on May 23, 2017 [26 favorites]

I think you mean why isn't Trump angrily writing about/at Mr. The Rock? That's because it is physically impossible to be angry at Mr. The Rock.

Unwise, anyway. I'd love to see Trump get into it with a seriously charming and massive man. Would he flail? Crumble? Pre-emptively offer him Melania?
posted by msalt at 5:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

She campaigned for this guy, she gave a speech at the RNC endorsing him, she is complicit.

Yeah, I hold no brief for Melania. I suspect that they have some sad Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?/co-dependent thing going on. That said, at the moment I hate Donnie more than Mel and so I'm happy to cheer on her displays of icy contempt.

(In fact, whenever I see Melania I start humming "a rich old man and she won't have to worry / she'll dress up all in lace and go in style.")
posted by octobersurprise at 5:35 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

We have basically reached a bizarro right-wing nihilistic state where the Republicans are just nakedly doing whatever their corporate masters want, voters be damned. Of course they want to get rid of the Do Not Call list and automatically fill your voicemail with unwanted propaganda, and god knows what else. Everything has devolved into a social experiment at this point to see if Republican voters can overcome 20+ years of Fox News conditioning to vote for their own interests or if they will follow their leaders over a cliff like a pack of lemmings. The Republicans are clearly all-in on the latter.
posted by gatorae at 5:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [39 favorites]

Politico/Michael Grunwald: Trump’s Budget Scam: "All presidents fudge the numbers. But this one represents a new level of deception." An excellent takedown of the budget:

Ultimately, the Trump budget reads like a corporate prospectus for a shady widget manufacturer who claims that cutting widget prices will spark a massive surge in widget sales, while also promising major cutbacks in ineffective widget salesmen and unnecessary widget costs. It doesn’t pencil out. And it’s worth understanding the main reasons it doesn’t pencil out, because soon Republicans in Congress will get to use their own pencils.

HuffPo: Trump’s Interior Secretary Took Time To Discuss The Border Wall With A Far-Right Troll

Zinke’s half-hour call with Charles “Chuck” Johnson, the CEO and founder of Gotnews.com, and Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, occurred just after lunch on April 12, according to a recently published log of Zinke’s scheduled meetings last month.

The call’s listed topic of discussion: “Border Wall building plans.”

What knowledge or expertise Johnson and Luckey could bring to such a conversation, and why the man tasked with managing some 500 million acres of federal land would agree to the meeting, is anyone’s guess.

A conservative journalist with serious credibility issues, Johnson is perhaps best known for being banned from Twitter in 2015 after asking for donations to help him “take out” civil rights activist DeRay McKesson. He also unsuccessfully sued Gawker for defamation, seeking $66 million over articles addressing rumors that Johnson defecated on the floor at some point during college.

posted by zachlipton at 5:39 PM on May 23, 2017 [17 favorites]

i was about to add "AND POOPED ON THE FLOOR" to your comment but i see it was addressed at the end of your quote
posted by murphy slaw at 5:41 PM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

The only reason you bring Chuck Johnson and Palmer Luckey in is if you're workshopping plans for harassing people with dark money.
posted by Yowser at 5:42 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

...I have had a very interesting idea.

MaterCallipygos is in the tail end of a bout with Lyme disease (she's doing better now, but it was really uncomfortable for a couple years), and has bonded with a neighbor who has it much worse - and now FratriCallipygos seems to be suffering as well.

And this is now MaterCallipygos' hobbyhorse. She's worked Lyme Disease And How Its Research Should Be Better Funded into every conversation we've had since, about, February. She even tucked cans of high-end insect repellant into her Easter Baskets this year. She's starting to get to the point where PaterCallipygos is very gently chiding her to dial it down just a notch, but this is the only time she's been this into something in a long time.

But here's the thing - MaterCallipygos is one of four children, and one of her sisters and one of her brothers are definitely conservative. One brother lives in a red state, to boot. And so the news that Trump's budget includes cutting funding for health research....

Well. If we could find that cutting health research would directly impact the fight on Lyme Disease, I could exploit this habit of my mother's and use it for good. Because you KNOW she would be on the phone to the siblings all "this is YOUR fault that this is getting cut, you better FIX it and call your Congressman!"

MaterCallipygos is pretty conflict-averse, but this has her on a Damn Mission and I want to catch her at the right moment. If anyone has any clips I can send her that connects Trump to Lyme, lemme know and I'll sic her on 'em.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:49 PM on May 23, 2017 [32 favorites]

huh, i had only ever heard of palmer lucky in the context of Oculus and didn't realize he was a trumpist jackbag
posted by murphy slaw at 5:49 PM on May 23, 2017

Palmer Lucky is an idiot.
posted by valkane at 5:50 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump's gang is the Mafia, and the Republicans are the business owner that is just now realising that criminals don't care about business longevity.

I've been watching Fargo Season 3 as well.
posted by juiceCake at 5:51 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

That prompted Trump to point out that the United States has “a lot of firepower over there,” including “two nuclear submarines” sent by the Pentagon to the region last month.

Is it public knowledge that we have two subs in the region?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:53 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

well, now it is.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:55 PM on May 23, 2017 [63 favorites]

The only reason you bring Chuck Johnson and Palmer Luckey in is if you're workshopping plans for harassing people with dark money

Or because you're a ignorant fuck-up who is dumb enough to put yourself at the beck-and-call of every other ignorant grifting fuck-up. Or because you're both, maybe. "Malice or ignorance" is the eternally unresolved question about this gang.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:55 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Republicans want to leave you more voicemail — without ever ringing your cellphone:

Does this piss you off? Want to take three minutes to help stop it?

Go here to the FCC's docket and click the little "+ Express" link on the left to leave a comment. They've only gotten a handful, so even a few Mefites expressing an anti-voicemail spam position will be beneficial.
posted by zachlipton at 5:57 PM on May 23, 2017 [30 favorites]

Malice or ignorance" is the eternally unresolved question about this gang.

Whynotboth.gif
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:58 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

What good are nukes if you can't ~~use them~~ tell everyone all about them?
posted by gatorae at 5:58 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Whynotboth.gif

Indeedy.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:02 PM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've been watching Fargo Season 3 as well.

Me too!
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:12 PM on May 23, 2017

I'd also note that his remarks at Yad Vashem appear to come from a completely different universe

...Sadly, that universe was the "Justin Bieber visits the Anne Frank House" 'verse.
posted by TwoStride at 6:15 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

I've been rewatching Battlestar Galactica and Zarek is such a Stein voter. "Hey, I know humanity has been reduced to a few thousand people and we're on the run from murderous robots, but clearly the real enemy here are the imperfect people trying to save our bacon."
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:20 PM on May 23, 2017 [38 favorites]

Here's the full Deterte transcript

My God, words don't do this justice. It is every bit as dumbfuck as you led me to believe and more.

Granted, some of the errors in transcription are probably due to it being a rush job and/or maybe the transcriber not being a native speaker of English and/or just not good at their job. But beyond that, the childlike nature of this entire interaction is utterly — I mean — I have no words.

Two dumb-as-a-motherfucking-fence-post bullies, with a lifetime's worth of insecurities on full display, playing make-believe and pretending to be presidential. Or at least a 7-year-old's idea of presidential.

I don't want to live in this reality.
posted by CommonSense at 6:33 PM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

NYT: Trump’s Problematic Math: Budget Plan Adds Growth, but Doesn’t Subtract Cost. In which OMB tries to explain that they haven't double-counted the impacts of their tax cuts, even using fantasy math, but ends up just shooting themselves in the face some more:

The budget office insisted in an email that the $2.1 trillion was in addition to the revenues necessary to offset the cost of the tax cut. The administration, in other words, said that it had previously underestimated the benefits of its own plans.

But Marc Goldwein, a senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said that the budget itself showed that this could not be true.

The White House, in a different part of the documents published Tuesday, projected that the increase in growth would produce total revenue of about $2.1 trillion.

The budget itself says that Mr. Trump will not achieve his stated goal of a balanced budget.

More on this in this thread by Nick Timiraos, where he presents two more conflicting answers from OMB: either the tax cuts won't really be paid for with the $2T from growth, or "the details hadn't been sorted out yet and it was premature for the administration to clarify any proposal." So take your pick I guess.
posted by zachlipton at 6:35 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

i was about to add "AND POOPED ON THE FLOOR" to your comment but i see it was addressed at the end of your quote

He's a home floor pooper
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:35 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

US leak of Manchester attacker's name strikes new blow to intelligence sharing. Naming of Salman Abedi by ‘US officials’ hours before it was announced by UK authorities is latest in series of leaks that may damage credibility with allies.

How long until we are officially frozen out of the international intelligence community?
posted by gatorae at 6:46 PM on May 23, 2017 [81 favorites]

He's a home floor pooper
There has to be a twist
posted by The otter lady at 6:48 PM on May 23, 2017 [24 favorites]

Naming of Salman Abedi by ‘US officials’ hours before it was announced by UK authorities is latest in series of leaks that may damage credibility with allies.

Well of course we had to leak it right away. Who cares that he was a British citizen, the name reinforces the idea that scary foreign brown Islamic people are coming to blow us up. Why worry about norms of intelligence sharing when there are racist political points to score?
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:50 PM on May 23, 2017 [29 favorites]

He's a home floor pooper
There has to be a twist

🎵 A home floor pooper
Takes none-too-subtle shiiiits 🎵
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:56 PM on May 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

It's just appalling how they lack any common sense whatsoever. Or even just sense obtained by watching an episode of 24 or Law & Order. Gee, maybe the cops would want to search the bomber's or his associates' homes without the media giving them a giant heads up? JFC. It's so unbelievably stupid that at some point it just becomes literally unbelievable, and I seriously wonder if they aren't actually trying to thwart the cops' ability to prevent a second attack. These people feed off of fear and chaos so it would certainly not surprise me at this point. Evil vs. stupid, yet again.
posted by gatorae at 6:58 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

Hannity tries to fix his sliding ratings by posting a cryptic tweet about his "future at fox". Everyone will tune in to see if that shitbag is going to cut off his nose to spite his face.
posted by Talez at 7:04 PM on May 23, 2017

From the "good news, everyone" column: Trump effect inspires radical Christians in military
posted by Behemoth at 7:06 PM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

i was about to add "AND POOPED ON THE FLOOR" to your comment but i see it was addressed at the end of your quote

The boundless knowledge of the hive mind rarely ceases to fill me with a sense of wonder, albeit tempered somewhat by a residue of faint horror.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:06 PM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

How long until we are officially frozen out of the international intelligence community?

Never. However how long until they delay sharing or elide details ...
posted by zippy at 7:13 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

How long until we are officially frozen out of the international intelligence community?

Feeling like that kiiiinda already happened. I heard a 24-year CIA veteran interviewed last week on NPR, I think, saying something like "Trump's weaknesses are the very same ones we try to exploit in foreign governments." We've become nothing other than a tool for foreign influence due to his porosity and vulnerability. Not only are we getting locked out of info, no doubt, but we're probably also being fed a shit-ton of bad intel to test the credulity of the new administration. This isn't good at all. The falcon can't hear the falconer.
posted by Miko at 7:23 PM on May 23, 2017 [51 favorites]

While this is a far cry from the "starve children and cut their healthcare" policies in the budget, it's so damn incredibly unpopular. WTF?

jfc. let em do it. just attach an amendment that requires a preface to each msg: "the following is made possible by the Republican Party." could this be the my last 'even'? sure feels like it.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:38 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

At this point, despite the oh-so-careful-pls-dont-sue-us reporting in thew news, it is clear that Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice. And that's based entirely on what we, the public, know! There's obviously more to come. So the question becomes what happens when Mueller comes back saying he would, were Trump not the President, prosecute him for OoJ. Will the Senate refuse to convict? What would that mean for our democracy?

My feelings are "yes" and "it's in big fuckin trouble".
posted by Justinian at 7:40 PM on May 23, 2017 [25 favorites]

That clandestine Obama shadow administration? Anyone got the access codes to the Bat Signal?
posted by Devonian at 7:40 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

This thread by Seth Abramson is amazing and says a lot about why we are where we are on the "why isn't Trump in jail yet" question.

tl:dr: big complex federal investigations just take time, this one is huge, already it is blowing up so there's a lot more that's gonna happen. Republicans want you to think it's the end but it's barely started.
posted by emjaybee at 7:43 PM on May 23, 2017 [43 favorites]

He's a home floor pooper
There has to be a twist

Even on the Constitution
He will make a mess
His disciples bring him in
And he just drops a Pence
posted by zippy at 7:50 PM on May 23, 2017 [8 favorites]

This week's Primary Concerns podcast was a really excellent primer on the ins and outs of the DOJ vis the current investigations. I'm getting kind of burnt-out on Trump-related podcasts tbh (a shameful percentage of subscription list is made up of pods that had intended to shut down in November but then, to everyone's horror, had to keep going and I'm still obsessively rubbernecking, against all of my better judgement) but this one was legit interesting and told me new things.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:00 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

The headline thing under Tucker Carlson's yapping head on TV is vascillating between "The Real Threat: Terrorists or Russia?", "Russia Hysteria", "Liberals Melt Down Over Russia Ties" and "U.S. Can Gain By Cooperating With Russia In Checking Radical Islam." So the FoxNews position seems to be explicitly becoming that election collusion happened but it's perfectly okay, pay no attention to the Russians behind the curtain.
posted by gatorae at 8:26 PM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

That Duterte transcript... Trump is itching to use nuclear weapons. It reminds me of that example of a wandering sentence of his, which if you take out some of the massive digressions, says:

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT... but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?)

His uncle explained to him the power of nuclear weapons, "the power of what's going to happen." He's fantasizing about dropping The Bomb, right in public.
posted by longtime_lurker at 8:49 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

Amazing? A great honor to be here with MY friends?

It reminded me of that time during the primaries, when the vet gave Trump his Purple Heart, and Trump said he always wanted one, but getting it this way was easier.

He has zero situational awareness.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:21 PM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

NYT op-ed (David Leonhardt): It’s Time to Worry about Health Care in the Senate

While the rest of the country has been transfixed by Trumpian chaos, members of the Senate have spent the last two weeks talking about taking health insurance from millions of Americans.

There is an alarmingly large chance that they’ll decide to do so. But if they do, they will almost certainly rely on a political sleight of hand to disguise their bill’s damage. Understanding that sleight of hand — and calling attention to it — offers the best hope for defeating the bill.

The effort to take health insurance from the middle class and poor and funnel the savings into tax cuts for the rich is a little like mold. It grows best in the dark.

Bonus tweet: I watched this for 30 minutes... President of Tajikistan prepared for this handshake like Rocky prepared to box Ivan Drago. 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 [amazing gif inside]
posted by zachlipton at 9:29 PM on May 23, 2017 [72 favorites]

zachlipton: "I don't want to step on Chrysostom's SPECIAL ELECTIONS beat, but we got two Democratic pickups in state legislative races: one in a NH district that went Trump +7 and one in NY that was a Trump +23 district!"

Sorry, I'm in San Diego this week and was a little behind.

Yes, this is great, especially the NY one.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:31 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Sean Hannity is backing down on Seth Rich "at this time," after initially saying "I'm not Fox News, I'm going to keep going!" even after Fox retracted the story.

“I totally completely understand how upset… how hard this is on this family, especially over the recent coverage of Seth’s death,” Hannity said, adding that he had reached out personally to the Rich family to offer his condolences. “Out of respect for the family’s wishes, I am not discussing this matter at this time.
posted by msalt at 9:32 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

He has zero situational awareness.

One of the traditional ways to obtain a Purple Heart, I understand.
posted by jaduncan at 9:34 PM on May 23, 2017 [15 favorites]

So here's an uncomfortable thought: are impeachment trials in the Senate bound by the same Constitutional protection from double jeopardy as everything else? One would think so, right?

- Republicans start seeing their poll numbers tank. They get more and more nervous as 2018 closes in.
- The investigation totally isn't done, but "Fuck it, let's do it now while we have all the votes."
- House votes to impeach. The Senate holds a trial with premature evidence.
- "Gosh, none of this looks like obstruction of justice or treason to me. Vote to acquit."
- "Hey, maybe we could've had a more thorough investigation, but gosh, the media and then the public just pushed us so hard we had to act. Shrug emoji!"

Probably me just being paranoid. Honestly I feel like writing it out makes it less likely to happen 'cause there's no way I could predict the way this plays out on a comment thread on Metafilter on a random Tuesday night... right?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:35 PM on May 23, 2017 [9 favorites]

Omg, the gif linked by zacklipton above is deeply satisfying. I don't even know why, I should be embarrassed by whom America has chosen to interface with the world, and so seeing 45 being obviously emasculated by a leader of another country, and yet, I watched it over and over, giggling every time Emomali Rahmon refused to be yanked around, and instead pulled 45.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:45 PM on May 23, 2017 [14 favorites]

Impeachment is a political process, double jeopardy does not apply.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:48 PM on May 23, 2017 [12 favorites]

Was going to say what Chrysotom said. Double jeopardy is for criminal charges, impeachment and removal from office are powers of Congress not dependent on judicial findings of criminality (hence why if Nixon had pardoned himself it wouldn't have protected him from impeachment).
posted by biogeo at 9:53 PM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]

my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT...

Good grief. I've had the displeasure of participating in too many "we don't trust you scientists" meetings where the other side brings in some charlatan (who might have been granted a "PhD" from "somewhere" qv Gorka) or some blowhard with just (a) BS. They're typically overly self inflated and they spend SO MUCH TIME touting their bona fides and telling personal success stories.

In my experience, the more someone with a purported academic background insists that you call them Doctor and refer to the initials after their surname, the less competent they end up being (not to mention, the outright frauds).
posted by porpoise at 9:59 PM on May 23, 2017 [10 favorites]

John Trump seems to have been a pretty bright guy. It's 45 who is emphasizing the Dr bit.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:04 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

He has zero situational awareness.

One of the traditional ways to obtain a Purple Heart, I understand.

ಠ_ಠ Often you get shot even when you're fully aware of the situation.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:18 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

ಠ_ಠ Sometimes you get shot even when you're aware of the situation.

I'm aware, I have some level of experience of the situation in question. For the record, this is on the low end of tasteless military jokes.
posted by jaduncan at 10:25 PM on May 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ah, sorry. I'm not sure why I reacted so strongly. Bedtime.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:41 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Douglas Blackmon/Billmoyers.com - ‘RussiaGate’ Has Become a Catastrophic Failure of Leadership — and a Debacle From Which the Trump Presidency Will Not Recover
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:42 PM on May 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Guardian: Hiding in plain sight: how the 'alt-right' is weaponizing irony to spread fascism

Until recently, it would have been hard to imagine the combination of street violence meeting internet memes. But experts say that the “alt-right” have stormed mainstream consciousness by weaponizing irony, and by using humour and ambiguity as tactics to wrong-foot their opponents.

Last week, the Data & Society Institute released a report (pdf) on the online disinformation and manipulation that is increasingly shaping US politics. The report focused on the way in which far-right actors “spread white supremacist thought, Islamophobia, and misogyny through irony and knowledge of internet culture”.

One the report’s authors, Dr Alice Marwick, says that fascist tropes first merged with irony in the murkier corners of the internet before being adopted by the “alt-right” as a tool. For the new far-right movement, “irony has a strategic function. It allows people to disclaim a real commitment to far-right ideas while still espousing them.”

Emphasis mine.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:53 PM on May 23, 2017 [38 favorites]

"Hey, maybe we could've had a more thorough investigation, but gosh, the media and then the public just pushed us so hard we had to act. Shrug emoji!"

I can't see this happening. The only thing worse for the GOP than having Trump hanging around their necks, is to have Trump's acquittal hanging around their necks. An acquittal will be easily and often blamed on Republicans, and they'll have to carry his dead weight into 2018 & 2020.

Of course, considering how weird and illogical this timeline is, your prediction will come to pass and Trump will go on to win re-election.
posted by honestcoyote at 10:59 PM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

WaPo: Trump advisers call for privatizing some public assets to build new infrastructure

The Trump administration, determined to overhaul and modernize the nation’s infrastructure, is drafting plans to privatize some public assets such as airports, bridges, highway rest stops and other facilities, according to top officials and advisers.

In his proposed budget released Tuesday, President Trump called for spending $200 billion over 10 years to “incentivize” private, state and local spending on infrastructure.

Trump advisers said that to entice state and local governments to sell some of their assets, the administration is considering paying them a bonus. The proceeds of the sales would then go to other infrastructure projects. Australia has pursued a similar policy, which it calls “asset recycling,” prompting the 99-year lease of a state-owned electrical grid to pay for improvements to the Sydney Metro, among other projects.

Hope you all like toll roads! Also hope you like Trump's developer buddies running the committee that says to sell off the nation's infrastructure to developers.
posted by zachlipton at 10:59 PM on May 23, 2017 [33 favorites]

Hope you all like toll roads!

Ooh! Ooh! My dad's a Trump supporter AND he hates toll roads more than anything!
Surely, this...
posted by greermahoney at 11:06 PM on May 23, 2017 [21 favorites]

Nothing in the entire history of things being privatized has ever been better from it.
posted by Artw at 11:08 PM on May 23, 2017 [74 favorites]

Privatization is the government version of a reverse mortgage.
posted by benzenedream at 11:12 PM on May 23, 2017 [52 favorites]

Heh, that Blackmon article has a summary of the horror that makes me feel like I've been transported into a Nelson DeMille novel.

"No, this is an investigation about one thing: the now-undeniable fact that a Russian espionage conspiracy accomplished an objective that has never previously occurred in American history — compromising the highest levels of US government, penetrating the White House, establishing influence and leverage over the president’s national security adviser and planting false information with the vice president of the United States — who then, wittingly or unwittingly, repeated those fictions to the American people."

posted by xyzzy at 11:13 PM on May 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

God, the pope looks uncomfortable
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:54 PM on May 23, 2017 [13 favorites]

Yeah: In presence of pool reporters @POTUS said to @Pontifex it's "a very great honor." The pope did not say anything. He did not smile. [includes another photo of unhappy Pope]
posted by zachlipton at 12:07 AM on May 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

Somehow fittingly, while the Obamas are currently in Tuscany, guests of the former ambassador to Italy, Trump is staying at the ambassador's residence in Rome absent a current ambassador.
posted by progosk at 12:20 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

The pope did not say anything. He did not smile.

Not being blessed with the memory of a goldfish Trump possesses, the Pope likely still remembers Trump's remarks about him (from the same Twitter thread... sorry, I don't grok the tweet-linking thing).
posted by Rykey at 12:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

After seeing the grim Pope, I think I can predict what photo Pete Souza will post today.
posted by honestcoyote at 12:32 AM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

As Artw said, privatisation typically makes things worse. But the so-called "asset recycling" program in Australia is even worse than regular privatisation because it provides a way to funnel tax revenue directly into the pockets of large investors.

Under the terms of the program, an Australian State can nominate assets to be sold, with the proceeds to be directed into other infrastructure projects. That's already problematic imo, because governments have a tendency to treat maintenance as a capital item rather than a cost: instead of raising taxes for repair and maintenance (which pleases and excites precisely nobody) they would rather sell an old asset and buy a new one, which makes people excited and gets politicians' photos in the paper.

Australia's incentive system makes this worse, though, because States participating in this program get an incentive bonus payment of 15% from the Federal government. The money nominally goes to the State, but like all incentives it's meant to encourage behaviour that wouldn't happen otherwise. The usual reason why the State wouldn't sell the asset otherwise is that it's either intrinsically a stupid idea or they're not being offered enough to make it worthwhile. So the incentive payment comes from Federal taxpayers and it persuades the State government to sell assets cheaply to a large investment firm, which is the one that gets the benefit of the low price. It's effectively a transfer from taxpayers to investors and I am not at all astonished that the current administration thinks it's a great idea.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:54 AM on May 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

This AP photo with the Pope is jaw-dropping.

"Vatican Gothic" is the current winner of the caption contest
posted by zachlipton at 1:25 AM on May 24, 2017 [63 favorites]

Interesting that Ivanka and Melania covered their heads at the Vatican but not anywhere else on the trip.
posted by Biblio at 1:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [29 favorites]

Ivanka has a tichel, Melania has a tichel, even the Pope has a yarmulke. Spot the shaygetz in the room.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

[Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme]
posted by rhizome at 1:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Is there a Catholic religious requirement for women to cover their heads when in the presence of the Pope? Would it still apply to Ivanka who is an Orthodox Jew?
posted by PenDevil at 1:46 AM on May 24, 2017

Interesting that Ivanka and Melania covered their heads at the Vatican but not anywhere else on the trip.

Seems to be SOP for women in the Vatican, that.
posted by progosk at 1:47 AM on May 24, 2017

Michelle Obama covered her hair at the Vatican in 2009, but not when the Pope came to DC.

Anyway, it's too bad the trip wasn't next week, in time for the Jewish holiday of Shavout, so Netanyahu could ask Trump to say "Gut Yontiff, Pontiff!" [joke, how one wishes the Pope a happy holiday in Yiddish]
posted by zachlipton at 1:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Seems to be SOP for women in the Vatican, that.

Actually, apparently "traditional protocol that is no longer always observed by all female dignitaries visiting the Vatican."
posted by progosk at 2:24 AM on May 24, 2017

it's traditional for catholic women to cover their hair while in church - in fact, my grandmother used to wear a veil in church as well
posted by pyramid termite at 2:39 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

When I was at the Vatican you did see some women covering their hair but really all they require is not to show up in shorts and a tank top or something.

Of course visiting dignitaries should go the extra mile.
posted by Justinian at 3:12 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

If trump shows up wearing a tube top and booty shorts, I'm out.
posted by maxwelton at 3:15 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

They say you can tell sociopaths by their eyes. In that photo, Trump just looks like a narcissist. Ivanka looks like she's straight up about to eat someone for dinner.
posted by Yowser at 3:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The requirement for women to cover their hair in Catholic church went out in the 1960s with Vatican II. In Italy generally the expectations for dress in churches is fairly strict. The Vatican has dress requirements including no shorts or exposed shoulders for women (Also presumably men as well. The shorts rule is universal.) Head coverings aren't required or expected for normal visitors. I have no idea about actually meeting the pope though. I imagine it's a throwback to pre-Vatican II norms showing respect rather than any hard and fast rule.

(My source being Catholic school education, time spent in Italy and the Vatican, my Italian great-aunt dragging me to mass and church after church in August when it was incredibly hot and I couldn't wear shorts.)
posted by threeturtles at 3:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Women wearing black and mantillas was the traditional protocol for an audience with the Pope, with Catholic monarchy allowed to wear white ( privilege du blanc). Back in 1997, Irish President Mary Robinson got some flack locally for wearing green and no head covering when she met the Pope. According to Wikipedia "The Vatican subsequently pointed out that the traditional form of dress worn for papal audiences was no longer obligatory".
posted by Azara at 3:57 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Interesting that Ivanka and Melania covered their heads at the Vatican but not anywhere else on the trip.

Ivanka wore a hat (well, a fascinator) at the Western Wall.
posted by Mchelly at 4:05 AM on May 24, 2017

Nothing in the entire history of things being privatized has ever been better from it.

Untrue. It's a double edged sword. Monopolies are shit things to privatize. Multiple competitive entities that can provide retail rates on the other hand are great.

So for instance if you want to privatize electricity and benefit from competition without a monopoly you keep the poles and wires in government hands, you privatize generation, and you privatize the retail. The problem is the state governments are bought and paid for in a lot of states so they've privatized whole monopolies lock, stock, and barrel which has often been for the worse.
posted by Talez at 4:09 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Like Australia's NBN. The government owns the single copy of the last mile, everyone else competes from the points of interconnect onwards.
posted by Talez at 4:10 AM on May 24, 2017

The collapse of this administration may or may not be swift.

But it is inevitable.

Listen, I'm all on board with the sentiment, I really am. But I was also onboard when it was Iran-Contra, and the Savings and Loan business. And the 2nd Iraq War shenanigans and the disclosure of Valeri Plame.

So, I'll believe it when I see it. I really do want to see it but ... I doubt.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:22 AM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

Pope Francis apparently loves potica, a Slovenian cake. Melania doesn't quite get his quip, and thinks he asked if she makes her husband "pizza" - which Donald promptly confirms.
posted by progosk at 4:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I know it was two days ago but did your elected President just start World War III as they gazed past there crystal ball.
Not much attention was paid to what Salman of Saudi Arabia actually said
Iran has rejected initiatives of good neighborhood provided by our countries based on good faith. Iran replaced these initiatives with expansionist ambitions, criminal practices, interferences in the internal affairs of other countries, flagrant violations of the international law, and violations of the principles of good-neighborliness, coexistence and mutual respect.
Salman just roped Donald Trump, and the United States, into taking their side in the ‘Holy War Against Shia’ ― something that has been going on for, oh, 1500 years or so.
posted by adamvasco at 4:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

NY's 9th Assembly District Flips To Democrats; Pellegrino Defeats Gargiulo. Donald Trump won the Long Island district by 23 points.

Just a small data point but nice to see and maybe the start of a wave.
posted by octothorpe at 4:36 AM on May 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

I wished America good luck on their upcoming war with Iran after the way they got played, in the last thread.
Saudi Arabia completely bamboozled Trump re:Shia . He's a cruel man who's going to get a lot of people killed if he isn't stopped soon.
posted by Yowser at 4:37 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Pope Francis apparently loves potica, a Slovenian cake. Melania doesn't quite get his quip, and thinks he asked if she makes her husband "pizza" - which Donald promptly confirms yt .
posted by progosk at 4:33 AM on May 24 [+] [!]

Oh hey this came up on Bake-Off! Where, by coincidence, another Mel made the same "pizza" comparison.

Ok, back to scary/real news.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:42 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

NY's 9th Assembly District Flips To Democrats; Pellegrino Defeats Gargiulo. Donald Trump won the Long Island district by 23 points.

Just a small data point but nice to see and maybe the start of a wave.

Wow, yeah, that is tiny, but great news. That's not my district, but mine abuts it, and ... I would not expect it to vote Democratic. Ever.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:51 AM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

But it is inevitable.

I mean I give it a fighting chance but the GOP controls all branches off goverment and has no incentive to get rid of him ....on the other hand they can't railroad through all their evil legislation despite controlling all three branches of goverment cause the administration is so fucking stupid and inept.

There's a decent argument that the less effective they are at actually doing things thenless harm they can do. A system that creates Donald Trump is a broken system but broken systems don't inevitably fail.
posted by The Whelk at 4:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Saudi Arabia completely bamboozled Trump re:Shia . He's a cruel man who's going to get a lot of people killed if he isn't stopped soon.

But Trump leads to a weaker, stupider America, and that means we're less of a threat to the rest of the world!

Or maybe my accelerationist 'friends' lied to me about that one, too.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 4:59 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump retains outside lawyer Marc Kasowitz

"A potential complication for Kasowitz is that former senator Joseph I. Lieberman, among Trump’s leading candidates to head the FBI, is currently a senior counsel at his firm."

Another interesting tidbit from the same article:
"The White House did not respond this week to requests for comment about how Trump would pay for his outside legal team, the cost of which cannot be covered by the federal government. But campaign finance lawyers said Trump could probably draw funds from his reelection committee to cover legal expenses related to the Russia inquiries, including money donated this year."

Good thing he already started fundraising, I guess. I hope paying his lawyers drains his coffers and he has no money to run again (if he gets that far).
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 5:00 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Back when the president was Bush Jr., I was just a lurker here on the blue, but I began working as a journalist and meeting a lot of people who were into foreign policy, I even went to visit the US State Department.
And after a while, I realized that I knew a lot more about what was going on than even very high up officials here, and certainly more than most people at my paper. Just from reading MetaFilter (and of course all the links posted). That was shocking to me, I'd thought that people in charge and the editorial writers were better informed. In a way, I've been semi-depressed since then.
What I want to say is, that when we get impatient and/or run out of evens and surely this's, remember that most people, even most smart wonks are not that aware of what is going on. It takes time to distribute all the information to all the relevant people, and for some, there are significant mental firewalls against that information. I'm not just talking about right wing politicians and publicists. A lot of sane, thoughtful and liberal people I know find it hard to accept the level of competence of the Trump administration. They can't accept the US is ruled by a bunch of corrupt crooks who are also ignorant of almost everything, because that knowledge breaks their core beliefs.
In other words — give this some time, and pray nothing really bad happens in the meanwhile.
posted by mumimor at 5:02 AM on May 24, 2017 [82 favorites]

But the bad taste that this budget will leave in the mouth of America should not be forgotten if and when it gets eviscerated in Congress. What the budget proves is the Trump agenda to make America great again means making it better for the rich and worse for ~~the poor~~ everyone else.

Edited for accuracy. We should all be careful about buying into the Republican "rich-versus-poor" framing, as it carries and reinforces their odious implication that the poor are somehow deserving of their lot -- lazy, shiftless, etc. Republicans sell their cuts as affecting only those people, but in truth they make America worse, and life more difficult, for everyone who isn't a multi-millionaire.

I hope this overreach prompts a Proposition 13-style tax revolt, only it's against transferring even more of the nation's wealth to the ultra-wealthy and clawing back the fruits of America's prosperity for everyone's benefit.
posted by Gelatin at 5:05 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Cuts to AIDS Treatment Programs Could Cost a Million Lives: The United States currently spends more than $6 billion annually on programs that buy antiretroviral drugs for about 11.5 million people worldwide who are infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. The Trump administration has proposed slashing those programs by at least $1.1 billion — nearly a fifth of their current funding, said Jen Kates, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:15 AM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

NY's 9th Assembly District Flips To Democrats; Pellegrino Defeats Gargiulo. Donald Trump won the Long Island district by 23 points.

Also to amend my previous comment: this assembly district is part of noted racist shitbag and general garbage skinsuit, Pete King's, congressional district. I still think there are way too many people in the districts whose fear of brown people short circuits literally every other thought in their minds, but this is a mild glimmer of hope.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:24 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

We should all be careful about buying into the Republican "rich-versus-poor" framing

I couldn't agree more. Everything this administration is doing is going to hurt everyone who is not wealthy in some if not multiple ways. This isn't a war on the poor, it's a war on everyone not rich. This is how we need to be framing conversations. Just the budget alone -- If a budget is a moral document, then this budget is intent on killing the poor and replacing them with the middle class.
posted by archimago at 5:29 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Republicans want to kill everyone, middle class included.
posted by Artw at 5:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Even if President Trump is able to remain in office through the end of next year, he will have been long abandoned by most serious conservatives in Congress, as the jeopardy of continued association with him becomes clear.

I think it is more likely that this is where 'more serious' conservatives discover that they don't exist.
posted by srboisvert at 5:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

I don't want to step on Chrysostom's SPECIAL ELECTIONS beat, but we got two Democratic pickups in state legislative races: one in a NH district that went Trump +7 and one in NY that was a Trump +23 district!

I hope Republicans everywhere are looking at these numbers and trembling.

Unlike the so-called Tea Party, there's no big corporate organizing money behind the genuine disgust loyal Americans feel for this administration and the party that enables the entire sleazy show.
posted by Gelatin at 5:44 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

And after a while, I realized that I knew a lot more about what was going on than even very high up officials here, and certainly more than most people at my paper. Just from reading MetaFilter (and of course all the links posted). That was shocking to me, I'd thought that people in charge and the editorial writers were better informed. In a way, I've been semi-depressed since then.

The realization that:

Metafilter: Infinite Fun Space

isn't a joke can come hard to some.
posted by mikelieman at 5:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Nothing in the entire history of things being privatized has ever been better from it.

Untrue. It's a double edged sword. Monopolies are shit things to privatize. Multiple competitive entities that can provide retail rates on the other hand are great.

Even monopolies can benefit from privatization if you break the monopolies up and regulate the market. Telecoms being the best example. If you think your phone service is expensive now you need to travel back in time to when it was a genuine monopoly and making a phone call of about twenty miles was long distance and would cost you $5 for a couple of minutes.

The problem right now is that the regulators have stopped regulating as much and now new monopolies and cartels are being allowed to form in those industries.
posted by srboisvert at 5:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Republicans want to kill everyone, middle class included.

There is no "middle class" to them. There's them. And, let's call everyone else, "The Help", for politeness' sake.
posted by mikelieman at 5:47 AM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

YT video of Tajikistan President out-Trumping Trump on the handshake

&%#*! Twitter, there's an exciting new thing called HTML5 you'd love it! *call me*
posted by petebest at 5:48 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Even monopolies can benefit from privatization if you break the monopolies up and regulate the market. Telecoms being the best example. If you think your phone service is expensive now you need to travel back in time to when it was a genuine monopoly and making a phone call of about twenty miles was long distance and would cost you $5 for a couple of minutes.

Really did depend on where they drew the lines, but yeah, each call cost more but service was great and you know, being able to drop a dime into a payphone WHEREVER YOU WERE was kinda cool.
posted by mikelieman at 5:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Salman just roped Donald Trump, and the United States, into taking their side in the ‘Holy War Against Shia’

Oh that! Ha ha, no - no, I see the confusion though, yes. Yes we once thought he "meant things" when his mouth moved and sounds would come out of it. But, no, he's just there to see what he'll win. Maybe another medal!
posted by petebest at 5:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

When I was at the Vatican... all they require is not to show up in shorts and a tank top or something.

Things will be different when I'm pope, is all I'm saying.
posted by rokusan at 5:59 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

and then there were none:

Joe Lieberman no longer being considered for FBI director. President's team has hit the restart button on the search for a new FBI Director
-- Shimon Prokupecz, law enforcement correspondent, CNN
posted by murphy slaw at 6:03 AM on May 24, 2017 [66 favorites]

President's team has hit the restart button on the search for a new FBI Director

Read: Someone realized that Lieberman wasn't popular with the democrats either and wouldn't win any support.
posted by Twain Device at 6:07 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Remember when I said "We're fucked" should Donald J Trump run for the Office of President of the United States of America?

Because I sure do.

Oh, to go back to the heady days when we were worried about Sarah Palin...

Such halcyon days of innocence...
posted by PROD_TPSL at 6:15 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

President's team has hit the restart button on the search for a new FBI Director

Read: Someone realized that Lieberman wasn't popular with the democrats either and wouldn't win any support.

Doubtful, as that hasn't stopped them before. It's more likely that it's because Trump has now lawyered up with a partner at Lieberman's firm over the Russia fracas.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:17 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Possibly them lawyering up further with Lieberman's firm for the Russia thing was a straw on the camels back as well.
posted by Artw at 6:18 AM on May 24, 2017

That photo of the Trumps with the Pope is telling me that there is an even longer cut of David Lynch's Dune and we're all extras.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:18 AM on May 24, 2017 [45 favorites]

Everyone but Donald looks fucking miserable.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:19 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

He looks miserable, too -- he's grinning with his mouth and scowling with the rest of it.
posted by theredpen at 6:21 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

There also is no certainty yet that President Trump will be either impeached or choose to resign. But those possibilities, which 14 days ago were almost unimaginable to any informed and fair-minded observer,

TIL that I am not informed and/or fair-minded.
posted by amarynth at 6:21 AM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

I know I am.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:22 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

on the other hand they can't railroad through all their evil legislation despite controlling all three branches of goverment cause the administration is so fucking stupid and inept.

Save some of that sauce for the GOP Congress.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

That photo of the Trumps with the Pope is telling me that there is an even longer cut of David Lynch's Dune and we're all extras.

A million favorites are not enough for Rust Moranis!
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 6:31 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Bloomberg:
Trump's Budget Is a Waste of Everybody's Time
Budgets are often dead on arrival, but this one is something new.

Trump’s budget has been almost universally called dead on arrival. That may be an understatement. This plan, if you can call it that, was never capable of life. White House budgets are often set aside, yet still can guide deliberations in Congress, where tax and spending decisions actually get made. This budget serves no such purpose. It is simply an extended tweet, and a waste of everybody’s time.

posted by murphy slaw at 6:32 AM on May 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

New GOP fear: nine months of failure: Republican leaders are coming to the bleak conclusion they will end summer and begin the fall with ZERO significant legislative accomplishments. Privately, they realize it's political malpractice to blow at least the the first nine of months of all Republican rule, but also realize there's little they can do to avoid the dismal outcome.

In fact, they see the next four months as MORE troublesome than the first four. They're facing terrible budget choices and headlines, the painful effort to re-work the health care Rubik's Cube in the House (presuming it makes it out of the Senate), a series of special-election scares (or losses) — all with scandal-mania as the backdrop.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

This AP photo with the Pope is jaw-dropping.

"Vatican Gothic" is the current winner of the caption contest

Gosh, it is, even without the comparisons all over Facebook of the pontiff smiling and laughing with Obama. A smart man, the pope knows full well he is posing for an official photo with Trump, and doubtless is making with the Great Stone Face deliberately. Worth a thousand words, indeed.

And this picture is the best result they could get. Remarkable.
posted by Gelatin at 6:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Politico: How Trump killed political mudslinging - "The two candidates in Montana's special election are getting pounded by negative ads and oppo research, but voters seem numb to it."

In Montana’s upcoming special election, Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist are getting pounded on the airwaves and in the local papers. Democrats paint Gianforte as an out-of-touch plutocrat with financial ties to Russia and ISIS. Republicans frame Quist, a musician, as a tax-dodging pothead who’s skipped out on his debts and performed at a nudist resort.

Yet political pros from Kalispell to Washington, D.C. are amazed that so little of the mud seems to be sticking.

Now some are wondering if it’s the new normal after a bitter 2016 presidential election campaign marked by an avalanche of attacks and sensational revelations against Donald Trump that once would have doomed candidates to defeat.

posted by ZeusHumms at 6:42 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

And this picture is the best result they could get. Remarkable.

I am honestly curious if there are not better photos. If there are not then it is indeed remarkable.
posted by winna at 6:44 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: simply an extended tweet, and a waste of everybody’s time
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:48 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

God, the pope looks uncomfortable

"And when you’re a president they let you do it. Grab them by the pontiff. You can do anything."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:48 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Axios: Trump's budget has a huge math mistake

not a whole lot new here but notable for this amazing mulvaney quote:

"We did [the double count] on purpose... I'm aware of the criticisms and would simply come back and say there's other places where we were probably overly conservative in our accounting. We stand by the numbers."

our numbers are bullshit, and we stand by them.
posted by murphy slaw at 6:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [54 favorites]

I went to look at the AP photos.

This is the most cheerful one with this one the next most.

But by and large they look like this and this and my favorite, which is this.
posted by winna at 6:51 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Don't accuse us of incompetence! We did TERRIBLE THING on purpose, fuckers!

<-- motto of this administration
posted by lydhre at 6:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

YOU'RE the incompetent, malevolent administration!
posted by petebest at 6:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Awaiting "we colluded with Russia on purpose and it was good!" as the next GOP spin.
posted by Artw at 6:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's still pretty traditional for WIVES of heads of state to wear black and head coverings the first time they have a Papal audience at the Vatican (they tend to skip it subsequently). Female heads of state generally don't, it's somewhat inappropriate given that there are certain undertones of submission to a theological authority in that traditional dress. (Obviously it's not required anymore of anybody, and those connotations are officially gone, but they unofficially linger.)

Anyway, Melania looks fine, but Ivanka is in the wrong KIND of veil, she looks like she's on her way to the world's perkiest funeral, not the Vatican. If you're going to insist on an outdated, non-required costume, at least do it properly!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

get yourself a man who looks at you the way the pope looks at donald trump
and then like, crawl under a rock and die of shame
posted by murphy slaw at 6:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Everyone but Donald looks fucking miserable.

Ah, 2017. I remember it well.
posted by rokusan at 7:00 AM on May 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

I'm aware of the criticisms and would simply come back and say there's other places where we were probably overly conservative in our accounting. We stand by the numbers.

So their argument is that the budget is riddled with errors, and that all of the mistakes cancel out so that the final figure is correct? Wow.
posted by jackbishop at 7:01 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

WaPo: The life and death of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory

a good overview, with more background on the Kim Dotcom angle than i've seen elsewhere
posted by murphy slaw at 7:02 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I get that there are The Way Things Are Done that reach back into antiquity, but considering that Trump himself just does not give a shit for any of that hoo-ha, WHY are people like the Pope and Merkel continuing to give this clown the time of day? Surely the Pope could have sent word he had urgent Pope-ing business, and apologies, but he simply cannot meet with you at this time. The world is watching. Stop pretending that this is all normal.
posted by thebrokedown at 7:05 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

So their argument is that the budget is riddled with errors, and that all of the mistakes cancel out so that the final figure is correct? Wow.

Fermi budgeting.
posted by Etrigan at 7:05 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Surely the Pope could have sent word he had urgent Pope-ing business, and apologies, but he simply cannot meet with you at this time. The world is watching. Stop pretending that this is all normal.

the pope is kind of in the business of assuming that all souls are capable of salvation. and yet he signalled his disapproval of trump in every possible way short of slapping him upside the head and yelling "whatsamatta you!", and sent him packing with an encyclical on global warming.

the pope is all right.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:08 AM on May 24, 2017 [68 favorites]

Brian Beutler: Will Republican Lies Catch Up to Them Before or After They Ruin People’s Lives?

The political durability of conservative economic doctrine owes a great deal to euphemisms. As the main exponents of that doctrine, Republicans seek to distribute income from the poor to the wealthy by gutting social programs and returning the savings to high-income earners through tax cuts. Euphemisms obscure the brutality of that underlying moral vision. The affluent, in the language of the right, are “job creators,” the poor are “dependents,” the central goal (reducing top marginal tax rates) is a “simplification,” the programs losing funding are being “reformed” or “saved,” and the purpose of this reordering, stripped of ideological valence, is “growth.”

This familiar jargon survived the wreckage of George W. Bush’s presidency, and remains bog standard Republican spin when tax cutting season rolls around. It is, to state the obvious, highly tendentious. But it is at least decodable.

It took a swindler of Donald Trump’s shamelessness, and the unexpected consolidation of power in Republican hands, to expose the limits of this spin. The breaking of Trump’s campaign promises, and the substitution of the old Republican agenda in the place of those promises, has forced Republicans to supplement spin with outright lies. Those lies were critical to the passage of the American Health Care Act, and to the advancement of other Republican priorities. This week—through the unveiling of Trump’s budget, and the coming Congressional Budget Office analysis of the AHCA—the lies are encountering reality for the first time.

posted by zombieflanders at 7:08 AM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Stop pretending that this is all normal.

"Normal" would be a smiling photo op and the usual platitudes about healthy discussion. This isn't that at all.
posted by Etrigan at 7:09 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Will Republican Lies Catch Up to Them Before or After They Ruin People’s Lives?

Hasn't happened in the last 50-odd years of GOP life-ruining; why would it now or soon?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:11 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Cassie Dagostino made a helpful collage on Twitter with posed Pope pics.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:12 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Damn him and his ethics. No, you're correct. This atheist loves the current Pope. I'm just not as hopeful as he is that every soul is reachable. And I'm pissed that Trump gets to play at being the Bigly Important Man with all the perks when I'm freaking right the fuck out. It's not like Donald sees that he was being slighted. You gotta be subtle like a frying pan to the noggin with this guy.
posted by thebrokedown at 7:13 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have a vision of the Vatican as the Presidential motorcade thunders off and the gates swing shut. of teams of exorcist priests in hazmat vestments frantically censing every square metre of the place while Pope Frankie locks himself in the papal shower for an hour-long asperge.
posted by Devonian at 7:16 AM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

reuters raises the issue of the nuclear sub disclosures in trump's duterte transcript:

Trump tells Duterte of two U.S. nuclear subs in Korean waters: NYT

U.S. President Donald Trump told his Philippine counterpart that Washington has sent two nuclear submarines to waters off the Korean peninsula, the New York Times said, comments likely to raise questions about his handling of sensitive information.

posted by murphy slaw at 7:18 AM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

The pope is busy writing an encyclical on how to not be a complete dick for Trump's next visit
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:22 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

"Surely the Pope could have sent word he had urgent Pope-ing business, and apologies, but he simply cannot meet with you at this time."

As a Catholic, part of me agrees with you. A large part of me understands the politics and weighing of competing objectives here and why Popes kind-of have to meet with world leaders even when they're awful -- and even that surprising good can come of it, like Papal visits to Cuba, which horrified many and definitely gave Castro a legitimization that he'd sought for decades from the Vatican, but giving Castro that "win" enabled the Pope to serve as a trusted and good-faith go-between in the process of negotiating the opening of relations between the US and Cuba under Obama.

But another part of me really, really objects to the leader of my faith appearing with and legitimizing such a horrible, objectionable, immoral man and even though I know it would create more problems than it would solve (because I am a student of the history of Church politics and diplomacy and I know how these things work), I sort of wish the Pope had snubbed Trump completely.

Knowing that he couldn't really avoid it, I'll take Popey McStoneface, I like that part anyway.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [53 favorites]

"Surely the Pope could have sent word he had urgent Pope-ing business, and apologies, but he simply cannot meet with you at this time."

He has to watch golf on television.

"Holy Father, it's time for your snack! "
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:34 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Popey McStoneface

Paging any lurkers who need a name to go with their 5 dollar sign up fee. Don't let a sock puppet type steal it away.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:35 AM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

It's not like Donald sees that he was being slighted. You gotta be subtle like a frying pan to the noggin with this guy.

It is possible that the Pope's subtle indications of disapproval are not intended to be noticed by the Donald, but by other leaders and Catholics; that the Pope is sending a message to a larger audience.
posted by nubs at 7:35 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Yeah, this whole scenario is a lot more darkly amusing if you imagine Jude Law having to take part in this.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:36 AM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

It's not like Donald sees that he was being slighted. You gotta be subtle like a frying pan to the noggin with this guy.

74 million people voted against him six months ago and he hasn't stopped talking about his historic landslide to this day. Non-subtlety doesn't work either on people who are willing to lie to themselves to the extent that Trump has demonstrated.
posted by Etrigan at 7:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Doubtful, as that hasn't stopped them before. It's more likely that it's because Trump has now lawyered up with a partner at Lieberman's firm over the Russia fracas.

Rachel Maddow helpfully pointed out that Marc Kasowitz's other big client is Russia's largest bank, Sberbank. He's representing their interests in a federal corporate raiding case. Kasowitz is not a criminal defense lawyer, but Trump is a moron, so we would expect him to bring a pillow to a knife fight.
posted by xyzzy at 7:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

I am honestly curious if there are not better photos. If there are not then it is indeed remarkable.

I could see the AP, or another member of the media, subtly editorializing by choosing a photo with a grim-looking pope from among those their photographer captured at a media event. While I don't know the provenance of this particular photo, presumably the White House had an official photographer present, and given the notoriously think-skinned nature of this administration, I'd further assume they would be quick to release the picture with Big Smiling Francis to counter the narrative and push their "FAKE NEWS!" myth. So far, at least, I've seen nothing. If the White House has a better picture, one would think they'd have released it already. The inference is that the pope scowled the whole time. Well played, Your Holiness.
posted by Gelatin at 7:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Awaiting "we colluded with Russia on purpose and it was good!" as the next GOP spin.

Why not? That's exactly the line they took on torture, fercryinoutloud.
posted by Gelatin at 7:43 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Prompted by the latest video of a Trumper going on a racist rant when encountering totally normal and polite behavior from non-white people, I've had some thoughts on "wanting our country back".

I suspect that the root of this sort of nonsense is racism, but not in the KKK sense of the word.

Rather we're looking at an expression of the anti-melting pot thinking that has been part of America since the beginning. The idea of Americans believing in a multi-ethnic nation state where we all come together in a big melting pot and become American has never been anything close to universally true, that's always been the liberal ideal and one which conservatives reject with various degrees of explicitness.

The fact is that many white Americans believe that fundamentally "American" doesn't refer to people who are citizens of the USA, but rather people who belong to an ethnic group they'd term American. For convenience I'll distinguish this as Citizenship Americans vs. Ethnic Americans, despite the fact that I don't think the concept of Ethnic Americans is valid.

At its core the idea of Ethnic Americans is based on whiteness, but like all historic conceptions of whiteness there's more than just skin color involved. "White" has never, since people first started describing themselves that way, referred to skin color. Recall that the English initially defined "white" in such a way that it excluded the Irish and the Irish are some of the palest people on Earth.

The idea of Ethnic Americans excludes a lot of people with pale skin too. You've got to be the right kind of white to count as an Ethnic American.

To the Trump voters, and somewhat less so to conservatives in general, the idea of Citizenship Americans is deeply disturbing and objectionable. They view Ethnic Americans as the only true Americans, and I think this is the root of comments about "Real America". They exclude the places that have a large number of people who aren't Ethnic Americans from being Real America because Real America is, by definition, populated by Ethnic Americans.

Religion plays a role too, mainstream Protestant Christianity is a huge part of the definition of Ethnic Americans. Recall that until quite recently the KKK viewed Catholics as number three on their hit list after blacks and Jews.

This is not something to which I think your average Trumpite or conservative has given much conscious analysis, those who do give it much analysis get into the more openly racist aspects of modern American conservatism. But in general a white Catholic who isn't obviously Catholic won't rouse their ire despite the fact that most of them probably don't think of Catholics as being Real Americans either.

I pass as an Ethnic American, despite being both atheist and a race traitor, but my partner does not. Nor do around 70% of the people where I work.
And it is the presence of visibly, obviously, blatantly, not Ethnic Americans they object to. This, I think, was the real root of the Birther conspiracy nonsense. Yes, they dressed it up in talk about Obama's birthplace, but ultimately they believed he didn't count as a "natural born citizen" because he wasn't an Ethnic American, he was a mere Citizenship American and thus (in their minds) inherently not really American and ineligible to hold any political office.

This is why they talk about wanting their country back. They want a country defined by ethnic nationalism, an America where the only people who are permitted to exist are Ethnic Americans.
In the past we saw this sort of thing spoken of much more openly, even by liberal minded people. Note, for example, that in the Little House books the parents of Nellie Olson are always described as Swedes. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Charles tells Caroline that they've always been around "people like us", but now they're going to live among "Swedes and Norwegians" and he tries to reassure her that despite their alien, not Ethnic American, ways they'll be fine.

In the past, when obviously non-white people were kept oppressed, when Ethnic Americans were unquestionably the dominant force in society, the panic level at the existence of Citizenship Americans was kept a bit lower. It was never absent, and in the past it expressed itself more as violence and murder than racist rants, the believers in Ethnic America were always filled with hate and fear at the thought of Citizenship Americans. But when they were dominant, when Citizenship Americans kept to a submissive role in public and were differential rather than acting like equals, the believers in Ethnic America more easily tolerated their presence.

Now though, they're fearful. Ethnic Americans, regardless of how you try to define the inherently invalid term, are rapidly becoming a minority, and the Citizenship Americans are vastly less willing to tolerate the submissive, differential, role they were forced into if they wanted to survive in the past.

This, I believe, explains the recent outbursts we've seen video of from Ethnic Americans who are outraged at the existence of other people and who now feel empowered by the rise of Trump. If, please no, they continue to be ascendant I suspect we'll see their definition of Ethnic American get smaller, that sort of person always seems to want to find a way to exclude ever more people from their list of acceptable people.

Pre-Trump they mostly kept quiet because the bounds of social propriety dictated that they not be openly racist. But with the rise of Trump open racism and bigotry has become more acceptable again, and the believers in Ethnic America are becoming more vocal and violent.
posted by sotonohito at 7:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [66 favorites]

Trump tells Duterte of two U.S. nuclear subs in Korean waters: NYT

U.S. President Donald Trump told his Philippine counterpart that Washington has sent two nuclear submarines to waters off the Korean peninsula, the New York Times said, comments likely to raise questions about his handling of sensitive information.

Shut the fuck up, Donnie!

Jesus, why do they tell him anything of substance; it's not as though he'll use it in anything deliberative? Take the Mick Mulvaney approach; reduce it to a binary YES or NO and let him pick one. For God's sakes don't tell him anything substantive, because he'll just fuck it up and tell the next asshole he's meeting with.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Donald has already replaced his Western Wall Twitter banner with his Papal audience one.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:53 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

We went through a round of this in the last thread. Blackmon isn't making some optimistic case for hope. He's a hard headed journalist (who has know Sally Yates 25 years and just spent six hours talking to her) laying out an empirical case based on facts for a trajectory to the story. Worth actually reading before hot-taking on it.

I read the first Blackmon piece and I came away deeply unimpressed. Dude wants to give us permission to talk about impeachment because he feels like his own standards are met. And oh by the way now he's talked to a witness that he knows personally, so now this is all legit. Gosh, thanks.

Anyone with enough brains to keep their hands off a hot stove could tell this jackass wasn't gonna get through his first year let alone his first term without impeachable offenses. And "serious" people did warn us during the campaign. Harry Reid warned us. Hillary Clinton warned us. Obama tried to get Republican leaders in Congress together on it, but McConnell blatantly chose party over country. So I guess Reid and Clinton and Obama aren't serious people but Blackmon knows Sally personally so it's all for serious now? Sure. Okay.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:54 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

@realDonaldTrump [one typo corrected]

Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACH in our world.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:56 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

more determined than ever

If you double it, zero is more than zero, I guess.
posted by Etrigan at 7:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

The breaking of Trump’s campaign promises, and the substitution of the old Republican agenda in the place of those promises, has forced Republicans to supplement spin with outright lies. Those lies were critical to the passage of the American Health Care Act, and to the advancement of other Republican priorities.

It's worth repeating -- as often as possible, until the chuckleheaded media finally get it -- that Republicans choosing to lie about their agenda basically concedes that Democratic criticism is true.
posted by Gelatin at 8:03 AM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

I suspect that the root of this sort of nonsense is racism

as per LBJ, back in 1960: "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." (previously, previouslier)
posted by progosk at 8:08 AM on May 24, 2017 [60 favorites]

This, I believe, explains the recent outbursts we've seen video of from Ethnic Americans who are outraged at the existence of other people and who now feel empowered by the rise of Trump. If, please no, they continue to be ascendant I suspect we'll see their definition of Ethnic American get smaller, that sort of person always seems to want to find a way to exclude ever more people from their list of acceptable people.

Pre-Trump they mostly kept quiet because the bounds of social propriety dictated that they not be openly racist. But with the rise of Trump open racism and bigotry has become more acceptable again, and the believers in Ethnic America are becoming more vocal and violent.

The more people they exclude, and the more aggressive the exclusion, the less capable they are of winning elections. At some point you're a small enough minority that all the gerrymandering in the world won't save you.

And with Republicans they've bent so many rules, pushed so many advantages, and rigged so many components of our political system that they're currently at the bad end of a ratchet effect. They can't lose anywhere or they start losing everywhere.

Lose the courts? Goodbye Citizens United and gerrymandered districts.
Lose the state legislatures? Goodbye gerrymandered Congressional districts and voter suppression.
Lose the US House or Senate? Goodbye hamstringing the current investigations and hello impeachment proceedings.
Lose the Presidency? Goodbye bully pulpit and bullshit executive orders. Honestly, of these the Presidency is the least critical.

These assholes need to play the game perfectly from here on out to avoid losing. They can't even pass their own fucking healthcare bill.

Remember, part of the reason Trump won is that he lied through his fucking teeth making promises he was never going to be able to keep. Bringing back coal, etc. That works exactly once. When he can't work the miracle, at least some of his believers are going to get mad at him for failing to deliver.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:09 AM on May 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Recall that until quite recently the KKK viewed Catholics as number three on their hit list...

I wasn't aware that had changed. Were they running out of white people?
posted by MtDewd at 8:15 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Dana Milbank, WaPo: A not-so-innocent abroad: Trump bumbles across the Middle East

The White House distributed Trump’s prepared remarks for his meeting with Rivlin, making it possible to identify his ad-libs, a clutter of asides and superlatives. “Amazing.” “Very holy.” “And that’s number one for me.” “There’s no question about that.”

Had the president’s predecessors employed such filler, these immortal words might be etched in marble on the Potomac:

“Four score and seven years ago — that’s a long time ago, very long — our fathers, who spoke about this at great length, did what perhaps has virtually never been done before: brought forth on this continent, a new nation, a very great new nation — there’s no question about that — conceived in liberty — and that is so important! — and dedicated to the amazing proposition — and they felt very strongly about this, I can tell you — that all men are created equal. Number one for me.”

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:17 AM on May 24, 2017 [29 favorites]

For convenience I'll distinguish this as Citizenship Americans vs. Ethnic Americans, despite the fact that I don't think the concept of Ethnic Americans is valid.

Somos todos Americanos.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:23 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I'm not religious and don't believe in things like "the antichrist", but you'd kinda think the pope would and if I were him I'd be thinking "I'm in the presence of the greatest force of evil in the world (however banal). Is this the antichrist himself?"

I'm pretty sure that people who sincerely believe in the antichrist don't think he's going to be a comically-villainous pathetic fuckup.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:24 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Anyone with enough brains to keep their hands off a hot stove could tell this jackass wasn't gonna get through his first year let alone his first term without impeachable offenses.

He was in violation of the Emoluments Clause -- an actual for-real part of the Constitution -- the moment he took the Oath of Office and ever since, and that fact was no surprise, so yeah, it's been obvious since even before the election.
posted by Gelatin at 8:25 AM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

Melania doesn't quite get his quip, and thinks he asked if she makes her husband "pizza" - which Donald promptly confirms

It remains unconfirmed whether Melania, too, prefers it "the wrong way".
posted by progosk at 8:26 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

For convenience I'll distinguish this as Citizenship Americans vs. Ethnic Americans, despite the fact that I don't think the concept of Ethnic Americans is valid.

A bit tip-off that someone clings to the "ethnic" conception of "real American" is if they say "Anchor baby". Because that attempts to invalidate birthright citizenship with an ethnic test.
posted by puddledork at 8:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Speaking of Trump and Catholics, is there a single one of the Seven Deadly Sins that Trump has not demonstrated on multiple occasions (and, more likely than not, bragged about)?
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump tells Duterte of two U.S. nuclear subs in Korean waters: NYT

For all we know, there are no US nuclear subs in Korean waters. Let's hope that the CIA has dusted off a large binder full of procedures written in the early 1950s (cryptoname LN/HOTPOTATO) that details exactly how a mentally incapacited or compromised POTUS should be handled by the IC.
posted by elgilito at 8:32 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

@damianpaletta: Mulvaney says the Medicaid cuts are actually much bigger than $800 billion over 10 years. Suggests it could be closer to $1.3 trillion.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:34 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

> comments likely to raise questions about his handling of sensitive information.

Anyone who is still "raising questions" about Trump's fitness for the office at this point is either willfully ignorant, purposefully muddying the waters, or so dumb they need a post-it on their arm reminding them to breathe.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:36 AM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

It remains unconfirmed whether Melania, too, prefers it "the wrong way".

How about Ivanka? The only family that she's ever had is her two stupid brothers and a dumb-ass dad.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:36 AM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Which seems to be an awful lot of people, The Card Cheat. Are we missing something?
posted by Melismata at 8:37 AM on May 24, 2017

For all we know, there are no US nuclear subs in Korean waters. Let's hope that the CIA has dusted off a large binder full of procedures written in the early 1950s (cryptoname LN/HOTPOTATO) that details exactly how a mentally incapacited or compromised POTUS should be handled by the IC.

"So we give him Thorazine with electroshock treatments and if that doesn't work we lobotomize him?"
posted by leotrotsky at 8:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mulvaney says the Medicaid cuts are actually much bigger than $800 billion over 10 years. Suggests it could be closer to $1.3 trillion.

Holy fucking shit. A quarter of Medicaid literally gone. If it was cheaper I wouldn't put it past Mulvaney to round up all the poor people in the Nevada desert and nuke them from orbit.
posted by Talez at 8:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Which seems to be an awful lot of people, The Card Cheat. Are we missing something?

Cognitive Dissonance.
posted by Talez at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm not religious and don't believe in things like "the antichrist", but you'd kinda think the pope would and if I were him I'd be thinking "I'm in the presence of the greatest force of evil in the world (however banal). Is this the antichrist himself?"

To steal a line from John Fugelsang, Trump may not be the anti-Christ, but Jesus is pretty much the anti-Trump.
posted by chris24 at 8:42 AM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

Trump tells Duterte of two U.S. nuclear subs in Korean waters: NYT

Considering he misplaced an entire carrier group the last time he talked about sending the Navy to Korean waters, who knows where those subs are?
Or if they even exist.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

If it was cheaper I wouldn't put it past Mulvaney to round up all the poor people in the Nevada desert and nuke them from orbit.

He wouldn't bother taking them out of the cities.
posted by Etrigan at 8:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mulvaney says the Medicaid cuts are actually much bigger than $800 billion over 10 years. Suggests it could be closer to $1.3 trillion.

Holy fucking shit. A quarter of Medicaid literally gone. If it was cheaper I wouldn't put it past Mulvaney to round up all the poor people in the Nevada desert and nuke them from orbit.

Right, but Mulvaney can put together any crazy shit for a budget, Republicans in Congress are still going to basically ignore them and they're so incapable of governing that the Democrats will pick up a win like last time.

All these idiots are doing is providing campaign ads for the Democrats while failing to accomplish anything of substance. AARP has gotta be seriously pissed at this point; and their folks vote.

Mulvaney is essentially LARPing a Tea Party Presidency without doing any of the work necessary to actually pass anything. Which is pretty pathetic given that their party controls both houses of Congress and the presidency
posted by leotrotsky at 8:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

I'm pretty sure that people who sincerely believe in the antichrist don't think he's going to be a comically-villainous pathetic fuckup.

The LORD works in mysterious ways.
posted by Slothrup at 8:47 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

AARP has gotta be seriously pissed at this point; and their folks vote.

I was seeing a ton of anti-AHCA Twitter ads from AARP during that clusterfuck. Twitter ads! From AARP! I can only imagine what they did on platforms that old people actually use.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

@aliasvaughn
Let me give you the ACTUAL story here, that Italian media aired. 1) Pope is PISSED at Newt's 3rd wife being chosen as Ambassador to Vatican.
2. Pope gave Dondon a copy of his encyclical "Laudato Si" which focuses on environment, global warming etc. #FeelthePopeShade
3. Pope joked with Melania, smiled at her, showed compassion for her. He knows. He didn't even attempt to smile while taking photo with DT
4. Pope speaks fluent English... but he CHOSE to speak Spanish to Dondon. This one particularly satisfied me.
5. Usual boasting DT was all "I will NEVER forget what he told me". Pope is yet to utter A WORD of comment about the meeting.
6. Maxi screens showed Trump going in. The crowd was dead silent. Erupted in cheering/applause when Pope appeared, not a sec before.
7. Vatican crowd is for obvious reasons very nice to everyone. Not a SINGLE applause/cheer for Trump says it all.
posted by chris24 at 8:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [164 favorites]

murphy slaw: "U.S. President Donald Trump told his Philippine counterpart that Washington has sent two nuclear submarines to waters off the Korean peninsula, the New York Times said, comments likely to raise questions about his handling of sensitive information."

This seems really amazingly bad, right? I mean, last time Trump let slip classified info, it's arguably "nothing" because maybe the Russians already know or maybe Israel overlooks it because nobody dies over it, etc. but submarine positions are amazingly secret because the only thing a submariner fears is getting found.

Anyways, no surely this, but he's burning precious capital with the military on this one, at least, who don't usually expect to be sold out for literally no gain.
posted by TypographicalError at 8:51 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Speaking of the Anti-Christ, an excerpt of a conversation with my mother in early 2016.

"I really believe he's the anti-Christ. I'll vote for Kasich in the primary, but I don't think I can vote for Trump."

"Oh, great mom, I totally agree - are you going to vote for Hillary?"

"No - no, never. She's a liar."

My mom voted for (who she believes is the actual Anti-Christ) before voting for Hillary Clinton.

Thank you, Fox News.
posted by Tevin at 8:51 AM on May 24, 2017 [67 favorites]

4. Pope speaks fluent English... but he CHOSE to speak Spanish to Dondon. This one particularly satisfied me.

I think this has more to do with protocol than with anything else. The Pope also spoke in Spanish with Obama.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:54 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

mulvaney is transparently the I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING dog:

Mulvaney is asked directly about double counting. His answer makes clear that he does not understand the numbers in his own budget.

Mulvaney says, "The dynamic benefit is only counted one time and that’s toward the 3 percent economic growth."

That's... not true.

-- NYT Washington correspondent Binyamin Applebaum

posted by murphy slaw at 8:57 AM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

Saudi Arabia on the left, Vatican on the right: which country represses its women? (my tweet, too lazy to make an imgur post)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Anyways, no surely this, but he's burning precious capital with the military on this one, at least, who don't usually expect to be sold out for literally no gain.

It's funny, he couldn't get shit done in the 100 days. Even there his biggest wins were Gorsuch (which wasn't really his win) and House's AHCA train wreck.

It doesn't get better going forward.

What happens when a President has no political capital and nobody can stand him? Looks like W got down to 28% approval with 60% approval from Republicans, but he still had the support of Republican elected officials and control and support of the mechanisms of state (defense, state, intelligence, etc.) Even there no one doubted his patriotism or loyalty to the US, just his general decision-making.

How bad does it get?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I was seeing a ton of anti-AHCA Twitter ads from AARP during that clusterfuck. Twitter ads! From AARP! I can only imagine what they did on platforms that old people actually use.

In between ads for Old Glory Robot Insurance, no doubt.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Sean Sullivan, WaPo: Republicans in Congress struggle with this question: Do you trust Trump’s judgment?

Flake was one of a dozen Republicans from across the ideological spectrum asked this week to reflect on Trump’s judgment. Most of them weren’t eager to address the subject head-on. They diverted and demurred. They paused contemplatively before answering. Some grew visibly uncomfortable. Others declared their conviction in Trump — but then qualified their words or expressed confidence in the people around him. Only one of those interviewed — Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — offered an unqualified yes regarding Trump himself.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:01 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

British Officials Angered by US Leaks of Manchester Intelligence to Media

"This is a leaky administration," Thomas Sanderson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC told the Guardian. "What does that mean for sharing information we need to going forward? The UK and Israel are probably our two biggest sources of intelligence. Now they're thinking, 'Is this going to cause us damage every time we share?'"

posted by gladly at 9:02 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Saudi Arabia on the left, Vatican on the right: which country represses its women? (my tweet, too lazy to make an imgur post)

Or "Which religious practices does the first lady choose to adhere to?"
posted by srboisvert at 9:02 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

NYT doing the lord's work with this lede: European Leaders Hope to Win Trump’s Favor:" Brussels, which he called a “hellhole,” and the European Union, which he called “a vehicle for Germany,” and NATO, which he called “obsolete,” are all nervously awaiting the arrival of President Trump on Wednesday, the way earthlings might await the impact of an asteroid."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:04 AM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Twitter ads! From AARP! I can only imagine what they did on platforms that old people actually use.

ಠ_ಠ AARP Membership is open to people 50 and up.

Donald Trump, age 70, is known to use Twitter.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:07 AM on May 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

i can't speak for any other earthlings but i, for one, am eagerly awaiting the impact of an asteroid
posted by entropicamericana at 9:08 AM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

An Education Department Official Resigned After DeVos Demanded He Testify Before Congress: "I cannot in good conscience continue to be accountable as Chief Operating officer given the risk associated with the current environment at the [Education] Department," the chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid, James Runcie, wrote in his resignation memo, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:13 AM on May 24, 2017 [57 favorites]

That said, there's some stuff that rings very Trumpian, like a riff on how our submarines are "the best in the world" (he has a weird submarine obsession, as we've noted before in these threads)

IMO, this obsession is not necessarily misplaced. Military folks, please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm under the impression that carrier groups are our most powerful military assets, but submarines are the most likely vehicles to be able to take out carriers. And that makes it seem like submarine detection and stealth are some of the most important technologies for maintaining U.S. military dominance long term.

Hopefully that's the sort of thing that Trump has in mind, rather than the fact that some subs carry nukes.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:18 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Alex Jones is congratulating Morrissey for standing up against the satanic George Soros deathcult and for being a strong uncucked Alpha. 2017's a hell of a drug.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:19 AM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Alex Jones is congratulating Morrissey for standing up against George Soros and being a strong uncucked Alpha. 2017's a hell of a drug.

what the what
posted by entropicamericana at 9:20 AM on May 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

I'm annoyed, and I think it shows our American differential behavior to Christianity, that the Trump women eschewed head coverings when visiting Saudi Arabia (a good thing), but not when visiting the Pope or the Western Wall (a bad thing I'd argue).

I agree with your argument, but your proof points aren't correct - Ivanka did cover her hair at the Western Wall (which is traditional for Orthodox Jewish married women, but is not required and not seen as a sign of disrespect if you don't), and Melania didn't but as a non-Jew wasn't expected to.

Is covering your hair at a papal audience a religious requirement, or a clothing protocol issue? I think that makes a difference. And it's entirely possible it's the latter, and Ivanka was wearing the wrong type of headcovering on purpose - meeting the bare minimum for protocol, but not adhering to the religious stricture.

TL;DR religious headcoverings are a nation of contrasts
posted by Mchelly at 9:21 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

An Education Department Official Resigned After DeVos Demanded He Testify Before Congress: "

Chaffetz and DeVos appear to be kvetching about "security" in the student loan system. WTF does that mean?
posted by Etrigan at 9:22 AM on May 24, 2017

Chaffetz and DeVos appear to be kvetching about "security" in the student loan system. WTF does that mean?

Someone tried to use the FAFSA application to get Trump's tax return data.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:23 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Papal Audience Dress Code

Women's headcovering not requested. But keep those knees and shoulders covered.
posted by Miko at 9:25 AM on May 24, 2017

Chaffetz and DeVos appear to be kvetching about "security" in the student loan system. WTF does that mean?

Apparently some non-white students were able to get loans.
posted by Behemoth at 9:25 AM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

And, in case it's not clear, that's a [real] reason:
WaPo: Private investigator accused of seeking Trump’s tax records through financial aid website
posted by melissasaurus at 9:28 AM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Can we get back to actual news instead of clothing decisions or requirements?
posted by agregoli at 9:31 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Alex Jones is congratulating Morrissey for standing up against George Soros and being a strong uncucked Alpha. 2017's a hell of a drug.

I mean, I guess technically you can't be a 'cuck' if you've never had a wife for someone else to impregnate.

But I given Alex Jones' past opinions on LGBT rights, I suspect he may not be that familiar with Morrissey's sexuality.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:35 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I kind of think itis actual news how women in political life are/aren't expected to/are criticized for observing protocols. Of course, I may be biased, being female and finding that this topic has import. Also, it's all over my social media feed, with ignoramuses using it as a critical point, so I'm glad to know the actual facts.
posted by Miko at 9:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

I can't help but wonder if Donnie knows what the hell a nuclear submarine is. In common parlance, it's a submarine that is powered by a small nuclear reactor. It's not the same thing as a ballistic missile submarine.

Who knows, maybe Trump thinks that the whole submarine is supposed to blow up.
posted by vverse23 at 9:42 AM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

The hand swat, the headcovering for Catholicism and not Islam, Potica vs. Pizza...

Melania is a land of contrasts.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:45 AM on May 24, 2017

It's not really important to harp on clothing expectations for THIS thread. I can't believe how there's always push back here (even when mods speak up) about keeping this thread on topic. Please keep this thread shorter and relevant, I am honestly begging here.
posted by agregoli at 9:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I made a thing using winna's favorite photo from the trip.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

> Can we get back to actual news instead of clothing decisions or requirements?

Wow, you must not understand what being a woman in America is like, at ALL right now.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:54 AM on May 24, 2017 [69 favorites]

The Washington Post has been doing a lot of great reporting, but let's not forget that the op-ed section, especially the online version, is kind of a dog's breakfast. Is it too much to ask that people directly paid by a foreign government at least be forced to disclose their obvious conflict of interest when reporting on a President's trip to visit the country that's paying them? For WaPo's Fred Hiatt, the answer is a resounding "yes."
posted by tonycpsu at 9:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Annie Karni, Politico: How Trump's aides pulled off Middle East tour - "The president's smooth tour through Saudi Arabia and Israel reflected careful advance planning by a trio of White House officials."

For four straight days, President Donald Trump did not live-tweet the cable shows. He didn’t mention his unlikely electoral win. And in visits to two countries where he was greeted with great fanfare, he never once complained about being treated unfairly.

Trump’s relatively successful swing through the Middle East was due to the fact that, for the most part, he didn’t get in his own way. It was also the result of months of careful planning. A decision was made early on to visit a part of the world where Trump is venerated and feared, and to pack his schedule so that he mostly stayed on message and, according to one aide, “didn’t have time to tweet.”

But a key factor was the role played by Dina Powell, H.R. McMaster and Jared Kushner, who brought a combination of government experience and understanding that Trump wanted to get some negotiated wins on the board.

For a different perspective, Matthew Rozsa, Salon: Donald Trump’s staff is managing him like he’s a wayward teenager - "Trump's staff is working hard to make sure the president is busy on his trip — so he's not tweeting"
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:00 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

CNN's Ross Levitt described on Twitter just now the House Appropriations committee hearing today, where Devos refused to guarantee federal funding won't be given to schools that discriminate. Video should be here.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:00 AM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Let me just clarify my thought: In an America riven between globalism and nationalism, the gendered presentation choices of the first women abroad is really important signaling. In an America where women's rights are being stripped because of reactionary dedication to particular religious dogmas, portrayals of the regime's chosen feminine ideals are important to observe.

To dismiss Melania's headcovering head scratcher as Not News is seriously just blind male privilege.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:01 AM on May 24, 2017 [59 favorites]

I can't help but wonder if Donnie knows what the hell a nuclear submarine is. In common parlance, it's a submarine that is powered by a small nuclear reactor. It's not the same thing as a ballistic missile submarine.

And for those who don't know: All US submarines are nuclear these days. Only 18 of the 68 subs in the Navy are ballistic- or cruise-missile subs (the remaining 50 are attack subs -- think of them as "fighters" to the missile subs as "bombers").
posted by Etrigan at 10:02 AM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

For the record I'm a woman and I would also prefer that we move past critiquing women's clothing choices. Yes, all of society does it; I'd prefer we not.
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:03 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

I think mostly let's try and split the difference and let it be for now without passing judgement on it as unworthy of discussion; from a moderation perspective I both think there's sociopolitical meat on those bones and that it may be playing out in here at this point with more contention and less content than we can sometimes hope for because it's folded into a bunch of other frustrating/annoying/etc stuff in the Trump Vortex. So maybe something to reboot/revisit at a more opportune point in the future.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:07 AM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

The sartorial choices are weirdly and infuriatingly compelling because as with everything Trump, it's hard to figure out what they mean or IF they mean anything. Does the scotch tape on the tie mean anything? Does the bubble on the end of his exclamation point mean anything? Was the redcarpet handflip thing a diss or a trumpstyle fistbump? (Meanwhile medicaid disappears and Trump reveals the location of a couple of submarines wheeeeee!)
posted by Don Pepino at 10:15 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

If you want to dig into the primary sources on the Emoluments issue, here are the resources from the House Oversight Dems, including a glossy pamphlet from the Trump Organization describing their policy for handling funds from foreign governments: "To fully and completely identify all patronage at our Properties by customer type is impractical in the service industry and putting forth a policy that requires all guests to identify themselves would impede upon personal privacy and diminish the guest experience of our brand."

Which, yes, is true, it's awkward to ask if a foreign government is picking up the check when you're at the restaurant, but there's no "don't diminish the guest experience" exception to the Emoluments Clause.
posted by zachlipton at 10:16 AM on May 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

And for those who don't know: All US submarines are nuclear these days. Only 18 of the 68 subs in the Navy are ballistic- or cruise-missile subs (the remaining 50 are attack subs -- think of them as "fighters" to the missile subs as "bombers").

Another side note: This does not preclude attack subs from carrying nuclear weapons in the form of cruise missiles launched from regular torpedo tubes. Or nuclear torpedoes or other delivery systems.

ICBM-carrying boomers are world-endingly scary and all that, but if anything the attack subs are the really dangerous sharks in the water these days. They can be used to do a little of everything from launching amphibious beach assaults, engaging in surveillance and electronic warfare to launching long range cruise missiles with both nuclear and conventional warheads, all on top of also being able to attack ships in a traditional submarine warfare role - all while being much more land-focused and littoral to the point they are essentially amphibious platforms.
posted by loquacious at 10:18 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Metafilter: there's sociopolitical meat on those bones and that it may be playing out in here at this point with more contention and less content than we can sometimes hope for because it's folded into a bunch of other frustrating/annoying/etc stuff in the Trump Vortex.
posted by Melismata at 10:19 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

IMO, this obsession is not necessarily misplaced. Military folks, please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm under the impression that carrier groups are our most powerful military assets, but submarines are the most likely vehicles to be able to take out carriers. And that makes it seem like submarine detection and stealth are some of the most important technologies for maintaining U.S. military dominance long term.

Even the best submarines will not maintain military dominance because they are completely lousy at defense against other subs. Submarine hunting is played up in fiction but in reality subs and their support are so crap at it that they are more likely to collide with an enemy sub than detect it (it has happened a couple of time already).

The problem being that oceans are big and great at hiding things. In naval games the US navy carrier groups have repeatedly had their defensive perimeters penetrated even by obsolete 50+ year old submarines. All it takes is patience, In a hot war with any submarine equipped nation the US carriers will be taken out immediately by submarines (so will the opponent's carriers by US submarines). Even if not sunk they now have to be parked so far from coastal defense missiles as to be largely useless. Naval based air power force projection against non-trivial enemies is largely over.

All you are left with is subs as MAD weapons and maybe as redundant mobile land attack missile launch platforms and defense against surface ships.

Having a commander in chief enamored of powerful toys is very dangerous because despite being awesome machines they are actually strategically weak. The U.S. military is currently a lot like the New York Yankees. They spend all the money and have all the proven stars.....but sometimes those stars are obsolete and past their prime living on faded glory and a savvy opponent with some fresh talent and ideas can beat them.

The US has at best managed a draw in its last two land wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is much more strategically dominant on land than at sea.

So Donald liking navy toys makes me very nervous.
posted by srboisvert at 10:25 AM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

oh boy oh boy, carter page is writing letters again!

Interesting. Carter Page indicates in letter to House Intel Committee that he handed over docs & will testify in an open session next month -- Natasha Bertrand, political correspondent at Business Insider

(the letter is attached to the tweet as an image. it's very short but has all your favorite carter pageisms)
posted by murphy slaw at 10:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

it's very short but has all your favorite carter pageisms

"I didn't not meet John Brennan in Cleveland, but if I did meet him, it would only have been once, and in Cleveland" /fake.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:35 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Wow, fisttyped and boneheaderiffic. Just a few of the nifty filigrees:

"Having spent eight-years as an Obama administration appointee, his testimony followed closely in line.

[I am fixing to] repair some of the unwitting tendencies his presentation displayed.

Sincerely,
CarPa
Carter Page, PhD"
posted by Don Pepino at 10:38 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

For an orthodox married woman, Ivanka did not cover her hair at the Kotel. She wore a very stylish little hat, but she did not cover her hair. This is not a criticism. I don't care if she does or she doesn't. I'm just saying that an Orthodox married woman would actually cover her hair at the Kotel. The last image in this story is of 4 women. Two are wearing sheitels, one is wearing a tichel and one is wearing a very stylish hat.

Sure, but for an American Modern Orthodox woman, wearing a fascinator for prayer is totally accepted at this point. Heck, my shul still even gives out the lace schmattes for women who want to do the minimum - most of whom wear them folded in half or into a triangle.

As an Orthodox Jew, I have a lot of issues with how Jared and Ivanka seem to practice Orthodoxy (particularly as it affects sabbath observance, which impacts on all American Orthodox Jews who work in the secular world and have to negotiate how to balance work and religion all the time), but I am having a really hard time with an ongoing implication here and on social media that because Ivanka isn't taking on Yeshivish or Chassidic dress or practices, she's Jewing wrong. Modern Orthodoxy is (slowly and imperfectly) working toward more progressive acceptance of feminism in many aspects, and the myriad interpretations of appropriate hair covering can be a fraught issue for almost all branches of Orthodoxy - and allowing for leniency (when you can actually make an argument that it's allowed, as is the case here) is one of the crowbars women are using to ram those doors more open. So I just don't think it's fair to ding her on this one.
posted by Mchelly at 10:39 AM on May 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

Economist Joseph Stiglitz: Trump's Budget Takes a Sledgehammer to What Remains of the American Dream
posted by homunculus at 10:43 AM on May 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

In that letter, ~~Page~~ CarPa refers to the Obama administration as "their regime"

seems like a legit, objective fellow
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm not saying Ivanka's a feminist, or that that's what she's doing in choosing that half-hat, but when she converted she chose the path of Judaism that worked for her, and I don't think we have the right to say that that's not good enough. I have dati leumi relatives in Israel who just wear wide headbands and no one blinks an eye - there really is a range.
posted by Mchelly at 10:45 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Carter Page indicates in letter to House Intel Committee that he handed over docs & will testify in an open session next month.

If Carter Page testifies in an open session, I'm taking the day off work to watch. That guy is bonkers.
posted by diogenes at 10:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

the budget is making my brain overheat due to the following friction:

- it's obviously nonsense, does not add up, will not be used as the basis of any bill, and does not merit serious attention

- however, it's totally indicative of how republicans would spend the money if they didn't have to answer to anyone or any outside force, so it's worthy of attention
posted by murphy slaw at 10:46 AM on May 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

the budget is making my brain overheat due to the following friction

2017: A land of terrible, unworkable plans that we have to pay attention to because their implementation might be fucking attempted.
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

I think this has more to do with protocol than with anything else. The Pope also spoke in Spanish with Obama.

I'm going to guess that it's because he's a native Spanish speaker and that's his best (among many) languages.
posted by msalt at 10:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think it's a good thing for the Holy Father to subtly remind Trump that the Church isn't American, it's catholic.

Whether Trump got the hint is another thing, of course.
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:51 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

not a whole lot new here but notable for this amazing mulvaney quote:

"We did [the double count] on purpose... I'm aware of the criticisms and would simply come back and say there's other places where we were probably overly conservative in our accounting. We stand by the numbers."

The double counting was like $2 trillion, right? That's a lot of overly conservative accounting!
posted by diogenes at 10:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

particularly as it affects sabbath observance

I did find it amusing that the Rabbi who did Ivanka's conversion wanted to make it very clear on the record that, whoever told them they could travel on Shabbat, it sure as hell wasn't him.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Carter Page, PhD

I suspect that I speak for many doctors of philosophy when I say:

*cringe, shudder* Gee, thanks a million for making the rest of us look like horrendous fucking idiots, you batshit dick.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:53 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I suspect that I speak for many doctors of philosophy when I say:

*cringe, shudder* Gee, thanks a million for making the rest of us look like horrendous fucking idiots, you batshit dick.

It is unfortunate that he was granted that doctorate despite being functionally illiterate ;)
posted by diogenes at 10:57 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

If Carter Page testifies in an open session, I'm taking the day off work to watch. That guy is bonkers.
posted by diogenes

If a guy who lives in a barrel and masturbates in public thinks you're bonkers...
posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

In which the head of OMB professes to deny the existence of inflation or population growth by denying that cutting something in inflation-adjusted real terms is actually a cut.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 AM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

my father is an academic, and it's been my experience that the people who are most insistent on reminding you that they have a PhD are the ones least deserving of your intellectual respect
posted by murphy slaw at 11:09 AM on May 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

if only someone had told Gerald Ford that you can just throw inflation down the memory hole.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:10 AM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

you can just throw inflation down the memory hole.

Is that what we're calling the Mar-A-Lago sinkhole?
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:12 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Twitter ads! From AARP! I can only imagine what they did on platforms that old people actually use.

AARP has a fantastic digital/social media team. I've had the pleasure of meeting a few of them and hearing a few of them talk at local events.
posted by phearlez at 11:12 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Curious, I investigated Dr. Page's educational background. He apparently received his PhD from SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies in the UK. His thesis? "The influence of semi peripheral powers on the balance between capitalism and socialism in Central Asia: an analysis of Russia's impact on governance and the regional energy sector 1987-2007."
posted by xyzzy at 11:13 AM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Kim Reynolds becomes Iowa's first female governor: Reynolds offered four priorities she said she would pursue as governor: tax reform, energy innovation, education and workforce training. On taxes, she argued reforms lowering the state’s rates and simplifying its “patchwork of exemptions, deductions and credits” could boost employment.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:17 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

xyzzy- link please?
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:18 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Carter Page, PhD

PhilistineDunce
posted by kirkaracha at 11:19 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

you know, if calculating budget items in real dollars is out the window, they could also slash military spending while claiming that they're budgeting more for defense than the peak of the reagan administration
posted by murphy slaw at 11:21 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

So I just don't think it's fair to ding her on this one.

I totally give that one to you, Mchelly. Point taken.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:23 AM on May 24, 2017

you know, if calculating budget items in real dollars is out the window

I don't understand why they bother to calculate anything at all? Once you start fudging numbers to the tune of 2.1 trillion here, 3% growth there, no inflation anywhere... What's the point? You might as well close the excel spreadsheet and just write down the numbers you're determined that you'll get out of it anyway.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:24 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

my father is an academic, and it's been my experience that the people who are most insistent on reminding you that they have a PhD are the ones least deserving of your intellectual respect

I am an academic and the people who are most insistent on reminding you that they have a PhD are women because misogyny is still a thing.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

But MSNBC has learned the Trump Organization is not tracking all possible payments it receives from foreign governments, according to new admissions by Trump representatives.

I was going to make the traditional "this is my surprised face" remark, but it actually is surprising that Trump representatives would openly admit the fact. What do they, think that next to treason and obstruction of justice, violations of the emoluments clause are small beer?
posted by Gelatin at 11:26 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Google Scholar search found this record for Page's thesis. They don't have the text, but it might help you find it if you have access to a University's library.
posted by papercrane at 11:26 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

What in holy heck is a 'semi-peripheral power?' Sounds like a euphemism for 'shady motherfuckers with billions of face-eating leopards.'
posted by carsonb at 11:27 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Those of you with doctorates should end your posts with PhD so I know who to respect.
posted by diogenes at 11:28 AM on May 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

Edited to add:

posted by carsonb, deliberate undergrad dropout
posted by carsonb at 11:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Buzzfeed: We're Sharing Hundreds Of Millions Of Federal Payroll Records: The dataset contains hundreds of millions of rows and stretches all the way back to 1973. It provides salary, title, and demographic details about millions of U.S. government employees, as well as their migrations into, out of, and through the federal bureaucracy. In many cases, the data also contains employees’ names.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Fraudster who's been claiming to be Trump's choice for Ambassador to the EU finally denied by White House. (WSJ)

European officials have tried for months to learn whether to take seriously a euroskeptic American who presented himself as President Donald Trump’s preferred pick for ambassador to the European Union.

Now officials in Washington say that he is not and never was a candidate.

Since Mr. Trump took office, top officials and journalists in Europe have sought out Ted Malloch, a university professor who has asserted he is Mr. Trump’s likely choice for the Brussels post.

EU officials regarded his prospective candidacy as a real—and troubling—possibility. Mr. Malloch has urged every EU country to vote on leaving the bloc.

posted by dnash at 11:30 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

This just in ...

Poll: Americans don't think Trump is draining the swamp

I look forward to his repositioning the swamp as a wetland in need of protection, thus earning himself much needed environmental stripes.
posted by philip-random at 11:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Buzzfeed: The Man Behind The Seth Rich Private Investigation Has A White House Connection

Ed Butowsky, the Dallas wealth manager and frequent Fox News guest who facilitated a private investigation into the murder of Seth Rich, is friends with and serves on the board of an organization started by White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.

[...]

A photograph on Butowsky's Facebook page shows him in the White House briefing room on March 22. Butowsky did not comment on the record why he was at the White House, but did clarify that he had not met with any White House officials.

Butowsky also has been on Breitbart Radio, and was interviewed by Bannon on there. Butowsky instantly started denying everything when asked: He suddenly doesn't know Bannon that well. He also hasn't been to any board meetings, and didn't know he was on the board in the first place. I suspect it's a matter of time before we find out that Bannon started this mess as well.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 11:33 AM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

WSJ: Congress May Need to Raise Debt Limit Sooner, Budget Director Says. It was looking like it was going to need to happen in the fall, but the timetable may be moved up a bit, and with Congress out most of August, the window keeps narrowing. This remains both an incredibly dangerous and stupid game.

Mulvaney says they're still talking about what they want to do, but Mnuchin says he wants a clean debt ceiling increase, and if you could please do it before you all go home for the summer, that would be great. I feel like this is going to be another "last person to talk to Trump wins" situation.
posted by zachlipton at 11:34 AM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

> Now officials in Washington say that he is not and never was a candidate.

Countdown to DJT tweeting that he is a "Tremendous candidate!" in 3... 2...
posted by Westringia F. at 11:35 AM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

while 34 percent said Trump had paid adequate attention to their preferred issues.

lol I would love to know what these "preferred issues" are. I mean, hurting black and brown people is definitely an issue many white people do prefer.
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:37 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

European officials have tried for months to learn whether to take seriously a euroskeptic American who presented himself as President Donald Trump’s preferred pick for ambassador to the European Union.

Now officials in Washington say that he is not and never was a candidate.

Normally this'd be pretty easy to refute, but given the Trump admin's

1. rank incompetency and
2. uncanny knack for nominating the most blithering fuckwads imaginable to every political post

I can see why folks would be unsure. Hell, there was a nonzero chance the Trump administration would go, "Sure, have at it, random asshole, you're appointed!"
posted by leotrotsky at 11:39 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

"Having spent eight-years as an Obama administration appointee, his testimony followed closely in line.

[I am fixing to] repair some of the unwitting tendencies his presentation displayed.

Sincerely,
CarPa

Was he listening to Hamilton as he wrote that? I'm surprised he didn't sign it "Car-dot-Pa".
posted by Gelatin at 11:40 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

(For those who don't know SOAS is a totally legitimate, well respected branch of the University of London)
posted by shothotbot at 11:47 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Academic fraud does seem to be a weirdly prevalent theme amongst the current set of jackasses.
posted by Artw at 11:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

while 34 percent said Trump had paid adequate attention to their preferred issues.

lol I would love to know what these "preferred issues" are. I mean, hurting black and brown people is definitely an issue many white people do prefer.

The issues in question don't exist and don't need to.

Consider the 30-35% range a floor for die-hard support (Rob Ford had this level of support at the worst of his scandal). These supporters will answer any poll question in a way that best supports their candidate, no matter how illogical that answer may be. And these positions cannot be argued against. It's like discussing a close referee's call with a die-hard fan of one of the teams...they see only what they want to see. They've chosen their side and that is never going to change.
posted by rocket88 at 11:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Buzzfeed: We're Sharing Hundreds Of Millions Of Federal Payroll Records: ... In many cases, the data also contains employees’ names.

This seems a deeply shitty thing to do, as clumsy and careless as anything done by Wikileaks.

There are ways of anonymizing this dataset, but still retain all the value for researchers and journalists who want to do aggregate data analysis as described---give each individual a unique code used only in this release, for example, not tried to a traceable employee ID or real name.

I can't imagine why anyone thought this was ethical.
posted by bonehead at 11:49 AM on May 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

I'm surprised he didn't sign it "Car-dot-Pa".

I'm only surprised that he didn't sign it "Car-Ter:Page."
posted by octobersurprise at 11:50 AM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

This seems a deeply shitty thing to do

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this information is all already publicly available, including names. What Buzzfeed is doing is is simply making the data easier to view and organize.

If this information wasn't already publicly available, yeah there's some very icky ethics issues surrounding it.
posted by Twain Device at 11:52 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Academic fraud does seem to be a weirdly prevalent theme amongst the current set of jackasses.

It's a central European thing. Maybe the Russian influence?
posted by leotrotsky at 11:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Consider the 30-35% range a floor for die-hard support

Ahem.
posted by Gelatin at 11:55 AM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this information is all already publicly available, including names.

They got it from FOIA requests. Yes, this information is technically available, but they're making it a lot easier to get at.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:56 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this information is all already publicly available, including names. What Buzzfeed is doing is is simply making the data easier to view and organize.

Even if that's true, it amounts to doxxing. Typically doxxing consists of "only" organizing already available information based on public postings, "just" putting it all together.

The majority of public servants aren't public figures. I don't know why they should have no expectation of privacy.

But then I'm not American. This release could be construed as a crime where I'm from.
posted by bonehead at 11:58 AM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

You'll want to poke around in world-system theory first, and then jump directly to semi-peripheral states, with a brief detour through biography.

Sincere thanks, this is fascinating. And oh, hey I recognize a bunch of these country names from the news lately. Turkey, Afghanistan, Korea, Mexico... probably just a coincidence! And apparently these semi-perhipheral states are vital to world stabilization, funny that they'd be so hotly contested and seemingly de-stabilized by core states looking to assert greater world power just right this moment.
posted by carsonb at 11:59 AM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Politico: Spicer left out of Vatican visit

They let Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, even his security guy Keith Schiller go, but not Spicer. Poor guy...
posted by zachlipton at 12:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

bonehead: The majority of public servants aren't public figures. I don't know why they should have no expectation of privacy.

I'm a local government employee and my compensation is published annually in the local rag along with literally everyone else I work with. I have a lot of complicated feelings about that, but if I had to simplify my emotions down to a dichotomy I actually like it. I see public service as an honor and a necessary function of civilized living based on goodwill and honesty and transparent accountability. Notifying a community about how much that costs exactly is a fine function of the freedoms of press and information.
posted by carsonb at 12:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

I'd love to say that we in the US like to publish governmental payroll data (and we do, a lot, at all levels of government) because transparency in earnings helps women and minorities find out when they are being grossly underpaid compared to white/male colleagues, but really it's because we don't believe that government should even be a thing so we like to play gotcha with how much people make of "our tax dollars."
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Politico: Spicer left out of Vatican visit

They let Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, even his security guy Keith Schiller go, but not Spicer. Poor guy...

Are we sure? The Vatican has extensive gardens. Did Politico check all the bushes?
posted by leotrotsky at 12:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

From the now-oft-quoted Mulvaney op-ed in support of the Trump budget:

For years, we’ve focused on how we can help Americans receive taxpayer-funded assistance. Under President Trump’s leadership, we’re now looking at how we can respect both those who require assistance and the taxpayers who fund that support. For the first time in a long time, we’re putting taxpayers first.

Taking money from someone without an intention to pay it back is not debt. It is theft. This budget makes it clear that we will reverse this larceny.

I've mostly heard people say that this is a defense for gratuitously cutting social programs, and that the "taking money" line is a reference to taxation. However, right after that line, Mulvaney says this:

The president’s spending plan will put our country’s budget back into balance and begin to reduce the size of the national debt within the first year of its enactment.

It sounds to me like he's also talking about the national debt, and in terms that suggest it's not morally real, as though it constitutes theft from Americans per se, which suggests to me that the Trump administration might very well try to default on America's debt. But you'd have to be crazy to even think about doing that, right? Nobody would allow that to happen; surely someone would stop it...somebody would...
posted by clockzero at 12:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

"Salary, title, and demographic details about millions of U.S. government employees, as well as their migrations into, out of, and through the federal bureaucracy. In many cases, the data also contains employees’ names."

So now any federal employee who might have a stalker has to worry about that stalker knowing where they work...

And salary? Aggregate salary data should be transparent, but discrimination against poor people is a real thing.

Demographic details? What if some people don't really want to be identified as "mixed race" or whatever?
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Politico: Spicer left out of Vatican visit

I'll bet they short-sheeted his bed, too. Also, in the Dept. Of Being Generally Shitty, Donnie declared that he likes the Pope because they're two equally humble guys!
posted by octobersurprise at 12:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Is covering your hair at a papal audience a religious requirement, or a clothing protocol issue?"

It is literally neither. Female heads of state or government don't do it when visiting (see Angela Merkel). Wives often do it especially on first visit, but not always, because it used to be protocol (but isn't any longer). Honestly the reason people do it is because either they're excited to get to wear a mantilla, or because it makes for striking pictures that get more press than "just" nice clothes (see, for instance, Catholic monarchs in Europe, whose job is to be in pictures). What's weird about the pictures isn't that they wore veils -- if I were a fashionable lady I might jump at the chance to wear a mantilla too, they're kinda fun and they're hardly appropriate anywhere -- but that Ivanka wore the wrong kind of veil. She didn't need to wear one at all, and it's weird that she wore the wrong kind. It's kind of like wearing a rosary as a necklace ... it's not exactly offensive but it's jarringly incorrect and some people will find it disrespectful. If it says anything about this White House, it's that they're really fuckin' lazy when it comes to details and can't be arsed to get things right. No veil would have been unremarkable and perfectly correct; a mantilla (like Melania's) would have been unremarkable and perfectly correct; the cheerful funeral veil is wrong, and weird.

(If it matters, men also must have their knees and shoulders covered at the Vatican.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:14 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

According to that Politico article, Spicer has gone on the record before about being serious about his Catholic faith. If I were a devoted Catholic, would I want to have to show up with Trump (God knows what horrible faux pas he would do) and/or have to explain myself to the Pope right to his face. Maybe Spicer is taking this time to seriously reconsider his priorities in life.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

To clarify, I'm not at all defending what Buzzfeed is doing, I just want to understand the distinction between their drop and whats available here?

Again, if this information wasn't already freely available, buzzfeed is back at it again being a shitheel.
posted by Twain Device at 12:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Maybe Spicer is taking this time to seriously reconsider his priorities in life.

Or maybe Trump (or someone in his circle) is cruel enough to deny a devout Catholic a chance to meet the Pope.
posted by jedicus at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [42 favorites]

Some entertainment while waiting for the CBO score to come in (sometime after 4pm Eastern is the current word).

Please enjoy this excerpt from Al Franken's upcoming book, in which Amy Klobuchar is working on a Ted Cruz joke, and Franken tells it like it really is, to Ted Cruz.

Cruz, for his part, finds the book "obnoxious and insulting" (an entire chapter is devoted to him), which is really the best endorsement I can imagine.
posted by zachlipton at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

transparency in earnings helps women and minorities find out when they are being grossly underpaid compared to white/male colleagues,

Forgive me, but that's irrelevant to the release. Gender and race data is already in the data set. To my mind, there's no benefit to naming each employee. Identity could, as I mentioned above, be anonymized and still serve the function of determining pay and opportunity equity.

Notifying a community about how much that costs exactly is a fine function of the freedoms of press and information.

My government (Canada) makes public rates of pay federally, as well as the demographics (how many at each level, etc.. ) of parts of the service down to the branch level (the level under that of a department or agency). In some parts of the country, we have "sunshine" lists for public employees who make more than a certain value, typically over $100k.

But the clerks who take home $22k/yr don't have all their employment info broadcast everywhere. That's what I find kind of appalling.

Sorry. I didn't mean to make this a major point of discussion. But this just seems egregious.
posted by bonehead at 12:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Buzzfeed: We're Sharing Hundreds Of Millions Of Federal Payroll Records: ... In many cases, the data also contains employees’ names.

When I was a reporter, this was pretty much my specialty -- acquiring govt. databases via FOIA, usually to investigate a story we already were pursuing, but sometimes just to prospect for ideas. Back then, we had a rule-- just because we had the data didn't mean would *publish* the data. We'd publish if some aspect of it was newsworthy, e.g., if the mayor put his family on the payroll, or if it showed pay discrimination across race/gender, sure.

But names and salaries by themselves, though might generate a lot of clicks, aren't newsworthy.
posted by martin q blank at 12:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

They let Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, even his security guy Keith Schiller go, but not Spicer. Poor guy...

To be fair one keeps him safe, one puts his dribble on Twitter, and the remaining one will be his fourth wife.

It's not like Spicer could actually do any of those jobs competently.
posted by Talez at 12:19 PM on May 24, 2017

> Demographic details? What if some people don't really want to be identified as "mixed race" or whatever?

As far as I can tell, having just looked myself up and decoded the string according to their data definitions, the only demographic info provided is an age range, given in 5-year chunks (20-24, 25-29, 30-34, ...). You could deduce the exact age of an employee if they serve long enough to switch groups. There does not appear to be any race, ethnicity, or gender information. Nor is there location information, although you could guess based on agency.
posted by Westringia F. at 12:19 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Or maybe Trump (or someone in his circle) is cruel enough to deny a devout Catholic a chance to meet the Pope.

I totally believe Trump would try to do this, but I feel like the Pope could overrule that pretty easily if it came to it.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:22 PM on May 24, 2017

According to that Politico article, Spicer has gone on the record before about being serious about his Catholic faith.

Then perhaps he spontaneously transformed into an unshriven mass of reeking brimstone the moment he set foot on the Vatican pavement, on account of what he does for a living.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:24 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Autumnheart: "I totally believe Trump would try to do this, but I feel like the Pope could overrule that pretty easily if it came to it."

Like, "I'll meet with you but only if you bring Spicer along"?
posted by Mitheral at 12:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

"I'll meet with you but only if you bring Spicer along"

I have always wanted to meet your American Easter Bunny.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

WaPo: How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe

In the midst of the 2016 presidential primary season, the FBI received a purported Russian intelligence document describing a tacit understanding between the campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department over the inquiry into whether she intentionally revealed classified information through her use of a private email server.

The Russian document mentioned a supposed email describing how then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch had privately assured someone in the Clinton campaign that the email investigation would not push too deeply into the matter — a conversation that if made public would cast doubt on the inquiry’s integrity.

Current and former officials have said that document played a significant role in the July decision by then-FBI Director James B. Comey to announce on his own, without Justice Department involvement, that the investigation was over. That public announcement — in which he criticized Clinton and made extensive comments about the evidence — set in motion a chain of other FBI moves that Democrats now say helped Trump win the presidential election.

But according to the FBI’s own assessment, the document was bad intelligence — and according to people familiar with its contents, possibly even a fake sent to confuse the bureau. The Americans mentioned in the Russian document insist they do not know each other, do not speak to each other and never had any conversations remotely like the ones described in the document. Investigators have long doubted its veracity, and by August the FBI had concluded it was unreliable.

posted by zachlipton at 12:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [63 favorites]

It's a central European thing. Maybe the Russian influence?

I think we should call it Gorkery.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

No kidding. Which is why I hope he woke up this morning and realized that his job is to be the paid punching bag for a gigantic asshole who makes him look Iike a turd on a daily basis, and who kept him from meeting the Pope just to be a fucking prick. I mean that would give me some pause if I were in that position.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

But names and salaries by themselves, though might generate a lot of clicks, aren't newsworthy.

If 2016 taught us anything, it's that clicks and newsworthiness are now the same. For-profit journalism is an oxymoron.
posted by biogeo at 12:29 PM on May 24, 2017

> Nor is there location information, although you could guess based on agency.

I was wrong: duty station is in there.
posted by Westringia F. at 12:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Al is trying to sell books and apparently he's decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books," Cruz said in an interview.

Oh, but it is!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

What could Spicer possibly say to the Pope in good conscience as a practicing Catholic other than "I'm Sorry?"
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

> Oh, but it is!

To be fair, I'm pretty sure Al Franken would do it for free, or, if necessary, pay for the privilege.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Cruz, for his part, finds the book "obnoxious and insulting" (an entire chapter is devoted to him), which is really the best endorsement I can imagine.

If Franken doesn't use that quote as a cover blurb, he's missing a bet.
posted by Gelatin at 12:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [54 favorites]

(If it matters, men also must have their knees and shoulders covered at the Vatican.)

So for women, it'd be head and shoulders, knees and toes? knees and toes.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:32 PM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

Regarding salary lists, in basically all government units in the US you have to provide these on demand, and in most they're published online, by law. In my state you also have to prepare several ancillary reports, like "highest-paid 25/50/100 employees" (depending on size of unit), "all employees earning more than $75,000/year" (so you can't hide Department of Transportation patronage hires making $160k for imaginary jobs in among 47 pages of part-time seasonal road workers), "total compensation packages of all management employees" (so you can see if non-unionized employees are getting high-value non-salary perks that are questionable). These are updated with great fanfare and guaranteed newspaper coverage yearly, and all state and local government employees briefly grouse that everyone knows what they earn, and then immediately starts looking up all their friends, enemies, and managers.

But yeah, it's available by law, and most places make it easier to look through than the feds do.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

"Al is trying to sell books and apparently he's decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books," Cruz said in an interview.

Based on precedent of a high-profile Cruz opponent being obnoxious and insulting him, Cruz will be making phone calls begging people to vote for Franken pretty soon.
posted by Etrigan at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [32 favorites]

What could Spicer possibly say to the Pope in good conscience as a practicing Catholic other than "I'm Sorry?"

Bless me, Holy Father, for I have sinned...
posted by uncleozzy at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure Al Franken would do it for free, or, if necessary, pay for the privilege.

I was about to make a similar joke.

But to think of it another way, we actually already paid him to tell Ted Cruz to his face that he's full of shit. As a Minnesota taxpayer, all I can say is that I'm delighted that I could play my part in this.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

Which is why I hope he woke up this morning and realized that his job is to be the paid punching bag for a gigantic asshole who makes him look Iike a turd on a daily basis

I'm pretty sure Spicer had that part of his brain removed long ago and replaced with a big wad of chewed-up gum.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

What could Spicer possibly say to the Pope in good conscience as a practicing Catholic other than "I'm Sorry?"

Bless me, Holy Father, for I have sinned...

Hey, I wear a white suit for work, too!
posted by leotrotsky at 12:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

But yeah, it's available by law, and most places make it easier to look through than the feds do.

Agreed. I work for a private university and recently negotiated a raise in salary simply by seeking out the published salary of the people doing my job for public universities within a hundred miles of me.

The data I used included names, length of service, job title, and specific salary to the penny. It wasn't hard to get -- took me about two hours to put the entire proposal together.
posted by anastasiav at 12:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I feel like "leak Soros staffer emails with Debbie Wasserman Schultz about killing the Clinton email investigation" would have been the quintessential Russian plot of our time.
posted by zachlipton at 12:42 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I don't know how you can argue BuzzFeed is hunting for clicks. They didn't even make this searchable themselves, but other people have already done that on other sites and have for years. They published a data dump so that researchers can analyze the data programmatically.
posted by zachlipton at 12:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.

From way upthread, but having been brought up in the evangelical subculture that now makes up Trump's base, I think this tweet might be his most objectionable from their perspective.

Pussy grabbing, poor starving, lying your ass off, unbridled greed and corruption? Remember the words of John 8:
He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone...

Referring to the PAPAL DICTATOR AS "HIS HOLINESS"??? It's Romans 16 for you:
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

Curious to see if my hunch is correct.
posted by Rykey at 12:49 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

When has non-profit journalism ever been particularly significant again (excepting maybe NPR/PBS)? Clicks are today's copies of the evening paper. Which cost a nickel. And had advertisers. There is no reason profit has to render journalists unethical.

The BBC? CBC?
posted by tivalasvegas at 12:54 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

From way upthread, but having been brought up in the evangelical subculture that now makes up Trump's base, I think this tweet might be his most objectionable from their perspective.

You're forgetting the part where he's a Republican, which has been conclusively proven to outweigh theological concerns.
posted by Etrigan at 12:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Man... I'm watching Gaycation: United We Stand, which appears to be the most recent episode and mentions the civil rights and LGBT rights pages and the Spanish-language version of the White House still being missing "almost a hundred days in", which would seem to imply that it was released some time last month.

Much of the discussion involves Mike Pence of course, kicked off with an interview with Lucian Wintrich^{_^} during the inauguration and DeploraBall in which his entire defense to supporting Pence as part of the Trump ticket is "well the Vice President doesn't have much power", and most of the show actually takes place in Indiana and covers Pence's reign there.

But, no mention of Trump being impeached and the awful possibility of Pence becoming Prez. Is taking impeachment seriously so recent? I can't remember, time is passing so quickly that every day feels like waking up from a coma.
posted by XMLicious at 1:00 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

For those waiting on the CBO score for ACHA - earlier today the following URL gave a page not found but now it is password protected so pretty sure the report will be turning up shortly:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52763
posted by piyushnz at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Spitbull, I'll be looking for your updates.
posted by Dashy at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Charles Gaba, ACA number-cruncher extraordinaire, would like to remind you that today is CBO Scoring Day.

How many tens of millions will be projected to lose coverage under the AHCA version 2.0? What diameter hole will be blown in the federal deficit? Soon we will learn.

non-preview: curses, piyushnz!
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:02 PM on May 24, 2017

There is no reason profit has to render journalists unethical.

No, but however ethical individual journalists are, working within a system that is profit-driven means they are constrained. How many well-trained, experienced journalists like Anderson Cooper are there at CNN who would love to do some journalism instead of talk to the same mendacious spin doctors in front of a holographic green screen for the thousandth time, but can't because the network executives prefer to spend the least effort and capital for the highest ratings possible?

I don't really mean that "for-profit journalism is an oxymoron," it was a silly hyperbole said out of pique. But I do think the extent to which profit drives media compromises its ability to act as the Fourth Estate, and with media executives on the record as saying things like "Trump is bad for America, but good for NBC," I think it's less of a hyperbole than I did at this time last year.
posted by biogeo at 1:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

XMLicious: I can't remember, time is passing so quickly that every day feels like waking up from a coma.

The Trump Van Winkle effect.
posted by syzygy at 1:06 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

WaPo: Ben Carson calls poverty “a state of mind” during interview

In an interview released Wednesday, Housing Secretary Ben Carson said that a "certain mindset" contributes to people living in poverty, pointing to habits and a "state of mind" children take from their parents at a young age.

"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there," he said during an interview on SiriusXM Radio with Armstrong Williams, a longtime friend.

"And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they'll work their way right back down to the bottom," he said.

While it's well demonstrated that living in poverty can have significant impacts on the mind in terms of stress and mental illness, I'm still pretty sure poverty is fundamentally about a lack of money.

Also, CBO score is now expected at 4:30.
posted by zachlipton at 1:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [44 favorites]

Ok excuse me, I meant in the US. Most important journalism in this country over three centuries has been by people making a buck doing it. That is an absolute fact. So saying "journalism sucks because it's for profit" imagines an impossible standard and falsifies history.

My aforementioned sibling works for a major for profit news organization. Suggesting his ethics are compromised by that is the same as saying the same thing about anyone working for a for profit business.

I agree with you on both points. However, it is quite possible to have a (relatively) objective, state-funded organization (a la the BBC, CBC and ABC (Australia)), and I think it's worthwhile and healthy to have a diverse media landscape of commercial, non-profit and state-funded (arms-length) journalistic organizations.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jesus, from the WaPo link zachlipton posted:

From the moment the bureau received the document from a source in early March 2016, its veracity was the subject of an internal debate at the FBI. Several people familiar with the matter said the bureau’s doubts about the document hardened in August when officials became more certain that there was nothing to substantiate the claims in the Russian document. FBI officials knew the bureau never had the underlying email with the explosive allegation, if it ever existed.

Yet senior officials at the bureau continued to rely on the document before and after the election as part of their justification for how they handled the case.

Wasserman Schultz and Benardo said in separate interviews with The Washington Post that they do not know each other and have never communicated. Renteria, in an interview, and people familiar with Lynch’s account said the two also do not know each other and have never communicated. Lynch declined to comment for this article.

Moreover, Wasserman Schultz, Benardo and Renteria said they have never been interviewed by the FBI about the matter.

posted by DynamiteToast at 1:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

> WaPo: Ben Carson calls poverty “a state of mind” during interview

"Just close your eyes, think of Ronald Reagan, and say 'bootstraps' three times -- the world will be yours."

Fuck Ben Carson.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

So it appears that the Russians put out a fake document implicating Clinton and Comey fell for it, using the fake Russian document as justification for his unprecedented public attack on Clinton back in July.

The Russians used a diversionary tactic to throw Comey off the Russian investigation and onto the Clinton nothing-burger. Brilliant. And Comey was partisan enough to swallow it whole. He had spent his whole career stalking the Clintons and the Russians realized they just needed to supply him the rope he needed to hang himself.
posted by JackFlash at 1:11 PM on May 24, 2017 [65 favorites]

the PAPAL DICTATOR

As an aside, the Pope is literally the King of Vatican City, which is an absolute monarchy. So they're not totally wrong.
posted by XMLicious at 1:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo: Ben Carson calls poverty “a state of mind” during interview
"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there," he said during an interview

Hey, I'm curious! Since I'm sure Carson thinks of himself as one of the "right mindset" types, how about we test his theory with him as the subject?
posted by Gelatin at 1:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

In reality, if you substitute "privilege" for "mindset," Carson actually has a point.
posted by Gelatin at 1:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Just read Demirjian and Barrett WaPo piece zachlipton linked above: How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe

WOW. Jeez. So not only is Russian disinformation making it into American media (easily!) it was successfully used to manipulate the FBI.

This is hugely significant, I think.

This previously posted link (Elkind for Propublica) says:

A recent report in The New York Times raised the prospect of another factor in Comey’s calculations. Early last year, another FBI investigative team had found a memo or email hacked by the Russians in which a Democratic operative expressed confidence that Lynch would protect Clinton. According to the Times, Comey worried that if Lynch were involved in the Clinton announcement and the Russians leaked the document, then voters would not trust the inquiry.

But Comey did not confront Lynch, demand that she recuse herself or raise the matter with the deputy attorney general, Sally Yates, former Justice Department officials told me. Instead, he sent an aide to confer with David Margolis, a respected senior Justice Department official, who has since died. Margolis never raised the issue with department leadership. Two former officials who have seen the document told me that it was never a real concern. Comey and his defenders, they insisted to me, are now engaged in “revisionist history.”

So now it seems like... Russia faked this e-mail, and allowed the FBI to "find" it among the real e-mails that they had stolen, and were able to manipulate Comey into cutting Lynch out of the loop. Like this was a headfake meant basically for Comey, specifically? And they let the FBI "find" it it on their own...

And with Lynch out of the loop, Comey made those announcements...

Hard to say now that Russian disinformation didn't have an effect on the campaign! There was the disinformation that made it into the media... And then it seems like there was disinformation targeted at James Comey specifically, which effectively manipulated him into having a major effect on the campaign. Embarrassing for him. I still think he was basically trying to do the right thing, but wow did he get played. I wonder what he'll say about this when he testifies?

That is quite the scoop. I mean, in terms of making me re-evaluate every single thing that happened last year, this is the biggest BOOM yet.
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [103 favorites]

Spitbull: When has non-profit journalism ever been particularly significant again (excepting maybe NPR/PBS)?

I completely agree with your point. That said, ProPublica is non-profit, right? They do great work. Mother Jones, while openly partisan, has done some excellent investigative journalism, and I.F. Stone before that.

On the other hand, Steve Bannon set up that technically non-profit investigative arm that published "Clinton Cash" so the sector produces some real crap. And I haven't noticed any particularly good work by the Pacifica radio network.
posted by msalt at 1:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ben Carson calls poverty “a state of mind” during interview

Seriously, if you want to see the Republican view of our glorious future, watch the Victorian Slum House series on PBS. They've been detailing the Victorian age views of the poor as essentially a different species of human, and all of it sounds like the current GOP budget proposals.
posted by dnash at 1:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Indeed look at how conservative NPR And PBS have become lately. Why? Because they are terrified of angering the right wing government and losing their jobs.

And as government funding has been cut back -- in the pledge drives, NPR is quick to point out that only about 10% of its funding comes from the government -- they have turned more and more to corporate funding. NPR used to be all in on fracking, and sponsor Archer Daniels Midland could do no wrong.
posted by Gelatin at 1:19 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

It sounds to me like he's also talking about the national debt, and in terms that suggest it's not morally real, as though it constitutes theft from Americans per se, which suggests to me that the Trump administration might very well try to default on America's debt. But you'd have to be crazy to even think about doing that, right?

It's hard to keep track of them all, but in episode #346 of This Moment Here Should Have Stopped the Whole Fucking Shitshow For Good, the orange dipshit suggested creditors to the national debt should take a haircut. So yes. Yes, you'd have to be crazy to think about doing that. Or just criminally stupid. Turns out, that's exactly who got elected.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

The Joint Committee on Taxation (***not the CBO***) just released its AHCA analysis [auto-downloading pdf; main site here].

Basic takeaways:
-repealing ACA taxes would cost $662 billion over 10 years
-of that, repealing the net investment income tax would cost $172 billion

(still waiting on the CBO score, which should take into account these numbers)
posted by melissasaurus at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Argh. Combine that "Russians manipulated Comey" piece with the Bernstein/Buzzfeed scoop about how "The Rich family is 'in shock' that Ed Butowsky is linked to Steve Bannon and the Mercer family" and I'm back to my headless chicken panic about how our institutions are supposed to function when we are this easily manipulated by propaganda and disinformation.

How the heck do we fix this? It's not just stupid people falling for it, and we haven't collectively learned our lesson since last year either, obviously.
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Between Trump and Mulvaney, one of them is crazy and the other is criminally stupid and I'm utterly unable to decide which is which.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

So now it seems like... Russia faked this e-mail, and allowed the FBI to "find" it among the real e-mails that they had stolen, and were able to manipulate Comey into cutting Lynch out of the loop.

The Washington Post story gets a little odd here, in that it says the FBI never actually found the original email, just "a piece of purported analysis by Russian intelligence" that described the email. So it wasn't a fake email amid the real emails, but this weird Russian intelligence document they somehow got handed by "a foreign source" that "had previously supplied other information that the FBI was also unable to corroborate."

This kind of stuff is precisely why we needed an independent Russia commission six months ago.
posted by zachlipton at 1:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

rhizome: [Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme]

As if on cue
posted by sektah at 1:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

And then it seems like there was disinformation targeted at James Comey specifically, which effectively manipulated him into having a major effect on the campaign. Embarrassing for him. I still think he was basically trying to do the right thing, but wow did he get played.

Trying to do the right thing? Comey had spent his career in pursuit of the Clinton White Whale and the Russians knew his weak point. The obsessed Ahab took the whole country down with him -- hardly the right thing.
posted by JackFlash at 1:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

And the last thing we want is government-sponsored media and journalism.

I agree with you except for this point. Historically, the US has been pretty good at using checks and balances to prevent individual government programs from becoming openly partisan, and while that is seriously under threat right now, it is a testament to the strength of that system that the courts and agencies like the FBI clearly still have enough independence to operate even in the Trump regime (for now). I think government-sponsored independent journalism is a good thing, alongside nonprofit independent journalism and for-profit journalism.

I do also think your analysis of NPR and PBS's motivations is a bit off-base. As Gelatin pointed out, they were arguably more independent when a higher fraction of their operating costs came from the government. Now that more and more comes from corporate underwriters, not to mention large private donors like the Kochs, they seem to be more constrained in their reporting.
posted by biogeo at 1:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The ones I know best just want to eat and kick ass.

Just wondering if there is a comma missing in that sentence.
posted by Rumple at 1:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

If this all plays out the way it looks like it might, Russia has pulled off an intelligence masterstroke for the ages.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

You guys, I think I have a problem. I'm on pins and needles awaiting the CBO score. Like Christmas Eve excited. Send help.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

BI never actually found the original email

Thanks for correcting that. You'd think I'd've picked up on it seeing as the story has a heading saying
"Email not obtained." Got distracted re-reading that ProPublica piece!
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:32 PM on May 24, 2017

It's CBO o'clock! Here's the score.

You can follow this Twitter link for a stream of analysis from a hand-curated panel of healthcare reporters and experts.
posted by zachlipton at 1:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

The right thing as he saw it. If this stuff is all true, it seems to fall right in line with the Russian M.O. (and I suppose with disinformation / manipulation campaigns generally) -- identify the blind spots for key actors and feed them info they can't resist.

In Trump's case, of course, it's just a matter of telling him he's the greatest. For Comey it appears to be (again, if this latest BOOM pans out) that Comey's blind spot is anti-Clintonism and an understandable, but also manipulable fear of being perceived as not politically independent. Oh the irony.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

What could Spicer possibly say to the Pope in good conscience as a practicing Catholic other than "I'm Sorry?"

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

It is incontrovertible that WaPo, NYT, AP, McClatchy, NBC, and CNN have driven the news and become the biggest enemies of the Trump regime.

That may be, but many of these news outlets are also responsible for it, having granted absurdly biased coverage, both in quality and quantity, for Trump during the campaign last year, because it sold. Would Trump have been elected had these media companies done real journalistic coverage of the various candidates, instead of just providing full, uninterrupted broadcasts of Trump rallies?
posted by biogeo at 1:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

It's CBO o'clock! Here's the score.

"Page Could Not Be Loaded

"The web page you were looking for could not be delivered.

tiva las sad face
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

CBO says 23 million uninsured by 2026
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:34 PM on May 24, 2017

CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under H.R. 1628 than under current law. The increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number projected under current law would reach 19 million in 2020 and 23 million in 2026. In 2026, an estimated 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.
posted by theodolite at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Merry CBOmass: 23 million more uninsured under the AHCA.

(Thanks, zachlipton!)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hah, got it:

CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the American Health Care Act would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion over the coming decade and increase the number of people who are uninsured by 23 million in 2026 relative to current law.

AKA exactly what everyone thought, down just 1 million from the score of 24 million losing coverage in the first bill.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's CBO o'clock! Here's the score.

And the nail in the AHCA's coffin (emphasis mine): CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under H.R. 1628 than under current law. The increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number projected under current law would reach 19 million in 2020 and 23 million in 2026. In 2026, an estimated 51 million people under age 65 would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law. Under the legislation, a few million of those people would use tax credits to purchase policies that would not cover major medical risks.
posted by Gelatin at 1:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

CBO says 23 million uninsured by 2026

Again, is this based on the 9-dollar aspirin, or the 5-cent aspirin?
posted by Melismata at 1:37 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

And here's your summary:

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have completed an estimate of the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act of 2017, as passed by the House of Representatives. CBO and JCT estimate that enacting that version of H.R. 1628 would reduce the cumulative federal deficit over the 2017-2026 period by $119 billion. That amount is $32 billion less than the estimated net savings for the version of H.R. 1628 that was posted on the website of the House Committee on Rules on March 22, 2017, incorporating manager’s amendments 4, 5, 24, and 25. (CBO issued a cost estimate for that earlier version of the legislation on March 23, 2017.)

In comparison with the estimates for the previous version of the act, under the House-passed act, the number of people with health insurance would, by CBO and JCT’s estimates, be slightly higher and average premiums for insurance purchased individually—that is, nongroup insurance—would be lower, in part because the insurance, on average, would pay for a smaller proportion of health care costs. In addition, the agencies expect that some people would use the tax credits authorized by the act to purchase policies that would not cover major medical risks and that are not counted as insurance in this cost estimate.

The really interesting stuff is going to be buried in footnotes in the report, but the quick takeaway is that this isn't much different from the last time we had a score on the AHCA: 23 million more uninsured people (down from 24 million in the last report), costs $32 billion more than the last version. Premiums would be lower, but the insurance would pay for less health care. People would also buy crappy plans that the CBO doesn't consider to be insurance, because they've set reasonably high standards for what "health insurance" means. Those people are counted as "uninsured" by the CBO, but I'm sure we'll hear a lot of yelling about that from Republicans.

In short, if you hated the AHCA before, not a lot is different.

If you can't get through, the website is having issues right now.
posted by zachlipton at 1:38 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Under the legislation, a few million of those people would use tax credits to purchase policies that would not cover major medical risks.

"XX million people lose insurance" is an attention-grabber, but not enough attention has been paid to this other point -- under the Republican repeal and replacement of Obamacare, insurance companies would one again be able to sell the American public junk insurance that doesn't actually cover many health care costs.
posted by Gelatin at 1:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

In my state you also have to prepare several ancillary reports, like "highest-paid 25/50/100 employees" (depending on size of unit), "all employees earning more than $75,000/year" (so you can't hide Department of Transportation patronage hires making $160k for imaginary jobs in among 47 pages of part-time seasonal road workers), "total compensation packages of all management employees" (so you can see if non-unionized employees are getting high-value non-salary perks that are questionable).

The disclosure of top salaried employees is also something that must be included in the annual filings of charities, and it's very often a useful thing to compare to the operation's other expenditures in order to determine whether they're what I'd call a real charity versus a mechanism that mostly just pays the people who run it. The fact that it's public also helps push back on nonsense claims like, say, that the Clintons were using their foundation to pocket money themselves. Any claim that they were paying Chelsea some 200k a year to be on the board could be instantly disproved with their 990.

I spent a third of my (sob) 30 working years doing so in state education and therefor my salary for that time was and is public record. While that's not necessarily something I felt very excited about on a personal basis, overall I did and continue to think it's a net positive. Aside from a number of the anti-fraud aspects that Eyebrows lists (and here in VA the openness resulted in several high-profile fraud discoveries during the years I was in their employ, precisely because people who worked in those divisions spotted the listings and realized those people weren't even coming into the office) there's also the aspect that every indication is that when salaries are public there is less disparity.

There's a lot of good stuff here, but the money quote is probably this one.

Consider eliminating pay secrecy in your organization. According to results from the IWPR/Rockefeller Survey of Economic Security, almost half of all workers nationwide are discouraged or even contractually forbidden from discussing pay with their colleagues. With pay secrecy in place, employees struggle to find out how their pay measures up with peers. Any attempts to fix the gender wage gap are also undermined. Where there are high levels of pay transparency, the gender pay gap is much smaller: The report finds a comparatively small 11% wage gap within the federal government. “Greater pay transparency, along with strengthened enforcement of U.S. EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity] laws, a higher minimum wage, more collective bargaining and better family-friendly policies, such as paid family leave, would go a significant way towards ensuring that working women are paid fairly and are better able to support their families,” states a recent Institute for Women’s Policy Research report.

posted by phearlez at 1:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

And the nail in the AHCA's coffin (emphasis mine):

You assume they give one flying fuck about the coverage numbers.

They're going to be out there spinning "SAVES $119 BILLION! CBO USING UNFAIR DEFINITION OF COVERAGE! WE GIVE EVERYONE CATASTROPHIC COVERAGE!"

I fucking guarantee it.
posted by Talez at 1:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Of course. I'm not saying for profit journalism is ideal either. But it's been our model for the entire history of the US, and a basic element of press freedom.

Agreed. I'm mostly grumpy because the older I get, the less tolerance I have for capitalism's bullshit. I don't have a better proposal, though.
posted by biogeo at 1:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

The fundamental math of the AHCA doesn't change: over 10 years, "H.R. 1628 would
reduce direct spending by $1,111 billion and reduce revenues by $992 billion, for a net
reduction of $119 billion in the deficit over that period."

In other words, the government will spend $1.1 trillion less on health care, and give out $992 billion in tax cuts, pocketing the $119 billion that's left over. Because that's what the AHCA is, a trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthy paid for by cutting off people's health care. The uninsured numbers matter, sure, but that equation here is the key part, and no matter how you dress it up, it's not changing.
posted by zachlipton at 1:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

I'm late to the budget discussion, but this was the quote from Mulvaney that really made my jaw drop:

We do assume in this budget that that plan is deficit-neutral, just because it was, in all honesty, the most efficient way to look at it, because if we said it's going to add to the deficit, then we have to go into more detail than what’s in the summary right now. If we say it's going to reduce the deficit, we have to go into more detail than what’s in it right now. And we simply are not in a position to do that.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/22/camera-briefing-fy18-budge-omb-director-mulvaney
posted by bjrubble at 1:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

I don't really care about their lies, but it's unfortunate that this gives them clearance to continue with filibuster-dodging reconciliation. It's going to be vitally important to absolutely hammer all the R senators such that the Senate never passes their own bill.
posted by phearlez at 1:45 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

spitbull: "Of course. I'm not saying for profit journalism is ideal either. But it's been our model for the entire history of the US, and a basic element of press freedom."

For-profit healthcare has been our model for the entire history of the US, and a basic element of the US' medical research lead. There's no way we could ever get rid of it and have our citizens survive!
posted by TypographicalError at 1:45 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

In comparison with the estimates for the previous version of the act, under the House-passed act, the number of people with health insurance would, by CBO and JCT’s estimates, be slightly higher and average premiums for insurance purchased individually—that is, nongroup insurance—would be lower, in part because the insurance, on average, would pay for a smaller proportion of health care costs.

CBO analysis doesn't count the crappy insurance plans that could be (again) offered as legit coverage, so that's good at least.

"Repeal or delay" of taxes on high-income earners, medical manufacturer fees, excise taxes and "various tax preferences for medical care" (which I think means the "Cadillac plan" taxes) -- that increases the deficit by 664 billion dollars.

The takeaway, once more with feeling: this is a massive tax cut for the wealthy, paid for by stripping insurance coverage and insurance subsidies from the poor and middle classes.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:45 PM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

As an aside to the CBO news (which I bet is spun as "old news" since we're past calling it "fake news"), here's an image of a tweet (jfc!) where:

Paul Ryan @SpeakerRyan: To deliberately target innocent children is cowardice in its most heinous form. #Manchester

@IrisRimon: Good thing you added the hashtag, otherwise I'd think you refer to your budget.
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:47 PM on May 24, 2017 [113 favorites]

the "Kushners as slumlord" story has been jointly reported by ProPublica and the NYT.
That's semi-surprising, since for Trump's entire Real Estate career, the NYT never wrote about him being a slumlord... or, it seems, anybody else.

Meanwhile, this was published before Carson's "poverty is a state of mind" comments, but is closely related.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2017

Under the act, premiums for older people could be five times larger than those for younger people in many states, but the size of the tax credits for older people would be only twice the size of the credits for younger people. As a result:

• For older people with lower income, net premiums would be much larger than
under current law, on average (see Table 5, at the end of this document).
• For younger people with lower income, net premiums would be about the same or
smaller, depending on the state’s approach to regulation.
• For people with higher income, net premiums would be reduced among people of
most ages, on average.
posted by theodolite at 1:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

14 million would lose insurance immediately, 23 million by 2026. I often find large numbers like this hard to contextualize, so thinking of it in terms of proportions helps for me.

Take a randomly chosen group of 25 Americans. One of them, who currently has health insurance, will lose it.
posted by biogeo at 1:49 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

CBO analysis doesn't count the crappy insurance plans that could be (again) offered as legit coverage, so that's good at least.

The report estimates that "a few million" people would buy these crappy plans:

CBO and JCT estimate that a few million people would buy policies that would not cover major medical risks. That estimate is highly uncertain. Although less healthy people might be able to purchase plans that would include a limited number of benefits, those policies would not provide sufficient financial protection to meet CBO’s definition of insurance coverage. The existence of tax credits in the nongroup market would encourage a second market to emerge to sell policies priced to closely match the size of the credits. Although such plans would provide some benefits, the policies would not provide enough financial protection in the event of a serious and costly illness to be considered insurance.

One thing about this is that "a few million" is low enough that Republicans can't credibly claim (though I'm sure they still will try) that it makes up for the 23 million that will lose insurance.

This does confirm one of my biggest fears, that insurers in waiver states will start selling phenomenally crappy plans that cost exactly the same as the size of the tax credits, because they will be "free." Since the credits are only a few thousand dollars a person, and not indexed to how much insurance actually costs, these plans can't possibly cover much at all. The only way to make the math work on a plan that cheap is to cover band-aids and aspirins only, and not even expensive aspirins on inpatient bills. But it will be free government money for insurance companies in exchange for mini-med plans, so they'll be everywhere.
posted by zachlipton at 1:52 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

spitbull: American health care leads the world in innovation.

That sounds rather unlikely. Can you point me to a source?
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The president’s spending plan will put our country’s budget back into balance and begin to reduce the size of the national debt within the first year of its enactment.

This is maybe a nit, but it kills me that people do not properly distinguish between the debt and the deficit. As long as the deficit (each fiscal years expenses minus revenues) remains positive, the debt will continue to grow. Nothing in this budget would make the deficit negative, particularly not in the first year.

I get that financial literacy is nowhere to be found in the budgets going around, but at the very least can the media use the correct terms?
posted by H. Roark at 2:00 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

> Nothing in this budget would make the deficit negative, particularly not in the first year.

No, no, no, that's part of the magic asterisk and the growth fairies.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

For-profit healthcare has been our model for the entire history of the US...

Is that true? I remember being in a meeting in the late '80s where a hospital director was talking about changes in health care, and she was indicating that things had changed.
I think she was referring to hospitals in the past run more as charity than as for-profit.
Obviously, individuals have usually had to pay for services, but I got the impression the business as a whole in the US changed significantly 30-40 years ago.
posted by MtDewd at 2:04 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

23 million is also the approximate combined population of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, both Dakotas, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming.
posted by theodolite at 2:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

Thanks, spitbull. I would never have guessed. Then again, it's a large country, so that alone is a factor I suppose.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:07 PM on May 24, 2017

Is that true? I remember being in a meeting in the late '80s where a hospital director was talking about changes in health care, and she was indicating that things had changed.

Was the change in question that HMOs started to be a thing? (I've been watching ER with my late-teen daughter and some of the characters were railing against HMOs. Also, teens these days apparently have no idea how big a deal AIDS was back then.)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 2:09 PM on May 24, 2017

We do assume in this budget that that plan is deficit-neutral, just because it was, in all honesty, the most efficient way to look at it, because if we said it's going to add to the deficit, then we have to go into more detail than what’s in the summary right now. If we say it's going to reduce the deficit, we have to go into more detail than what’s in it right now. And we simply are not in a position to do that.

"We said this bullshit because it was the easiest thing to do."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yglesias points out that the AHCA has a massive work disincentive because of the Medicaid cliff. The AHCA phases out the Medicaid expansion, so if you go off it (by, say, making too much to qualify), you can't get back on ever. Your alternative is to use your tax credit to buy a plan, which will cost you 10-20+% of your income if you make 175% of the poverty line. That's a pretty big reason to keep your income low enough (or off the books enough) to not ever lose your Medicaid.
posted by zachlipton at 2:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

As an aside, the Pope is literally the King of Vatican City, which is an absolute monarchy. So they're not totally wrong.

OTOH, whether the Vatican is legally an actual state is questionable. its claim to statehood stems from the Lateran Treaty of 1928, signed with Mussolini. The Vatican (according to the renowned human-rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson) fails several basic criteria of a real state, such as having a permanent population of citizens (the Vatican's population are there for occupational reasons, and, being celibate, no new Vatican citizens are born). The Vatican's assertion of statehood is mostly humoured due to the Catholic Church's cultural and political influence (not unlike the way the power of red-state conservatism in the US means that the Emoluments Clause effectively does not apply to Trump, at least until it does).

Unlike Trump, there are a few arguably good things coming from the Vatican's sketchy claims to statehood. Being within Europe and the EU, it is entitled to have all EU legislation translated into its native language, which, it asserts, is Latin. So there is a huge corpus of Latin text being created, largely to pander to the Vatican, which hastens the development of automated translation to and from Latin.
posted by acb at 2:20 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

For-profit healthcare has been our model for the entire history of the US...

Wasn't the current US system (with insurance as a huge profit centre, artificially inflated bills, overtreatment of the wealthy and such) cooked up by Milton Friedman at Richard Nixon's behest?
posted by acb at 2:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

A source

It isn't even debatable if by innovation one means the development of new treatments and technologies, numbers of clinical trials, percentage of global expenditure on research, number of publications and prizes, etc. not even close.

This is really confusing to me. Research within healthcare is deplorably closely linked to profit within healthcare. Which means that for instance research into mental health is heavy on medication rather than therapy, research into diabetes is heavy on medication rather than lifestyle and research into anything where medication doesn't have a purpose is almost nonexistent. An example: for some reason, we have something like an epidemic of severe post-concussion issues here. It turns out that the real problem is that there are no evidence based guidelines for concussion, because no one has done the research. So GPs have stopped giving their old advice of staying home behind closed curtains for a week. (Obviously there is a legal/economic aspect to this: if there is no evidence for the old treatment, there is also no validation for a week of sick leave).
So: the existence of thousands of trials are not necessarily evidence of medical innovation, or quality healthcare. It could just as well be an indicator of a strong incitement to produce drug-based therapy to every sort of malaise, including those that are best treated with non-medicinal therapies.
posted by mumimor at 2:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

You might be surprised that I agree with that. American health care leads the world in innovation. Socializing access to it must not come at the expense of that.

Well, if we're talking about innovation in healthcare, it's worth noting that about 40% of biomedical research dollars come from the government, mostly via NIH research grants. And the vast majority of the basic research findings that have opened entirely new fields of medical care (e.g., MRI for one simple example) have been government-funded, not privately funded, for the simple reason that profit-driven research generally can't afford to be that kind of high-risk, high-return investment, especially since the benefits of new basic techniques and knowledge are generally universal, rather than particular to the company that funded its research, so even with patents companies know that this kind of work offers only limited competitive advantage.

American healthcare certainly leads the world in terms of innovation, but lags most of the developed world in terms of delivery of care. I don't think it's a coincidence that in the U.S., innovation has been heavily publicly funded, while delivery of care is primarily privately funded.
posted by biogeo at 2:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [63 favorites]

2017: humoring the long outdated political feefees of sectarian clerics helps develop natural language processing used by robots.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

So is the House going to have to revote on this? Will it still be able to go through the Senate through reconciliation?
posted by DynamiteToast at 2:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

My understanding is that there is now no need for the House to re-vote as the bill cleared the $2B threshold in deficit reduction per the CBO.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

ETA there are of course other ways of conceiving "innovation," but the world's many nationalized health care systems deliver a hell of a lot of therapies and drugs that were invented in the US (and also much us innovation is publicly funded.)

Much US innovation is already publicly funded, and no universal-healthcare plan I've read suggests that the government should decrease its funding for medical research. Why should we think Medicare-for-all, for instance, will threaten medical research so closely that it should be opposed, even by those who would otherwise support it for its superior ability to cure the sick and heal the injured?
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

51M uninsured by 2020 is worse than the baseline pre-ObamaCare, due to the Republicans effectively ending Medicaid. They're not just repealing the ACA, they're repealing one of the signature Great Society programs at the same time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:38 PM on May 24, 2017 [46 favorites]

spitbull: "You might be surprised that I agree with that. American health care leads the world in innovation. Socializing access to it must not come at the expense of that."

Meanwhile we have the highest infant mortality of the developed world. US journalism and US healthcare are both abysmal jokes, I have no idea why you're defending either.
posted by TypographicalError at 2:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

So is the House going to have to revote on this? Will it still be able to go through the Senate through reconciliation?

It still shows a net savings to the government of hundreds of billions of dollars, so the House wouldn't have to revote on that basis. However, and here's where it gets fun, the bill needs to save $1 billion each from the jurisdiction of each of two Senate committees. It's not clear that there's enough savings from Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to qualify. See the end of Dylan Scott's latest in Vox, which has a good summary of the CBO score in general too.
posted by zachlipton at 2:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

This conversation about charity in health care illustrates why the term "Compassionate Conservative" is an oxymoron. Charity is voluntary, it's "extra," it's a gift for which the giver demands gratitude because the very concept acknowledges that the giver has no obligation to any other human being. That's why private-sector solutions to social problems don't work. You're dependent upon the whims of the moneyed class, and their motive for giving is going to be based on the perceived gratitude they get in return. That's why we decided to stop begging the local lord for alms, falling back on flattery and hollow appeals to his "better nature," and set up systems that fucking help people. But give capitalism enough time to erode human sentiment and we end up in this Randian hellhole.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [30 favorites]

You might be surprised that I agree with that. American health care leads the world in innovation. Socializing access to it must not come at the expense of that.

Don't want the poors getting access to medication if that means the next generation of boner pills is shelved.
posted by PenDevil at 2:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

I knew I heard ticking... NYT: Months before the election, U.S. spies learned that top Russians had discussed ways to use Donald Trump's advisers to influence him

American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.

The conversations focused on Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman at the time, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired general who was advising Mr. Trump, the officials said. Both men had indirect ties to Russian officials, who appeared confident that each could be used to help shape Mr. Trump’s opinions on Russia.

Some Russians boasted about how well they knew Mr. Flynn. Others discussed leveraging their ties to Viktor F. Yanukovych, the deposed president of Ukraine living in exile in Russia, who at one time had worked closely with Mr. Manafort.

The intelligence was among the clues — which also included information about direct communications between Mr. Trump’s advisers and Russian officials — that American officials received last year as they began investigating Russian attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of Mr. Trump’s associates were assisting Moscow in the effort. Details of the conversations, some of which have not been previously reported, add to an increasing understanding of the alarm inside the American government last year about the Russian disruption campaign.

posted by zachlipton at 2:42 PM on May 24, 2017 [60 favorites]

They are going to kill so many people. Hundreds of thousands of people. Millions, over the years. When you look at a Republucan know that behind its smile is an intent to murder you.
posted by Artw at 2:43 PM on May 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

When you look at a Republucan know that behind its smile is an intent to murder you.

oh come on they don't want to murder you they just don't care if you die
posted by OverlappingElvis at 2:45 PM on May 24, 2017 [24 favorites]

That was the pre-Tea Party, pre-Trumpian conservative. The new ones are on an active campaign to exterminate all life on the planet.
posted by Artw at 2:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

> oh come on they don't want to murder you they just don't care if you die

Actually, they do care if you're family or a friend, in which case they'll hold a bake sale that will pay for a portion of the first month's interest on your maxed out credit card bills. If you're not family or a friend, they'll care enough to not want your dead body rotting in the street and dragging down property values, so expect a "compassionate conservative" to weigh in with an amendment adding funds for subsidies to local coroner offices.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers

is this where i put the no puppet no puppet you're the puppet.gif
posted by localhuman at 2:52 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Oh, also today in "everything Republicans do is shit and every last one of them is a shit human": A new GOP bill would make it virtually impossible to sue the police

The legislation would make also it a federal crime to assault any law enforcement officer (again, using the hook of federal funding). An assault resulting in bodily harm would bring a federal mandatory minimum of between two and 10 years in prison, depending on the severity of any injuries to the officer, plus an additional 20-year mandatory minimum if a dangerous weapon was used “during and in relation to the assault.” An assault not resulting in bodily harm would carry a sentence of up to a year in prison.

Assault on police officer is one of the biggest racial discrepancy crimes. But it gets better:

But perhaps the most disturbing part of the bill is the new restrictions it puts on suing police officers for constitutional violations. As we’ve discussed here several times before, it’s already extremely difficult to even get in front of a jury with a claim against law enforcement, much less win an award. Police officers are protected by qualified immunity, which requires you to show that not only were your rights violated but also a reasonable police officer should have known that the actions in question were a violation of the Constitution. Under this bill, even if you can show all of that, if the police can show that the violation and resulting injuries were “incurred in the course of, or as a result of, or . . . related to, conduct by the injured party that, more likely than not, constituted a felony or a crime of violence . . . (including any deprivation in the course of arrest or apprehension for, or the investigation, prosecution, or adjudication of, such an offense),” then the officers are liable only for out-of-pocket expenses. What’s more, the bill would bar plaintiffs from recovering attorneys fees in such cases.

This means that if the police raid your home with a search warrant for pot and shoot you dead, even if your family can show that the shooting was unlawful, the police would be liable only for something like funeral expenses if they could show that “more likely than not,” you had sold some pot, or at some point possessed a large enough quantity of the drug to merit a felony charge. In some jurisdictions, merely resisting arrest is a felony. In theory, this could mean that under a scenario in which the police falsely arrest you, you resist, and they then severely beat you, if they could show that the beating was the result of your resisting, not the false arrest, you could be barred from suing for anything other than the cost of treating your injuries. If the resisting charge could be filed as an assault, that’s already a felony in most jurisdictions, and even where it isn’t, under this bill it would become a federal felony.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [50 favorites]

>> When you look at a Republucan know that behind its smile is an intent to murder you.

> oh come on they don't want to murder you they just don't care if you die

So one of the things I didn't expect to learn from this administration is how prescient Foucault was. One of the things he was on about with his "biopolitics" concept is that whereas earlier conceptions of sovereign power understood it as the power to put individual people to death (hey! you! we're gonna hang you!), contemporary power more often instead operates through letting populations die — through withholding the means to life to disfavored groups to thereby establish a statistical certainty that greater numbers of members of those groups will die, rather than through a conscious decision to put any specific person to death. Instead of "we're going to hang you!," the modality of death-dealing becomes something more like "we are terribly sorry but your claim has been denied we wish you the best in all your endeavors have a nice day."

This is a remarkably sneaky and effective way to establish control; effective, because it works to both reduce the numbers of the people you want dead and to dissuade others from acting against you, and sneaky, because there is no particular moment where the power-holder is referring to any specific person and demanding that person's death, and so it's relatively easy for them to disavow any intent or purposiveness behind their actions.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 2:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [94 favorites]

WOW. Jeez. So not only is Russian disinformation making it into American media (easily!) it was successfully used to manipulate the FBI.

Remember that there are two specific things we need to demand re: to the election shenanigans:

#1. A special prosecutor

#2. A special commission

Well, we have the prosecutor now. But I think we need to be, just as loudly and persistently, demanding the commission.

The purpose of the commission will be to investigate foreign (particularly Russian) interference in the election process and make specific recommendations to prevent it in the future.

There is absolutely NO QUESTION now that this interference happened and that it was significant. What we don't have is any kind of a plan to prevent it happening again in the future.
posted by flug at 3:06 PM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

CNN wants to be invited to WaPo and NYT's parties with the 5-6 PM scoops:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance, the Justice Department told CNN Wednesday.

Sessions, who met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least two times last year, didn't note those interactions on the form, which requires him to list "any contact" he or his family had with a "foreign government" or its "representatives" over the past seven years, officials said.

The new information from the Justice Department is the latest example of Sessions failing to disclose contacts he had with Russian officials. He has come under withering criticism from Democrats following revelations that he did not disclose the same contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year.

Sessions initially listed a year's worth of meetings with foreign officials on the security clearance form, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores. But she says he and his staff were then told by an FBI employee who assisted in filling out the form, known as the SF-86, that he didn't need to list dozens of meetings with foreign ambassadors that happened in his capacity as a senator.

posted by yasaman at 3:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [54 favorites]

his meetings with kislyak weren't in his capacity as a senator though, right? one of them was at the Republican National Convention?
posted by murphy slaw at 3:11 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

The question is not "any contact in your official capacity." It's "any contact," full stop. A background check is about your history as a person, not just as an employee or government functionary, because it's looking for potential vulnerabilities to blackmail or the like and not just ferreting out past misconduct.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:14 PM on May 24, 2017 [29 favorites]

Ann Arbor restaurant says ICE agents ate breakfast then detained 3 workers

ICE agents were in the restaurant, 216 S. State, around 11:30 a.m. and had breakfast before entering the kitchen area, where they took three people into custody, said owner Sava Lelcaj. She was not in the restaurant at the time.
...
While those taken into custody do have the proper documents to work in the country, they did not have the papers on hand when the agents were at Sava's, she said. Her team is now working to send that documentation to the Detroit ICE office where the individuals were taken.

So they eat their food, then arrest the people who cooked it for not having their papers on them? This is monstrous.
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [108 favorites]

It's 6pm, time for another blatant violation of 18 USC 1001 by at this point literally every member of the Trump administration.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance, the Justice Department told CNN Wednesday.

Oh dear, lying to a federal agent is a felony. HELLO, BAR ASSOCIATION?
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:20 PM on May 24, 2017 [38 favorites]

Remember, just last week the Trump administration argued to the Supreme Court that any lie, criminal or not, was grounds for losing naturalized American citizenship.

Seems hard to square that with omissions on the SF-86 national security disclosure, no?
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:21 PM on May 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

sessions is shameless enough that he's probably calling trump right now and asking for a preemptive pardon.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Seems hard to square that with omissions on the SF-86 national security disclosure, no?

it depends, are you white?
posted by murphy slaw at 3:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Mr. Sessions needs to recuse himself right out of his current job.
posted by emjaybee at 3:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

In today's "let's try to crash the stock market" news, the Freedom Caucus says they'll oppose any clean debt ceiling increase, despite Mnuchin's statement today, and will only agree to increase the debt ceiling if spending cuts are attached.

So if Paul Ryan is yet again going to lose his entire right flank, and assuming he's not going to default on the debt (Trump is the wild card here, not Ryan, and I have to think Mnuchin has enough of a sense of what would happen to stop that), he's going to have to make a deal with the Democrats, again. Delicious.
posted by zachlipton at 3:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump is pretty terrible, but my enemy #1 is JEFF FUCKING SESSIONS. A terrible man who will stop at nothing to achieve his terrible agenda.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Russell Berman, The Atlantic: The Trump Organization Says It's 'Not Practical' to Comply With the Emoluments Clause - The president’s business tells lawmakers it is too difficult to track all its foreign revenue in accordance with constitutional requirements, and it hasn’t asked Congress for a permission slip.

In response to a document request from the House Oversight Committee, Trump’s company sent a copy of an eight-page pamphlet detailing how it plans to track payments it receives from foreign governments at the firm’s many hotels, golf courses, and restaurants across the globe. But while the Trump Organization said it would set aside all money it collects from customers that identify themselves as representing a foreign government, it would not undertake a more intensive effort to determine if a payment would violate the Constitution’s prohibition on public office holders accepting an “emolument” from a foreign state.

This did not go over well.
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [60 favorites]

Trump is pretty terrible, but my enemy #1 is JEFF FUCKING SESSIONS.

Sessions is definitely worse. It's arguable whether or not Trump has object permanence or a recognizably human concept of self, but Jefferson Beauregard knows what he is and what he's done, even if he doesn't yet know how he's going to get out of it. I think he can and will do a lot of damage to try and evade justice.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Jeff Sessions, the man whose sole objection to the Klan was that they smoked ganja? How were we to know he was a baddie?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Ezra Klein uses the "L" word:

Trump promised to protect the sick and the poor. He lied.
posted by tivalasvegas at 3:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: Eat. Pray. Trump.

I have patterned this book after a wonderful object that we have in America called an electoral map. It is in two colors, red and blue, divided into 50 states. There is an extra: the District of Columbia. I always thought of it as an added spare, inevitably blue, but now that I live there I see that it is something more potent: a reminder. A token. A swamp to be drained.

I like this order because it reminds me that I am here for a reason: People in some states voted for me. And there were millions of fraudulent votes cast also.

This is the story of when I traveled and what I ate and how I got to know God.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:37 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Trump’s company sent a copy of an eight-page pamphlet detailing how it plans to track payments it receives from foreign governments at the firm’s many hotels, golf courses, and restaurants across the globe.

I'm honestly impressed at how many photos of glamorous Trump properties they managed to cram into this goddamn thing.
posted by theodolite at 3:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

And good journalism is not a basic human right

The founders would disagree? First amendment to the bill of (we're guessing human) rights? TJeffs' "A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate", etc.?

For-profit press for all of the country's history is pretty disingenuous as an argument for advertising-supported news. A printing press costs as much as a house but that was only necessary for the first 220 years. We have phones now.

All for actual journalists getting paid but where the money comes from matters, and that fact has significantly structured corporate news in a hundred ways that mostly defeat the cause of an 'informed electorate'. Also agree that for-profit medicine is not a great analogy. Indulgences, maybe.

This derail brought to you by Look There's a Donate Button Down Here. Looktheresadonatebuttondownhere.com supplies the freshest electrons, right to your door with no other financial involvement that you can't prove anyway. This interview is over! More after this.
posted by petebest at 3:45 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I love how they put what is supposed to be a serious legal declaration aimed at a government oversight committee into the form of a sales brochure. Classic.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [22 favorites]

Uncharacteristically effective use of white space on that eight page pamphlet.
posted by klarck at 3:51 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I mean that Presidency, Inc. brochure and the "when Trump's happy, everyone else everywhere is miserable" Pope ensemble photo from today are perfect metaphors for this administration.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:51 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Trump Organization is 100% correct. It is not practical to be President of the United States and have ownership of a business that frequently serves foreign governments in breach of the Emoluments Clause. Fortunately, divestment is a very realistic option, as is resignation!

And impeachment. He should've been impeached over enoulments alone on day 1. It's comically easy for any foreign government to make untraceable direct cash payments to TrumpOrg.

We literally have no clue who pays Trump. Or how much. And every last Republican is 100% on board with this arrangement.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:51 PM on May 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

Vox: The most devastating paragraph in the CBO report

There is this one paragraph in particular that is especially devastating for the Republican plan:
People who are less healthy (including those with preexisting or newly acquired medical conditions) would ultimately be unable to purchase comprehensive nongroup health insurance at premiums comparable to those under current law, if they could purchase it at all — despite the additional funding that would be available under H.R. 1628 to help reduce premiums. As a result, the nongroup markets in those states would become unstable for people with higher-than-average expected health care costs.

posted by murphy slaw at 3:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [49 favorites]

Ezra Klein uses the "L" word

The other "L" word might be more effective; Trump's plan can't cover as many people than Obama, that makes him a loser.
posted by peeedro at 4:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yes, I dream of the moment when Trump is miraculously goaded into single-payer.

sigh.
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:05 PM on May 24, 2017

So they eat their food, then arrest the people who cooked it for not having their papers on them? This is monstrous.

Also dumb. What kind of service do they think they will get going forward?
posted by srboisvert at 4:07 PM on May 24, 2017

sessions...clearly lied on his sf-86. anyone else would get fired, have their clearance revoked, and possibly prosecuted under federal statute. then, a lawyer, so disbarred too. who can investigate and prosecute the AG?
posted by j_curiouser at 4:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

Wat? BuzzFeed: A Top Mar-A-Lago Employee Is Quietly Doing Government Work For Trump’s Foreign Trip

A top Mar-a-Lago employee is also working for the government to help prepare for President Trump's visit to Taormina, Italy, for the G-7 Summit — an unconventional arrangement that further blurs the line between the president's business empire and the White House.

Heather Rinkus, the guest reception manager at Trump's "Winter White House," is working with the president's advance and logistics team, while Trump's exclusive club, Mar-a-Lago, closes for the summer. She has an official White House email and government-issued phone, two sources familiar with Rinkus’ trip told BuzzFeed News.

This is the woman BuzzFeed previously covered in their article The House Mother and the Fraudster; her husband, who has been convicted multiple times of fraud, was running around bragging about his access to the president while trying to rope in investors.
posted by zachlipton at 4:08 PM on May 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

GUYS - I have a number of interesting election/polling links for tonight, but it probably won't be until like 1 or 2 am ET.

I promise I won't take a West Coast vacation again any time soon.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

who can investigate and prosecute the AG?

Congress can impeach (not that they would, of course, but they can).
posted by thefoxgod at 4:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Breaking story: Ben Jacobs (Guardian reporter) says that Greg Gianforte (Republican running in Montana special election) just "body slammed" him and broke his glasses. This is reportedly not a joke.
posted by zachlipton at 4:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [41 favorites]

sessions...clearly lied on his sf-86. anyone else would get fired, have their clearance revoked, and possibly prosecuted under federal statute. then, a lawyer, so disbarred too. who can investigate and prosecute the AG?

In this case, Bob Mueller. This is Russia-related.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Republican voters will probably see this as a positive. Beat down those liberal elitist reporters!
posted by Justinian at 4:21 PM on May 24, 2017 [12 favorites]

Breaking story: Ben Jacobs (Guardian reporter) says that Greg Gianforte (Republican running in Montana special election) just "body slammed" him and broke his glasses.

Quite the decision the day before the election.
posted by chris24 at 4:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

ICE agents were in the restaurant, 216 S. State, around 11:30 a.m. and had breakfast before entering the kitchen area, where they took three people into custody, said owner Sava Lelcaj. She was not in the restaurant at the time.
...
While those taken into custody do have the proper documents to work in the country, they did not have the papers on hand when the agents were at Sava's, she said. Her team is now working to send that documentation to the Detroit ICE office where the individuals were taken.

USCIS tells us to keep our green card on us at all times. But then they charge us $540 to replace it if we lose it so it's kind of an expensive thing to keep on your person at all times. Then if you do lose it you have to hope the USCIS will stamp your passport with an I-551 and carry THAT around and hope you don't lose that.

So we're stuck in that shitty position all so that some jackboots won't take us into custody. God help us if we forget our wallet that morning.
posted by Talez at 4:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [31 favorites]

Follow-up tweet:
@Bencjacobs: There was a local TV crew there when Gianforte body slammed me. Audio is posting soon at @GuardianUS

So hopefully more context on the way.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

I mean under some of the strictest laws that Republicans propose, let's say I get pulled over for speeding, honestly answer the questions "no I'm not a citizen, yes I'm here legally" and I haven't got my wallet with my green card. That officer would be obligated to take me into custody and hand me over to DHS until either my wife can find my wallet and/or they process me at intake and hopefully match my fingerprints against my bio-metrics on file with USCIS.

All for a fucking speeding ticket and a forgotten wallet.

That's how fucking stupid people want to make this system by deputizing local police into hassling immigrants.
posted by Talez at 4:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

I get how I'm a guest in America and your house, your rules works but you don't invite a guest over and then tell them they can only shit in the cat's litterbox and drink from the dog's bowl. It's just bad class. And I realize the entire US immigration system is built on the country having no class but there's got to be a limit.
posted by Talez at 4:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Gravis is not a reputable pollster. It's unlikely Gianforte has a huge lead.

Specials are hard to forecast, but the conventional wisdom, for what it's worth, is that Gianforte likely has a low single digit lead. However, it's notable that in the specials we've seen basically meh Dem turnout and abysmal GOP turnout. If that held true, Quist would likely pull it off.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:30 PM on May 24, 2017

Here is Quist not punching someone!

Seriously, if there is footage, I hope it runs on every local station there tonight. It might not be enough.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

One hopes that a candidate's body-slamming a journalist the day before the election would be a Surely This moment, at least for the purportedly free-thinking, down-home independent Montana voters.
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

This Buzzfeed reporter was there and is tweeting about what happened.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

This has already been posted, but might have some added interest to folks now: Anne Helen Petersen's There's So Much to Learn from the Montana Special Election.
posted by redsparkler at 4:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

First account of what Gianforte did, from Alexis Levinson of BuzzFeed:

Wanted to wait a bit to tweet cause I'm not sure I've seen anything like this before
This happened behind a half closed door, so I didn't see it all, but here's what it looked like from the outside -
Ben walked into a room where a local tv crew was set up for an interview with Gianforte
All of a sudden I heard a giant crash and saw Ben's feet fly in the air as he hit the floor
Heard very angry yelling (as did all the volunteers in the room) - sounded like Gianforte

posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

For christ's sake just cuz president shitstain has done biz with the WWE does not mean republicans can bodyslam anyone. Hyper-reality is kayfabe and vice versa.
posted by vrakatar at 4:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

One hopes that a candidate's body-slamming a journalist the day before the election would be a Surely This moment, at least for the purportedly free-thinking, down-home independent Montana voters.

ahahahahaahha
posted by Talez at 4:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

So is he going to be arrested or what? This was clearly assault.
posted by Justinian at 4:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

getting checked out in an ambulance (!?)

That would be standard protocol prior to filing Assault/Battery charges.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

One hopes that a candidate's body-slamming a journalist the day before the election would be a Surely This moment [....]
favorited 1 time, recently by Sockin'inthefreeworld

Ep... epouncesterical?
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:42 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

When you're losing the sign count in Montana...
posted by Artw at 4:43 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

It looks like the sheriff talked to Gianforte, and now maybe a medic is?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:43 PM on May 24, 2017

Brooke Binkowski: Hi Greg, I'm managing editor at fact-checking website http://Snopes.com . Is it true that you just body-slammed a Guardian reporter?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

It's also awkward that Alexis Levinson's pinned tweet is the now-infamous Capitol duck ramp, with the comment "everyone wants to be a duck now"

I hate that I know what a pinned tweet is
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Metafilter PoliticalThreads: ZACHLIPTON THAT WAS THE EXACT PARAGRAPH I WAS WRITING!!!
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:50 PM on May 24, 2017 [35 favorites]

So is he going to be arrested or what? This was clearly assault.

No. IOKIYAR.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:50 PM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Re: Gianforte bodyslam

My post-2016 internal compass needle is spinning wildly between Surely This and "Good for him; this may not only further endear him to his fanbase but serve as his ticket to national airtime and thus higher public office."
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:53 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Montana is largely a vote-by-mail state, so it's probable the race is already decided.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Quite the decision the day before the election.

IT'S A BOLD STRATEGY COTTON
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Montanan here, voting tomorrow. I think Gianforte's gonna squeak through both the electoral and judicial systems, whether or not he commits public acts of violence. I do hope I'm wrong though and very much do hope he's arrested. Even if he wins, he's already not well-liked and a mugshot or footage of New Jersey Greg in handcuffs will make for great attack ads soon enough.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

One tweet in response to Ben's tweet was something along the lines of, "to be fair, Gianforte has a 'fuck you I'm going to bodyslam you' kind of face"

And it's sort of true, he does.
posted by angrycat at 4:57 PM on May 24, 2017

Gianforte leaving event without speaking. This was his final campaign rally.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

He left his own event without being arrested, technically he's now... ::puts on shades:: ...at large.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Re: vote by mail - 50% of registered voters took absentee ballots, 70% of those in by Tue eve. So ~35% of registered voters already voted. Bodes for high turnout for a special. Possibly good omen for Quist?
posted by Chrysostom at 4:59 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

I really want to believe the assault will be a "surely this" moment, but after all that's happened in the last year, I'm with Justinian on this one. Gianforte is going to become their new Based Stickman after this. They'll come pouring out to vote for him.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 4:59 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Apparently being a Republican politician who is likely to lose the State of Montana At-Large is a little stressful
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:25 PM on May 24 [1 favorite +] [!]

For the second time in two years - Gianforte lost the Governor's race last year to Bullock, the Democrat, by 3.8 points.
posted by W Grant at 5:00 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yeah. I'm not saying he'll lose, but...there's a bit of an air of Martha Coakley about him.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Gianforte is going to become their new Based Stickman after this. They'll come pouring out to vote for him.

Gotta push back on that one. The contingent of the "punch liberals" crowd out here who vote have already thrown all their support behind Gianforte. There's no more "Proud Boy"-type Deplorables left to tap.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is it, you know, common for the police to just let you drive off after you've been accused of assault? I assume more common if you're a white male Republican politician, but still.
posted by zachlipton at 5:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [43 favorites]

On the bright side of the train wreck at least Gianforte had the decorum not to lean into this whole bullshit.
posted by Talez at 5:03 PM on May 24, 2017

It is, in fact, not common. At all.

Anyone else would be in handcuffs.
posted by Justinian at 5:04 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Apparently Chris Hayes on air with Alexis Levinson now.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Russell Berman, The Atlantic: The Trump Organization Says It's 'Not Practical' to Comply With the Emoluments Clause - The president’s business tells lawmakers it is too difficult to track all its foreign revenue in accordance with constitutional requirements, and it hasn’t asked Congress for a permission slip.

"I'm sorry, officer, but it's not practical for me to stay under the speed limit and make it to my kids' soccer game on time. I'll be on my way now."
posted by tonycpsu at 5:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Gallatin County Sheriff's dept. is taking witness statements and calling it an ongoing investigation so....we'll see.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Maybe the Sherriff sent him home to think about what he did.
posted by Talez at 5:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

@SabrinaSiddiqui: For those seeking updates, just spoke with Ben. He is currently seeking medical attention and getting an X-ray on his elbow.
posted by zachlipton at 5:13 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Apparently Chris Hayes on air with ~~Alexis Levinson~~ Mefi's Own lalex now
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:14 PM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

Could we spin it as -- "One day before the special election, Gianforte is already acting like a sore loser."
posted by puddledork at 5:15 PM on May 24, 2017

Here's the audio of the assault. Holy crap.
posted by zachlipton at 5:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

got you on tape, motherfucker.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Chris Hayes has Ben Jacobs on right now.
posted by nathan_teske at 5:18 PM on May 24, 2017

Is this making the local evening news on any Montana stations?
posted by Chrysostom at 5:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

That, um, escalated extremely quickly.
posted by angrycat at 5:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Thanks, lalex.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Jesus, that was super scary to listen to, I can only imagine how it must have felt to be attacked like that. The attacker needs to be in jail, like pronto. How much more insanity from Republicans can we expect? Um, rhetorical question, don't try to answer that.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I...am not sure that audio is going to do Gianforte that much good. It does not strike me as, er, alpha male so much as "I can't handle stress very well at all".

I mean, it's genuinely shocking, yes, but there's no Dark Fascist allure, just "somebody's alcoholic uncle whose wife just divorced him" style flipping out.
posted by Frowner at 5:24 PM on May 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

Audio's up!
posted by lalex at 8:17 PM on May 24

***IN BEFORE ZACHLIPTON!!!***

You reporters and your scoop obsessions.

thank you for saving the republic right now.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:24 PM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

Give him this: he didn't outsource the assault to hired goons.
posted by nubs at 5:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

LALEX! BRUSH WITH GREATNESS! *having a News TigerBeat moment*

Wow, you should have seen the expression on Hayes' face when they came back from the audio. He was literally gaping and blinking. Gianforte really lost his shit there.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think we've found the person most stressed out about the budget. o_0
posted by orrnyereg at 5:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Mind blown. Both by the insane nature of that audio and by the sekrit identities of some of my favorite Mefites.
posted by Justinian at 5:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [26 favorites]

Jennifer Rubin is also gaping and blinking now on MSNBC.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:26 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Also; this is the natural evolution of Trump and the GOP's rhetoric about reporters.

(I note they're talking about this on MSNBC now!)
posted by Justinian at 5:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Lock. Him. Up.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Here's the audio of the assault. Holy crap.
posted by zachlipton at 17:16 on May 24 [4 favorites +] [!]
...
Audio's up!
posted by lalex at 17:17 on May 24 [1 favorite +] [!]

Maybe it's because I'm in Sweden but I'm not convinced you beat zachlipton, lalex. Um, does it have to be a contest? Cause we love you anyway, you know that right?
posted by Bella Donna at 5:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo, twice in one day: Your body needs to get back to work

As budget director Mick Mulvaney said, “We’re no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs, but by the number of people we help get off of those programs.”

This is the measure of compassion. It is one thing to give coverage to bodies that are earning it. It is another thing to supply it to bodies with a track record of just failing to work for some inexplicable reason. We can help you, sure. But you have to want to help yourself.

Now is the time.

So ask yourself. Your kidney isn’t working. Well, is it INCAPABLE of working, or does it not WANT to work? That is what we are going to get to the bottom of. Hasn’t it occurred to you that all it wants is a chance to succeed?

Your nervous system is failing? Feel free to use a voucher to switch nervous systems.

You say you have a blocked artery. Is it blocked, or are you blocking yourself?

You need to tighten your belt. Now tighten it again. Now your belt is a tourniquet. Do not go to the hospital. The bleeding will probably stop.

This is compassion.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [66 favorites]

The AHCA hasn't even been enacted and it's already increased health care costs for one patient in Montana.

Too soon?
posted by zachlipton at 5:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [57 favorites]

Man, the thing that is really blowing my mind about that audio is that when Ben asks the other people in the room for their names, they seem to respond with "You've gotta get outta here." Like, he was just the victim of an unprovoked attack, and instead of telling Gianforte to fuck off and helping out this other reporter, they're like "Go away, dude." Why, so they can finish their interview without further angering the beast? Nice.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

Just noting that this attack by a congressional candidate on a member of the free press was in response to a question about today's CBO score. Touchy subject, I guess.

Yeah, that score's a killer.

Literally.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Too soon?

I am horrible person. I laughed.

Yeah, that score's a killer.

And laughed again.
posted by monopas at 5:32 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Gianforte's statement

It's straight up blame-the-journalist stuff, but there are some significant discrepancies between it and the tape. The statement says that Gianforte asked Jacobs to lower the recorder, but the tape has him saying "speak with Shane, please" followed by scuffling.
posted by zachlipton at 5:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Oh my fucking god, Hayes just read an unbelievable statement from the campaign. Like, literally impossible to believe once you've heard the tape.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

You really, really, really need to be sitting down when you read the statement from Gianforte's spokesperson about the assault. Short version Ben body-slammed himself.

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/867538441730490368
posted by vac2003 at 5:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

*slinks away*

Come back! I've got to eat dinner soon.

(Seriously, thanks lalex and everyone else for all your quality links.)
posted by zachlipton at 5:37 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Too soon?

I am horrible person. I laughed.

Yeah, that score's a killer.

And laughed again.

Hey, you know that old saying: "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or body slam a reporter from the Guardian."
posted by leotrotsky at 5:37 PM on May 24, 2017 [9 favorites]

Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. He set the precedent for mistreating journalists at his rallies, encouraging his supporters to attack them, verbally and otherwise. This Greg Gianforte incident is just the next logical step, where lower-level members of the GOP view the press not only as a thorn in their side, but as an enemy, and an obstacle to gaining power.

This is your modern Republican party.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [73 favorites]

I say this everyday and everyday I also say I won't say this again but

today was fuckin' bonkers
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Whoever wrote that Gianforte statement may get Sean Spicer's job soon because that is some impressive balls-out chutzpah-riffic lying that makes him and Huckabee Sanders look like pikers.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Let's send Gianforte to the House. The Big House.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

You really, really, really need to be sitting down when you read the statement from Gianforte's spokesperson about the assault. Short version Ben body-slammed himself.

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! You brought this on yourself!"

The party of personal responsibility strikes again.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's 2:38 am in Stockholm, I need to go to bed. Hope the fourth estate lawyers up, weapons up, or gets a posse of its own for protection. Good night, y'all. Many thanks to all the regulars who keep us up to date, and all the regulars who keep us sane. You know who you are--and so do we.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

From about a thousand years ago (in thread time):

MaterCallipygos is pretty conflict-averse, but this has her on a Damn Mission and I want to catch her at the right moment. If anyone has any clips I can send her that connects Trump to Lyme, lemme know and I'll sic her on 'em.

EmpressCallipygos, here you go, from the CEO of the Global Lyme Alliance: What the proposed NIH budget cuts mean for Lyme Disease research.
The Trump administration’s projected fiscal 2018 budget constitutes a radical reallocation of federal spending. The $5.8 billion in proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget would alone effectively defund thousands of biomedical research programs—in order to fund more military spending.

...Government funding for Lyme and tick-borne disease research is already minimal, with only 17% of applications addressing Lyme approved by NIH every year. Yet the loss of even that small increment of funding would represent an unprecedented abandonment of those individuals suffering from this terrible disease.

...make no mistake, the loss of NIH research dollars would be deleterious beyond our imagining. We hope you will make your voice heard and send a clear message to your Congressional representatives to ensure federal funding levels for Lyme and tick-borne research remain strong.
Please pass this message along to MaterCallipygos and send her forth to spread the word. Keep that fire burning!
posted by triggerfinger at 5:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [31 favorites]

For what it's worth, if Ben Jacobs was actually injured (see Ambulance checkout), then this is pretty clearly misdemeanor assault per MT Code §§ 45-5-201 ( MT Code §§ 45-2-101 defines: (5) "Bodily injury" means physical pain, illness, or an impairment of physical condition and includes mental illness or impairment. )

For those concerned about handcuffs and that Gianforte has left; well, he's not much of a flight risk, and he's pretty easy to find. One can be charged with a crime without actually being arrested.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:42 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also, an extra-special thanks to everyone upthread who encouraged us to follow John "Hell-I-spent-60-years-in-Congress-without-bodyslamming-a-single-reporter" Dingell. My follow has already paid off!
posted by triggerfinger at 5:46 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

The context here of the CBO score is important to this incident: Gianforte was trying to play both sides by not taking a position on the AHCA and saying he had to wait for the CBO score, while seeming to support the bill in a conference call with Washington lobbyists. Well, the CBO score dropped today, so the whole waiting excuse doesn't work anymore, and it sounds like Gianforte was hoping to make it through election day without it coming up. It's a lose-lose situation about which he wants to say nothing at all. Unfortunately, he picked a third lose option of assault.

It's also literally a Congressman's job to be approached in hallways by recorder-wielding reporters asking about CBO scores on pending legislation, so as far as job interviews go, this wasn't a very good one.
posted by zachlipton at 5:48 PM on May 24, 2017 [73 favorites]

The audio of Gianforte body-slamming Ben Jacobs is very disturbing. Funny how his account of what happened isn't supported at all by the audio, or the witnesses...
posted by SisterHavana at 5:50 PM on May 24, 2017

Thank you to lalex for the personal coverage of this totally batshit day!
posted by nicebookrack at 5:53 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

I say this everyday and everyday I also say I won't say this again but

today was fuckin' bonkers

Hi, Historians of the Future! Yes, the day really did start with pissed-off Pope photos and later included the FBI being duped by Russian-made fake documents and concluded (so far) with a Congressional candidate assaulting a reporter. And those were just a few things that happened today. Yours truly, 2017 Primary Source #450,982

You know how little kids will tear around all hyper, then suddenly crash and get so tired they just fall asleep on the floor? My brain feels like that.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:54 PM on May 24, 2017 [47 favorites]

That's exactly what Alexis Levinson would say.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [58 favorites]

I'm in your fanclub just the same, lalex.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

You have shattered my dreams of Metafilter taking over the airwaves.
posted by Justinian at 5:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

it sounds like Gianforte was hoping to make it through election day without it coming up.

Well, I think he accomplished his objective. I don't think the next ten reporters who talk to him are going to ask a single question about the CBO score.
posted by mmoncur at 5:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think it's safe to assume at this point that even the Republicans know that Republicare is dogshit, if that's his reaction to a polite questioning from a reporter.
posted by Yowser at 5:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Thank you to lalex for the impersonal coverage from a far distant locale of this totally batshit day!
posted by nicebookrack at 5:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ben Jacobsen was the reporter who broke the story on Gianforte's own ties to Russia.

Matt Whitlock is Orrin Hatch's Communications Director: Aggressive recorder shoving.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

Wow. They are itching to go full fascist, aren't they? Between announcing that it's not practicable to comply with the Constitution and actual candidates beating up journalists, there's not much further to go.
posted by Devonian at 5:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

> Yes, the day really did start with pissed-off Pope photos

oh my god that was today. it really does feel like a week or so ago...
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 5:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [37 favorites]

[* squeals to a halt mid-bodyslam *]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:58 PM on May 24, 2017

And now Rand Paul's Strategic Director: This statement is horse shit. Embarrassing if you've listened to the audio, which everyone reading the statement surely has
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:00 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

Why is it always the Russians with these people?!
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:01 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?
posted by Yowser at 6:01 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

My favorite part is where the nice congressman told the world that he was just trying to take the nasty reporter's property away from them.
posted by tonycpsu at 6:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?

you're gonna need to update this joke to include lying on the SF-86 too
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:04 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Here's Ben Jacobs' interview with Chris Hayes [video]. The Sheriff is holding a press conference at 10pm Eastern.

Gianforte's own ties to Russia.

I know there are sanctioned entities included in the funds, but when it comes to Russian ties, but "millionaire has a tiny proportion of his wealth in two public exchange-traded funds of Russian equities" is precisely the sort of story that makes the Russia investigation seem like a witch-hunt instead of the deeply serious national security issue that it is.
posted by zachlipton at 6:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

Has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?

I think there's an 18 day waiting period.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:09 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

I hate that I'm not 100% sure that this is going to hurt Gianforte, but I sort of wonder whether some Trump fans in Montana will be invigorated by the idea of voting for a guy who assaulted a liberal Jewish reporter.

The sort of garbagepeople who this attack would impress were already going to vote for Gianforte anyway. This will turn off "sane conservatives" (yeah, I know..) who were going to hold their nose and vote for him because ewwww librulz; given the margins I imagine a statistically significant number of those voters will now just stay home if not flip altogether.
posted by gatorae at 6:11 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know there are sanctioned entities included in the funds, but when it comes to Russian ties, but "millionaire has a tiny proportion of his wealth in two public exchange-traded funds of Russian equities" is precisely the sort of story that makes the Russia investigation seem like a witch-hunt instead of the deeply serious national security issue that it is.

Well, up until he went all WWE on Jacobs. Now, people are going to be trawling through his finances.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:13 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

The sort of garbagepeople who this attack would impress were already going to vote for Gianforte anyway.

They certainly weren't going to vote for Quist, but they might not have voted at all.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:14 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

The MT sheriff will hold a press conference tonight!

#1 on the list of Sentences Your Campaign Manager Does Not Want to Hear on Election Eve.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:14 PM on May 24, 2017 [33 favorites]

Remember that the House can refuse to seat a prospective member—normally reserved for Mormons and socialists, but IF GIANFORTE WINS EVERYONE TELL YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE TO REFUSE TO SEAT HIM.
posted by XMLicious at 6:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

If/when Gianforte still wins the election, this will not help his popularity among the majority of MT Republican voters. Gianforte's greatest political shame for his electorate is being an Out-Of-Stater and he's put in a lot of work to not look like some rich asshole from New Jersey (which he is). A lack of self-control and violently losing your shit for no good reason does not play well culturally out here and doesn't make him seem manly or like "one of us" to local conservatives. Even our worst racist fucknuts would much prefer Greg to have coolly intimidated or silently slapped the reporter or had his goons frogmarch him out or something, and I expect that listening to his outburst is making them cringe.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:16 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

"millionaire has a tiny proportion of his wealth in two public exchange-traded funds of Russian equities"

Yeah, I checked the article about Gianforte's "ties" and its just a couple index funds.

I own a fair amount of VTIAX (Vanguard International Index Fund) which also includes Gazprom shares, and I would not really agree with the idea that I have "financial ties to Russia", at least not in any meaningful way.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

It is truly a sad state of affairs when a politician physically attacks a reporter, and instead of being a career ender it requires a calculus of the number of voters who like vs. hate the attack and comparing those groups' propensity to vote or not vote or flip votes based upon the violence.
posted by gatorae at 6:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [75 favorites]

#1 on the list of Sentences Your Campaign Manager Does Not Want to Hear on Election Eve

Dead Girl and Live Boy to Hold Joint Press Conference
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [23 favorites]

Maddow has the 911 recording.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:23 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Or, rather, the dispatch tape.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:24 PM on May 24, 2017

>I own a fair amount of VTIAX (Vanguard International Index Fund) which also includes Gazprom shares.

Real talk though, it's not a sin or whatever to invest in funds that invest in gazprom, but it's a really good deed to get out of funds that invest in gazprom and give your reason for getting out.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:24 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Rachel Maddow helpfully pointed out that Marc Kasowitz's other big client is Russia's largest bank, Sberbank.

It doesn't stop there. CNN reports that he also represents a company controlled by a Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to the Kremlin. To top it off, it looks like Kasowitz's most recent case on behalf of Trump was the Trump University suit from the NY Attorney General.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Problem is that there are few international funds that don't include a few companies like that (Vanguard's international funds have close to 7,000 companies in them, and Vanguard is one of the main 401k providers, so I suspect a significant number of Americans have holdings in at least a couple "bad" foreign companies and those are hard to avoid).
posted by thefoxgod at 6:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Vanguard need a new fund. VXSSR?
posted by Dashy at 6:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

The thing I keep coming back to in that Vatican Gothic picture is that Melania's fists are closed; she looks like she's positively seething. Or maybe just preemptively blocking Donny from slipping his hand into hers, who knows.
posted by Westringia F. at 6:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

I own a fair amount of VTIAX (Vanguard International Index Fund) which also includes Gazprom shares, and I would not really agree with the idea that I have "financial ties to Russia", at least not in any meaningful way.

Caesar's Wife applies, though. I assume you're not a GOP politician holding an elected position, and so it's just up to your personal ethics whether you're comfortable in a fund with Russian investments. (Not snark, btw - I don't know all the details of my own pension fund holdings, and ignorance is no excuse. Especially as a journalist, wot I am, but since I try to be rude about everyone I don't like I may get away with it...) You're not in a position to change public policy to your own benefit.

It's the conflict of interest that matters, and this administration won't even admit that such a thing exists. You don't get a bye on your personal finances if you refuse to follow the rules.
posted by Devonian at 6:36 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jon Favreau: Quist's message should be that Gianforte is so scared of Trumpcare that he'd rather assault a reporter than answer his question about it.

Ari Berman: Montana has Election Day registration, so if anyone there is not registered yet you can still come out tomorrow & make your voices heard
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:37 PM on May 24, 2017 [32 favorites]

It is truly a sad state of affairs when a politician physically attacks a reporter, and instead of being a career ender it requires a calculus of the number of voters who like vs. hate the attack and comparing those groups' propensity to vote or not vote or flip votes based upon the violence.

For the first time in my life I have to ask if unlawful physical assault won't EARN the candidate votes?
posted by sacre_bleu at 6:39 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's the conflict of interest that matters, and this administration won't even admit that such a thing exists

Do you think having any international investments is a conflict of interest? What about American companies with overseas operations?

Conflict of interest is a real thing, I agree. But I don't personally think "invest in an index fund that includes a lot of companies" is a conflict in the way that "have a huge multinational company/brand that makes direct deals with foreign governments (Trump)" is, and I don't really think it should be a disqualifying issue.

I'd be very surprised if Clinton and other rich politicians didn't have similar holdings.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Sheriff's press conference will stream live on the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's Facebook page. Should be roughly 18 minutes from now.
posted by waitingtoderail at 6:42 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Actually, I'd be surprised if the Clintons did, because they know how it reads. But again, the story itself was something that could be weathered - up until the candidate bodyslammed a reporter into the ground.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:44 PM on May 24, 2017

Do you think having any international investments is a conflict of interest? What about American companies with overseas operations?

It doesn't matter what I think - unless you're a politician, though, when it does. Experience (long, long experience) says that the rules are - do what thou wilt, but be open about it. It's clear to me that many of 45's supporters, and GOP operatives in general, don't give a tinker's cuss about this stuff, but clearly enough people do that the kleptotariat want to avoid disclosure.

If you think your holdings are above suspicion, then fine. Publish them. It's the attempt to hide them that is poisonous.
posted by Devonian at 6:47 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Don't do a hit
posted by theodolite at 6:47 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Hmmm, well you appear to be right about the Clintons, although it does say they invested in the US Index fund which includes a lot of companies that do significant business overseas.

But yeah, I certainly agree with disclosure and I think it should be safe for politicians to invest in broad overseas funds, as thats sensible/standard financial planning and not going to influence decisions in a meaningful way (1/7000 of your investment in a particular company, or whatever). Voters are free to agree or not as long as its aboveboard, sure.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:50 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

L, Alex wants us to believe they are not Alexis Levinson

hmm
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:50 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Before everyone is all "Oh noes, the far right will be inspired to vote for this clown tomorrow", think of this: let's say that you are a quiescent kinda-liberal centrist who is vaguely unhappy with how things are but basically avoids politics because "that's just how things are". I think there's a number of those people in this great nation of ours. Now let's say that the Republican candidate flips out and knocks a reporter down while freaking out on tape. Might you yourself not be motivated to stop by the polling place on the morrow? I think that even if this motivates some people in favor of him, I think it's going to motivate just as many against if not more.

I did not always vote in midterms and special elections in the past, and I have been gotten up off my ass by breaking news.
posted by Frowner at 6:51 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

Gianforte story has its own thread... (unless the mods decide otherwise)
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I think it should be safe for politicians to invest in broad overseas funds, as thats sensible/standard financial planning

Quite - which is what blind trusts were invented for.
posted by Devonian at 6:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

wait, you're Josh Barro now? so confused
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

In a way, aren't all of us nationally distributed political journalists?
posted by theodolite at 7:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

what jefferson beauregard sessions really needs is a mint julip enema.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 7:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

a mint julip enema

"an asshole full of bourbon" sounds like a Tom Waits song.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 7:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [40 favorites]

"an asshole full of bourbon" sounds like a Tom Waits song.

Is that a reference to the title or the voice?
posted by Behemoth at 7:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

P.S. I meant that in the nicest possible way.
posted by Behemoth at 7:20 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Is that a reference to the title or the voice?

A reference to this re "mint julep enema" (although "asshole full of bourbon" is probably a good description of a drunk Jeff Sessions regardless of how he ingests it!)
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 7:22 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Reminder to try to keep the extended riffs down for the sake of everyone's load times. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 7:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus, tears up upon realizing AHCA doesn't protect pre-existing conditions.

Meadows was, along with McArthur, the one credited for reviving the TrumpCare bill after its first death. He's one of the architects of the McArthur 'compromise'. Either he's disingenuously trying to run away from the actual effects of the bill now, or he's too fucking stupid to have read literally any serious analysis of the effects of his own goddamn bill prior to bringing it back to life and voting for it.

They're all on record now voting to kill 23 million Americans. Without waiting to know what they voted for, and celebrating with a frat boy beer party directly afterwards. None of them should be allowed to disavow their vote or the effects of Republicare now, least of all Meadows.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:40 PM on May 24, 2017 [98 favorites]

Quite - which is what blind trusts were invented for.

Right, which is why again this seems like a nonissue. From the article: "If elected, he said, the Montana Republican would put all his assets in a blind trust"

I mean, I certainly don't want the guy to win, and there seem to be plenty of reasons to oppose him without inventing one. It's also certainly possible he would pull a Trump and not actually do that if he gets elected, but again if you don't trust him (and I certainly don't, as he's a proven liar from that statement about the assault) then you wouldn't vote for him anyway.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:42 PM on May 24, 2017

McCain: Dems killed Lieberman’s FBI shot

In which case, good job Democrats. Although I suspect it may just have been Trumps general inability to stick to any idea for very long.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:44 PM on May 24, 2017 [18 favorites]

Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus, tears up upon realizing AHCA doesn't protect pre-existing conditions.

So he's trying to cover for being a monster by acting massively incompetent? Everyone knew what this would do well before the CBO score dropped, and being so deeply involved, it's fucking insulting for him to play act like it's a surprise.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:47 PM on May 24, 2017 [14 favorites]

Right, which is why again this seems like a nonissue. From the article: "If elected, he said, the Montana Republican would put all his assets in a blind trust"

And it would be a non-issue, unless...

It's also certainly possible he would pull a Trump and not actually do that if he gets elected,

So how is this a non-issue?

If we were in a politics-as-normal world, then I'd absolutely be with you on this. We're not.
posted by Devonian at 7:49 PM on May 24, 2017

McCain: Dems killed Lieberman’s FBI shot

I had no idea there were 51 Democratic Senators!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

Inevitable Pope video
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:56 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Let's not forget that McCain really really wanted Lieberman for his veep. Any statements he makes about Democrats and their relationship to that slimy turncoat are disingenuous.
posted by xyzzy at 7:57 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

> Any statements he makes ~~about Democrats and their relationship to that slimy turncoat~~ are disingenuous.

FTFY. HTH, HAND.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:58 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

I despise Lieberman but he's certainly been in politics long enough to avoid being Trump's next roadkill. Pretty sure it was his idea.
posted by emjaybee at 8:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

Updated with new information, including a description from a Fox News crew that claims to have seen the altercation: “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him ... I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the man."

posted by mmoncur at 8:03 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

I'm watching the press conference and the Sheriff literally just said "So I won't be answering any questions about the incident at all. Do you have questions?"
posted by mmoncur at 8:05 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Cocaine's a helluva drug.
posted by petebest at 8:06 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Gianforte stuff is over in the Gianforte thread
posted by zachlipton at 8:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

From thefoxgod's link about McCain and the dems tanking Lieberman:

"This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it,"

After everything that's happened, THAT'S what's making Mr. Straight Talk Express feel cynical about DC? For real? That?

I had, like, half an even left, and McCain just crushed it to powder.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 8:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [13 favorites]

Hannity taking the next two days off. -- Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters For America
posted by murphy slaw at 8:11 PM on May 24, 2017 [15 favorites]

Just to pile on, this Gianforte quote is pretty amazing:

“There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it’s been an accepted concept in our culture today,” he said. “Nowhere does it say, ‘Well, he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the beach.’ It doesn’t say that anywhere.”

“The example I think of is Noah,” he continued. “How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600. He wasn’t like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn’t hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an obligation to work. The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical.”

He has supporters. Amazing.
posted by gatorae at 8:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [77 favorites]

Fox News has every confidence in Sean Hannity (fake).
posted by Yowser at 8:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I mean, nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about appendectomies or antibiotics, either. Zero mention of glasses or contact lenses. No cars or airplanes at all. If we're only allowed to have stuff that's in the Bible, we're going to have *very* different lives than we're currently used to!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [27 favorites]

According to the Hollywood Reporter, two advertisers have pulled out of Hannity's show.
posted by xyzzy at 8:15 PM on May 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

> According to the Hollywood Reporter, two advertisers have pulled out of Hannity's show.

Why do you hate capitalism, Sean?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Daily Beast: Reince Priebus Sweating Secret Comey Memos, White House Sources Say

Three White House officials told The Daily Beast that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has privately expressed worry about a possible Comey memo specifically involving one of their reported chats, and how it might play in the press and to investigators.

“Nervous laughter,” one official succinctly characterized Priebus’ demeanor in the midst of recent revelations.
...
Senior Trump aides recounted to The Daily Beast the shockwaves and “sustained panic,” as one official described it, that news of the initial Comey memo sent through the administration and Trump’s political inner circle. Along with the chaos and continued frustrations that came with attempting to manage the fallout, there was an immediate unease expressed by senior staffers, including Priebus, that more damning memos could be revealed in the coming weeks, if not days.
...
“We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, quite frankly,” one White House official told The Daily Beast. “We’re all waiting.”

We already knew that Priebus was part of the efforts to get Comey to refute reports about campaign contacts with Russian officials and that such contact was considered highly inappropriate. That Priebus has now discovered that the things you say to law enforcement might be written down and used against you someday is pretty funny.
posted by zachlipton at 8:17 PM on May 24, 2017 [68 favorites]

Hannity taking the next two days off.

Isn't this how it started with O'Reilly? He went on a short vacation and then just... never came back?

A girl can dream.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:18 PM on May 24, 2017 [17 favorites]

Gianforte will be pleased to know that slavery, patriarchy, racism, genocide, rape, war, and murder are all biblical.
posted by Rykey at 8:19 PM on May 24, 2017 [16 favorites]

The Daily Beast: Reince Priebus Sweating Secret Comey Memos, White House Sources Say

So nice to see that the Welcome to Hell WH Mood Round-up continues even with Trump out of the country.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

"This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it,"

Let's talk about McCain's nominee for Vice President.

I still regret the time I had the chance to punch him in the face, and didn't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

Three White House officials told The Daily Beast . . . .

I'm goin' with Bannon, Miller, Conway.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:27 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Man the Gianforte craziness kinda makes a case against the mail-voting.
posted by aiglet at 8:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [10 favorites]

I still regret the time I had the chance to punch him in the face, and didn't.

Whoa, blast from the past! I had completely forgotten Trump's vendetta against fire marshals and the time he made fun of a woman after her baby cried at a rally.
posted by theodolite at 8:30 PM on May 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

Heather Stewart, Robert Booth and Vikram Dodd, Guardian: Theresa May to tackle Donald Trump over Manchester bombing evidence

Theresa May will confront Donald Trump over the stream of leaks of crucial intelligence about the Manchester bomb attack when she meets the US president at a Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday.

British officials were infuriated on Wednesday when the New York Times published forensic photographs of sophisticated bomb parts that UK authorities fear could complicate the expanding investigation into the lethal blast in which six further arrests have been made in the UK and two more in Libya.

It was the latest of a series of leaks to US journalists that appeared to come from inside the US intelligence community, passing on data that had been shared between the two countries as part of a long-standing security cooperation.

...

The government does not believe the president is directly responsible for the potentially compromising leaks; but May will raise her concerns with him at the Nato summit where she will push for the military alliance to join the coalition against Islamic State.

posted by ZeusHumms at 8:31 PM on May 24, 2017 [28 favorites]

Man the Gianforte craziness kinda makes a case against the mail-voting.

Eh, for every case where a voter wishes they had their vote back with less than a week to go before election day I can show you fifty cases where someone didn't vote because of long lines, shitty bosses, or other hardship.
posted by Justinian at 8:33 PM on May 24, 2017 [39 favorites]

Man the Gianforte craziness kinda makes a case against the mail-voting.

Fun New York State Fact. I had my Elections Inspector training in Albany County. Absentee voters are welcome at the polls on election day even if they mailed it in. The rolls are barcoded, and when the duplicate vote is scanned at the poll, they discard the prior one.

Also, it's unlawful to ask for ID UNLESS the rolls are marked "ID REQUIRED" for new registrants.
posted by mikelieman at 8:34 PM on May 24, 2017 [21 favorites]

Eh, for every case where a voter wishes they had their vote back with less than a week to go before election day I can show you fifty cases where someone didn't vote because of long lines, shitty bosses, or other hardship.

There is no good evidence that mail voting increases turnout.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:41 PM on May 24, 2017

Bergman | WaPo | 2015:

My research found that when you can only vote by mail, voter turnout actually drops by about 13 percent. [emphasis mine] ... According to a 50-state study that examined elections over a 30-year period, voter turnout is less about convenience than academics once thought.

posted by xyzzy at 8:50 PM on May 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

GAO office found it does increase turnout:

"letting them vote by mail or to show up and register on Election Day boosts turnout"
posted by thefoxgod at 8:52 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

American Voters Believe Trump Is Abusing His Powers, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Job Approval Remains At Historic Low

American voters believe 54 - 43 percent that President Donald Trump is abusing the powers of his office, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

President Trump gets a negative 37 - 55 percent job approval rating, compared to a negative 36 - 58 percent approval in a May 10 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University. Today, voters over 65 years old, divided in earlier surveys, now disapprove 53 - 42 percent. Trump has a negative 36 - 54 percent approval among independent voters, an improvement from his negative 29 - 63 percent two weeks ago.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:52 PM on May 24, 2017 [25 favorites]

"letting them vote by mail or to show up and register on Election Day boosts turnout"

Based on other studies of postal voting the "same day registration" thing seems like the important part of that equation.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 8:53 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Goodness, how upsetting that must have been for Mark Meadows to get the totally unexpected news that the AHCA will not provide adequate coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Particularly since he is himself, he informs us, a human-body-having person who knows and loves other human-body-having people.

If only it had been possible for the House to wait to vote on the bill until they knew more about what its effects would be. Possibly until this mysterious "CBO" analysis that he apparently is just now learning about from some reporters had been completed. But alas, that was clearly impossible.

I just fucking cannot even with these people anymore
posted by gerstle at 9:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [70 favorites]

thefoxgod, that's why I emphasized ONLY vote by mail in the pullquote. It's why VBM is confusing, because it does increase turnout, but only in certain circumstances.
posted by xyzzy at 9:02 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Retirement is non-biblical? Oh, so my Concordance and I missed the passages that do definitely refer to body-slamming, special elections, and the name Gianforte?
posted by riverlife at 9:10 PM on May 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

thefoxgod, that's why I emphasized ONLY vote by mail in the pullquote.

Yeah, I was responding to the claim that there was no evidence vote by mail helps (by providing some evidence).
posted by thefoxgod at 9:12 PM on May 24, 2017

Remember that one brief shining moment not so long ago when the biggest thing in the news was orb jokes? Good times.
posted by zachlipton at 9:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [20 favorites]

The Scott Adams thing is an instant derail around here - let's skip it, please? Thanks
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 9:12 PM on May 24, 2017 [11 favorites]

Michael T. Flynn, a retired general

So, a non-biblical pagan no Bible-believing Republican could ever for a moment support, surely.
posted by riverlife at 9:23 PM on May 24, 2017

I just fired up Frontline's "Bannon's War" and was greeted by a content warning. So this should be interesting.
posted by xyzzy at 9:24 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

vote by mail vs. same day registration

Oregon has a deadline almost a month before the election, and vote by mail boosted turnout a lot. Possible confounding factor: we also have motor voter now, but turnout was up before that, too.

for every case where a voter wishes they had their vote back with less than a week to go before election day I can show you fifty cases where someone didn't vote because of long lines, shitty bosses, or other hardship.

Oregon also allows you to change a ballot you already mailed in, up to election day. It invalidates your old one, of course, which is the point.
posted by msalt at 9:55 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Oregon has a deadline almost a month before the election, and vote by mail boosted turnout a lot.

Teasing causal relationships out of this kind of data can be hard. What we know in Oregon is that they did VBM and then turnout went up (and later down again). What we don't know and can't ever know is what turnout would have been if they hadn't done VBM, which is what you'd need to know (or at least estimate) if you want to know the actual effect of vote by mail.

For me, the Kousser et al study is way better. They looked at California precincts -- some California precincts are VBM and others aren't, so you can compare precincts that do with similar precincts that don't to get at least a better sense of the causal effect of vote by mail, though I can't remember their precise methods offhand. There was no effect to a mild negative effect on turnout.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:07 PM on May 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

edeezy: "lol when there's another special election to replace Gianforte"

Are congresspeople prevented from serving from jail? You'd think they'd be able to arrange to serve weekends or something.

FelliniBlank: "#1 on the list of Sentences Your Campaign Manager Does Not Want to Hear on Election Eve."

Imagine Eli Gold as the Campaign manager.
posted by Mitheral at 10:28 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Where you are getting your numbers about Oregon? You might be looking at turnout among registered voters, which indeed went from 71% in 1996 to 79.8% in 2000 (the first pure VBM election) to 85.67% in 2008 to 80.33% in 2016.

That is misleading, however, because motor voter has greatly increased the percentage of the voting age population that is registered, from 77% to 88% between 2008 and 2016.

"As expected, people who were automatically registered to vote -- often disproportionately young, unaffiliated with a political party, new to Oregon or accustomed to sitting out elections -- did not vote as much as those who took the initiative to register on their own and identified as a Republican or Democrat. But 44 percent of the new "motor voters" did follow through and cast a ballot, a participation rate that exceeded the highest expectation of Reed College political science professor Paul Gronke, an expert on voter turnout."

Overall, despite the excitement over Obama in 2008, the overall percentage of the population that voted rose from 66% to 70.4%, an all time record. Nationwide, the figure was only 58%. And presumably, more of those newly registered people will vote in the future.
posted by msalt at 10:35 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there," he said during an interview on SiriusXM Radio with Armstrong Williams, a longtime friend. "And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they'll work their way right back down to the bottom." --Ben Carson

guys I think Ben Carson is cribbing his socioeconomic theories from the plot of the movie Trading Places

specifically from don ameche's character, who was PROVEN WRONG and lost the bet. he was wrong ben and so are you
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:20 PM on May 24, 2017 [34 favorites]

ELECTIONS NEWS
** MT-AL special

-- As mentioned at length above, GOP candidate Gianforte assaulted a Guardian reporter today, and has been chargd with misdemeanor assault. The impact is unclear, given that perhaps 2/3 of the vote is already in. That said, both Nate Cohn and Nate Silver have pointed out that Election Day voters tend to be the least hardcore partisan/most persuadable, so this may still have a notable impact.
-- The Missoulian and the Billings Gazette have rescinded their endorsements of Gianforte.
-- At least $17M has been spent on the race, with the GOP significantly outspending the Dems.

** GA-06 special: DCCC dumping in $2M more in advertising.

** 2017 specials:

-- There have been 17 Congressional and state legislative specials with a Dem vs a GOP since November, and Dem candidates have exceeded Clinton’s vote share in 11 of them. One further race was flat while in two others, Dems were just 1 point behind Clinton’s margin.

Overall, Dems have beaten the presidential results by 11 points on average—an enormous turnaround from 2013, when Dems trailed Obama 2012 results by an average of 12 points.

-- Cook Political:
So far, between KS-04 and GA-06, Democrats are outperforming their "generic" mark by an average of 9.5 points. That's really, really bad for Republicans.

But before Democrats get carried away, a few caveats. First, it's easier to flip an open seat — which is always the case in a special election — than it is to defeat an incumbent.

In recent years, political scientists have estimated the incumbency advantage in House races to be worth between 3 and 4 points. So as long as most Republicans run for reelection in 2018, Democrats probably need to be outperforming their "generic" mark in specials by 6 or 7 points to be "on track" for a House majority. So far, Democrats are on track.

** 2018 midterms: Roll Call adds nine GOP seats to list of seats seen as competitive, drops one Dem seat. Overall: 39 GOP, 14 Dem.

** That Man In the White House:

-- Behind the scenes of Trump's overall approval decline, his Strongly Approve is down to 21.4, Strongly Disapprove up to 44.1.
-- 54% say that Trump is abusing his powers of office.

posted by Chrysostom at 11:29 PM on May 24, 2017 [43 favorites]

Teasing causal relationships out of this kind of data can be hard.

Sure, but VBM would prevent some flavors of disenfranchisement-dickery that the North Carolina state legislature gets up to.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:32 PM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Fun New York State Fact. I had my Elections Inspector training in Albany County. Absentee voters are welcome at the polls on election day even if they mailed it in. The rolls are barcoded, and when the duplicate vote is scanned at the poll, they discard the prior one.

Oregon also allows you to change a ballot you already mailed in, up to election day. It invalidates your old one, of course, which is the point.

Unfortunately Montana does not allow this.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:36 PM on May 24, 2017

So, in Georgia I've seen a lot of Karen Handel ads. Some really crazy over the top ones by who knows, ads that I can't imagine how they don't make people want to vote against her.

But I saw one of her own ads yesterday and realized that nowhere in it, in audio or in writing, does it even say she's a Republican. Or even mention "Conservative" or anything like it. She just talks about loving the area and the people. Gotta wonder about that.
posted by bongo_x at 11:41 PM on May 24, 2017 [19 favorites]

UK police 'stop passing information to US' over leaks of key evidence

It would be difficult to overstate the anger I have seen and heard about this.
posted by vbfg at 1:33 AM on May 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

Why Saudi Women Are Literally Living ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Mona Eltahawy (NYTimes)
and
Is this real life? Or is this a cabaret of the Von Trump family on tour? by Van Badham

Read together they get at why the submissive ornamentality of the Trump women is so offensive to some (including me).
I've been thinking a lot about the Republican love for Saudi Arabia, and woke up this morning thinking they (the old white men, both in congress and the military), don't notice the oppression of women, and they don't care either. But oppressing half the population comes with a whole culture of deceit and of maimed souls on both sides — what is a son who cannot honor and respect his mother? A father who cannot support his daughter? What is a marriage that is not based on mutual respect and care? All crippling. And where this permeates every inch of society, what kind of a society is that? How would we want to trust a society like that, and why would they be our ally against terror? They are literally breeding terror. Ugh, now I need to wash my brain.

To me, the Trump family represents a similar set of values and family dynamics, although with them, money trumps religion at every turn. Yes, Trump dotes on Ivanka, but that is because she is a beautiful object that he owns. And she is married to the heir of another real estate tycoon.
When I look at the spooky Vatican photo, what I find most offensive about the women's outfits are not the silly veils, but the heels. At first I thought it was my old lady mindset, as in come on girls, it's not a nightclub. But after thinking about that whole Saudi Arabia thing I realized that those heels are such an accurate indicator of their self-imposed objectification and submission. I love heels as much as anyone, but look at that picture…

Now, for cleaning up your brains after all of this ugliness, here is an image of Angela Merkel with the pope
posted by mumimor at 1:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

Every time I see Ivanka and Melania in those black dresses with the veils, I can't help but wonder if they decided to deck themselves out like that, despite Pope Francis having relaxed the traditional, sartorial rules, because they wanted to cosplay Donald's funeral.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 2:19 AM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

UK police 'stop passing information to US' over leaks of key evidence

Quite interesting different takes on US leakage from inside the UK:

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation: "Very unusual and irresponsible."

Ian Blair, former Metropolitan police commissioner during the 2005 London underground bombings: "Actually, it's always like that."
posted by sour cream at 3:11 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've been thinking a lot about the Republican love for Saudi Arabia

the love for Saudi Arabia is 100% bipartisan, unfortunately
posted by indubitable at 3:14 AM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

"This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it,"

THAT WAS ALMOST TWENTY DAMN YEARS AGO YOU OLD COOT
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:32 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

because they wanted to cosplay Donald's funeral

Well, dress for the job you want, right?
posted by kate blank at 4:35 AM on May 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

A new location for the HE's sign: Honest Trump (TO humor)
posted by pjenks at 4:50 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Gianaforte's assault was monstrous. He's clearly unable to serve in the position if he can't take the pressure from a reporting asking a legitimate question. Whether or not the reporter was intruding is beside the point.

Yet I see this as a reaction to the power of the resistance. GOP politicians are scared, and they should be. His reaction is inexcusable, but it comes because he's running scared from the truth, which he should be. I just hope reporters are not going to become timid because of this.
posted by archimago at 4:57 AM on May 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

Russia looms over Trump's meetings with European leaders:Trump’s talk of befriending Putin doesn’t just rattle the 28-member NATO military alliance, which has spent the past few years bolstering its eastern frontier. It also unnerves senior officials of the European Union, whose leaders believe Putin is assisting their enemies, including anti-EU populist candidates across Europe whom the Kremlin is believed to be aiding financially and through espionage and hacking.

“Russia is of course the elephant in the room” in any discussion with Trump, a senior EU official told POLITICO.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:05 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

In his office in the basement of a library in Malta, an extension agent named Marko laid out a massive map of Montana on his desk. He traced his finger along the freeway starting up in Kalispell (in Northwest Montana), down through Missoula (home to the University of Montana), past Butte (union stronghold), Bozeman (home to Montana State University and many billionaires), and Billings, effectively dividing Montana in two.

“That part there,” he said, gesturing to the section to the south of the line, “that’s the boot. And what the boot does is kick the rest of us up here in the ass.” - from the Buzzfeed bit on Montana linked way above

this is the wildest thing I have learned today: even in Montana there is an urban-rural political split between the towns with 40,000 people and the towns with 2,000. Good lord. I have spent almost my whole life in New Jersey. This is wild
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:08 AM on May 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

"This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it,"

Not only was that nearly 20 years ago, being a nominee for VP doesn't make a person qualified to be head of the FBI.

I love Jimmy Carter, he's a man I genuinely respect. And I'd object in the strongest possible way to him being nominated for FBI Director.

Yes, I hate and despise Joseph Lieberman. He's a sack of shit in human form. But that's not the reason for my objection to him being floated for FBI Director that's just why I'm so vitriolic in my objections. But even if I liked the guy he'd still be an awful pick.

If Trump was proposing any standard Democratic politician for FBI head, hell if he was proposing Hillary Clinton herself, I'd argue it was a bad pick because the FBI Director should be a person with real experience in law enforcement.

I'll confess that I'm predisposed to think anyone Trump picks will be bad because a) I hate Trump with a burning passion, and b) every nomination he's made to date has been utterly and completely awful.

But Lieberman is a bad pick in the same way that Ben Carson was a bad pick for HUD Secretary: he's completely and utterly unqualified for the job.

Which is what we've come to expect from Trump, but it does't make it any less awful.
posted by sotonohito at 5:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

Quite interesting different takes on US leakage from inside the UK:

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation: "Very unusual and irresponsible."

Ian Blair, former Metropolitan police commissioner during the 2005 London underground bombings: "Actually, it's always like that."

Yeah, it's important to realize that is highly likely the leaks are not even American though they are printed in the American press. The British police services are fairly corrupt themselves and have been part of a major scandal involving leaks of important confidential information from ongoing investigations to Rupert Murdoch papers for cash that even shut down a newspaper.
posted by srboisvert at 5:45 AM on May 25, 2017

Yeah, it's important to realize that is highly likely the leaks are not even American

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'd take a 2.0 wager on the fact that they are. Regardless of what's public, May isn't about to lecture Trump about this unless we know in private it's a US leak.
posted by jaduncan at 5:48 AM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

I wonder if Trump will claim that the sources of these leaks are the same that have been dropping info about his administration?
posted by PenDevil at 5:51 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Et tu Fox News?

Fox News poll: Approval ratings for Trump, Pence fall to all-time lows

President Trump's approval rating fell to its lowest level in May since he was sworn into office four months ago, according to the results of a Fox News poll released Wednesday evening.

The May 21-23 survey found forty percent of registered voters believe the Republican leader is performing well, down from 45 percent in April. Trump received his highest mark with 48 percent in February.

Trump's disapproval rating is also at its highest since he took office, peaking at 53 percent. His lowest disapproval numbers were at the beginning of his presidency in February.

Independent voters voiced doubt about the GOP president with barely more than one-third of those respondents voicing support for Trump.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is not faring much better. Pence's approval numbers dropped eight percentage points from last month to 42 percent in May. His disapproval rating shot up 10 points to 43 percent.

posted by chris24 at 5:54 AM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

Macron trolling Trump (video) with a really tight handshake.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:55 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

Yeah, it's important to realize that is highly likely the leaks are not even American though they are printed in the American press. The British police services are fairly corrupt themselves and have been part of a major scandal involving leaks of important confidential information from ongoing investigations to Rupert Murdoch papers for cash that even shut down a newspaper.e

Suggest you repeat those swivel-eyed allegations over at: Tragedy in Manchester
posted by Mister Bijou at 6:08 AM on May 25, 2017

“There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it’s been an accepted concept in our culture today,”

Indeed; the whole idea was concocted by that liberal snowflake Otto von Bismarck.
posted by acb at 6:09 AM on May 25, 2017 [24 favorites]

May 3rd: (that's 22 TrumpDisasterDays ago, or 17 of your human years)
Comey confirms the FBI is looking into whether anyone leaked information about the Hillary email investigation to Rudy Giuliani (DailyMail)

Giuliani appeared on Fox News days after Comey wrote a letter to members of Congress about the emails and said 'you're darn right I heard about it'
Comey answered that he didn't yet know if someone in his bureau had leaked that information to the ex-mayor because the FBI was looking into it
The identity of the leakers, if they exist, is 'a matter that I'm very, very interested' in, Comey said

Four days later, Comey is fired. "Rude! All clear" says Trump, loudly. "Yeah. I took care of it. You won't be hearing any more about James Comey, believe me." [rrrake?]
posted by petebest at 6:16 AM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

McCain: "This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it,"

What is it with Republicans externalizing their own sense of shame? Somehow we're supposed to be more cynical about a "rejection" of Lieberman (something that hasn't even been voted on), than the selection of noted teevee personality and political quitter Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential nominee in 2008..? Let's see, who made that cynical choice..? Hmm...

Gianforte: “There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it’s been an accepted concept in our culture today,”

I'm sure reporters realize that this is such a political nonstarter, but it would be hilarious for reporters or other pundits to take "Biblical economics" seriously... So, now we need jubilee, an end to usury, the return of slavery, etc., etc.
posted by Slothrop at 6:20 AM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

The leak of the Manchester images reminded me that whoever they are, the leakers (these leakers and all the other leakers) are not good people, they are people who thought it was a good idea to sign up for an administration led by a corrupt and lying president and now think it is a good idea to undermine that president. I mean, that is all good and fun for us onlookers, but it isn't exactly nice.

There is no way Pence will be able to establish a culture of good governance if Trump is ousted. He wouldn't be even if he were smart, but he isn't. And I wonder how this will affect the career officials — will they be drawn into the bad culture, or leave or get kicked out when they refuse to follow orders? Probably a mix of the three? Which leads to the point here: that whoever becomes the next elected president will have the daunting task of reconstructing the entire government — maybe even down to the lowliest worker in the field, because bad management trickles down through all the layers.

In the same line of thought, but outside government: I heard a conservative person defending Trump's erratic behaviour on the radio. This person is normally a very sharp analyst, but suddenly I began to think wether they were a Russian agent of influence. The arguments were so twisted and weird and didn't add up at all. Trump is corrupting everything. I don't think this person is an agent, but even a law-abiding, highly educated and strongly patriotic conservative will begin to sound like Putin if they have to defend Trump.
posted by mumimor at 6:22 AM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

"This is their nominee for vice president of the United States. If anything would make you cynical about this town, that’s it," he (McCain) said.

A couple of points, John. First, he was a nominee for vice president. In 2000. You may have noticed some changes around you since then.

Secondly, you know what makes me cynical about Washington? Spineless motherfuckers who condemn things like Trump's assaults on women, declare they can't support him, and then vote to support all his plans anyways. Makes me think some politicians are all flapping gums and sucking lips who will latch onto any piece of shit they think might enable them to hold onto power a little longer.
posted by nubs at 6:25 AM on May 25, 2017 [35 favorites]

Thirdly, he was a horrible choice for Veep nominee then and has done nothing but prove that repeatedly then and since.

Fourthly, if you push Lieberman's belly gently like the Pillsbury Doughboy, an angel dies of explosive diarrhea. But you knew that, John. You knew.
posted by delfin at 6:30 AM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement.

Among all the ways this is stupid, I'd argue it's not even really true. The Bible is an enormous text and as such a mass of contradictions—for every person who points to a verse and says, "the Bible unambiguously says thing X", there are twenty who will say, "no, no, this other verse unambiguously says not-X", as exemplified by the religious fights over slavery—but one fairly consistent aspect of it is an obligation of care for the helpless in your community. Widows, orphans, the infirm and disabled within the community of Israel (or Christ, as the case may be) are put forward, time and again, as those whom the community must support (strangers get half-hearted support, depending on whether they're scary non-godly strangers out to pervert your way of life or poor friendless wayfarers).

The presumption that society has a responsibility for the care of groups which includes, among others, the elderly and infirm, is not exactly conceptually far distant from the notion of retirement. I mean, sure, the idea that an able-bodied 65-year-old would just stop working and rest isn't really in the text of the Bible, but that's not really how their society was structured at all (plus the fact that reaching a ripe old age without suffering a seriously debilitating injury or illness was a lot less common then). Arguing that the Bible doesn't describe retirement mechanisms is like arguing that the Bible doesn't describe election mechanisms; that simply wasn't how their community worked. Btu the motivating notions behind retirement are totally there if you care to find them.
posted by jackbishop at 6:36 AM on May 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

Someone needs to ask McCain if when he was languishing in a POW cell if he was doing it for America or the Republican Party.

Unless he wants his epithet to read "Republican First, American Second" he needs to pull his head out of his fucking ass.
posted by Talez at 6:37 AM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

he needs to pull his head out of his fucking ass

sadly, his head has been up his ass so long that, were surgeons to try a separation, they would be unable to determine where one ended and the other began
posted by murphy slaw at 6:39 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Thirdly, he was a horrible choice for Veep nominee then and has done nothing but prove that repeatedly then and since.

At times, in the dead of night, I lie awake and wonder: as awful as the W administration was, is it possible we actually dodged a bullet by not having Joe Lieberman as Vice President?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:47 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

>>Among all the ways this is stupid

Stating that Noah was working his ass off at the age of 600 being one of the ways in which it is most stupid
posted by Myeral at 6:48 AM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

is it possible we actually dodged a bullet by not having Joe Lieberman as Vice President?

nah. vice president is just not that important of a position in the grand scheme of things (unless the unthinkable happens and his primary reason for being is engaged.)
posted by murphy slaw at 6:53 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Bible is an enormous text and as such a mass of contradictions

Fun Exercise! Compare and contrast the Talmud with the "New Testament"

Bonus Points! Extend your analysis to the Latter Day Saints' version.
posted by mikelieman at 6:56 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

is it possible we actually dodged a bullet by not having Joe Lieberman as Vice President

An unnecessary war that cost \$1-2 trillion, an unneeded tax cut that cost several more trillion dollars, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito say lana_nooooooope.jpg.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:01 AM on May 25, 2017 [37 favorites]

At times, in the dead of night, I lie awake and wonder: as awful as the W administration was, is it possible we actually dodged a bullet by not having Joe Lieberman as Vice President?

No.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:01 AM on May 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

Oh my god, this photo. I think Macron won the handshake war.
posted by marshmallow peep at 7:02 AM on May 25, 2017 [63 favorites]

no one wins the handshake war until someone gets trump with a joy buzzer.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:03 AM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

murphy slaw: " vice president is just not that important of a position in the grand scheme of things"

Usually. W's vice president had a lot of power.
posted by Mitheral at 7:03 AM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Live by the stupid dominance display, die by the stupid dominance display.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:05 AM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

electing very handsome men just to make ours look even worse is my favorite stupid dominance display, though. finally, a satisfying use of masculinity. see, Canada, you're not so special, everyone's doing it

oh, the handshake is good too. all his fingers stretched all the way out and they wouldn't fit around Macron's hand even if he relaxed his grip enough to let him try.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:08 AM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

The Bible is an enormous text and as such a mass of contradictions

I wonder whether or not that is an adaptive trait for a religious text. Perhaps religions with texts which were unambiguous ended up dying out as soon as the facts on the ground didn't fit the divinely-ordained truth, whereas ones which were more open to interpretation found themselves both nimble enough to adapt to different circumstances and then useful enough in divinely rationalising the will of whichever sociopath was the emperor at the time, thus becoming symbiotic with the power of the state and spreading further.
posted by acb at 7:09 AM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

This conversation about charity in health care illustrates why the term "Compassionate Conservative" is an oxymoron.

Of course it is, but it's also illustrative that in 2000 George W. Bush or his strategists recognized that conservatism has perceptions of cruelty and indifference that needed to be pushed against, in terms of branding if nothing else.

Now, many of these callous clowns revel in the crapulence embodied by their hero Rush Limbaugh, but the media bubble they live in fails to recognize that many Americans, and likely majorities of them, find that attitude repugnant. Even now, on the verge of slashing Medicaid and abolishing the ACA in favor of a huge tax cut for the rich, Republicans are looking for ways to not be blamed for the inevitable consequences.

They like to act brash and confident, but like all bullies, at heart Republican politicians are cowards, unwilling to own their misdeed because they know voters will reject them.

That's why lying is second nature, indeed essential, to Republicanism.
posted by Gelatin at 7:11 AM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

I call this series "Faces of People Forced into a Photo Op with President Trump"
posted by WordCannon at 7:13 AM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Mark Landler's description of the handshake in the NYT is a nice bit of work:

The 70-year-old American and the 39-year-old Frenchman grabbed each other’s hands in what began as a manly greeting and ended as a kind of good-natured death grip. Jaws clenching, faces alternating between smiles and grimaces, the two men shook until Mr. Trump’s knuckles turned white.

At one point, the president tried to pull away, only to have Mr. Macron clasp his hand even harder and keep pumping. Finally, the second time Mr. Trump pulled away, Mr. Macron let him go.
posted by neroli at 7:13 AM on May 25, 2017 [99 favorites]

advertiser flight from hannity accelerates

Daily Beast: Hannity Loses 7 Advertisers Amid Uproar

Cars.com said in a statement on Wednesday: “In this case, we’ve been watching closely and have recently made the decision to pull our advertising from Hannity.” Others followed suit: Leesa Sleep, Peloton, USAA, Crowne Plaza Hotels, Casper, and Ring.

posted by murphy slaw at 7:17 AM on May 25, 2017 [47 favorites]

> Oh my god, this photo. I think Macron won the handshake war.

lol omg, but also the comment immediately following that tweet: Even the flowers on the table look uncomfortable
posted by moody cow at 7:21 AM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

I strongly approve of world leaders fucking with Trump and his handshake bullshit.
posted by diogenes at 7:21 AM on May 25, 2017 [53 favorites]

Media Matters has a list of Sean Hannity's advertisers if you want to get in on the action.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:22 AM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Very easy to cancel Hulu membership and list Hannity as reason.
posted by rabidsegue at 7:26 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Media Matters has a list of Sean Hannity's advertisers if you want to get in on the action.

Angie's List is on there. That's something that many of you might actually use. They have a handy Send A Message link here.
posted by diogenes at 7:27 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jonathan O'Connell, WaPo: The official who let Trump keep his government hotel deal explains herself

Roth resigned in Inauguration Day; here's her ridiculous rationalization:

The closest call, Roth said, was over a clause in the agreement saying that no elected officials “shall be admitted to any share or part of this lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.”

But even that, she said, did not constitute a clear violation. For instance, the president was not an elected official while she was in office, so he might not technically have been in violation on Roth’s watch.

“We didn’t have a basis as to why we would be canceling the lease. If the suggestion was we would cancel the lease because of a clause that said that as an elected official he couldn’t be in this lease, that was not a clear question to answer,” she said.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:29 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

"United Milage Plus Explorer Card" seems like a tempting Hannity Advertiser target to me. United does not need more bad press right now.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:32 AM on May 25, 2017

From the NYT article linked by neroli (author: Steven Erlanger):

If there is any real drama over Mr. Trump’s visit, it concerns whether he will go off script on the question of Article 5 of the Atlantic alliance’s founding treaty, which states that an attack on any member is an attack on all. He is expected to explicitly endorse the principle in a speech....

(Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will do the same with a chunk of the Berlin Wall, which came down in 1989, to symbolize how the alliance kept the peace during the Cold War. Before her planned meeting with Mr. Trump, Ms. Merkel met with former President Barack Obama in Berlin.)

Two points:

1) Ugh, they have to do object lessons to explain to the President why NATO is important for maintaining peace in Europe, like a children's science museum exhibit.

2) Interesting that Merkel met with Obama. I'm sure the usual swamps are already slithering with vague insinuations, but good for him -- it sounds like he's trying to help behind the scenes as best he can.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

via Brad Jaffy on Twitter. Here is Trump's statement about the Manchester leaks.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

He should ask the DOJ to investigate who leaked ISIS intelligence shared by Israel to Russia, and who leaked nuclear sub positions to Indonesia. "The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security" and "the culprit should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law" indeed...
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:39 AM on May 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

Finally, the second time Mr. Trump pulled away, Mr. Macron let him go.

I feel like a bad person for laughing out loud at this, but its been a crappy week (for non political reasons) and this somehow made today a little better. Plus the look on Macron's face in that photo - he's just so (rightfully) satisfied with how the whole thing went.
posted by anastasiav at 7:40 AM on May 25, 2017 [26 favorites]

Politico: White House tries to avoid ‘paralysis’ amid investigation

The expanding investigation, now under the control of special counsel Robert Mueller, has hung over Trump’s every move since its announcement a week ago. Chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus returned home early from Trump’s tour across the Middle East and Europe in part to help put an apparatus in place to keep the president’s agenda moving ahead.

“They are back trying to get this under control,” said one person familiar with the internal dynamics of the White House. “Trump is not happy about all of this. Everyone knows it. They aren’t sitting around working on the budget all day.”
…
After Mueller’s appointment last week, White House Counsel Don McGahn gave senior aides instructions at their morning meeting: Don’t talk about the investigation. Expect guidelines for dealing with potential evidence. The White House, he told staff, still needed to learn a lot more.
…
Several officials said Trump had interrupted meetings on other issues in recent weeks to talk about the investigation, and had fumed about Russia and Comey. He has committed a series of self-inflicted errors, like going against his own administration’s talking points on firing Comey, giving classified information to the Russians and then seeming to confirm that he received it from Israel in an off-the-cuff comment during his visit to Jerusalem.
…
The night before his departure for Riyadh, Trump was scheduled to meet with Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, one of his most generous campaign donors. That day, the Justice Department announced Mueller would be taking over the FBI’s Russia probe.

By the time Marcus arrived in the Oval Office that evening, according to a source familiar with the conversation, he found the president so exhausted that he voluntarily suggested rescheduling.

posted by murphy slaw at 7:42 AM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

Trump may be enjoying his grand tour but tourism here in the US is way down since he was elected. Foursquare reports that tourism to the US is down as much as 16% since last year.
posted by octothorpe at 7:44 AM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

> Among legislators, as well as the president’s senior staff, there is a fear that the legislative agenda will be hampered — and that Trump will be unable to focus.

Oh yeah, because if it weren't for that pesky Russia investigation the intensity of Trump's focus would put lasers to shame.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:50 AM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

2) Interesting that Merkel met with Obama. I'm sure the usual swamps are already slithering with vague insinuations, but good for him -- it sounds like he's trying to help behind the scenes as best he can.

His retirement probably isn't as retiring as expected. He was the last safe pair of hands that saw the full picture and isn't currently investigating or otherwise enmeshed. I would bet he's still pretty busy, despite protestations to the contrary.

I bet when everything comes out in the wash, his presidential legacy rises a few notches. Saving the Republic from an incoming traitor is a big deal.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

from the "ohhhh, that explains it" dept.:

WaPo: ‘Anyone . . . with a pulse’: How a Russia-friendly adviser found his way into the Trump campaign

As Donald Trump surged in the Republican primary polls in the early months of 2016, his outsider campaign faced growing pressure to show that the former reality-TV star and noted provocateur was forming a coherent and credible world view.

So when Carter Page, an international businessman with an office near Trump Tower, turned up at campaign headquarters, former officials recall, Trump aides were quick to make him feel welcome.
…
“Everyone did their best, but there was not as much vetting as there could have been,” former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.

Another longtime campaign official put it this way: “Anyone who came to us with a pulse, a résumé and seemed legit would be welcomed.”

“We were not exactly making due diligence the highest priority,” another campaign veteran added.

never before have incompetence and malice meshed so tightly together
posted by murphy slaw at 7:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [72 favorites]

"Hello, I am Mr. Nitup. I great businessman with many international connection and, how you say, diplomacy. You hire, yes?"
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:55 AM on May 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

Belgians to Donald Trump: "We love our hellhole!" Delightful.
posted by emjaybee at 7:57 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I like the way Nitup thinks!
posted by cmfletcher at 7:58 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Serious question: I've been writing and calling at least one Congressperson every day, so I'm on a roll.

How does disbarment work? Is there someone I can call/contact to demand the investigation of Sessions?
posted by archimago at 7:58 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

> Among legislators, as well as the president’s senior staff, there is a fear that the legislative agenda will be hampered — and that Trump will be unable to focus.

We should have some sort of daily "stating the obvious" award. This could do it for now.
posted by Melismata at 7:58 AM on May 25, 2017

“There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it’s been an accepted concept in our culture today,”

Right, because we limit our culture to things explicitly discussed and authorized by the Bible. That's why we've wisely chosen not to have cars, indoor plumbing, electricity, anesthesia, or eat any New World foods like potatoes and tomatoes.

Likewise, because there's nothing in the Bible about representative democracy, our society is a theocratic monarchy.

Also, I just heard Trump blathering on NPR and he **STILL** doesn't comprehend how NATO works. He was going on and on about his incorrect belief that the other NATO nations owe the US a lot of money because they hadn't been spending 2% of GDP on defense.

I note that neither Trump nor Gianforte seem to be living in the real world and a horrifying number of Americans are perfectly willing to go along with their bizarre fantasies.
posted by sotonohito at 8:05 AM on May 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

The other thing about the retirement quote is that it so puts the lie to the idea that Republicans are all about the embattled white working class. Because my sense, as someone who has spent a fair amount of time straddling class divides, is that there are massive class differences in how people view retirement. Upper-middle-class people often really like the idea of not retiring. They might slow down or make some changes so their work is more flexible, but they get a lot of satisfaction and psychic reward from their jobs, and they often want to keep working in some capacity into old age. Working-class people, on the other hand, are often counting down the days until they can retire. They don't worry about being bored when they retire, the way that upper-middle-class people do. They're really excited about having autonomy and free time while they're still young and healthy enough to enjoy it. There's no way to sound more like a clueless out-of-touch rich guy than to suggest that it's a great idea for everyone to retire later.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:16 AM on May 25, 2017 [71 favorites]

I'm not a big bible-quoter, but Luke 6:31 pretty much says "Do unto others..."
posted by puddledork at 8:20 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Senior Trump aides recounted to The Daily Beast the shockwaves and “sustained panic,” as one official described it, that news of the initial Comey memo sent through the administration and Trump’s political inner circle. Along with the chaos and continued frustrations that came with attempting to manage the fallout, there was an immediate unease expressed by senior staffers, including Priebus, that more damning memos could be revealed in the coming weeks, if not days.

Wait -- does this story really say that it never before occurred to high-ranking Trump Administration officials, including obvious anagram Reince Priebus, that the FBI Director might actually take notes on conversations in which they let slip possibly criminal behavior and/or treason?!
posted by Gelatin at 8:22 AM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Breaking at WaPo:

"Trump ask [sic 11:24 a.m.] for U.S. investigation into British bomb probe leaks"

Of all the things he has to worry about, he picks this. Of course.
posted by Melismata at 8:25 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump gotta Trump: Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?
posted by scalefree at 8:28 AM on May 25, 2017 [63 favorites]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

Here's my hot take:

Yes, yes he did.
posted by diogenes at 8:32 AM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

The Pope rules. Here he reacts to catching Trump's eye.
posted by scalefree at 8:33 AM on May 25, 2017 [80 favorites]

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by jferg at 8:33 AM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Comey, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:35 AM on May 25, 2017 [38 favorites]

Trump ask [sic 11:24 a.m.] for U.S. investigation into British bomb probe leaks

Check the mirror, Dolt 45.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:37 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Comey, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?

Trump (/entire GOP): I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's givin it away!
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump may be enjoying his grand tour but tourism here in the US is way down since he was elected. Foursquare reports that tourism to the US is down as much as 16% since last year.

I'm friendly with a bunch of local tour guides and they say there definitely has been an impact on tourism. Bus tours from Canada are a staple of Salem's midweek tourism economy, but they are slowing due to fears of not making it into the country and poor reactions when they do. More than one Quebecois has been sworn at by a Proud Murican for the crimes of being darker skinned and not speaking English.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:43 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

I dunno, the leak of info about the Manchester bombing seems entirely different from the other leaks. It's one thing to drop all sorts of info punching this administration for its malfeasance and incompetence. Honestly, if we can get even more of that, I'm all for it. But whoever dropped secret info about an investigation into something that literally killed people -- when that investigation could presumably stop more killing -- isn't doing the public any favors and should be out on their ass. This wasn't whistleblowing. This was something else.

The problem, of course, is I'm sure Twitler and his cronies don't see any difference.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:44 AM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump gotta Trump: Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

During the mid 1800's, the British satirical magazine Punch ran this cartoon lampooning boorish Americans.

Trump's the epitome of stereotypes about us that are over 150 years old.
posted by zarq at 8:45 AM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

I think it makes a lot of strategic sense for Trump to latch onto the Manchester leaks as an example of why he should be allowed to clamp down in leaks in general.
posted by contraption at 8:47 AM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

During the mid 1800's, the British satirical magazine Punch ran this cartoon lampooning boorish Americans.

What do you use your mustardin' pistol for, you useless fop?
posted by Etrigan at 8:47 AM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

Rebecca Leber: The GOP Health Bill Would Make Zika the Newest Preexisting Condition
posted by zombieflanders at 8:49 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

This wasn't whistleblowing. This was something else.

Trump's Razor leads me to speculate that the administration deliberately engineered this leak to serve as a scapegoat for the real whistleblowing leaks they want to go after, and that it was done in so ham-fisted a manner as to be glaringly obvious if it does get investigated.
posted by contraption at 8:54 AM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Manchester intel leak does have a Bannon-esque stink of not giving a shit about human life to it, yes.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:56 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Alas, I am at work, so I don't have access to popcorn.

So I'm eating cheese puffs that the office manager has outside his office and scrolling through gifs and twitter posts with photos of Trump's rigid, frightened smile when he realizes that Macron has fucking got his fingers and isn't letting go.

IT ISN'T UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE, BUT IT'LL DO.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:59 AM on May 25, 2017 [39 favorites]

What do you use your mustardin' pistol for, you useless fop?

It's for me...

*puts sunglasses on hand*
*takes sunglasses back off hand*
*puts dog puppet on hand*
*puts sunglasses on dog puppet*

...to poupon.
posted by cortex at 9:01 AM on May 25, 2017 [92 favorites]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

Is Trump smart enough not to try this kind of bullshit with his mafiosi cronies, or is he just really, really lucky to be alive?
posted by uncleozzy at 9:02 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Manchester intel leak does have a Bannon-esque stink of not giving a shit about human life to it, yes.

It's pre-Bannoneseque. US intel leaked Brit intel details to the American media in the aftermath of the London underground and bus bombings on 7 July 2007.
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:04 AM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

Is Trump smart enough not to try this kind of bullshit with his mafiosi cronies, or is he just really, really lucky to be alive?

They don't want to be in pictures anyway.
posted by Etrigan at 9:05 AM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Uh, the reason Noah was "working" at 600 was to build a ship large enough to save his family and those animals he could fit on it, because God was about to murder all of humanity for being such fucking assholes that God decided we were a failed experiment. And God asked Noah to find even ONE other person who wasn't a fucking asshole, and if Noah could, then God wouldn't kill all of humanity. And Noah couldn't do it. So his choice was to work in order to not die, and to watch literally everything around him die.

Like really, GOP? This isn't the allegory you fucking want to make your example. Assholes.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:09 AM on May 25, 2017 [59 favorites]

Besides, there's tons of stuff in the Bible about feeding the poor, healing the sick, and giving away one's wealth for the betterment of society and one's own soul, so that's maybe another reason to not invite Biblical exegesis of one's legislative aspirations.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:14 AM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

“The example I think of is Noah,” he continued. “How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600. He wasn’t like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn’t hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an obligation to work. The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical.”

Numbers 8:23-26 ESV

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”
posted by jaduncan at 9:14 AM on May 25, 2017 [50 favorites]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

Cretin is the best possible mascot of the "Fuck you, got mine!" Party. Except he has even less nuance, he's just a primal scream of "Me!"

He's the Me Generation president.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:16 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Yeah, but that's because Levites were obligated to serve, they didn't have a choice. So supporting them financially was one of the obligations of the community. One could just as well argue that it justifies not supporting anyone in retirement because nobody is "obligated" from birth to serve, "poverty is freedom" etc. (Not that there aren't tons of passages that contradict that idea, but if you were going by just this one passage.)
posted by Autumnheart at 9:22 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

we probably don't need to dig any further into the retirement comments than to note "the devil can quote scripture for his purpose" and leave it at that.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:24 AM on May 25, 2017 [36 favorites]

Latest salvo in the Trump-Macron handshake war.
posted by marshmallow peep at 9:26 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

There's no way to sound more like a clueless out-of-touch rich guy than to suggest that it's a great idea for everyone to retire later.

My observation, based on my parents' friends and siblings and my own friends' parents, is that a lot of people retire so they can care for their grandchildren--and not in a "want to spend time with the grandkids" way but in a "my children literally need my help" way.

I have several friends who say, due to the astronomical costs of daycare, the only reason they were able to afford to buy a house was because their parents provided free child care. These are middle-class people who have the option of buying a house on the table. Lower-income folks are faced with grimmer choices.

Perhaps if politicians think people should stay in the workforce longer, they should advocate for more generous parental leave policies and better, subsidized childcare.
posted by chaoticgood at 9:26 AM on May 25, 2017 [24 favorites]

Given the way this is going, America is turning into the kid no one wants to talk to on the playground.
posted by Yowser at 9:28 AM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

Reaction to Trump's NATO remarks by other world leaders is best described as, "Da fuck?" And it doesn't help that Trump has less command of the English language than most European leaders.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:32 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

This...

no one wins the handshake war until someone gets trump with a joy buzzer.

...and this...

Latest salvo in the Trump-Macron handshake war.

Since fellow NATO countries are being attacked, Canada has a treaty obligation to bring back the Little Guy From Shawinigan for one last handshake.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

They should all start shaking the living shit out of his hand and obliviously stepping between him and the camera and generally practicing judo diplomacy until they drive him into a full-on tantrum.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [41 favorites]

no one wins the handshake war until someone gets trump with a joy buzzer.

where the hell is the joker when we need him
posted by entropicamericana at 9:36 AM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

I don't think they do want people in the workforce longer. What they want is to turn every stage of human life into a profit center, including health care, education, child-rearing and elder care. We all acknowledge that there are financial expenses associated with these things, but they don't want them to be affordable. They want them to make money. So they're setting up a system where costs will continue to increase until you can't afford to live anymore. Two birds, one stone.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:37 AM on May 25, 2017 [31 favorites]

Jack Nicholson Joker, I hope.
posted by Yowser at 9:38 AM on May 25, 2017

where the hell is the joker when we need him

We elected him.
posted by drezdn at 9:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

It's surprising how many western leaders have independently decided to treat Trump with only thinly veiled contempt. If they thought having a meaningful personal relationship was going to be important for the countries getting along, this probably wouldn't be happening. Are they thinking his days are numbered, or that these lizard-brain displays of dominance are the only way to work with him at all?

That's a good question. Possibly they feel he is a lost cause (too ignorant/compromised by Russia) and yeah, a short-timer. I assume there is some calculation that being seen as his buddy would have negative consequences for them in other ways, so it is politically safer to be seen as distancing themselves. They already know anything they tell him in confidence is likely to get blurted out in the worst possible way; they know his administration is compromised; they know he is unpopular even at home.
posted by emjaybee at 9:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Latest salvo in the Trump-Macron handshake war.

There's a story that the relationship between England and France soured after Henry VIII challenged the King of France to a wrestling match and then lost. For some reason, this reminds me of that.
posted by drezdn at 9:39 AM on May 25, 2017

Nah. It's America's shitty dad, whose kid suffers while other parents avoid him and never want to make playdates anymore. But they mostly believe it's not the kid's fault, and they hope the kid turns out alright despite having a shitty dad for a while.

I don't know, in my experience the kid usually just gets fucked over.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:40 AM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump's Razor leads me to speculate that the administration deliberately engineered this leak to serve as a scapegoat

Trump's Razor suggests that the administration's actions are far less "deliberately engineered" than they are "post-hoc rationalizations of yet another typically half-assed foul-up."
posted by Gelatin at 9:44 AM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

It's surprising how many western leaders have independently decided to treat Trump with only thinly veiled contempt.

I don't think it's surprising, I think it is an entirely predictable outcome.
posted by biogeo at 9:46 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

There's a story that the relationship between England and France soured after Henry VIII challenged the King of France to a wrestling match and then lost. For some reason, this reminds me of that.

Well there were some problems before that.
posted by winna at 9:49 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

where the hell is the joker when we need him

We elected him.

And we elected the Heath Ledger Joker, not the Mark Hamill Joker.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:50 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's surprising how many western leaders have independently decided to treat Trump with only thinly veiled contempt. If they thought having a meaningful personal relationship was going to be important for the countries getting along, this probably wouldn't be happening. Are they thinking his days are numbered, or that these lizard-brain displays of dominance are the only way to work with him at all?

Watching the other leaders in the background of Trump's shoving and posturing, I'm picking up an awful lot of resigned looks and such; I think they've going with veiled contempt because Trump isn't popular in their own countries, so they don't want to be seen displaying any deference, while at the same time they don't want to be the one who is rude publicly because there's no need to cause an incident.

They think he's manageable, is my takeaway - he's boorish, incapable, but they can work around him or in spite of him, and there's no point chewing up any political capital in taking him head on.
posted by nubs at 9:50 AM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

It's surprising how many western leaders have independently decided to treat Trump with only thinly veiled contempt.

Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan (La victoria trova cento padri, a nessuno vuole riconoscere l'insuccesso) (1942) Count Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944), The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943, Vol. 2.

Put in more blunt terms, nobody wants to be the one closely associated with an ongoing clusterfuck.
posted by jaduncan at 9:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Heath Ledger's version had an intricate plan hidden behind wall-to-wall disinformation. This is more of a very dumb Cesar Romero setup.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

And we elected the Heath Ledger Joker, not the Mark Hamill Joker.

Please don't be insulting The Joker by comparing any incarnation to Trump.

Thanking you in advance...
posted by mikelieman at 9:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Not if the shitty dad shows interest in the kid's life for only a short time, then skips town--leaving the kid in the care of the other parent/guardian who loves the kid and acts in the kid's best interests, instead of using the kid to extract money.

That's a real big if
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:56 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Please don't be insulting The Joker by comparing any incarnation to Trump.

Recall that even The Joker objects to working with actual Nazis.
posted by Gelatin at 9:56 AM on May 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

Subtract out Putin and it's really hard to suss out what Trump has against NATO.
posted by notyou at 10:03 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Russia looms over Trump's meetings with European leaders. Another quote from this article that stood out to me:

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited President Donald Trump at the White House in March, she brought a visual aid to help Trump understand the menace posed by his would-be friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Merkel brought a 1980s map of the former Soviet Union and noted the way its borders stretched for hundreds of miles to the west of Russia’s current boundary, according to a source who was briefed on the meeting. The German leader's point was that Putin laments the Soviet Union’s demise and, left unchecked, would happily restore its former borders. Merkel left Washington unconvinced that Trump had gotten the message, the source said. (A White House official said a top Merkel aide showed such a map to national security adviser H.R. McMaster, though neither the official nor a spokesman for the German embassy would provide details on Merkel's private meeting with Trump.)

The idea that Merkel had to drag a damn map to the White House to show both the President and his National Security Advisor that the USSR was a thing is pretty high on the list of this country's most embarrassing moments.

Meanwhile, both the White House and Pence's office has no comment on Gianforte. Funny how they seem to have nothing to say whenever reporters or protesters are assaulted.
posted by zachlipton at 10:04 AM on May 25, 2017 [72 favorites]

Only yesterday, the administration was saying that Trump would use this occasion to stress America's commitment to mutual defense & Article 5. And today, Trump...doesn't do that. Which has led to the administration now claiming that he really did, even though he did not.

Tragically, I can't rule out in my mind the possibility that Trump actually did mean to do so, which, filtered thru his spectacular incompetence and abnormally small fingers, resulted in that hash.
posted by Gelatin at 10:06 AM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Please pass this message [about Trump Budget cuts to Lyme Disease research] along to MaterCallipygos and send her forth to spread the word.

Done. Sent the link and pointed out that her own rep has come out against the budget, but "it may be a good idea to call [aunt A, Uncle B, and Uncle C] and see if they can help. Love ya, byeee!"

Will report back.

...There is a part of me that is now wondering if I have inadvertently tossed a grenade into the middle of the family that won't explode until Thanksgiving (my parents are the only Dems in that generation of the family, the rest are Republican, self-professed Conservative, and some weird hybrid that is socially conservative except for LGBT rights), and my mother is usually close to the vest about this kind of thing - but if she becomes a little baby activist over this I will be so tickled.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:15 AM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

Subtract out Putin and it's really hard to suss out what Trump has against NATO.

Trump's worldview fundamentally rejects the idea of cooperation and shared interests. For him, everything has always been about dominance. As his de facto authorized biographer wrote recently, "It was a binary, zero-sum choice for him: You either dominated or you submitted. You either created and exploited fear, or you succumbed to it{...}."

Come to think of it, though, Putin has a similar zero-sum outlook.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:24 AM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

it's really hard to suss out what Trump has against NATO.

I imagine he has a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea of mutual aid for a common benefit. He can only understand NATO as a protection racket that's not yielding enough juice.
posted by Iridic at 10:25 AM on May 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

(Or what Doktor Zed said!)
posted by Iridic at 10:26 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Anyone ever expecting him to ever put NATO above Putin is a fool, that's for sure. And the rest of NATO is surely well aware of that.
posted by Artw at 10:30 AM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

notyou: Subtract out Putin and it's really hard to suss out what Trump has against NATO.

That NATO members have been freeloading on the generosity of the US is a conservative trope that predates Trump by at least a decade. It used to come up as an excuse for why the US couldn't afford the generous social systems most other NATO members have.
posted by syzygy at 10:31 AM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

WSJ: Trump Officials Offer Differing Views on Tax Plan

The Trump administration assumes that its tax plan will pay for itself without factoring in potential economic growth that could stem from the plan, the White House budget director told senators, apparently marking a sudden and significant shift in the administration’s priorities.

But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared to contradict that statement at a separate Senate hearing, saying the tax plan’s accounting, when it is released, will count partially on economic growth spurred by tax cuts.

The officials’ statements underscored just how unsettled the administration’s tax policy plans are and showed the tensions between their claims of a balanced budget and their desire to enact tax cuts to boost the economy.
...
“The one pager puts forward numbers that do not come close to adding up,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) “The math behind this plan would make Bernie Madoff blush.”

I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it. This administration is not made up of serious people. They have no interest in actually doing the work needed to do their jobs properly.
posted by zachlipton at 10:32 AM on May 25, 2017 [34 favorites]

Its numbers also indicate that visits to the rest to the rest of world are up, making the U.S. an anomaly.

The report notes that the drop in travel can not be attributed to Trump's policies alone.

Probably just a coincidence, then. Weird!
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:33 AM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

Trump's worldview fundamentally rejects the idea of cooperation and shared interests.

Which is why he's a better fit with modern movement conservatism than other Republicans might like to pretend. Recall that recently -- though it seems ages ago in terms of this dumpster fire of an administration -- Paul Ryan went on TV to complain about young, healthy people subsidizing the health care costs of older, sicker people. Which is, of course, the essential nature of health insurance itself.
posted by Gelatin at 10:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

I would guess he sees it as other NATO states exploiting the US defence budget. The repeated comments about money owed from previous years weirdly implies that in his/their most fevered fantasies, other NATO allies apologise for spending less than 2% and send the US the difference for each year hitherto.

He really likes to make the God Emperor joke a very viable claim. He just needs more gold decor (freely available) and the agreement of the EU that they are US vassal states who should owe tribute (almost certainly not).
posted by jaduncan at 10:34 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

That's what America First looks like!
posted by carmicha at 10:35 AM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

That NATO members have been freeloading on the generosity of the US is a conservative trope that predates Trump by at least a decade. It used to come up as an excuse for why the US couldn't afford the generous social systems most other NATO members have.

This is a pretty common argument amongst servicemembers. They tend to shut up after you point out how incredibly socialist the military is, with no performance bonuses, tightly regulated promotion and payment systems, single-payer health care, communal housing...
posted by Etrigan at 10:36 AM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

WSJ: How Alleged Russian Hacker Teamed Up With Florida GOP Operative

The hacking spree that upended the presidential election wasn’t limited to Democratic National Committee memos and Clinton-aide emails posted on websites. The hacker also privately sent Democratic voter-turnout analyses to a Republican political operative in Florida named Aaron Nevins.

Learning that hacker “Guccifer 2.0” had tapped into a Democratic committee that helps House candidates, Mr. Nevins wrote to the hacker to say: “Feel free to send any Florida based information.”

Ten days later, Mr. Nevins received 2.5 gigabytes of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee documents, some of which he posted on a blog called HelloFLA.com that he ran using a pseudonym.

Soon after, the hacker sent a link to the blog article to Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, along with Mr. Nevins’ analysis of the hacked data.

posted by zachlipton at 10:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [50 favorites]

The Card Cheat: "The report notes that the drop in travel can not be attributed to Trump's policies alone.

Probably just a coincidence, then. Weird!"

It's unclear from your sarcasm what your actual understanding is, but for the benefit of people who are confused like I was--the implication of the quoted statement is that the legal consequences of the muslim ban are not solely responsible for the drop in tourism, which is to say that the muslim ban (among other policies of the Trump admin) appear to be driving people away even if they're not legally barred from coming to the country.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:40 AM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

> Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

That's what America First looks like!

On closer examination, this incident looks like it may have something to do with Trump's shady relationship with Putin.

The man Trump shoved is Montenegro's PM, Dusko Markovic. Not only did Montenegro only just join NATO, much against Putin's wishes, but it also foiled an allegedly Russian-linked coup plot last year.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:41 AM on May 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

This is the wildest thing I have learned today: even in Montana there is an urban-rural political split between the towns with 40,000 people and the towns with 2,000. Good lord.

It's less urban-rural than gown-town. Missoula and Bozeman are the two state university cities. In between is Butte which has a long union mining history. Even though the mines are long closed, they still remember the lynching of wobbly Frank Hill by Pinkerton goons. Incidentally, turns out Dashiell Hammett was working for the Pinkertons in Butte at the time and allegedly turned down $5000 to do the dirty deed.

Two of the largest cities in Montana are decidedly Republican. Great Falls has had a military influence from a long history of SAC bombers and more recently Minuteman missiles. Billings is dominated by the oil and coal extraction industries.

So it's not as simple as urban vs rural.
posted by JackFlash at 10:41 AM on May 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

The man Trump shoved is Montenegro's PM, Dusko Markovic.

Certainly a coincidence, because LOL if you think Trump knows or cares who any of these people around him are.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:43 AM on May 25, 2017 [76 favorites]

> the implication of the quoted statement is that the legal consequences of the muslim ban are not solely responsible for the drop in tourism

Yeah, I got that...there's nothing legally preventing me, or my wife or any of the other Canadians I know who have decided to not travel to the U.S. for the time being, from going. I just choose not to because, well...you know.

In other words, I'd attribute the product failure to fundamental shifts in U.S. legal policies, coupled with the overall crumminess of Trump.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:47 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

> Certainly a coincidence

But a happy coincidence! His Russian handlers will approve, da?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:47 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

AP: Trump’s speech to Israeli parliament scrapped amid concerns

Israel’s parliament speaker says a proposal that Donald Trump would speak before the Knesset during his visit to Israel was scrapped over fears that the American president would be interrupted and heckled by some lawmakers.

posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on May 25, 2017 [50 favorites]

4th Circuit affirms in part/vacates in part --- upholding most of the injunction against the travel ban.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:53 AM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

Heath Ledger's version had an intricate plan hidden behind wall-to-wall disinformation.

Nope, it only LOOKED like an intricate plan to outsiders. The Joker says himself, "I'm not a planner. I just DO things."

In reality, dude was just running around doing what he felt like assuming things would work out for him. That it looked like an intricate plan was just a coincidence.

So yeah, we elected him.
posted by VTX at 10:54 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's the full 4th Circuit opinion [pdf].
posted by melissasaurus at 11:01 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

From the 4th Circuit dissent: "The real losers in this case are the millions of Americans whose security is threatened"

OK.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:06 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

> From the 4th Circuit dissent: "The real losers in this case are the millions of Americans whose security is threatened"

"Let justice be done, ~~though the heavens fall~~ unless it might scare some people."

(Anyone got a Latin translation on that?)
posted by tonycpsu at 11:08 AM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

I thought the terrorists were the real losers. So many losers this week.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:10 AM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

From the 4th Circuit dissent: "The real losers in this case are the millions of Americans whose security is threatened"

Of course, if the administration had been able to show that the travel ban actually served a legitimate security purpose, the courts would have been forced to give it much more deference. What a shameful display of blind partisanship and playing to the wingnut blogger audience.
posted by Gelatin at 11:11 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Nope, it only LOOKED like an intricate plan to outsiders. The Joker says himself, "I'm not a planner. I just DO things."

In reality, dude was just running around doing what he felt like assuming things would work out for him. That it looked like an intricate plan was just a coincidence.

You're taking **THE JOKER** at his word about something? The word of a known, proud, liar? The word of a person who literally gave a different story about his scars every single time he tried to explain them?

Of course he plans, and of course he lies about planning.

The plans may not be the most intricate, but they're present.

And that is why Trump is not the Joker. He's not smart enough, sane enough, or thoughtful enough.
posted by sotonohito at 11:11 AM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

In reality, dude was just running around doing what he felt like assuming things would work out for him. That it looked like an intricate plan was just a coincidence.

And some hacky screenwriting.
posted by Artw at 11:12 AM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

"It was a binary, zero-sum choice for him: You either dominated or you submitted. You either created and exploited fear, or you succumbed to it{...}."

кто кого, as Lenin would say.
posted by orrnyereg at 11:17 AM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Surely the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment yet stands as an untiring sentinel for the protection of one of our most cherished founding principles

Oh, snap!

It's funny how conservatives aren't so hot on protecting founding principles lately. It's almost like they don't have any core beliefs at all.
posted by diogenes at 11:17 AM on May 25, 2017 [36 favorites]

And some hacky screenwriting.

srsly how did he wire an entire hospital to explode without anyone noticing

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty discouraged about whether or not we are still a nation of laws today. Gianforte actually being prosecuted would be a good start, but I'm not particularly optimistic.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:17 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Subtract out Putin and it's really hard to suss out what Trump has against NATO.

Factor in Alex Jones and recalculate.
posted by petebest at 11:18 AM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

From the 4th Circuit dissent: "The real losers in this case are the millions of Americans whose security is threatened"

Millions? Millions? Let us take a look at the numbers:

Number of deaths for leading causes of death
• Heart disease: 614,348
• Cancer: 591,699
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
• Alzheimer's disease: 93,541
• Diabetes: 76,488
• Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
• Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773

That adds up to 1,938,479. The top ten actual causes of death do not kill millions of Americans in a year. The 4th Circuit dissent posits that people coming from these countries are more dangerous than all of these things combined.

Fuck you, you cowardly, craven, callow fucks.
posted by Etrigan at 11:20 AM on May 25, 2017 [97 favorites]

The US is finally telling the public who overstays their visas the most—and it’s not Mexicans (Blame Canada!)
posted by Omon Ra at 11:20 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Vogel for Politico -- Manafort advised Trump team on Russia scandal:

Former campaign chief remained in contact with the president and his aides after the FBI launched its Russia probe.
...
It was about a week before Trump’s inauguration, and Manafort wanted to brief Trump’s team on alleged inaccuracies in a recently released dossier of memos written by a former British spy for Trump’s opponents that alleged compromising ties among Russia, Trump and Trump’s associates, including Manafort.
...
Manafort told Priebus that the dossier was tainted by inaccuracies and by the motivations of the people who initiated it, whom he alleged were Democratic activists and donors working in cahoots with Ukrainian government officials, according to the operative.
...
Manafort has said he severed ties with Yanukovych when he fled Ukraine. But Manafort continued advising the successor party to Yanukovych’s through late 2015.

And two operatives familiar with his work in Eastern Europe say he remained in contact during Trump’s presidency with associates in Ukraine, including one who is widely believed to have a background in Russian intelligence.

Italics mine.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:21 AM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

The idea that Merkel had to drag a damn map to the White House to show both the President and his National Security Advisor that the USSR was a thing is pretty high on the list of this country's most embarrassing moments.

Even more embarrassing is that, in Trump's mind, his electoral map supersedes Merkel's map. Until NATO hands him a victory that's as important as the presidential election, he's never giving up his loyalty to Putin. I don't see any calculus from Trump that figures in what's good for the country.
posted by gladly at 11:21 AM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's funny how conservatives aren't so hot on protecting founding principles lately. It's almost like they don't have any core beliefs at all.

Oh, they have them; it's just that "transfer the other half of the nation's wealth and property to the ultra-rich" doesn't poll well.
posted by Gelatin at 11:22 AM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

(Blame Canada!)

Times have changed.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:23 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Even more embarrassing is that, in Trump's mind, his electoral map supersedes Merkel's map.

Even more embarrassing than that, Trump's map doesn't even mean what he thinks it means. It's a map of his popular vote loss. If it were a map of his (bottom-tier) Electoral College win the states would all be solid colors except for Maine.
An accurate map would show him with 304 electoral votes since he lost two due to faithless electors.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:32 AM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

His minders are leaving. From The Hill:

Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump leave foreign trip early
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:38 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

“The plan was always for them to go back to D.C. after Rome,” a White House official told reporters traveling with the president on Wednesday.

Totally planned. Nothing to do with something that's probably going to break on the Washington Post tomorrow at Russia o'clock.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:41 AM on May 25, 2017 [38 favorites]

Oops, that was from yesterday but it might explain today
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:42 AM on May 25, 2017

From the 4th Circuit dissent: "The real losers in this case are the millions of Americans whose security is threatened"

I'm not a constitutional scholar or anything, but a willingness to sacrifice the Constitution for feelings of security is pretty straightforwardly problematic, isn't it?
posted by diogenes at 11:45 AM on May 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

Reaction to Trump's NATO remarks by other world leaders is best described as, "Da fuck?"

In a week of astonishing images, this may be the best one yet:

France's Macron and Luxemburg's Bettel react to Trump's lecture on NATO — @mathieuvonrohr

You can practically hear Xavier Bettel going *Cough*Connard*Cough.*
posted by octobersurprise at 11:49 AM on May 25, 2017 [33 favorites]

I'm not a constitutional scholar or anything, but a willingness to sacrifice the Constitution for feelings of security is pretty straightforwardly problematic, isn't it?

Constitutional delegate Ben Franklin would agree with you: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
posted by leotrotsky at 11:50 AM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

obvious anagram Reince Priebus

people keep saying this. I don't see anything obvious. Fucking in-jokes!
posted by thelonius at 11:53 AM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh of course! - Bin Recipe User
posted by thelonius at 11:55 AM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

The joke is that his name seems like an anagram of something else. (Though if you disemvowel it you get RNC PR BS.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:55 AM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

Cribs Pee Urine, thelonius.
posted by Floydd at 11:55 AM on May 25, 2017

That adds up to 1,938,479. The top ten actual causes of death do not kill millions of Americans in a year. The 4th Circuit dissent posits that people coming from these countries are more dangerous than all of these things combined.

Fuck you, you cowardly, craven, callow fucks.

This last point really needs to be emphasized. There is no reasonable reading of the totality of the evidence that led up to Trump's Muslim Ban that can be conclude it isn't in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

To find otherwise is an utterly craven conclusion, driven by politics, which should result in the offending judge being following around for the rest of their time on the bench by the Shame Nun from Game of Thrones.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:56 AM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

I'm not a constitutional scholar or anything, but a willingness to sacrifice the Constitution for feelings of security is pretty straightforwardly problematic, isn't it?

One the court, luckily, realizes:

We are likewise unmoved by the Government’s rote invocation of harm to “national security interests” as the silver bullet that defeats all other asserted injuries. National security may be the most compelling of government interests, but this does not mean it will always tip the balance of the equities in favor of the government. A claim of harm to national security must still outweigh the competing claim of injury. (internal references omitted)

Other great quotes:

-To the extent that our review chills campaign promises to condemn and exclude entire religious groups, we think that a welcome restraint.

-[re candidate Trump and president Trump being two legally distinct people] We need not impute anyone’s purpose to anyone else, for the same person has espoused these intentions all along. The distinction between candidate and elected official is thus an artificial one where the inquiry is only whether the reasonable observer would understand the candidate’s statements to explain the purpose of his actions once elected.

-There is simply too much evidence that EO-2 was motivated by religious animus for it to survive any measure of constitutional review.

posted by melissasaurus at 11:58 AM on May 25, 2017 [30 favorites]

Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group?

Just to note that he also rudely refused to shake a woman's hand within a second or two of shoving the Nato leader guy out of the way. It's hard to keep up, I know...
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:01 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

France's Macron and Luxemburg's Bettel react to Trump's lecture on NATO — @mathieuvonrohr

Spain's Mariano Rajoy is the bearded guy in the back who looks like he's thinking of donuts. There are even better pictures of him.
posted by sukeban at 12:02 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

A claim of harm to national security must still outweigh the competing claim of injury.

Providing evidence that said harm existed would have been a start. There's simply no evidence that a blanket ban on travel from majority-Muslim countries is a net positive for national security unless you assert that "Muslim == terrorist," which the Administration was doing, but trying to pretend it wasn't to avoid the Establishment Clause hurdle.
posted by Gelatin at 12:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

@Fahrenthold fighting the good fight, round 2: List of charities that will hold their galas at Mar-a-lago next year in case you want to divert your donations elsewhere.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [46 favorites]

Just to note that he also rudely refused to shake a woman's hand within a second or two of shoving the Nato leader guy out of the way. It's hard to keep up, I know...

I'm really reaching deep into my vocabulary to describe this ...venial effluence. I've never encountered a person who really does the worst thing in every possible situation. There's nothing I could learn about him that would seem beneath him.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

In a beautiful-to-watch bit of body language, the woman's right hand seems to say "hey - wanna be friends?", then her left hand reaches out to protect righty, as if to say "you should know better".
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:11 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

List of charities that will hold their galas at Mar-a-lago next year in case you want to divert your donations elsewhere.

Thanks for this Twinbrook8. The American Red Cross and the Susan G Komen Foundation have some serious soul searching to do. I think I'll write a letter to help with that.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:11 PM on May 25, 2017 [30 favorites]

Lol the extremely shitty charities are all returning.
posted by The Whelk at 12:13 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

(This is in reference to Betsy DeVos's ugly monstrosity of a mansion.)
@KeiraCracka:
THIS HOUSE is a short walk away from mine and they made it illegal for anyone to walk past it unless it's Tues or Thurs.
EVEN if you're on the sidewalk. It's the only route to the lighthouse, and they made it trespassing.
She ruined public education and my morning walks. #fuckdevos
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [46 favorites]

Oooh, you don't mess with Dalia. She's tough.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:15 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Bloomberg:
Trump's Budget Is a Waste of Everybody's Time
Budgets are often dead on arrival, but this one is something new.
Trump’s budget has been almost universally called dead on arrival. That may be an understatement. This plan, if you can call it that, was never capable of life. White House budgets are often set aside, yet still can guide deliberations in Congress, where tax and spending decisions actually get made. This budget serves no such purpose. It is simply an extended tweet, and a waste of everybody’s time.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:32 AM on May 24

That's a nice dream from a far simpler time. I view this as a basic negotiating technique: shift the discussion so far to one end that even suggestions that would have previously been ridiculed are now considered as "more reasonable" compared to the opening offer. In other words, that budget shifts the Overton window with a huge push.

Of course, the window could swing back hard, but the opening gambit has been played, and the majority of the news coverage is replying as if it is realistic, as they have regarding most of what Trump has said and done since he was first running for this job.

My only consolation at this point is that the AHCA v2 has only reduced the number of people likely to be without insurance in the future from 24 million to 23 million, which is theoretically unpassable in the Senate, so I am now expecting the House to put forth a Trump Lite budget, which can both be better than what Trump plopped down on us AND considered to still be a steaming pile of filth and hatred.

Of course, that's hoping that the Senate proposes something reasonable and not wholly terrible, and that's not a hope I have at the moment.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:18 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Another longtime campaign official put it this way: “Anyone who came to us with a pulse, a résumé and seemed legit would be welcomed.”

“We were not exactly making due diligence the highest priority,” another campaign veteran added.

Honestly, I was hugely, hugely surprised by this from within the Ted Cruz campaign as well, and while maybe it was different at Jeb Bush headquarters, I wonder how endemic this is to the Republican Party - kind of the complete lack of even the most cursory vetting of people who were coming into positions.

One of the things that was so surreal to me when I began the delegate process is I was expecting to get kicked out any minute and was constantly surprised they hadn't done it yet and I seemed to be advancing. They spent a lot of time talking about making sure "the RINOs" didn't get in and checking if people had changed their Facebook profile picture to have the Ted Cruz flame, but not a lot of time, oh, I don't know, actually googling anyone.

If they had even bothered to google me once - if anyone had - they would have voted me out before I got to Cleveland. We're not even talking real research, just the first thing you do before you meet your OKCupid date, for fuck's sake.

So yeah, color me completely unsurprised that the Trump campaign was bad at weeding out people with ties to Russia. I'd honestly be surprised if the Trump campaign staff isn't rife with actual criminals all over the place even before you get to their policy nonsense.
posted by corb at 12:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [54 favorites]

Military spending by NATO members (Economist "daily chart")

The thing about the 2% is, it's complicated. First of all, no one has asked the US to spend that much on military. From an outsider's perspective, it seems US governments use military spending for all sorts of non-security stuff that we Europeans do in other ways. Like social security, healthcare, education, integration of immigrants, hidden support for industry and R&D, both private and public.
Also, some European governments prefer to spend on aid rather than military for terror prevention. In actual numbers, the US is a very large donor, but proportionally, not so much. Some argue that the two numbers have to be added together to measure the effort.
Some countries will also claim that the whole idea of a proportional measure is stupid — it makes impoverished Greece look like a big spender and incredibly rich Germany look like a miser.

Also, the Trump agenda might backfire big time. The core EU countries have always wanted a joint EU force. With the UK out of the picture, this ambition has a lot less resistance, and already now, there are serious proposals for boosting the military-industrial complex in Europe. To date, a lot of essential arms are only provided by the US. If the EU decides to fund more research and development at EU arms developers, US corporations will face new competition, and not only within NATO. A common arms effort in EU will not only lead to tougher competition on the commercial side, but also lure countries that are skeptical of an EU joint force into the fold.

Specially Germany, Spain and France have relations with Arab nations and Iran that run counter to US and UK interests, but which have been kept down in the name of NATO solidarity. IMO, there are still huge hurdles in front of an actual European challenge to the US in terms of military spending and arms development. But if I were a US president, I wouldn't push it. And I can imagine that some European leaders are more optimistic than me on this. Hence the eye-rolls and other obvious signs of contempt.
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on May 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

So yeah, color me completely unsurprised that the Trump campaign was bad at weeding out people with ties to Russia. I'd honestly be surprised if the Trump campaign staff isn't rife with actual criminals all over the place even before you get to their policy nonsense.

the setup described in that article sounds like such a perfect entry point for foreign espionage that i would be very surprised if carter page just happens to be the dumbest one, while there are a handful of others who have managed to keep their heads down and exert a more subtle influence.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:27 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ok, it kills me to say it, but I sort of like Betsy DeVos's house. It occupies this rather pleasant, hobbity space between "Victorian folly" and "pile of pudding."

But then, I'm also a huge fan of AMC Pacers, so what do I know?
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 12:28 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Hence the eye-rolls and other obvious signs of contempt.

i feel like if we got more footage shot from the chest down we would see a lot of folks making jack-off gestures with their hands.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:29 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

The American Red Cross is going to hold their gala at Mar-A-Lago? This incenses me. I have CMV-, O- blood, which means I can donate to newborns. I don't want to murder babies by not donating, but I think I will be writing a letter.
posted by xyzzy at 12:29 PM on May 25, 2017 [41 favorites]

Reince Priebus is an anagram of 'odious lickspittle enabling despicable protofascistic traitorous unprincipled arsefelching sulphurous sociopathic smear of scum unfit to grace a cesspool draining a mile-high mound of rotting hyena turds'.
posted by Devonian at 12:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is!
posted by craven_morhead at 12:31 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'd honestly be surprised if the Trump campaign staff isn't rife with actual criminals all over the place even before you get to their policy nonsense.

This is, in fact, what I think they're so scared of. That they were being used as soft assets by a hostile foreign power doesn't even register to them - it's that they didn't expect to win, didn't clean up house before the assumption of office, and are afraid that they'll literally be perp-walked out of the White House for all the financial misdealings leading up to the election. And of course, every R running in 2018 and 2016 own this shitpile, it will cost them dearly, and the Clusterfuck Crew realize that they'll not only never work in DC again, they'll likely have a hard time earning anything after having fucked up so royally. All that good-old-boy smarmy 'networking' they've spent decades on? Gone.
posted by eclectist at 12:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

I don't want to murder babies by not donating, but I think I will be writing a letter.

xyzzy - you can always donate at your local hospital.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:33 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is!

Where's the Tylenol?
posted by Servo5678 at 12:34 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I've never encountered a person who really does the worst thing in every possible situation.

Right? I mean, callow, heartless, bungler tho he may have been, GWB usually at least seemed to want to appear to be a serious and gracious representative of his country. Donnie approaches every transaction looking for someone to piss on.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

xyzzy - you can always donate at your local hospital.

You know what? The local hospital asked me to be on call, which I guiltily declined because I hate driving into the city. I think I will actually just switch to being on call and tell the ARC why I won't be donating with them. I can put up with some personal inconvenience for a good cause.
posted by xyzzy at 12:37 PM on May 25, 2017 [101 favorites]

Donnie approaches every transaction looking for someone to piss on.

Dude. Phrasing.
posted by lydhre at 12:39 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

ok. piss off.
posted by Namlit at 12:41 PM on May 25, 2017

I mean, callow, heartless, bungler tho he may have been, GWB usually at least seemed to want to appear to be a serious and gracious representative of his country.

In 2003 Bush founded the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which guaranteed $15 million to be spent over the course of five years on prevention, treatment and research on HIV/AIDS. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. was also a leader in contributing to the Global Fund on AIDS..

I despise GWB, too, but the dude did some incredible good for the world amid all his bungling and awfulness. That's not to say #notallDubyas, because I think we'll all remember him for various war crimes and plain stupidity. But even so, he deserves credit for the good he did. Nixon did some real good for the country, too, if not the world. So did the others.

That distinction is incredibly important because so far there's no sign of Trump doing any good on any scale at all.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:42 PM on May 25, 2017 [39 favorites]

Well, he's making some shitty white people feel very good about themselves.
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

> Just to note that he also rudely refused to shake a woman's hand

"A woman" is Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Lithuania.

Lithuania is, coincidentally, another country on Putin's shit list (admittedly, it's a long list). Fun facts: her nickname is the "Steel Magnolia", and she holds a black belt in karate. Trump was lucky he didn't try to shove her.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:44 PM on May 25, 2017 [62 favorites]

Ok, it kills me to say it, but I sort of like Betsy DeVos's house. It occupies this rather pleasant, hobbity space between "Victorian folly" and "pile of pudding."

Someone on twitter compared it to a cruise ship that had run aground and they decided to build a house around it.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:45 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Why is it the press is calling the Montana candidate's assault of a Guardian reporter, as a body slam. By all accounts he grabbed the reporter by the neck, threw him down, and punched on him, and put him in a hospital. This is bad propaganda on our part everywhere to discuss this as a body slam, as if the reporter should have just manned up. Hey what? Surprise attack, who expects a political candidate to fully attack a journalist?

It happens in this climate when assholes puff up their animus, among each other, cheered on by the POTUS, that's when. Lord Gawd amighty people, you are next.
posted by Oyéah at 12:49 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Doktor Zed, and she's a whipsmart wit. She visited our premises earlier this year, and the Christmas tree was still dripping needles all over the floor. The community manager who was giving his standard spiel about the place reached the point where he says how it was all started as a student volunteer thing and they were responsible for it all, she paused and commented wryly "and the cleaning as well, I notice"

hee!
posted by infini at 12:49 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Saying that Lithuania is on Putin's shit list is like saying that ... gah, I can't even come up with a snarky remark on that one.
posted by Melismata at 12:49 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jason Beaubien, NPR (May 25, 2017): A Proposed New Tax, Mainly On Latinos, To Pay For Trump's Border Wall

One of President Trump's boldest, most ambitious proposals on the campaign trail was to build a wall along the Southern border and get Mexico to pay for it. Amid the tumult of Trump's first few months in office, the border wall hasn't gotten as much attention as some other things. But new legislation has been introduced in Congress to help fund it.

It's called the Border Wall Funding Act of 2017, introduced on March 30 by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

And it would put a 2 percent tax on all person-to-person wire transfers to Mexico, the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean.

It's not the only bill targeting remittances. An earlier proposal in the Senate, which didn't advance out of committee, would have placed a 7 percent "fine" on remittances unless the sender can prove he or she is in the U.S. legally.

It should be noted that these proposals would only apply to personal transfers and not to businesses moving money abroad to say, Mexico or the Cayman Islands.
...
Itai Grinberg, an international tax lawyer and a professor at Georgetown Law School, says it's fairly unusual for governments to tax outflows of cash. This is not something you'd normally see, he says, from Europe or Japan or the U.S.

"From the perspective of a major developed economy, it would be very unusual," says Grinberg. Taxes are usually levied on goods or services or income but not on the movement of money from one place to another.

Taxing cash transfers is usually a strategy employed by leftist autocrats, like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, when their currency has gone in to a nosedive, he says.

But the idea of taxing remittances is gaining support in some wealthy countries that rely heavily on migrant labor. Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have recently proposed remittance taxes.

The World Bank has blasted the idea of these taxes, calling them a "bad idea." The World Bank says they hurt some of the poorest countries by reducing the inflow of desperately needed cash. In addition, a World Bank report on the subject last month says remittance taxes are difficult to administer.

That NPR article includes a handy graph, which highlights which countries receive the most remittances: #1 is Mexico at $24.32 billion, followed by China at $16.25 billion and India at $10.95 billion, but China and India aren't included in this bill.

Also: it was good to hear which other countries have done this or are considering it, for a frame of reference. Also, "I've already earned my money and paid taxes on it," says Rafael Villalobos Jr., a community college administrator in eastern Washington state who regularly sends money to his parents in Mexico.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:52 PM on May 25, 2017 [38 favorites]

Oyeah, the description of the assault as a bodyslam started with the victim of that assault. . .
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:52 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Fun historical note: Despite the stern attentions of the Teutonic Knights, Lithuania was the last pagan country in Europe. They're small but they don't like being pushed around.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:52 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

But if I were a US president, I wouldn't push it. And I can imagine that some European leaders are more optimistic than me on this. Hence the eye-rolls and other obvious signs of contempt.

So yesterday, I'm hearing here in Finland that they were betting on whether post NATO fuckup whether the EU bigwigs will finally grow the balls (pardon my French *cough**snort*) to push back and circle their own wagons.

Today it looks like we'll get free lunch. Manchester tipped the balance unexpectedly due to the leaks, and today's bluster on unpaid club dues put the cherry on the cake.
posted by infini at 12:56 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Ok, it kills me to say it, but I sort of like Betsy DeVos's house. It occupies this rather pleasant, hobbity space between "Victorian folly" and "pile of pudding."

I know, right? It'd be just the place for a kinky Victorian cosplay party.

Wait... that might actually explain a lot.
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Those deliciously tart reaction gifs of Macron et al to Trump's speech led me to Mathieu von Rohr's excellent summation at Spiegel Online: "Politically, he has accomplished little, but he has managed to drive the United States to the brink of a nervous breakdown."

And there is one thing that makes Trump a very useful president for the Republican leadership despite his scandals: his ideological flexibility, or, one could also say, disinterest in the details of politics. He isn't bothered when the Republicans decide on a health care reform bill that contradicts most of his campaign promises on the issue and that would affect his core voters the most. He leaves the details to the speaker of the House. This, too, helps explain why Republicans are so unwilling to distance themselves from Trump: He allows them to implement their agenda unhindered. In the end, Trump will sign their laws and is satisfied with being celebrated as the victor.

posted by spamandkimchi at 12:57 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

John Burnett, NPR (May 25, 2017): New Immigration Crackdowns Creating 'Chilling Effect' On Crime Reporting -- not a surprise, but the numbers are shocking and terrible, as is Texas' efforts to further support the terrible practices that are making everyone less safe:

Their boss, Chief Art Acevedo, citing Houston Police Department data, says Hispanics reporting sexual assault have dropped nearly 43 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to last year. And the number of Hispanic-reported robberies and aggravated assaults are each down 12 percent.

Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the so-called "sanctuary cities" bill. It orders local jail officials to cooperate with federal immigration agents, and authorizes any Texas peace officer to check the immigration status of any subject they detain.

Latino lawmakers are furious. Activists have vowed a "summer of resistance" of lawsuits and more demonstrations. Abbott defends the new law, saying it's meant to catch criminals and that he can't be racist because his wife is Mexican-American.

Kudos to Burnett for including the "I'm Not A Racist" justification from Abbott.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:58 PM on May 25, 2017 [49 favorites]

Why is it the press is calling the Montana candidate's assault of a Guardian reporter, as a body slam.

I think it's probably because the victim himself called it a body slam when he first posted about it on Twitter.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 12:58 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

Pagliery for CNN: Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened

The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement.

It's a bit of forgotten history that's buried in federal records held by an investigative unit of the Treasury Department, records that congressional committees investigating Trump's ties to Russia have obtained access to, CNN has learned.

posted by OnceUponATime at 12:59 PM on May 25, 2017 [37 favorites]

High quality GIF of trump shoving Markovic and then spurning Grybauskaite's handshake. The look of proud self-satisfaction on that preening bully's face is fucking infuriating.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:59 PM on May 25, 2017 [73 favorites]

In addition, a World Bank report on the subject last month says remittance taxes are difficult to administer.

Bitcoin, among a host of other services. Remittances are a huge business opportunity for developing country focused startups eyeing the pie. Especially on mobile platform.
posted by infini at 1:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It This NYTimes op-ed is from back at the Paris attacks, but it is not less relevant now.
A couple of quotes:

The West’s denial regarding Saudi Arabia is striking: It salutes the theocracy as its ally but pretends not to notice that it is the world’s chief ideological sponsor of Islamist culture. The younger generations of radicals in the so-called Arab world were not born jihadists. They were suckled in the bosom of Fatwa Valley, a kind of Islamist Vatican with a vast industry that produces theologians, religious laws, books, and aggressive editorial policies and media campaigns.

and…

All of which leaves one skeptical of Western democracies’ thunderous declarations regarding the necessity of fighting terrorism. Their war can only be myopic, for it targets the effect rather than the cause. Since ISIS is first and foremost a culture, not a militia, how do you prevent future generations from turning to jihadism when the influence of Fatwa Valley and its clerics and its culture and its immense editorial industry remains intact?

posted by mumimor at 1:03 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

Why is it the press is calling the Montana candidate's assault of a Guardian reporter, as a body slam.

Wrestling Twitter is pretty pissed about that too. From the description, it's clearly a chokeslam. A bodyslam requires cooperation from the victim and is a surprisingly difficult move, since you run the risk of dropping the other person on their head. Observe.
posted by Etrigan at 1:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

but the dude did some incredible good for the world amid all his bungling and awfulness

Oh sure. And he acted as if he had some grasp of the enormity of the office. And he wasn't totally without charm. Point being that I'm amazed at how Donnie fails to meet even that low of a bar. Fails even to seem to be cognizant that it's a low bar he should be trying to appear to be trying to meet.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Despite the stern attentions of the Teutonic Knights, Lithuania was the last pagan country in Europe.

The look of proud self-satisfaction on that preening bully's face is fucking infuriating.

Perkunas can show up with an angry lightning bolt any time now.
posted by biogeo at 1:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

The reporter later amended her account to say that Gianforte grabbed Jacobs at the collarbone rather than the throat itself (which makes way more sense if you're not expecting the victim to help you execute the throw). AFAIK there's not a more specific name for that than the generic "bodyslam"?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:11 PM on May 25, 2017

more specific name

Assault
posted by riverlife at 1:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [41 favorites]

Wrestling Twitter is pretty pissed about that too.

"Professional Wrestling" has done so much to normalize violence in contemporary American culture - to say nothing of disgracing the sport - that their input here is otiose and unwelcome.

Moreover, let's not forget that through his friend Vince McMahon, the WWE gave Trump free exposure and helped him learn how to work the crowd. Without it, frankly, he wouldn't be president today.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:15 PM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

The important part is following it up with a mention of Gianforte then punching Jacobs while he was on the ground while yelling at him.

That way you make it clear that you're not using hyperbole for a shove that was maybe a little too hard against a journalist who was maybe a little clumsy.

It was, in no uncertain terms, a brutal assault and a deliberate attack. As long as your description of the event makes that clear, you're good.
posted by VTX at 1:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [23 favorites]

Via Mathieu von Rohr on Twitter: ! Trump tells EU leaders: "The Germans are bad, very bad", will "stop" German car sales to US.

The linked article is in German, but Chrome's translation feature is working well enough for me to get the general gist of the article.
posted by yasaman at 1:19 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Trump tells EU leaders: "The Germans are bad, very bad", will "stop" German car sales to US.

lol are they taxing our chickens again?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump tells EU leaders: "The Germans are bad, very bad", will "stop" German car sales to US.

whut
posted by Melismata at 1:22 PM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

>In addition, a World Bank report on the subject last month says remittance taxes are difficult to administer.

Bitcoin, among a host of other services. Remittances are a huge business opportunity for developing country focused startups eyeing the pie. Especially on mobile platform.

And couldn't the money just as easily be wired to a middleman broker in Canada or Europe or whatever, then sent on to the final destination? I confess I don't really know how these things are regulated internationally with money-laundering rules and such, but it seems like it wouldn't be hard to set up and that it would be pretty difficult for the US government to track all these fairly small transactions without putting incredibly-onerous-to-enforce reporting requirements for all international wire transactions in place.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:23 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Professional Wrestling" has done so much to normalize violence in contemporary American culture - to say nothing of disgracing the sport - that their input here is otiose and unwelcome.

You realize people who don't watch professional wrestling yet have strong opinions on it are generally taking it way more seriously than the fans, right? It's fantasy. Everyone watching knows it's fantasy. I watched Brock Lesnar push a disabled man in a wheelchair down some stairs on television and he wasn't arrested -- and not because of white privilege or any other usual factor in injustice, but because it was fantasy.

Moreover, let's not forget that through his friend Vince McMahon, the WWE gave Trump free exposure and helped him learn how to work the crowd. Without it, frankly, he wouldn't be president today.

Trump's win was so narrow you can point to basically any factor in his life or the election and say "This was the thing that put him over." It's kind of old. And it's pretty damn clear that misogyny, racism, Russian interference, voter suppression and the goddamn FBI had a little more to do with the election outcome than Vince McMahon.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [24 favorites]

oh yes, economically punish germany, when has that ever gone wrong
posted by entropicamericana at 1:25 PM on May 25, 2017 [59 favorites]

From the German article cited above (Der Spiegel): Informationen amerikanischer Medien zufolge brüstete sich Trump erneut mit seinem Wahlsieg.

According to American sources, Tr_mp boasted again of his electoral victory.
posted by stonepharisee at 1:27 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Guardian write-up on today's events: Trump rebukes Nato leaders for not paying defence bills
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Professional Wrestling" has done so much to normalize violence in contemporary American culture - to say nothing of disgracing the sport - that their input here is otiose and unwelcome.

Have you ever watched wrestling? A large percentage of TV, movies, and video games are about graphic, realistic, violent killings, yet a bunch of people obviously play acting unarmed fights is what's normalized violence in America?
posted by bongo_x at 1:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [23 favorites]

The Germans are evil, very evil because they want to build a beemer factory in Mexico and sell cars to the US and not pay a 35% tax. But let anybody mention Putin tossing people out of windows day and night and it's "What, do you think our country is so innocent?" Superb.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:36 PM on May 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

Dear World:

Please do not assume all Americans are monumentally selfish ignorant shitstain worthless fuckups like Trump. We desperately want him to evaporate as much as you do.

Love,
The Sane ones still left.
posted by yoga at 1:39 PM on May 25, 2017 [37 favorites]

Trump tells EU leaders: "The Germans are bad, very bad", will "stop" German car sales to US

8800 BMW employees right in the heart of the most Trump voting part of South Carolina. That's gonna MAGA like you've never MAGA'd before.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [39 favorites]

> What is this kindergarten obsession with zero sum? Does he literally think for every VW that shows up on a boat, that we send a Buick back across? WTF. This is not how international trade works.

even if that were how international trade works it'd be a terrible deal for the U.S. The two products aren't comparable. like how do we know that those Volkswagens won't just capsize all the sudden?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

I mean how do we know that those Volkswagens won't just like capsize all the sudden?

Or lie about their emissions standards...
posted by Melismata at 1:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

You realize people who don't watch professional wrestling yet have strong opinions on it are generally taking it way more seriously than the fans, right? It's fantasy. Everyone watching knows it's fantasy.

Except Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:46 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

people keep saying this. I don't see anything obvious. Fucking in-jokes!

Anagrams for: Reince Priebus

9463 found.

That's why.
posted by Talez at 1:47 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

High quality GIF of trump shoving Markovic and then spurning Grybauskaite's handshake. The look of proud self-satisfaction on that preening bully's face is fucking infuriating.

Exhibit "A" for the next time the befuddled question of "Why do they hate America?" comes up. And these are America's friends.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:47 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

I wonder how endemic this is to the Republican Party - kind of the complete lack of even the most cursory vetting of people who were coming into positions.

I suspect it's endemic of any organization which is driven largely by volunteers at the lower levels. You're so happy to have the volunteer that you don't look too closely.
posted by Slothrup at 1:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Anagrams for: Reince Priebus

9463 found.

9463 spells WINE on a phone. WHAT DOES IT MEAN.
posted by something something at 1:55 PM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

Today IS national wine day.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:57 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

>>people keep saying this. I don't see anything obvious. Fucking in-jokes!
> Anagrams for: Reince Priebus

9463 found.
That's why.

Well and also the spoonerized version of his name (Prince Rebus) makes more sense to most English speakers than his actual name does, which suggests that he is some sort of malevolent gnomelike wizard that can only be defeated by cleverly rearranging the letters of his name.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:57 PM on May 25, 2017 [43 favorites]

Just thinking about all the despair-inducing, unintelligent, vindictive things 45 does on a daily -- okay, hourly -- basis, I've lately come to believe that the fact that his approval numbers aren't in single digits points to something more than the normal "floor" of support a Republican can expect, something that's working in conjunction with "stigginit" to keep a surprisingly large number of people supporting him.

That would be an inability or reluctance to admit that a black person performed better at a job that required poise, discipline and intelligence than a white man.

I think some of the same folks who are still giving him a thumbs up are the same folks who would describe a black QB in the NFL as "naturally gifted" and "elusive" and "athletic" but never "a student of the game" or "not somebody you're gonna outwork" or "a game film junkie."

Or who might describe a successful black businesswoman as "charismatic" or even -- without a shred of awareness -- as "quite the hustler" but never "highly analytical" or even plain old "smart."

A lot of people have probably already forgotten stories that circulated in conservative circles about how Obama benefitted from affirmative action in making it to Columbia and Harvard Law and how he wasn't really smart enough to have earned acceptance and degrees from those institutions, or how every single miscue and mistake he made was evidence of his lack of intelligence, but I'll never forget because they remind me too much of my own life and things I've heard.

I've yet to hear those same conservative circles questioning Trump's intelligence and acumen. Funny. And by "funny" I mean "not funny."

So, yeah, they'll never admit their boy is doing worse than a black man did -- or even than a white woman would have done.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:58 PM on May 25, 2017 [85 favorites]

Well and also the spoonerized version of his name (Prince Rebus) makes more sense to most English speakers than his actual name does, which suggests that he is some sort of malevolent gnomelike wizard that can only be defeated by cleverly rearranging the letters of his name.

Plus not only is "Reince" not his actual name (it's Reinhold Richard Priebus) it's nobody's actual name, with zero hits as a first name in U.S. census data.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

suborning himself to Trump took all the fun and whimsy out of Reince Priebus; I can no longer think of him as a madcap Republican trickster goblin and can only see him as yet another spineless, craven hack who needs to get perp walked out of our national consciousness forever.

At least I still have Muppet Michael Steele
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

This joke comes from the podcast Love It or Leave It:

Satan turns to some toiling minions down in hell and says, "You have 2 minutes to come up with a human-sounding name then I'm sending you all up top. Later standing around in an office in Washington, DC, Minion #1 asks Minion #2 what he named himself. "Paul Ryan. I thought that sounded very human. What did you name yourself?" Minion #1 hangs his head in shame, "Reince Priebus. Not my fault! I don't do well under pressure."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:01 PM on May 25, 2017 [53 favorites]

The Hill Jared Kushner lands on Mad Magazine cover
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:03 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Today IS national wine day.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:57 PM on May 25 [2 favorites +] [!]

If my social media feed is to be believed, every day since the inauguration has been national wine day
posted by OHenryPacey at 2:04 PM on May 25, 2017 [32 favorites]

I note that "Reince Priebus Wine" anagrams out at "I wee spicer bunnier", which totally ties the whole thing together.
posted by stonepharisee at 2:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

Phillip Bump: Trump takes a moment to brag that less than half the country thinks he’s doing a good job

Trump tweets out this thing (complete with weird wrong flag) bragging about a 48% approval rating from Rasmussen. He's cherry-picked a Rasmussen poll that is by far an outlier compared to other pollsters, one that still shows him trending downward even by Rasmussen's standards, and boasts about it.

The other thing about this is administrations normally don't boast about approval ratings like this (certainly not ones that show that less than half of the country in a biased poll approves). Sure, they'll have surrogates do it, maybe cite the popularity of particular policies or initiatives if they look good, but rarely official communications from the White House bragging about the top-line number. Why? Most administrations have been interested in at least a vague need for intellectual consistency, so they avoid boasting about numbers they think are good so as to be able to not comment when the numbers are bad. You can't credibly say that the administration doesn't obsess over poll numbers when you're the one cheering on the good ones. Of course, these folks don't give a darn about such pesky details as their credibility, so that rule goes out the window too.
posted by zachlipton at 2:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Abbott defends the new law, saying it's meant to catch criminals and that he can't be racist because his wife is Mexican-American.

I swear to God we have got to learn to start talking about class and degrees of ethnically-based prejudice in the United States and not just assuming the only axis of prejudice is a 1-0 understanding of race, because otherwise we have shit like this being printed in regular newspapers.

I believe that Governor Abbott is not racist against Hispanics, and I believe that Governor Abbott is not inherently prejudiced against people from the country of Mexico.

But it is beyond ignorant to pretend in this country that when people are talking about "Mexican Immigrants", people or the police are talking equally about the wealthy, largely Spanish-descended essentially nobility that his wife comes from, and the poor, far more mixed individuals that are going to be primarily affected by ICE enforcement.
posted by corb at 2:09 PM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

> "To avoid any doubt, however..."

Wait, what? When the form asks you to list assets, you fail to list your multimillion-dollar art collection because it's decorative? And you've only made a single sale? (#withfewexceptions strikes again.) That's supposed to be an excuse?
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [28 favorites]

White House responds to 4th Circuit travel ban opinion. Says EO is "fully lawful" & ultimately will be "upheld by the Judiciary" (statement reported by ABC on Twitter) I'm not sure what they think what branch the Fourth Circuit is. Fake judges, I suppose.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:17 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

[G]enerally, he’s always believed in the fundamental zero-sum nature of the world. Whether he’s discussing real estate in New York, or his ’00s reality TV career, or his views on immigration and trade, he consistently views life as a succession of deals. Those deals are best thought of as fights over who gets what share of a fixed pot of resources.

Trump's fortune was inherited, not earned. From the beginning, he was in competition with his four siblings over who'd receive the lion's share of Fred Christ Trump's real estate empire. The damage to his psyche started early and has only worsened.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

> I note that "Reince Priebus Wine" anagrams out at "I wee spicer bunnier", which totally ties the whole thing together.

Holy shit, it's the wingularity. I'd heard about it, but I never believed until now.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

people keep saying this. I don't see anything obvious. Fucking in-jokes!

And don't forget the original classic from 2012 by Jon Stewart: "You can't spell Pubic Re-rinse without Reince Priebus"
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I note that "Reince Priebus Wine" anagrams out at "I wee spicer bunnier", which totally ties the whole thing together.

Glenn Beck is on our side now, right? Someone fucking call him.
posted by Talez at 2:22 PM on May 25, 2017

Russia O'Clock seems to be happening. CNN has a chyron on the TV right now (story forthcoming, I guess) that says FBI Declines House Request For Comey Memos.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:28 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

I mean how do we know that those Volkswagens won't just like capsize all the sudden?

Or lie about their emissions standards...

In case you missed it, a kinda-sorta domestic company has now been discovered and charged with deliberate subterfuge to show non-compliant diesel vehicles as passing emissions standards. Okay not domestic at all but by-gum they have Chrysler in their name!
posted by phearlez at 2:29 PM on May 25, 2017

Here's the FBI's letter.

Basically, the FBI says they want to talk to Mueller before they hand anything over to Chaffetz. Chaffetz says he wants the stuff now.
posted by zachlipton at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

Ivanka Trump has regularly showcased the collection on Instagram, posing in front of the artwork in posts tied to her business.

If you're going to hide/not declare an asset, maybe not showcase them on the internets? This is even dumber than whiplash plaintiffs who let themselves be caught playing golf and helping someone move.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

That distinction is incredibly important because so far there's no sign of Trump doing any good on any scale at all.
posted by scaryblackdeath

Well, he's making some shitty white people feel very good about themselves.

Not seeing a counterpoint on the "doing any good" there...
posted by phearlez at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Der Spiegel would like us to know that the true English quote, not a translation, is, "The Germans are bad, very bad. See the millions of cars they are selling in the U.S. terrible. We will stop this."

There was a bit of debate over how to translate it, apparently.
posted by zachlipton at 2:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [24 favorites]

Reuters is reporting that the DOJ and Sessions will appeal the travel ban to the Supreme Court. Here we go!
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

Burying the lede: Ivanka's own goal: first daughter mistakes Lazio star Chinaglia for a saint

Hmm:

[...] Any embarrassment did not last long. The couple reportedly feasted on bruschette and cacio e pepe – a typical Roman pasta dish made with pecorino cheese – as well as ravioli, gnocchi and grilled shrimp.

posted by Joe in Australia at 2:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Can someone sew his fucking mouth shut?
posted by Talez at 2:37 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

> Basically, the FBI says they want to talk to Mueller before they hand anything over to Chaffetz.

Once bitten twice shy, babe.
posted by klarck at 2:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

grilled shrimp

So Jared and Ivanka are frum enough to need rabbinical dispensation to travel on Shabbos, but not enough to eschew shellfish. Interesting.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [46 favorites]

If only I could identify the make of the car Twitler is seen with and in here and here...
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:46 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

It sounded like there might have been some objection to the translation of "bad" as "böse". Böse can mean "evil" but it can also mean "bad" or "angry" depending on the context. There isn't really a better translation in this case, I think, despite the potential for confusion. "Schlecht" is closer to "poor quality" or "unwell", which is definitely not right.
posted by Slothrup at 2:49 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

But: 'we decided to not report a few million dollars of art' is erring on the wrong side of transparency, regardless.

Also, you know who else is really into moving art via opaque offshore companies? That Russian billionaire whose jet/yacht always shows up when Trumps are around.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:49 PM on May 25, 2017

"Schlecht" is what I would have chosen for the translation. We often use the phrase "ein schlechter Mensch" to describe "a bad person".
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:52 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I wonder how endemic this is to the Republican Party

It's always been endemic. Your comment reminded me of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book and all the other news stories from 12-13 years ago about how the Dubya administration handled hiring for the occupation government of Iraq. Basically anyone with a pulse was admitted so long as they could show strong loyalty to the Republican Party. People who were experts in aid, reconstruction, and other necessary fields for nation building, were largely rejected because most of them were either apolitical or somehow left-ish.

Seeing their political campaigns run the same way is not surprising. Leaving their desire for corruption aside for a moment, the Republicans don't seem to have any stomach for the finer details. Whether its vetting your hires or reading the bills. The number of Congressman (R), who admittedly don't read the bills ("That's what the interns are for!") they approve is, fairly disturbing.
posted by honestcoyote at 2:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Just thinking about all the despair-inducing, unintelligent, vindictive things 45 does on a daily -- okay, hourly -- basis, I've lately come to believe that the fact that his approval numbers aren't in single digits points to something more than the normal "floor" of support a Republican can expect, something that's working in conjunction with "stigginit" to keep a surprisingly large number of people supporting him.

We have them up north too: 25% to 30% of the electorate that refuse/can't understand that the world isn't as simple as the finances of a single household, that not everyone is white and christian and first-(only!-)language english, that a gender role doesn't map 1:1 with whatever bits they have under their clothes, that, indeed, there are more than two possible gender roles, and on, and on.

Personally, I think it can largely be constructed by 70s idea of future and culture shock. Most are appalled at something, scared possibly as well and reject current "mainstream" culture. The refusal and rejection bands them together in their outrage. Labeling them "depolorables" only reinforced that self image. But it's fundamentally, in my view caused by an inability to change or grow to new or unfamiliar situations. Future shock. A maladaptive disorder.

Unfortunately I don't think that helps at all. Refusal culture is inward looking and self-soothes by further acting out. Trump captured their hearts by being exactly as foul and "unPC" as he is. These behaviours are shibboleths for the mindset. Trump won't lose them ("finally this..."), not fully, unless he's seen to break the faith. So far, he's still ok with that base, I think. But taking away their healthcare and food supports might do it.
posted by bonehead at 2:54 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I mean how do we know that those Volkswagens won't just like capsize all the sudden?

Because they can float.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:55 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

High quality GIF of trump shoving Markovic and then spurning Grybauskaite's handshake.

Jesus, what a sociopath. Look at his scowling-biting-lower-lip coat-flapping bullying. What a . . . I'd immediately guess that there's some context missing, but it's Trump. He's just a criminal fuckup and a national embarrassment.

GOP, you suck. You SUUUUUUUUUCK! You ought to be FILLED WITH SHAME for what you've done. What is wrong with you??
posted by petebest at 2:58 PM on May 25, 2017 [56 favorites]

Counterpoint: her emails.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

grilled shrimp

So Jared and Ivanka are frum enough to need rabbinical dispensation to travel on Shabbos, but not enough to eschew shellfish. Interesting.

And what many people might not know, the Roman kosher kitchen is something unique, prized by non-Jews and served across town, so it's not like they had no choices. The St. Ignazio restaurant is a lovely place and really worth visiting, and they will definitely accommodate any special food issues though their kitchen is not kosher. As I remember it, they have several of the traditional Roman-Jewish dishes on the menu.
In the Roman Ghetto, there are actual Jewish restaurants, where Ivanka and Jared could have had wonderful food and all the glamour they need while keeping kosher.

Long short: goddamit they are hypocrites.
posted by mumimor at 3:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [29 favorites]

The only ways any of this makes sense to me is if the GOP totally doesn't plan on allowing free and fair elections ever again, or alternately they genuinely aren't thinking past next week and everything is all about short term gain polls among their narrow constituencies.

Although I suppose it's possible that the people at the top of the GOP really are so freakin' racist that they're happy to sell us out to the Russians 'cause at least the Russians are predominantly white.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:05 PM on May 25, 2017 [13 favorites]

trump's constant boasting about his "amazing" election victory is like that slightly pathetic middle-aged dude who always bores everyone by talking about that glorious time in high school when he scored the winning touchdown, except in this version he was actually tackled on the 5-yard line but the referee didn't see it because he got distracted by a butterfly, so the player stood back up, tripped over his own shoelaces, and then stumbled blindly into the endzone while shitting his pants.

Look, it was a moth, not a butterfly, and if you're so bored with that story maybe you should give us a break from hearing about the time everybody went to the beach for Senior Skip Day and stayed up all night and Jimmy MacLaughlin's pants got washed out by the tide.
posted by nickmark at 3:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

But: 'we decided to not report a few million dollars of art' is erring on the wrong side of transparency, regardless.

If *I* had 1/2 a gazillion dollars, I would just call up my CPA and say, "Hey, send me a spreadsheet of all my assets and liabilities", and I'd staple that to the form and say "See attached". < 5 minutes to full compliance. Time to knock off early for the day.

But I got lots of crazy ideas.
posted by mikelieman at 3:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

There isn't really a better translation in this case, I think, despite the potential for confusion.

I mean, the confusion is there before translation — the most charitable interpretation is something like "German trade policy is problematic," but of course he was probably just fuming about Merkel appearing with Obama, or maybe Der Spiegel's recent editorial calling for his removal, and literally meant what he blurted out, that Germans are "bad" as in "bad people."
posted by mubba at 3:09 PM on May 25, 2017

I mean

I don't think they have a plan.

Short of killing as many Americans as possible through a variety of ways possible.
posted by The Whelk at 3:09 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

they genuinely aren't thinking past next week and everything is all about short term gain

Run the government like a business, eh?
posted by Servo5678 at 3:10 PM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

But I got lots of crazy ideas.

Also, I'm not laundering money.
posted by mikelieman at 3:12 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

Pretty much, Servo5678, yeah.
I keep thinking "Who the hell would be so shortsighted and stupid?" but before that sentence even finishes forming in my brain I'm like "Remember 2008, motherfucker?"
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:13 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

(source: Toronto Star)

Meteorologist Bob Robichaud says figures released today from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict 11 to 17 named storms, with five to nine expected to become hurricanes and two to four expected to become major in force.

Oh boy, good thing the Trump Administration is such a well-oiled machine.
posted by tivalasvegas at 3:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

We often use the phrase 'ein schlechter Mensch' to describe 'a bad person'.

Sie sagen, diese Katze Shaft ist ein schlechter Mutter--Hush deinen Mund!
I can dig it.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

A little thread (excerpted) from @yashar:

1. Trump NATO meeting reminds me of a story I was never authorized to share, until now. His 1st call w/ Prime Minister of Denmark last year
2. This story was shared with me in December and confirmed by two high-level sources.
6. President Elect Trump is on call w/ Prime Minister of Denmark + mentions that his daughter in-law, Vanessa Trump, is of Danish descent
7. Trump then conferences his daughter-in-law into call w/ the Prime Minister of Denmark! Prime Minister was not warned/briefed in advance.
8. He then says to his daughter-in-law, "I'm on the phone with the King of Denmark! (wait for next tweet)
9. Reminder: He was on the phone with the Prime Minister of Denmark and Denmark doesn't have a King. Queen Margrethe II is the head of state
13. But it speaks to a larger issue that is plaguing the Trump WH right now. Because the Trump transition wasn't prepped for a victory.
14. They didn't have briefings prepped for foreign leader calls, they didn't arrange to have the State Department arrange these calls.

Once again, these are not serious people. They have zero interest in doing the work to do their jobs properly, from the top down.
posted by zachlipton at 3:26 PM on May 25, 2017 [125 favorites]

oh god the surprise "HERE IMMA HAND THE PHONE TO MY KID TALK TO THEM" is literally the worst thing you can do on a phone call with somebody, why it is not already a capital crime I don't know, and this is like the worst possible iteration of this horrible act
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [68 favorites]

NBC: Jared Kushner Now Under FBI Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Say Officials

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.
...
The officials said Kushner is in a different category from former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who are formally considered subjects of the investigation. Records of both Manafort and Flynn have been demanded by grand jury subpoenas, NBC News has reported.

This isn't entirely new—we already knew Kushner was one of those being investigated—, but more confirmation is a good thing. One downside of dragging your family into your inner circle is that it's a lot harder to play the whole "oh just my staff doing things I didn't know about" card.
posted by zachlipton at 3:31 PM on May 25, 2017 [61 favorites]

Is it 5:30 already?
posted by guiseroom at 3:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

> Meteorologist Bob Robichaud says figures released today from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict 11 to 17 named storms, with five to nine expected to become hurricanes and two to four expected to become major in force.

> Oh boy, good thing the Trump Administration is such a well-oiled machine.

Hey, at least we're still able to predict them (for now):

White House budget aims to ‘slow’ gains in weather prediction, shocking forecasters [WaPo]:

Science and Technology Integration: Reduce Investment in Numerical Weather Prediction Modeling: NOAA requests a reduction of $5,000,000 to slow the transition of advanced modeling research into operations for improved warnings and forecasts. This affects the Next Generation Global Prediction System, Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program, NOAA Environmental Modeling System, and other model coupling, data assimilation, and collaborative research efforts.

posted by Westringia F. at 3:38 PM on May 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

Looks like WaPo went live with the Kushner story at the same time as NBC [when the book on this time is written, the backroom chatter between "competing" newsrooms is going to be a thing]: Jared Kushner now a focus in Russia investigation, with a nice side of "but wait, there's more":

In addition to possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, investigators are also looking broadly into possible financial crimes — but the people familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly, did not specify who or what was being examined.

And from the WSJ's Eli Stokols:

Just got this text from GOP natsec official: "Had to apologize to a European defense attaché just now. 'I'm sorry. He's an idiot.'"
Per same source, European counterparts are "not in a forgiving mood." Especially w/ Russia set for a massive "exercise" in the Baltics.
Such exercises, source continues, "are often covers for offensive ops.
"This is how wars get started."

posted by zachlipton at 3:40 PM on May 25, 2017 [76 favorites]

theory: Mulvaney said, what about NOAA, Trump said, never heard of them. losers. cut their funding. Next.

And that was that for the NOAA budget consideration
posted by angrycat at 3:42 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Sorry, I botched the formatting in the NOAA comment. To clarify, that's the excerpt from the "budget blue book," and although it's phrased like it's coming from NOAA, it's coming from the White House.
posted by Westringia F. at 3:44 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

NOAA requests a reduction of $5,000,000 to slow the transition of advanced modeling research into operations for improved warnings and forecasts.

ZOMG, I have this sick feeling that they are doing this because they don't understand the difference between weather forecasting models and climate change models.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:48 PM on May 25, 2017 [38 favorites]

Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, said out loud on Wednesday what I suspected (okay, feared) back in March someone from the Trump administration would say. America is running headlong toward default.

This all went down at a House Budget Committee hearing. Surely an otherwise humdrum affair as dry as the towel section at Macy’s. But a question from Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), vice chairman of the Budget Committee, gave Mulvaney the opportunity to provide that much-needed element of OMG.
Rokita: Does the administration have a preferred legislative approach to the debt-limit issue? For example, a specific amount or a specific time period? Secondly, how soon do you think you need to act?

Mulvaney: Very briefly, the answer to your first question is no, we do not have a final stated policy yet. I can tell you that I met about an hour yesterday with [Treasury] Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin to discuss this exact topic. … Secondly, regarding the timing, my understanding is that the receipts, currently, are coming in a little bit slower than expected and you may soon hear from Mr. Mnuchin regarding a change in the date. {emphases added for WTF}

The Jared articles are fairly huge and important news. Just as expected, his spokesperson traveled with him specifically in case this broke.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:50 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

If *I* had 1/2 a gazillion dollars, I would just call up my CPA and say, "Hey, send me a spreadsheet of all my assets and liabilities", and I'd staple that to the form and say "See attached". < 5 minutes to full compliance. Time to knock off early for the day.

Yeah but you are thinking about a CPA for little people, who have to tell the truth or face consequences. Rich people CPAs can not produce such a document, because any and all financial disclosures or reports are based on "what do you want it to say?" methodology.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:56 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Leaving their desire for corruption aside for a moment, the Republicans don't seem to have any stomach for the finer details

The party that doesn't believe in government is the party that can't govern. Quelle surprise.
posted by octobersurprise at 3:57 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

And couldn't the money just as easily be wired to a middleman broker in Canada or Europe or whatever, then sent on to the final destination?

In theory yes. In practice though, these are poor to middle class immigrants sending money home to poorer, less technically adept relatives. Setting up an alternate system that works, scales, is affordable & most importantly would be used by its target market, is a fantasy.
posted by scalefree at 3:58 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Remember how this time last year, Trump floated the lunatic idea that if he were elected President, he'd renegotiate US debt and force the country's creditors to take a haircut? How about Trump's 2014 Fox interview in which he said, "When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell and everything is a disaster, then you'll have a, you know, you'll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great."? There's every indication Trump and his cronies believe they could benefit from the economic chaos that would result from the US government defaulting on its debt.

Here's how much of an advantage the US has in the international market. Take a US$100 bill, a benjamin if you will. Any other country has to pony up $100 worth of goods to get a $100 bill. The US gets one for a few cents from the BEP. Imagine if the US had to actually pony up 100 euros worth of goods or 500 yuan worth of goods to get a foreign currency instead of a few cents to the BEP.

You get that advantage by being the de facto world reserve currency. You get that status by offering impeccable financial security backed by the world's biggest army and world's biggest economy. Part of that bargain is that you need to send dollars out for liquidity. The benefit from that part of the bargain is that you get to import goods for the cost of paper and ink. Now we're about to lose that benefit.

Yep. That's how fucked we're going to be. That's how stupid these fucking idiots are.
posted by Talez at 4:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [92 favorites]

You would think though that people like his Secretary of Treasury would tell him what a bad idea it would be.
posted by drezdn at 4:01 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

So Jared and Ivanka are frum enough to need rabbinical dispensation to travel on Shabbos, but not enough to eschew shellfish. Interesting.

Is it possible this was misreported? It doesn't make much sense.

A couple of Conservadox friends of mine will eat salads in non-kosher restaurants. I can see that as an outside possibility? But shrimp and shellfish have such a high taboo factor that it seems highly unlikely to me that the Kushners would indulge.
posted by zarq at 4:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

My only real hope on a US default would be that the preemptive effects on the American economy as the beast hove into focus would be bad enough to shake some sense into the senseless.

It's not a very good hope.
posted by Devonian at 4:09 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

and force the country's creditors to take a haircut?

Future-me is a creditor and doesn't like this idea.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:13 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

But shrimp and shellfish have such a high taboo factor that it seems highly unlikely to me that the Kushners would indulge.

Mmmm...sacrilicious.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

My only real hope on a US default would be that the preemptive effects on the American economy as the beast hove into focus would be bad enough to shake some sense into the senseless.

Probably not. The electorate still thinks the US budget is analogous to the household budget.
posted by Talez at 4:15 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

How does defaulting on the debt benefit the obscenely wealthy?
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I mean, I'm assuming it must.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

How does defaulting on the debt benefit the obscenely wealthy?

They put their assets in euros and gold.
posted by Talez at 4:17 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

highly unlikely to me that the Kushners

Or even Ivanka Trump.
posted by queenofbithynia at 4:19 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

If only I could identify the make of the car Twitler is seen with and in here and here...
The image is from mercedesblog.com, if that helps.
posted by Oyéah at 4:19 PM on May 25, 2017

How does defaulting on the debt benefit the obscenely wealthy?

If they have the foresight to fortify compounds and hire their private armies before civilization collapses, then they can finally have their eel tanks to throw disobedient slaves into.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:21 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

I mean if you wanted to benefit from the downfall of the US economic system, you put a portion of your assets in gold, trigger the collapse, then show up in Manhattan and buy the country from the natives, who are economically illiterate, with a bunch of shiny beads.

Second verse, same as the first.
posted by Talez at 4:22 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

GQ Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron Used Their Handshake to Fight Over Who Has a Bigger Penis

Lots of video and photographs, including video I had not seen before of Trump's outstretched hand being ignored by Macron who walks over and shakes Merkel's hand first and then the two men doing a lot of jerk tugging.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:23 PM on May 25, 2017 [35 favorites]

I mean, sure, the idea that an able-bodied 65-year-old would just stop working and rest isn't really in the text of the Bible

Oh yes it most certainly is, as I explain in my new best-seller "The 7 Biblical Days of Your Life."
posted by msalt at 4:23 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

The season finale of Madam Secretary (yes, I apparently have the TV viewing habits of an old person; I believe I was the only one under the age of 60 to watch Boston Legal) involved Russia building up to invade Bulgaria, but France refuses to agree to invoke Article 5 to deter them. They try blackmailing the French President because of his son's corrupt business. That doesn't work, and Téa Leoni spends several minutes lecturing on the importance of NATO and how screwed we'd all be without it. It also turns out an advisor to the Secretary was taking Russian money from a group trying to destroy NATO. Then they discover the Russians secretly bribed the French President and helped get him elected, and so they force the French President to resign. The new French President is still—I don't know, being French or something and won't commit, but after another monologue on NATO and WWII, agrees to abstain. Russia backs off and the world is saved, or at least saved enough the Secretary of State's family can play board games in a cabin in the woods.

Short of actually casting a cheeto-orange actor to play the French President, this couldn't have been more pointed, or more depressing. It had the same "this is all going to happen five minutes from now, and boy is it going to suck" feeling you get from a Black Mirror episode. Grabbing a little bit of our present political reality and stuffing it into a script is now a perfectly cromulent way to write a season finale.
posted by zachlipton at 4:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

and then the two men doing a lot of jerk tugging

phrasing, for the love of god
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [45 favorites]

Is it possible this was misreported? It doesn't make much sense.

le Cave de S. Ignazio is a popular local restaurant, but it is also a famous hang-out for heads of state from across the world. They will leak stories to boost their brand, but they are not inventing stuff, because their main business is local people including politicians who don't want to be embarrassed. They likely didn't know that the Kushners were orthodox. My impression is that Roman Jews are not very orthodox, so even if the couple mentioned their faith, the restaurant might not have thought to keep their counsel regarding food choices. Knowing them, they probably thought the story was endearing, not embarrassing.
posted by mumimor at 4:26 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ah, Madam Secretary, I remember when I used to watch it before it changed generes and became science fiction.
posted by Omon Ra at 4:27 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

phrasing, for the love of god

Come on, I had to do it-- the article is called "Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron Used Their Handshake to Fight Over Who Has a Bigger Penis."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:29 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Thread about Trump talking to prime minister of Dmark and it all goes downhill from there
posted by The Whelk at 4:29 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Further to the NOAA thing: that NOAA budget blue book is a wonderful bit protest. It's chock full of absolutely gorgeous and inspiring images of NOAA's work, credited to "NOAA employees, usually [taken] during the normal the conduct of NOAA activities." Every section describes an incredibly valuable program, succinctly describing the impact it has on science, the environment, the economy, and national security. And then, just as you're starting to feel really excited about the great stuff NOAA does, each of those descriptions is followed by "NOAA seeks a reduction of x-million to eliminate this program." At no time does it bother making the case at all that the programs being eliminated are in any way superfluous or extravagant or in need of tightening. It's basically "Here's a great thing! Let's get rid of it!" over and over.

Kudos to whoever produced it, because it is REMARKABLY effective at conveying what a horrible loss Trump's budget would be.
posted by Westringia F. at 4:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [50 favorites]

Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron Used Their Handshake to Fight Over Who Has a Bigger Penis

"Look at that small Trump hand being crushed! Vive la France!"
posted by kirkaracha at 4:33 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Come on, I had to do it-- the article is called "Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron Used Their Handshake to Fight Over Who Has a Bigger Penis."

Macron broke up the marriage of an older woman when he was a teenager and then married her. If he doesn't have a giant dick he at least has bigger balls.
posted by Talez at 4:33 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

> Ah, Madam Secretary, I remember when I used to watch it before it changed genres and became science fiction.

Ah, life on Earth. I remember when I used to watch it before it changed genres and became science fiction.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 4:34 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Lots of video and photographs, including video I had not seen before of Trump's outstretched hand being ignored by Macron who walks over and shakes Merkel's hand first and then the two men doing a lot of jerk tugging.

The whole handshake thing has seemed like so much toxic masculinity, enjoyable as it is. Macron walking over to acknowledge Merkel before anyone else is the first thing to make me really happy about all this nonsense. Everyone should watch the video.
posted by Emily's Fist at 4:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

Macron broke up the marriage of an older woman when he was a teenager and then married her. If he doesn't have a giant dick he at least has bigger balls.

Or he could be a smart, kind and witty man of integrity. Some ladies like that, too. Particularly those with a bit of life experience.
posted by msalt at 4:36 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

Grabbing a little bit of our present political reality and stuffing it into a script is now a perfectly cromulent way to write a season finale.

"Ripped from the headlines" as we used to say.
posted by octobersurprise at 4:39 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

NY Mag: Pelosi Promises to Pass $15 Minimum Wage If Dems Take House.

Schumer, Murray, and Hoyer are on board too, so it's the full leadership. Not that this bill is going anywhere anytime soon, but it's about damn time, and at least a sign that the message is starting to get through certain representative's thick skulls.
posted by zachlipton at 4:39 PM on May 25, 2017 [75 favorites]

Does he literally think for every VW that shows up on a boat, that we send a Buick back across? WTF. This is not how international trade works.

"So, those Buicks are made in Mexico, but they're designed in Germany by Opel. Those Buicks are designed and made in China and imported here. Those Buicks are designed and made in Canada, and those Buicks are American. Which ones would you like to export again?" - Yeah, that conversation about how the world really works would not go down well.
posted by ambrosen at 4:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

let's give the toxic masculinity stuff a pass huh
posted by Existential Dread at 4:49 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

It is not enough for the GOP Senators to shitcan AHCA, they also need to improve ACA. NC Blue Cross has announced a 22.9% increase in premiums for coverage through ACA in 2018.

The biggest single reason for the sharp increase in rates is the lack of federal funding for “cost-sharing reductions” beginning in 2018.

A whole lot of people set aside the pussy-grabbing stuff because they believed that Trump would not touch SS, MediCare, and MediCaid and he would also replace ACA with something much better. Now you and I both know that DJT should never have been trusted to deliver on any of his promises but too many voters did not dive deep enough into his background or believed the press was biased. Better health care was a main platform in his campaign and he is on his way to deliver far worst health care. He and congress should be forced to deliver what they promised.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:54 PM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

And couldn't the money just as easily be wired to a middleman broker in Canada or Europe or whatever, then sent on to the final destination?

In theory yes. In practice though, these are poor to middle class immigrants sending money home to poorer, less technically adept relatives. Setting up an alternate system that works, scales, is affordable & most importantly would be used by its target market, is a fantasy.

I actually think this would happen and quickly, at least among the poor. In my experience (as a social worker in an underserved urban area where over half of the population are first immigration immigrants), black and gray markets are a huge part of the economy and everyone engages in or with them. And where there's a hustle to be made someone will be on it immediately. I can easily imagine a few people figure out how to do this then everyone hears from their neighbor that they know a guy or a grandmother who will help you and those guys and grandmothers will make a small fee for the knowledge and guidance that is much less than the tax.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 4:56 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Choosing to spend this past year reading up on the lead-up to and outbreak of the First World War was, in retrospect, not the best thing for managing my stress levels

Yeah. I keep thinking about how much deliberate fuckery the Germans put into their "let's head off a war before it starts" diplomacy right before the war. They wanted to take advantage of little delays in communication here and there, so that if a war started, they'd have the jump on mobilizing and taking the offensive... so naturally, the fuckery undermined the diplomacy and made the war that much more likely.

I've been worried all along that Putin is gonna roll on his next military target before people on the right in the US wake up to how serious this shit is. And I'm even more worried that Republicans will still bury their heads in the sand, because admitting they're wrong or that their candidate is a horrible treasonous fuck-up would be a far more grievous moral wound to them than, y'know, the horrors Putin will inflict on some European country.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [14 favorites]

Macron walking over to acknowledge Merkel before anyone else is the first thing to make me really happy about all this nonsense.

Here in Austria, at least, polite convention is to shake everyone's hand upon arrival at and departure from a gathering, and a man is to offer his hand to any women present before offering it to the men. I've lived here almost 2 decades, and, uncultured Texan that I am, I still manage to get this wrong sometimes.
posted by syzygy at 5:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

Or he could be a smart, kind and witty man of integrity. Some ladies like that, too. Particularly those with a bit of life experience.

This is getting icky, people. You understand he was 15 years old and groomed by his teacher and almost certainly raped by her.

It's not romantic, it's not illicit, it's awful.
posted by Justinian at 5:09 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

Here in Austria, at least, polite convention is to shake everyone's hand upon arrival at and departure from a gathering, and a man is to offer his hand to any women present before offering it to the men. I've lived here almost 2 decades, and, uncultured Texan that I am, I still manage to get this wrong sometimes.

Does Trump shake some/any women's hands? I ask just because he blew off Dalia Grybauskaite today, and there was the famous shitty refusal to shake Angela Merkel's hand in DC. So I'm wondering if this is a random passive-aggressive thing he does sometimes or if he's so much of a troglodyte that he has the whole "men only shake hands with men" thing. He doesn't seem to meet with many women who aren't his relatives, and I try to look at him as little as possible in general, so I haven't had opportunity to notice.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:14 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

You either dominated or you submitted. You either created and exploited fear, or you succumbed to it{...}."
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:24 PM on May 25

Sounds like he was schooled in the USA's prison system culture.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 5:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Setting up an alternate system that works, scales, is affordable & most importantly would be used by its target market, is a fantasy.

It already exists. There are a lot of places (particularly in the Middle East) that don't have Western Union. What happens is, you give your U.S. dollars to a guy in the U.S. That guy calls his cousin back in the home country who takes some equivalent amount (minus their cut) in the local currency to your family. They each keep a running account, and every month or so, they give someone who's flying to the U.S. or the home country a few grand to "settle up" accounts.

And that's just the low-tech version. You can do the same thing with a bank account in Switzerland that enough people have access to.
posted by Etrigan at 5:18 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Or he could be a smart, kind and witty man of integrity. Some ladies like that, too. Particularly those with a bit of life experience.

Because if high schoolers are anything they're smart, kind and witty men of integrity with life experience.
posted by Talez at 5:22 PM on May 25, 2017 [9 favorites]

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo, reads her hate mail. TIL her name isn't pronounced the way you probably think it is.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:23 PM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

I'm starting to like this Macron fellow.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:26 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Petri's hate mail was unexpectedly charming...
posted by Deoridhe at 5:27 PM on May 25, 2017 [3 favorites]

I thought it was just a joke, but those really are remarkably short fingers.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm starting to like this Macron fellow.

Yup. On the carpet in front of the NATO building, Trump tries really hard to give Macron his customary "destabilizing yank" handshake, but it's absolutely ineffective.

That ridiculous, orange slob has no idea that THE ENTIRE WORLD is onto him.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 5:36 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

I thought it was just a joke, but those really are remarkably short fingers.

Indeed.

Les doights du mal.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

Because if high schoolers are anything they're smart, kind and witty men of integrity with life experience.

He umm, seems like he was fairly precocious as a teenager and young adult. I was kind of floored at the thanks philosopher Paul Ricoeur gave him in his book La Mémoire, l'Histoire, l'Oubli:

"…and finally, Emmanuel Macron to whom I am indebted for a pertinent critique of the writing and the elaboration of the critical apparatus of the work."

Ricoeur was 86, Macron 22.
posted by Omon Ra at 5:43 PM on May 25, 2017 [20 favorites]

And couldn't the money just as easily be wired to a middleman broker in Canada or Europe or whatever, then sent on to the final destination?

In theory yes. In practice though, these are poor to middle class immigrants sending money home to poorer, less technically adept relatives. Setting up an alternate system that works, scales, is affordable & most importantly would be used by its target market, is a fantasy.

Oh, that might not be totally true. It's not like they're going to Western Union, generally; I'm pretty sure they go to the storefronts with signs in Spanish like "Envios a Honduras". I see a lot of those. And those storefronts might use Western Union, I don't know, but if someone wanted to set up a routing service, you could market it directly to those small businesses, which is a much smaller and more savvy group of people, and they could explain it to their customers. It could be quite popular.

however it is time to once again note that these immigrants are as a rule already paying tax on those earnings, even if they're undocumented. And if undocumented they're not able to fill out a 1040 to get a refund like the rest of us.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

NYT: Trump Administration Considers Moving Student Loans from Education Department to Treasury

The Trump administration is considering moving responsibility for overseeing more than $1 trillion in student debt from the Education Department to the Treasury Department, a switch that would radically change the system that helps 43 million students finance higher education.

posted by zachlipton at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

I know other things should enrage me more, but seeing Trump's handshake fuckery just makes me seethe. Yanking on someone's arm like you're trying to rip it out of the socket? Who fucking does that? I've never seen anyone try to do this and it feels like the kind of "power play" you'd learn from a shitty Gordon Gecko wannabe self-help book. Want to establish an early upper hand in a negotiation? Pull on the guy's arm like you're trying to start a rusty lawnmower. Boom, power!
posted by 0xFCAF at 6:04 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

Macron and Trump will have a chance to jerk each others arms off at the G7 summit which starts tomorrow.

Raw Story: Everything to know about this year’s G7 summit

Why is the G7 in Italy this year?

The location of the G7, which traditionally takes place between the months of May, June and July, rotates according to the country that holds the group’s presidency that year.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced last year that his chosen location was Taormina, a town in Sicily founded by the Ancient Greeks in 734 BC. Renzi said he wanted to show off the beauty of southern Italy—and what better place to do so than a town that locals call The Pearl of the Ionio Sea.[...]

The U.S. is set to host the meeting in 2020, which is expected to be the last year of President Trump’s current term in office.

Terrorism will be the number one topic but according to an Italian paper they will also be discussing: The war in Syria, the North Korean threat, and increasing cybersecurity attacks; the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement; immigration; protectionism; Brexit; innovation; social issues and sustainable development. I can't believe they actually have to engage with Donnie on these topics. I am sure he has nothing valuable to contribute. Maybe they can give him a coloring book and some juice and allow him to amuse himself.

however it is time to once again note that these immigrants are as a rule already paying tax on those earnings, even if they're undocumented

And my god, they are literally some of the hardest jobs in America for the least amount of pay possible. The people who work on farms, for example, are exposed to toxic pesticides while they bend over all day to pick lettuce. Out of their meager wages they set aside money to their families back home and this administration wants to take a bite out of that for a crappy, meaningless wall. It is cruel beyond belief. All those values: hard work, thrift, and family loyalty should be admired not spit on and exploited.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [47 favorites]

Hawala or the bank that never was.
posted by adamvasco at 6:13 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yanking on someone's arm like you're trying to rip it out of the socket? Who fucking does that?

I'm still waiting for someone to lean into it, "lose their balance," and knee him in the balls.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [22 favorites]

Funny you should mention that: The Defense to the Donald Trump Handshake
posted by msalt at 6:20 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

Sounds like he was schooled in the USA's prison system culture.

Trump's parents sent him to the New York Military Academy at age 13, "after discovering Donald made frequent trips into Manhattan without permission." This was about 1959, during the era when "official regulations permitted a certain level of hazing and physical discipline by supervisors and older cadets, although the academy's senior administrators were forced to resign after a particularly severe incident in 1964."

So, yeah.
posted by mubba at 6:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [19 favorites]

I'm still waiting for someone to lean into it, "lose their balance," and knee him in the balls.

I can only imagine the Secret Service has already had serious discussions about what they'll do if someone defends themselves from the President of the United States. No clue what that would be, though. Break up the fight, sure, but...?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:32 PM on May 25, 2017

I've been worried all along that Putin is gonna roll on his next military target before people on the right in the US wake up to how serious this shit is. And I'm even more worried that Republicans will still bury their heads in the sand, because admitting they're wrong or that their candidate is a horrible treasonous fuck-up would be a far more grievous moral wound to them than, y'know, the horrors Putin will inflict on some European country.

Hey, remember when people on the left were insisting that Obama pointing at Russian hackers was warmongering?

I hate that I'm stuck doing calculus about things I care about more than abortion rights. (But if I can do that math, so should someone on the right.) But making sure our country isn't run by people who collaborate with Putin is pretty fucking important, and it's particularly important since -- like it or not -- the US is one of the bulwarks against Russian aggression.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 6:32 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Defense to the Donald Trump Handshake

Ah yes, Professor Snape's class.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:35 PM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

Pete Souza strikes again.

I feel like he could make a lot of money doing a Goofus and Gallant photo book.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [53 favorites]

In the fourth grade I wrote a report on the state of Montana. So if y'all have any questions get them in now before Fox News calls me.
posted by guiseroom at 6:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [6 favorites]

In the fourth grade I wrote a report on the state of Montana.

"People in Montana pride themselves on being independents but will still vote in a Republican that assaults journalists. In conclusion: Montana is a land of contrasts. Thank you."
posted by Talez at 6:56 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

MoJo is posting the Montana returns, which should start coming in any minute now. I see there's a Libertarian on the ballot; could recent events be enough to get him some votes that would have otherwise gone to Gianforte, and thus tip the whole thing to Quist?

I'd really like some good news right about now, please.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:03 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

So Mar-a-Lago then.

unless the sinkhole gets it
posted by murphy slaw at 7:07 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Foreign Policy: Trump Advisor Stephen Miller Blocked G-7 Migration Proposal

President Donald Trump’s controversial senior advisor and speechwriter, Stephen Miller, has led White House efforts to undercut an initiative by Italy to place the migration crisis at the center of this week’s Group of Seven major summit meeting starting Friday in Sicily.

For Italy, the summit in Taormina, Sicily, was to provide a poignant opportunity to raise awareness of the plight of hundred of thousands of refugees who cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy’s shores each year, and to reach agreement on a plan to find them permanent homes.

But the Donald Trump White House has largely blocked its Italian host from putting forward an initiative addressing the need to resettle millions of refugees and migrants who have poured into Europe on rickety boats or crossed borders on foot over the past decade. Instead, the United States has pressed the leaders to cap the session with a stern declaration on the need to fight terrorism, a cause that gained added urgency following a grisly suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
...
“It’s spun out of control,” said a second U.S. official, who noted that the White House favors a simpler event with more hobnobbing among world leaders and fewer policy declarations.

posted by zachlipton at 7:08 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]

unless the sinkhole gets it

From your mouth to the graboid's ears.
posted by Behemoth at 7:11 PM on May 25, 2017 [8 favorites]

the White House favors a simpler event with more hobnobbing among world leaders and fewer policy declarations

"Math class is tough!"
posted by Slothrup at 7:12 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

> hobnobbing among world leaders

DOING IT WRONG
posted by tonycpsu at 7:12 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Funny you should mention that: The Defense to the Donald Trump Handshake

Of course, when the guy in the video demonstrates the Trump handshake, his movements are slick, smooth, and efficient, whereas when Trump does it, he hikes up his elbow like he's about to start the Chicken Dance and telegraphs exactly what he's planning.

God, the man's got his very own, signature brand of assholery, and he's not even good at that.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 7:18 PM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

I've been worried all along that Putin is gonna roll on his next military target before people on the right in the US wake up to how serious this shit is.

OK. The USA was important. Russia may be cocksure at how impotent the USA is now.

Russia better wake the hell up to a reality where England, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Greece, Norway, Denmark, and let's be frank (lol), Switzerland, Sweden and Finland are pissed off and no longer have America at their back.

Let's play "Guess which one of our neighbors is now a Nuclear Power because you scared us spitless and we have an industrial base that rivals yours with one tenth the population!"

Putin is stupid. In a Limited Exchange, where the Americans under Trump don't get involved, he and his burns first, believe it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:19 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

NYT also has live returns. 19 percent reporting, dead heat.
posted by vrakatar at 7:20 PM on May 25, 2017

I'm looking at 538's liveblog and they seem to be pretty pessimistic about the outcome for Quist.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:22 PM on May 25, 2017

Would not count on the UK for, well, much of anything right now.
posted by Artw at 7:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, Nate Cohn also thinks the results are good for Gianforte. I don't know if that simply means "good enough to win" or if it means "good enough Republicans shouldn't start worrying about a wave" though. I suspect the former?
posted by Justinian at 7:25 PM on May 25, 2017

Could we maybe get a mod ruling on which thread the Quist/Gianforte live results discussion belongs in? I'm fine with either one, but I feel like "both" is going to be a frustrating outcome.
posted by zachlipton at 7:25 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm flat forgetting which thread I'm looking at half the time, so yeah: liveblogging of the Montana election should go over here. Thanks!
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 7:26 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

Let's play "Guess which one of our neighbors is now a Nuclear Power

The UK and France are already nuclear powers and maintain constantly deployed ballistic missile submarines. Although for things to go there would require some exceptional stupidity on the part of Putin (and NATO Article 5 being the 21st century equivalent of Belgian neutrality).
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 7:29 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I got an email from Chuck Grassley today mansplaining the Constitution and telling me not to worry too much about Trump because there is a system of checks and balances. Which would be a lot more reassuring if I had any faith that Congress would exercise that power and obligation.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

Supposedly there are talks about combining French nuclear weapons and German monies to produce some kind of Eurodeterrent...
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 7:31 PM on May 25, 2017

Politico: Meet the Real Jared Kushner

At the end of the year, when she went to collect her performance bonus at his real estate office for meeting agreed upon metrics on page views and audience growth, Kushner told her that they couldn’t pay, citing financial concerns, and asked her to “take one for the team.” Instead, Kahlon abruptly quit. Every time she sees him on TV or on the streets of New York ever since, she would point him out to people: “There is the guy that stole my money.”

Just before the election, Kahlon described her former boss on Facebook thusly: “We’re talking about a guy who isn’t particularly bright or hard-working, doesn’t actually know anything, has bought his way into everything ever (with money he got from his criminal father), who is deeply insecure and obsessed with fame (you don’t buy the NYO, marry Ivanka Trump, or constantly talk about the phone calls you get from celebrities if it’s in your nature to ‘shun the spotlight’), and who is basically a shithead.”

I've been screwed out of money by a billionaire before. It really makes you feel like shit.
posted by zachlipton at 7:40 PM on May 25, 2017 [100 favorites]

Impressive levels of false equivalence

Isn't that basically "NPR on politics" in a nutshell, though?
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 7:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [16 favorites]

Supposedly there are talks about combining French nuclear weapons and German monies to produce some kind of Eurodeterrent...

This would make a lot of sense. At the moment France is essentially the only EU power with a truly independent nuclear deterrent; the UK depends on both US supply/servicing chains and on the assumption that the missiles that have been supplied by Lockheed Martin's US facility (it's a common pool of missiles) have not been clandestinely limited and/or backdoored.
posted by jaduncan at 7:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

It confused me to see this same comment in two different threads. For benefit of the room, here's the transcript of the story being referenced.
posted by Miko at 7:44 PM on May 25, 2017

My mistake, I thought it hadn't posted. I've flagged it in the other thread.
posted by jaduncan at 7:46 PM on May 25, 2017

I've been screwed out of money by a billionaire before. It really makes you feel like shit.

Reading this account of Kushner, it's clear to me why I'll never break out of the little petit-bourgeois, merchant-class, small-business-owner peak I'm in now. A nice luxury car or two, a nice house — way more than lots of people can hope for — is the end of the line for me. There will be no obscene wealth and fuck-you money for me, however, because I just can't get past the whole "having a heart and being a decent person" thing.

These people are fucking sociopaths, and the sooner we ~~rid the earth of them~~ send them to therapy, the better.
posted by CommonSense at 7:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [35 favorites]

witchen: you're right. The ATC story by Don Gonyea, with transcript. Some of the same content, but not exactly the same.
posted by Miko at 7:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Crap. So many states have disappointed me recently. I would have liked to have seen Montana.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Note bene, that in addition to laser artillery, Germany's most profitable MilSec export are literally undetectable submarines. The Russian Empire is not a client. The USA... as far as you know, no.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:19 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Official: Trump 'looking at' future of US sanctions on Russia

President Trump is weighing changes to U.S. sanctions against Russia, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said Wednesday.

"I think the president is looking at it," Cohn told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked about the president's position on Russian sanctions. "Right now, we don’t have a position."

here comes the quid pro quo fairy…
posted by murphy slaw at 8:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

The president took time out from his exhausting schedule to confer with his lawyer on how to threaten Berkeley Breathed.

Breathed replies.
posted by adamg at 8:24 PM on May 25, 2017 [10 favorites]

The president took time out from his exhausting schedule to confer with his lawyer on how to threaten Berkeley Breathed.

This appears to be fake, or at least Kasowitz and his firm denies it, the text appears photoshopped, and the letterhead doesn't match a real Kasowitz threat letter from last year.

I will grant, however, that we're so far down the rabbithole on Poe's Law that I spent at least a half hour today trying to work out whether it could be real.
posted by zachlipton at 8:30 PM on May 25, 2017 [7 favorites]

Well, he has removed all but one of the photoshopped "Trumps wearing Bloom County shirts" pics.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:34 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

The president took time out from his exhausting schedule to confer with his lawyer on how to threaten Berkeley Breathed.

Breathed replies.

Me gusta. It's going to be important to have things to look forward to.
posted by sacre_bleu at 8:37 PM on May 25, 2017

Ugh, sorry guys.
posted by adamg at 8:38 PM on May 25, 2017

This appears to be fake, or at least Kasowitz and his firm denies it, the text appears photoshopped, and the letterhead doesn't match a real Kasowitz threat letter from last year.

Letterheads often change. I own a piddly little small business, and we've made subtle redesigns to our business card template an average of twice a year since 2009. And our letterhead has changed at least twice since then.
posted by CommonSense at 8:38 PM on May 25, 2017

Apropos of nothing, it might be time for a new FPP.

EDIT: Never mind, we're nowhere near 3,000 posts. I'm drunk.
posted by CommonSense at 8:40 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Hill: Senate Intel heads get broad subpoena power in Russia probe

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee now have broad authority to issue subpoenas in the Russia investigation without a full committee vote, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said Thursday.

The panel voted unanimously to give Burr and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) the blanket authority for the duration of the investigation into Russia's election meddling and possible collusion with President Trump's campaign.

posted by murphy slaw at 8:45 PM on May 25, 2017 [36 favorites]

>There's every indication Trump and his cronies believe they could benefit from the economic chaos that would result from the US government defaulting on its debt.

>You would think though that people like his Secretary of Treasury would tell him what a bad idea it would be.

You're assuming that the Secretary of the Treasury knows anything more about the economy than Trump. Mnuchin was an undistinguished legacy acceptance at Yale (Skull and Bones, of course). He was primarily the IT director at Goldman Sachs. He has studied nothing and knows nothing about economics. He's as ignorant as the rest of Trump's cabinet.
posted by JackFlash at 8:50 PM on May 25, 2017 [18 favorites]

OK but, have they put out the Amber Alert for Trump yet?
posted by Oyéah at 9:03 PM on May 25, 2017

He was primarily the IT director at Goldman Sachs.

I'm going to need real/fake tags on this. If fake, then haha, funny, great use of hyperbole to make a point about his lack of qualification.

If real . . . HOLY FUCK (and sadly, not surprising).
posted by CommonSense at 9:09 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

So Mar-a-Lago then.

unless the sinkhole gets it

is there a site where i can donate to the sinkhole?
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 9:12 PM on May 25, 2017 [25 favorites]

Sinkhole / Armageddon 2020
posted by CommonSense at 9:15 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]

Montana is lost. The Fellowship is broken. I got a B on that fourth grade report.
posted by guiseroom at 9:16 PM on May 25, 2017 [12 favorites]

i was just thinking to myself, "wow, after nearly two weeks of nonstop madness, today was sort of a slow news day"

and then i remembered that the president
- offended most of our european allies by acting like the dumb jock in a snobs-vs-slobs comedy
- got in an arm-wrestling match with the president of france
- continued to badger and threaten NATO as if it were a protection racket rather than an alliance

it only felt like a slow news day because all of the horrible things that happened were in the course of him trying to do his job, rather than a series of horrifying revelations about his corruption and possible collusion with a hostile foreign power

good day folks, let's get ready for tomorrow.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:27 PM on May 25, 2017 [47 favorites]

This morning's WSJ story on Russian hacking didn't get quite the credit it deserved today, but it really is kind of a blockbuster in its own right. It's outright 100% collusion between a GOP operative and a front for Russian military intelligence (though I will grant he likely wouldn't have known that at the time) to pass hacked DCCC plans for the 2016 election to the Trump campaign and Republican candidates, including the assertion that at least one consultant used the information to aid a Congressional campaign.

And this is a guy who admits it openly. Who knows what happened with folks with the minimum amount of common sense to not blab about using campaign data hacked from their opponents?
posted by zachlipton at 9:41 PM on May 25, 2017 [64 favorites]

Thanks zachlipton. This story is truly batshit, and the fact that it gets lost in the noise is really a depressing comment on how shitty things have been normalized to an alarming degree. So will this Aaron Nevins see treason charges?? Like literally wtf
posted by aiglet at 9:56 PM on May 25, 2017

National Treasure Alexandra Petri, WaPo: BOOM PUNCH POW! AMERICA IS GREAT AGAIN!

We need more Real Men in office.

When I see Donald Trump shoving that man out of the way at the NATO summit, my heart turns into an eagle and flaps its magnificent wings. When I see him crushing a Frenchman’s hand, I want to cry a tiny, manly tear of pure testosterone. When I saw Montana GOP candidate Greg Gianforte shove a reporter to the ground, my heart sang. For too long, our politics have been devoid of body-slams. They have become weak and soft, not like when men were men and would beat each other with canes on the floor of the Senate. I want to go back to those days, when America was great, and you could beat certain people with impunity.

We need politicians who share these values: violence, against those who deserve it (most Europeans, definitely journalists). I want a president who will lock horns with foreign leaders for hours before shoving them off a cliff. I want a president who can transform into an aircraft carrier and emit jets of steam. I want a president with an enormous neck-frill which expands when he is threatened as he emits a LOW HISS of rage.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:23 PM on May 25, 2017 [71 favorites]

This is really impressive work from the NYT: Did the Turkish President’s Security Detail Attack Protesters in Washington? What the Video Shows

It's a hyper-detailed interactive feature using five different videos to break down exactly who was involved and what they did.
posted by zachlipton at 10:50 PM on May 25, 2017 [32 favorites]

octothorpe: "Trump may be enjoying his grand tour but tourism here in the US is way down since he was elected. Foursquare reports that tourism to the US is down as much as 16% since last year."

Not surprising; I know _lots_ of Canadians who have curtailed or abandoned trips to the US because of both the batshittery of assorted police actions/enforcement/policy and as a show of solidarity with people being excluded for essentially no reason. This summer's numbers might not too bad for total visits because of the huge draw of the Eclipse but that week or so is going to be an extreme outlier I'm thinking. And most of those people are of the get in, see the eclipse, get out mentality and so won't be spending a ton of money on other touristy things.
posted by Mitheral at 10:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

A third man, Eyup Yildirim, is seen on video telling police he is a cousin of Alpkenan Dereci. “I’m an American citizen and a taxpayer,” he said. He repeatedly kicked Ms. Usoyan, 34, as she lay on the ground. According to New Jersey records, Mr. Yildirim is 50 and manages three companies in that state.

On checking, he would appear to have no diplomatic immunity (limited for dual nationals in any case). I await charges.
posted by jaduncan at 11:37 PM on May 25, 2017 [27 favorites]

octothorpe: "Trump may be enjoying his grand tour but tourism here in the US is way down since he was elected. Foursquare reports that tourism to the US is down as much as 16% since last year.

Locally, international students coming into engineering and computer programs, have dropped 20%. A poll was done asking why, and the overwhelming reason given was Trump,his policies, and the climate toward foreigners.
posted by happyroach at 11:40 PM on May 25, 2017 [17 favorites]

It's outright 100% collusion between a GOP operative and a front for Russian military intelligence

He isn’t convinced the Russians were behind it, Mr. Nevins said, but even if they were, it doesn’t matter to him because the agenda of the hackers seemed to match his own.

In other words, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, even -- or perhaps especially -- if they are also the enemy of my country.

I. have. no. words.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? at 11:50 PM on May 25, 2017 [55 favorites]

(If it matters, men also must have their knees and shoulders covered at the Vatican.)

So for women, it'd be head and shoulders, knees and toes? knees and toes.

And then in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia they complete the rhyme, and add eyes and ears and mouth and nose...

(sorry not sorry)
posted by bardophile at 11:53 PM on May 25, 2017 [11 favorites]

ugliest American ever
posted by philip-random at 12:16 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

This is all deeply worrying because most things in life aren't actually zero-sum; and politics & diplomacy, the two areas in which Trump, as President, is expected to help leader the country forward, things are almost never actually zero-sum.

Trump is a man who knows the price of the buildings he has owned and built, but has never stopped to think about the value of the policies and social contracts that allow the functioning of the city and society they exist within.
posted by jaduncan at 12:50 AM on May 26, 2017 [27 favorites]

Alexandra Petri [...] her name isn't pronounced the way you probably think it is.

wtactualf?!
posted by progosk at 1:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Coming in to say that the Danish PM probably didn't mind being called The King of Denmark. Believe me, Lars Løkke probably lapped it right up.
posted by kariebookish at 2:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

WashPost op-ed: Trump's behavior at NATO Is a national embarrassment.

His alpha-male stupidity notwithstanding, he's refusing to commit to honoring agreements with our allies (which every US President since Truman has done).
posted by zarq at 4:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [20 favorites]

Pralines, chocolate truffles... the best to digest. But golf courses?

Le Soir, a Belgian daily newspaper, reported that the US president acclaimed the chocolates, which were a gift from the Belgian government, during a meeting with the country’s prime minister, Charles Michel.

“These are the best,” he said, before explaining that his ambivalent attitude towards the EU was a consequence of his experiences trying to set up businesses, notably golf resorts, on the continent.

Trump 'complained to Belgian PM of difficulty setting up golf resorts in EU'
posted by Mister Bijou at 5:07 AM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

He is profoundly stupid and he still has a 40% approval rating. Something is very wrong with a whole lot of people.
posted by Justinian at 5:20 AM on May 26, 2017 [40 favorites]

Yeah, they're profoundly stupid too.
posted by Autumnheart at 5:21 AM on May 26, 2017 [59 favorites]

Something is very wrong with a whole lot of people.

Close to 40% of France voted for Le Pen, so it's not a uniquely American thing. We can't blame it all on Fox News.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 5:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

> Coming in to say that the Danish PM probably didn't mind being called The King of Denmark. Believe me, Lars Løkke probably lapped it right up.

I just attempted to learn more about this by googling "Rasmussen Trump". That... did not give me the results I was looking for. *foreheadslap*
posted by Westringia F. at 5:31 AM on May 26, 2017

I just hope he's not so pissed off with the European leg that we're gonna have to clear out grandma's vintage teacups out of the fallout shelter again.
posted by infini at 5:31 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Close to 40% of France voted for Le Pen, so it's not a uniquely American thing. We can't blame it all on Fox News.

It seems to be the same all over the world - including the elections in Iran. We can't rely on the crazification factor anymore…
posted by mumimor at 5:35 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump 'complained to Belgian PM of difficulty setting up golf resorts in EU'

They should sell him some of the WWII battlefields that are still cordoned off due to unexploded ordinance and uncleared minefields. That way he can learn some history and maybe appreciate the EU.
posted by srboisvert at 5:44 AM on May 26, 2017 [26 favorites]

New Yorker: At NATO headquarters, Trump fails another leadership test.
posted by zarq at 5:51 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Uh, guys? Er, y'all? MetaFriends? This seems rather foreboding. Not in a good way. (via upthread, iirc by DoktorZed)

Raising the debt ceiling, Republicans are not ready, by Jonathan Capehart (WaPo, March 29)

Make USA bankrupt? (y/n):_

(You "Money" ppl please correct where I read this wrong but) Budget has to be done in four months, which includes summer break so two months. You'll never guess how that's going to go. (Number eight will shock you!) Otherwise gummit shutdown ferreal which is byad, mmmkay.

Then there's the debt ceiling, less "we're overdrawn" and more "this whole thing's a farce and oh btw we're all screwed, goodnight." Guess who's driving THAT boat! Good news, everyone! This is a man with a LOT of bankruptcy experience. No problem. He guarantees, no problem, believe him.

Oh yeah we've been over the limit for a couple of months now (you might remember the post-Trumpcare CR to keep the lights on), but no worries because the financial leadership of this country is run by Top. Men. OBD's Mulvaney says this is a "fabricated crisis" which unfortunately is at odds with the rest of the world (including future-us, good call TMOTAT) who Trump plans to offer "pennies on the dollar" to. That's The Plan. For avoiding global financial collapse. In the next four months.

So.

Hey, happy weekend everyone!
posted by petebest at 5:52 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yeah, they're profoundly stupid too.

Sure, but not all of them, or even necessarily most of them. Let's not underestimate how many are just vile human beings. Attributing it all to stupidity minimizes how fucking awful many Republicans are.
posted by chris24 at 5:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [39 favorites]

George Carlin once said:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

I think it applies just as well to cruelty, or racism. Think of how cruel, selfish, and racist the average person is, and realize that half of them are more cruel, racist, and selfish than that".

Trump pushes a lot of buttons for the more vile, stupid, cruel, selfish, and racist portion of our population. And even many of those who aren't directly attracted to that are callous and selfish enough to go along with him for tax cuts or regulation elimination.

The fact is, no matter how awful Trump is, virtually all Republicans are either 100% on his side, or at least willing to tolerate him in exchange for having him as a generic Republican. This means that in 2020, no matter how loathsome Trump is, it won't be an easy election.

The NeverTrump faction of the Republican Party won't actually be growing. He might have historic low approval ratings, but the instant it becomes a question of voting for a Democrat or keeping any Republican, even Trump, in the White House, well over 95% of Republican voters will rush to vote Trump.

This doesn't mean we'll lose. We can win, and I think we've got a good chance of winning. But it does mean that we can't assume we've got this. The 2016 elections showed, if nothing else, that there is no floor for the Republican tolerance for vile, racist, evil in their politicians. Even Republicans who claim to dislike Trump will still vote for him just as if he were a normal Republican.

Again, we can win! And I think his awful does increase our odds a bit. But he'll still get an absolute, rock bottom, minimum of 45% of the vote. The Republicans are all either that awful, or that indifferent to his awful.
posted by sotonohito at 6:08 AM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

I don't think "It's not ignorance, it's not stupidity, it's evil." is really true, though. As disgusted as I am with fascists and republicans, babies are not born fascist, are not born republican. There are a whole lot of really evil ways of viewing others and acting in the world, and it's in many ways our various life systems that reinforce or tear down those structures. We can rewrite ignorance and stupidity as lacking critical thinking skills and a lack of access to a wide range of perspectives that can help us calibrate our bullshit meters and break out of evil thinking.

It's both - evil and stupidity. Stupidity and ignorance render us more susceptible to evil acts and manipulation. That's a big reason why fascists seek to control the media diet of the masses.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:31 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

Karen Tumulty and Robert Costa, WaPo: The GOP inherits what Trump has wrought

The darker forces that propelled President Trump’s rise are beginning to frame and define the rest of the Republican Party.

...

“Respectfully, I’d submit that the president has unearthed some demons,” Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said. “I’ve talked to a number of people about it back home. They say, ‘Well, look, if the president can say whatever, why can’t I say whatever?’ He’s given them license.”

...

“It’s an entirely different atmosphere,” Michael Steele, a former Republican National Committee chairman, said. “The president isn’t ideological and ideology is no longer the anchor. So when reporters put microphones in candidates’ faces, they’re asking about the president, tweets, character, your moral outlook and not about a particular policy.”

Few Republicans expect party leaders to do anything to lessen the toxicity.

Charlie Sykes, a conservative former talk-show host in Wisconsin and author of the forthcoming “How the Right Lost Its Mind,” said “every time something like Montana happens, Republicans adjust their standards and put an emphasis on team loyalty. They normalize and accept previously unacceptable behavior.”

posted by ZeusHumms at 6:38 AM on May 26, 2017 [46 favorites]

Debt limit vote needed sooner tha expected, Erin Kelly, USA Today

Treasury Sec Mnuchin says (paraphrasing), "Don't leave here without a clean debt limit bill or we'll be in default by the tme you get back."

Just to ease your mind, consider that House Granny Starver Paul Ryan says everything's okie dokie and they'll no doubt get it done in three months, believe me.

Mnuchin has called for Congress to pass a "clean" debt limit increase that is free of any controversial riders. But the Freedom Caucus (OBD Mick "What debt ceiling? Pfft." Mulvaney's old crew, formerly killers of Trumpcare mk.I) said "we oppose any clean raising of the debt ceiling. Ruh roh Rhaggy!

And now your, if you will, money shot: Congress has never failed to raise the debt limit before. There ya go - all better.

Fun fact - when Congress gets back from the Seychelles, the first thing that happens is the military pension fund is going to come over and demand all their money, and Congress'll be like, "Nah, we're not gonna pay you. Sue us." Wheeeeee!
posted by petebest at 6:52 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

I submit a comparison:

Despite all the efforts of the prosecution, everybody could see that this man was not a "monster," but it was difficult indeed not to suspect that he was a clown. And since this suspicion would have been fatal to the entire enterprise [his trial], and was also rather hard to sustain in view of the sufferings he and his like had caused to millions of people, his worst clowneries were hardly noticed and almost never reported. - Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Arendt argues in her discussion of "the banality of evil", a term she coined, that Eichmann's actions were motivated by a sort of stupidity which was wholly unexceptional.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:54 AM on May 26, 2017 [25 favorites]

“The president isn’t ideological and ideology is no longer the anchor. So when reporters put microphones in candidates’ faces, they’re asking about the president, tweets, character, your moral outlook and not about a particular policy.”

Jacobs was literally asking about the CBO score on a bill passed by the Republican party in the House of Representatives. You can't get more "particular policy" than that.
posted by melissasaurus at 6:55 AM on May 26, 2017 [53 favorites]

> Locally, international students coming into engineering and computer programs, have dropped 20%. A poll was done asking why, and the overwhelming reason given was Trump,his policies, and the climate toward foreigners.

Some of my wife's academic colleagues re-organized a conference that was supposed to take place in NYC because there were people traveling from the UK who did not want to enter the US. It was moved to Montreal instead. A restaurant across the river from my parents' house that my family and I like is out a few hundred bucks since the election because I don't want to cross the border and we never go any more (at least not during my visits). Multiply all of these stories X times and soon you're talking real money.

On top of everything else - and I know the U.S. is a huge land of contrasts and there are probably more people who don't support Trump than those who do - I just don't want to give any more of my money to the U.S. than I have to (living in Canada, it's pretty much impossible to economically boycott the U.S. completely) until the country gets its shit together. Protesting with my wallet is one of the few concrete actions I can take as a foreign citizen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [42 favorites]

Then there's the debt ceiling, less "we're overdrawn" and more "this whole thing's a farce and oh btw we're all screwed, goodnight." Guess who's driving THAT boat!

I mean, that first part's not wrong. The debt limit is a farce. It's essentially requiring your entire executive group and the board of directors together (to continue the as-a-business nonsense) in order to just write the checks for all the stuff you already had other meetings and plans in order to decide you were going to spend. The only possible defense for it is the fact that congress passes a lot of bills where they appropriate money for departments where they include lines "and other monies as required," which is a complete abdication of spending authority. But it's not like Dept of Ag, for example, made congress pass those laws; they decided to do it. If you tell someone "spend whatever it takes" you live with the consequence; you can't claw back the money by refusing to pay.

I really believe that if the Dems could get one freebie they could pass with no obstruction or problems the best thing they could use it on wouldn't be health care or the environment or capital punishment, it would be permanently eliminating the debt limit. This is a fight that is significantly stacked in favor of the group that wants to limit and harm government. Every time it comes up it is a premade hostage situation where the consequence is that the granny starvers get exactly what they want by doing exactly nothing - spending stops. And we discovered, sadly, that the repercussions of playing chicken that way are 0.
posted by phearlez at 7:10 AM on May 26, 2017 [26 favorites]

So I've been without daytime internet/news access during the week, and it's shocking and bizarre to come home and read the news. Yesterday was the worst, what with The Dunce shoving allies and refusing to commit to Article 5 of NATO and Kushner being named as a person of interest.

Please please, in the face of this ongoing national trauma, practice some self-care--even if we can right this ship, there will likely be lasting effects for each of us, especially if we aren't taking care of ourselves during the course of this nightmare.

Much <333 to y'all.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:26 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

I'm very interested in this tweet that claims that GOP Senators are going to see how this next recess goes at home before deciding what to do next. Noting later that none of these senators are having town halls.

Translation: Republican Senators know full well that their health care plan is an utter dog in terms of public perception and popularity, but they're going to gauge the political winds to see if they can sneak it thru on the sly.

I hope their constituents show up to give them an earful.
posted by Gelatin at 7:37 AM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'm glad we get at least one of these reminders to take care of ourselves in every thread. Among the life lessons that lifting weights has taught me is that muscles don't get built in the gym, they get destroyed. REST builds muscle, REST is how you get stronger.

If I stop making progress in the gym the questions to ask, in order of importance are, am I getting enough sleep, am I getting enough nutrition, could something else be messing my up (stress, other activities, health concerns, etc.), do I need to change my lifting program.

You lift a set and then you REST, you finish your workout and then you REST and you eat and you take care of your self so that you STRONGER the next time you need to lift that weight.

We all need to take breaks from this stuff not just because we'll wear ourselves out but because taking some time to rest and rejuvenate ourselves helps makes us stronger for the next fight.
posted by VTX at 7:48 AM on May 26, 2017 [34 favorites]

'The Germans Are Bad, Very Bad'

At a meeting with European Union leaders on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump was sharply critical of Germany. DER SPIEGEL spoke with meeting participants.

Now the full humiliation in English.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:52 AM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

FBI probing attempted hack of Trump Organization, officials say: Law enforcement officials who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity confirmed the attempted hack and said the subsequent meeting took place at the FBI’s New York headquarters on May 8, the day before Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Spokesmen for the FBI, CIA and Secret Service all declined to comment.

Reached by phone, Eric Trump, an executive vice president of the family company, would not confirm or deny that he and his brother had met with the FBI but told ABC News that the company had ultimately not been infiltrated.

“We absolutely weren’t hacked,” Eric Trump said during the brief call. “That’s crazy. We weren’t hacked, I can tell you that.”
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:53 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

My self-care:

-Refusing to feel any responsibility for Trump's actions (I did what I could to keep him out)
-Getting back on antidepressants
-Good food
-Working on my tiny, shabby, no-pressure garden
-Watching Steven Universe
-Reading books I have always loved, again

I highly recommend all of these things, if, like me, you are incapable of totally disengaging from news of our ongoing clusterfuck.
posted by emjaybee at 7:56 AM on May 26, 2017 [40 favorites]

Every time it comes up it is a premade hostage situation where the consequence is that the granny starvers get exactly what they want by doing exactly nothing - spending stops. And we discovered, sadly, that the repercussions of playing chicken that way are 0.

the repercussions are 0 because they never last long enough to really screw things up - at some point the democrats are going to simply have to say, "a clean continuation or nothing"

accellerationist?

no - every junkie has a choice - cold turkey or continued addiction - the price of cold turkey can be terrible - the price of continued addiction is death

we allow this and quite a few other sick games to continue as they have been then we will see the death of our system
posted by pyramid termite at 7:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hahaha, as if any of them would know or be able to do anything about one of the most advanced cyberwarfare units in the world. Eric doesn't know shit about whether their "business" was hacked.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

“We absolutely weren’t hacked,” Eric Trump said during the brief call. “That’s crazy. We weren’t hacked, I can tell you that.”

This is so minor in the grand scheme, but what is it with the Trumps appending "I can tell you that" or "that I can tell you" to their sentences? Is it another tell like "Believe me"? Because honestly all I think of when I hear it is Vinz Clortho telling Egon Spengler "Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, that I can tell you!"
posted by Servo5678 at 7:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

“We absolutely weren’t hacked,” Eric Trump said during the brief call. “That’s crazy. We weren’t hacked, I can tell you that.”

Ron Howard Voice of Truth: "They were definitely hacked"
posted by dis_integration at 7:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [99 favorites]

We all need to take breaks from this stuff not just because we'll wear ourselves out but because taking some time to rest and rejuvenate ourselves helps makes us stronger for the next fight.

hoo boy, i hear this. i may have a job search in my immediate future and i suspect that i will have to do a total news blackout until that is settled just to keep my anxiety at a manageable level.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

You cant truly know you "absolutely weren't hacked". A truly successful one leaves no trace until the hacker makes it known. So hes woefully ignorant at best, lying at worst.

The Trump presidency: Woefully ignorant at best, lying at worst.
posted by Twain Device at 8:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

Eric Trump probably has no idea whether or not the Trump Org was hacked, but he definitely doesn't want the Feds snooping around their computer systems for any reason.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [20 favorites]

We kinda took a 30-year break from civic engagement, and that's how we got here. Not really into breaks. I find it's rejuvenating to spend time with like-minded people and to take an action or two a day.

And remember, reading the news is not the same as doing something. It causes anxiety, but also brings up a lot of negative fight-or-flight which then has nowhere to go...unless you take action or express yourself with others. It's possible to respond only to calls to action, and not try to track every new revelation in minutiae. If it's between knowing and doing, choose doing more often.
posted by Miko at 8:03 AM on May 26, 2017 [37 favorites]

People are going to have to see what Tr*mp is doing soon, right?

His whole demeanour in Europe and his contempt for protocol with his fellow leaders in NATO in comparison with how he behaved in the Middle East seems so blatantly and radically different from how USA governments for the last 70 or so years have aligned themselves, I just can't believe so many of his supporters are able to justify their belief in him when it's becoming more and more obvious that he stands for nothing that they believe in.
posted by h00py at 8:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

I think it applies just as well to cruelty, or racism. Think of how cruel, selfish, and racist the average person is, and realize that half of them are more cruel, racist, and selfish than that

I could not disagree more on the cruelty, I mostly disagree on the selfishness. I think people are inherently inclined to empathy and generosity, though here in the US we've done a nice job of setting up a society and system that rewards tamping those down. I take no issue with saying that many of these people fail to do any self-examination about the impact of their choices. They let themselves be enablers of awful by not working to see the world beyond them.

But to call them inherently cruel I think is completely wrong. Given a clear situation and the ability to easily help others it is the vanishingly tiny percentage of people who would allow another to suffer. For someone to be cruel they need to cause that pain deliberately or be unconcerned by it happening. It is more true to say they're selfish, but I think a huge amount of that is personal fear. When people can help others with no risk to themselves they do so. I think you'd have a hard time finding someone who wouldn't give a hungry person their sandwich... so long as they didn't worry they'd end up hungry themselves.

Yeah, there's more who would show selfishness and not opt to hand over that sandwich when they fear for themselves. But we see time and time again people make small sacrifices for others, choosing minor discomfort in order to help. They hand over half their sandwich. 95% of the population engages in charitable giving and the poor and middle class are more generous.

On racism? I think probably everyone is more racist than average, if you'll let me do some violence to statistics for a rhetorical point. We have an instinctive aversion to difference and it takes some work at overcoming it overtly and a lot of work to overcome it subliminally. But again, people do it. A non-negligible amount of folks work at it.

If I'm going to paint the population with a wide brush it's going to be with the fact that I think a tremendous percentage of them are incurious about their flaws or the failures of their immediate observations. So much so they let the small percentage of awful people pour poison in their ear and suppress their instinctive empathy. They listen to the fear those people stoke in them without questioning whether it's real.

But I think they're under there, and some of them can be reached. The larger group needs to be positioned so it's easier to be generous than awful, and I think that's possible too. I don't think it's easy and there's a lot to overcome to make a world where it's easier to indulge those positive instincts than the negative ones. But they're in there and that gives me hope we'll bend that arc.
posted by phearlez at 8:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

On top of everything else - and I know the U.S. is a huge land of contrasts and there are probably more people who don't support Trump than those who do - I just don't want to give any more of my money to the U.S. than I have to (living in Canada, it's pretty much impossible to economically boycott the U.S. completely) until the country gets its shit together. Protesting with my wallet is one of the few concrete actions I can take as a foreign citizen.

Speaking as an American citizen living in America, I'm doing the same. To the extent possible (and damn it's really hard), I'm only buying local goods from local businesses in cash, and I'm starting to garden and produce a lot of my own goods for my own consumption, as well. I just can't, in good faith, prop up this evil system any more, except to the extent that I'm required to.

I know it's just a drop in the bucket and that my actions make no real difference, but...
posted by ragtag at 8:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

In Elle, a profile: Wanna Know What Donald Trump Is Really Thinking? Read Maggie Haberman

She's worth following on Twitter. She sometimes spills stories there that either haven't yet (or don't ever) make it into her paper.
posted by zarq at 8:09 AM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

"Just give him a chance! You just see the bad in everything he does!"

Has he done anything good yet?
posted by zarq at 8:17 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

"Just give him a chance! You just see the bad in everything he does!"

Has he done anything good yet?

He's pissed off libruls.
posted by Etrigan at 8:20 AM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

A great majority of them don't get to use the cloak of stupidity to hide their evil. Let's be clear, speaking as a dual citizen who grew up in Italy and now lives in the US, fascists are ubiquitous. There are fascists in the US and there are fascists in Europe and there are many of them. Authoritarianism is alive and well and I am terrified because I just see it becoming stronger.

Part of the reason so many of Trumps' supporters complain about "political correctness" is that society undertook a massive effort, at no small cost, to make overt racism more or less unacceptable. Many of America's leaders and journalists appear to have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to the resurgence of fascism -- it wasn't that long ago people took seriously Jonah Goldberg's suggesting that fascism was actually a liberal trait -- but politicians and journalists need now to leave phony notions of "comity" and "balance" aside and draw the line that fascism and authoritarianism are un-American and unacceptable.

The fact that so many Republicans have to pretend -- the politicians that their policies won't have the effect they're obviously intended to, and the voters that the vast amount of glaring signs of this administration's authoritarian tendencies are all "fake news" -- indicates that fascism is not strong and has to hide. Bring it into the light and shun, in no equivocal terms, those who would undermine American democracy.
posted by Gelatin at 8:21 AM on May 26, 2017 [22 favorites]

> In Elle, a profile: Wanna Know What Donald Trump Is Really Thinking? Read Maggie Haberman

Maggie Haberman is actually kind of awful. Yes, she gets a lot of Trump scoops, because she's well-connected to his inner circle, and reports what they're telling her. The idea that this makes her "[maybe] the greatest political reporter working today" is laughable.

Media Carry Water For Trump, Say He “Staunched The Bleeding” Despite Losing The Debate

Is the New York Times' Maggie Haberman really this stupid, or just pretending?

“When Clinton makes reference to the fact-checkers, it is a bit too much ref-working.”

and this #bothsidesdoit tweet

Yes, she does occasionally say some sensible things about how Trump is an authoritarian, and she's called other media figures out for going to easy on him, but she's part of the reason he's there in the first place, and certainly does not belong in the conversation for "best political reporter working today."
posted by tonycpsu at 8:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [23 favorites]

Charlie Sykes, a conservative former talk-show host in Wisconsin and author of the forthcoming “How the Right Lost Its Mind,” said “every time something like Montana happens, Republicans adjust their standards and put an emphasis on team loyalty. They normalize and accept previously unacceptable behavior.”

It's nice of Sykes to notice, but again, this tendency isn't new at all. As I said yesterday, Republicans did the same thing about torture more than a decade ago. The war crimes of the Bush/Cheney administration gave Republicans a choice of where they would stand up to be counted, and they decided it was with their team over law and morality.
posted by Gelatin at 8:25 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

Charlie Sykes, a conservative former talk-show host in Wisconsin and author of the forthcoming “How the Right Lost Its Mind,” said “every time something like Montana happens, Republicans adjust their standards and put an emphasis on team loyalty. They normalize and accept previously unacceptable behavior.”

It's nice of Sykes to notice, but again, this tendency isn't new at all.

He's pretty explicitly saying that this isn't a new tendency. Saying so for the last year or so is why "former" is in his job description.
posted by Etrigan at 8:32 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Republicans Broke American Politics, and Media Elites Are Blind to It
In truth, everything that’s happened in the past year or so has conditioned conservatives to believe they will face no consequences for poor or unprincipled behavior. They write off the accurate assessments of anti-Trump Republicans like Steve Schmidt or Democrats like Senator Brian Schatz as the impotent complaints of political losers, knowing that the public will learn about the assault of a reporter as an essentially partisan spat and that centrist pundits, out of fear of bad-faith accusations of bias, will blame on broken politics instead of defending their own interests effectively.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:32 AM on May 26, 2017 [38 favorites]

Eric Trump probably has no idea whether or not the Trump Org was hacked, but he definitely doesn't want the Feds snooping around their computer systems for any reason.

I have this beautiful vision of guys wearing FBI windbreakers wheeling out hand trucks of servers with "Seized" stickers on them.
posted by mikelieman at 8:32 AM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

Tangential to the subject of self care, I haven't seen Pantsuit Nation mentioned in a while, and I have all but ignored it lately (though I'm still a member), but after the election, I took part in the Great Facebook Friends Acquisition following the election. I doubt I've interacted at all with more then half of them, but you know, there are many all across the country with whom we"like" each others' posts, we congratulate each other on our kids' graduations and our latest haircuts, and even a couple I've added to my occasional gaming group.

The Internet has allowed some truly vile fringes to find each other and propagate their loathsome illusions that they represent something big rather than small, but it has also fostered community among people who reject the politics of division ad zero-sum greed and still believe we are stronger together. That's no small thing, and I suspect it's at lest partially responsible for the nascent Democratic wave we'e seen building in those red state special elections.
posted by Gelatin at 8:35 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

One of my FB friends has a pet Trumper friend and if this guy is any indication, it's "Just give him a chance! You just see the bad in everything he does! You'd be against him no matter what he did!" all the way down.

OK. Does your friend never ask the person to actually make an argument as to why a specific Trump policy/action was good or bad rather than make a pointless ad hom comment about the emotional motives of the person asking them the question?
posted by jaduncan at 8:36 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

btw, @fahrenthold

Hello! I'll be doing a Reddit AMA on Friday, 5/26. Ask me about @realDonaldTrump, the Trump Fdn, Mar-a-Lago, confetti-gun safety...

Posting as /u/washingtonpost. 1:00 PM EDT.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:40 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

OK. Does your friend never ask the person to actually make an argument as to why a specific Trump policy/action was good or bad rather than make a pointless ad hom comment about the emotional motives of the person asking them the question?

Seriously? You think people are going to change their views if you force them to think logically about why their positions are wrong?
posted by holborne at 8:41 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

centrist pundits, out of fear of bad-faith accusations of bias, will blame on broken politics instead of defending their own interests effectively.

I don't know whether to think that these media personalities are actually afraid of consequences, and are like abuse victims, where walking on eggshells is a response to being the object of abuse; or if they are selfish and cynical, and don't want to risk their cushy sinecures on actual opinions.

I ask because I don't know enough about their circumstances to say one way or the other. I know journalism jobs are disappearing; but aren't those "centrist pundits" pretty well secure in their jobs? If one can't criticize politicians or parties without getting run out on a rail and having to wash dishes for a living, that's one thing; "eh, I don't want to rock the boat because it's a living, and besides, college-educated white people like me aren't the ones suffering" is another.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:42 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

We kinda took a 30-year break from civic engagement, and that's how we got here. Not really into breaks. I find it's rejuvenating to spend time with like-minded people and to take an action or two a day.

There is kind of a flip side to the rest and take care of yourself thing. You have to keep lifting. If you miss a day here or there, it's usually not a big deal, you just progress a little slower. Miss a whole week and you'll have take a step backward the next week. Miss too many more than that and you're going to break the habit, lose all your gains, and it's going to be a HUGE PITA to get started again (ask me how I know!).

Both things work together in a cycle where one reinforces the other.

I'll also point out that it will look different for everyone. I'm super duper introverted so doing social stuff like relaxing with friends, while enjoyable, is a huge energy drain for me. While someone who's more of an extrovert might find that super restful.

I tend to read these threads, get all pissed off and motivated, make some calls to my reps or do something else constructive, then take some time to step away from it all for like a day if I can stay away from the thread that long before starting over again.
posted by VTX at 8:42 AM on May 26, 2017 [20 favorites]

Part of the reason so many of Trumps' supporters complain about "political correctness" is that society undertook a massive effort, at no small cost, to make overt racism more or less unacceptable.

Society undertook a great many things to help people and improve things, but once that help and improvement included POC, Rs made the conscious choice to embrace racism and even more extreme anti-governmentalism to stop helping "those people."

@keithboykin
No Democrat has won the majority of the white vote since 1964, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Of course it's about race. [chart]
- Racism is the glue that held the country together. As long as both parties were a bit racist, we could build bridges and dams and highways.
- When both parties were a little bit racist, government could do big things like Social Security, Medicare & GI bill on a bipartisan basis.
- Shortly after the Democrats aligned with the civil rights movement in 1964-1965, government became the enemy for many white voters.
- After signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Lyndon Johnson reportedly told Bill Moyers that Dems would lose the south for many years to come.
- Nixon exploited white fears with his "southern strategy" in 1968. Reagan used "states' rights" & Cadillac-driving "welfare queens" in 1980.
- George W. Bush used "Willie Horton." Newt Gingrich used "food stamps." And all Donald Trump had to say was "make America great again."
- As GOP's Lee Atwater said, you start by saying "nigger." You end up talking "tax cuts," but it's all the same thing. https://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on May 26, 2017 [133 favorites]

america's happiest republican John Boehner puts the boot in:

AP: Boehner: Trump’s term ‘disaster,’ aside from foreign affairs

“Everything else he’s done (in office) has been a complete disaster,” the Ohio Republican said, according to the publication. “He’s still learning how to be president.”

Boehner said he’s been friends with Trump for 15 years, but still has a hard time envisioning him as president. He also said Trump shouldn’t be allowed to Tweet overnight.
…
Boehner made it clear he’s happier now that he’s left Capitol Hill.

“I wake up every day, drink my morning coffee and say, ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,’” he said, according to Rigzone.

And unsurprisingly, Boehner said he doesn’t want to be president.

“I drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. I golf. I cut my own grass. I iron my own clothes. And I’m not willing to give all that up to be president,” he said.

posted by murphy slaw at 8:50 AM on May 26, 2017 [22 favorites]

“I wake up every day, drink my morning coffee and say, ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,’” he said, according to Rigzone.

Good for fucking you I guess. Too bad all the people negatively impacted by Trump's policies can't say the same.
posted by Twain Device at 8:54 AM on May 26, 2017 [21 favorites]

Aside from foreign affairs? Did he miss the whole part about Trump positioning to end the NATO alliance as a favor to Russia?
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:56 AM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

Heh. Lyndon Johnson and his buddies on both sides of the aisle were more than "a little" racist, but I take Boykin's point.
posted by xyzzy at 8:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Boehner doesn't care that there are problems because they're no longer his problems.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Society undertook a great many things to help people and improve things, but once that help and improvement included POC, Rs made the conscious choice to embrace racism and even more extreme anti-governmentalism to stop helping "those people."

Yeah. The Republicans saw a pickup opportunity by appealing to the dregs of the Confederacy, and they took it. They deliberately undermined the nation's progress away from racism for political gain, and every Republican politician from Nixon on was complicit. It's high time people of good will treat platitudes like "the party of Lincoln doesn't always live up to the ideals of Lincoln" as the laughable hogwash it is.

But again, as Atwater pointed out, they at least used to have to go to some effort to hide the racist appeals in plausibly deniable language. That tendency has been eroding; Trump's explicit racism has obviously emboldened those who chafe about not being to express their racism openly. The arc of history can bend toward justice, but again, that process calls for society's leaders to commit to doing so, and that process involves an actual choice and an explicit rejection of certain values, regardless of whether it's "civil" or "balanced."
posted by Gelatin at 8:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

Good for fucking you I guess. Too bad all the people negatively impacted by Trump's policies can't say the same.

Boehner's a Republican. It's not that he doesn't care; he's happy that those people are suffering. That's what at least one of those hallelujahs is for.
posted by IAmUnaware at 8:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

John Stoehr, Washington Monthly: Mitch McConnell and Vladimir Putin Want the Same Thing

Our history suggests we live up to our ideals, usually, when we are faced with external threats. America was not a “melting pot” before the First World War. But the federal government’s recruitment shortage forced it to open the armed forces to Jews and “white ethnics” in ways it never did before. And to encourage such men to volunteer, the government mounted its own propaganda campaign to persuade all Americans of all backgrounds that out of many, we truly are one.

Same thing happened after the Second World War. The federal government did not care if Southern states were violating the constitutional rights of their black citizens or were maintaining a system of apartheid in which murder was legal. But after defeating two nations whose explicit aim was to enslave the world according to insane theories of racial superiority, the US found itself looking in the mirror and gasping with horror.

We are now in a similar period, one could argue, in which conservative forces have again paralyzed the nation. From gun violence to social welfare, from climate change to the assault on democratic institutions, the conservatives have claimed power where they do not have a majority and, thanks to judicial appointments, will maintain power long after white Americans have become a demographic minority. If nothing changes, we can expect the Russians to attack our election process for years to come. If nothing changes, someone is going to benefit. That someone is not the American people.

So the Democrats need to get voters to see that Republican priorities are Vladimir Putin’s priorities. Consider for instance, health care. What better way of wounding your enemy than by taking away insurance for tens of millions of Americans? The Republicans, in replacing Obamacare with a vastly inferior product, are moving to do that. And Putin is smiling.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [43 favorites]

OK. Does your friend never ask the person to actually make an argument as to why a specific Trump policy/action was good or bad rather than make a pointless ad hom comment about the emotional motives of the person asking them the question?

It's a pile-on every time this dude opens his mouth and he's beyond impervious to it--I think he actually likes it. You know what they say about wrestling with pigs.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:02 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Nancy Letourneau, Washington Monthly: Making the Distinction Between Honest Opponents and Toxic Enemies
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

“I wake up every day, drink my morning coffee and say, ‘Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,’” he said, according to Rigzone.

Let's be clear about what Boehner is saying Hallelujah to: Hallelujah this country is going exactly to the place I always wanted it to, but I don't have to take the heat for it and can just enjoy from the sidelines on my riding mower with my mint julep.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:05 AM on May 26, 2017 [26 favorites]

Seriously? You think people are going to change their views if you force them to think logically about why their positions are wrong?

Absolutely not. But I'd like to know what their arguments actually are.
posted by jaduncan at 9:06 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

So the Democrats need to get voters to see that Republican priorities are Vladimir Putin’s priorities.

omg no please do not do this. Putin is becoming a hero to these people. He's white, he's Christian, he's a manly man's man, he will never be seen as truly our enemy by other white, Christian males.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:07 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

It's a pile-on every time this dude opens his mouth and he's beyond impervious to it--I think he actually likes it. You know what they say about wrestling with pigs.

Ah, OK. Contrarian rather than reasoned. *sighs*
posted by jaduncan at 9:08 AM on May 26, 2017

Absolutely not. But I'd like to know what their arguments actually are.

Oh, I can provide this.

--Government should be run like a business because businesses are awesome make lots of money and that is a good thing so this is good.
--BUT THE DEBT YOU GUYS
--Taxation is theft
--lol no one is actually going to die, no one is going to let that happen, why are you guys taking this so seriously?
--You just want to shit on everything Trump does.

Put those five responses on random, sit back, enjoy.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:09 AM on May 26, 2017 [40 favorites]

Much <333 to y'all.

Is that, like, a heart with four boobs?
posted by notsnot at 9:10 AM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

> “I drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. I golf. I cut my own grass. I iron my own clothes. And I’m not willing to give all that up to be president,”

Good thing, because now that you've admitted you prefer red wine to beer (a real man's drink*) and willingly iron your own clothes (a woman's job*) you've pretty much killed your chances of ever being elected to office as a Republican again.

* hamburger, just in case it's not clear
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:11 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

So the Democrats need to get voters to see that Republican priorities are Vladimir Putin’s priorities.

omg no please do not do this. Putin is becoming a hero to these people. He's white, he's Christian, he's a manly man's man, he will never be seen as truly our enemy by other white, Christian males.

Russia is a white ethnofascist totalitarian state. Republicans are turning the US into a white ethnofascist totalitarian state. They won on that explicit message.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:11 AM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

I'm watching Hillary's speech at Wellesley (on CNN) right now, and I just...this should have been our President. This is the kind of speech we should be hearing instead of Trump's hateful word salad garbage.

She is being amazing and the crowd loves her.
posted by Salieri at 9:11 AM on May 26, 2017 [70 favorites]

Nancy Letourneau, Washington Monthly: Making the Distinction Between Honest Opponents and Toxic Enemies

That article quotes The New Yorker's Adam Gopnick as saying: Yet the challenge remains for the left to avoid falling prey to tribal habits, as the right did. You see this risk in the insistence, surprisingly widespread, that there is no real point in resisting Trump, since the Republicans in Congress are complicit in his program. Mike Pence would be more dangerous to liberal causes, this argument runs, because he shares the Republicans’ beliefs and brings none of the chaos. Trump is almost better than Pence because he is more nakedly unfit for the office..

Who, exactly, is making this claim? Many realistically point out that were Trump to leave office, Pence would still rubber-stamp whatever the Republican congress passes. But who exactly is suggesting that Trump in power is a net positive for anyone but Trump, and probably Putin?

The challenge remains for the media to avoid falling into the craven habit of assigning a "both sides do it" narrative to what really is, at least at this time in history, a uniquely Republican problem.
posted by Gelatin at 9:14 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

> “These are the best,” he said, before explaining that his ambivalent attitude towards the EU was a consequence of his experiences trying to set up businesses, notably golf resorts, on the continent.

So I think the...charitable?...reading is that this is the usual self-absorbed blather, but it reminds me those bits of FBI wiretap recordings the evening news played whenever a corrupt official working for the mob got arrested. "I can get the building inspection office off your back if you cut me in on the project." He doesn't care whether or how much they pay because he'll get the US to let them off the hook for their NATO dues (as it were) if they relax the rules to let him build resorts in their countries.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? at 9:14 AM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

To sum up, it's on Republicans, each and every one, to demonstrate explicitly and positively that they are good-faith opponents and not toxic enemies. I reject the suggestion that any Republican politician is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, and insist that the burden is on Gopnick to prove that "sane, moderate, reasonable Republican politicians" exist before crafting a "both sides do it" narrative abut liberals and Democrats rejecting the Party of Putin on its ill-gained merits.
posted by Gelatin at 9:20 AM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

> But who exactly is suggesting that Trump in power is a net positive for anyone but Trump, and probably Putin?

It's an accelerationist argument that I've definitely seen from the Bernie-leaning section of the leftopshere. The idea is that because Pence is perceived as more of Generic Joe Republican (even though that's far too charitable to his record) he will be less likely to bring about the REVOLUTION that self-styled leftists want. Example here and here.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:22 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

@keithboykin speaks the truth, plainly and clearly. This nation was created by deciding to simultaneously declare that human rights were self-evident while endorsing and politically rewarding slavery. Until we examine, admit and actively rid ourselves of THAT identity, our horrors will remain.
posted by rc3spencer at 9:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

> To sum up, it's on Republicans, each and every one, to demonstrate explicitly and positively that they are good-faith opponents and not toxic enemies.

So many of them seem like they're really looking forward to a day when they can just drop the mask for good.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

We all need to take breaks from this stuff not just because we'll wear ourselves out but because taking some time to rest and rejuvenate ourselves helps makes us stronger for the next fight.

I had a routine medical procedure yesterday, and when I woke up the first thing I said was, "Is Trump still president?" Apparently, even under heavy sedation, this stuff is simmering just below the surface, waiting to to bust out.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:25 AM on May 26, 2017 [24 favorites]

Yet the challenge remains for the left to avoid falling prey to tribal habits, as the right did. You see this risk in the insistence, surprisingly widespread, that there is no real point in resisting Trump, since the Republicans in Congress are complicit in his program. Mike Pence would be more dangerous to liberal causes, this argument runs, because he shares the Republicans’ beliefs and brings none of the chaos. Trump is almost better than Pence because he is more nakedly unfit for the office.

Serves me right for having unfollowed most of the Bernie-or-Busters in my feed.
posted by Gelatin at 9:27 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Aw, HRC just gave a really inspiring commencement address at Wellesly. Made me feel much better. I watched via this Facebook link.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:29 AM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

So many of them seem like they're really looking forward to a day when they can just drop the mask for good.

I honestly had no idea how many monsters in waiting there were among us.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:29 AM on May 26, 2017 [29 favorites]

Not a Bernie or Buster. I am however a woman of reproductive age and Mike Pence scares the shit out of me.

That having been said, I don't actually think he's worse, because I think nuclear war is also a terrible plan.
posted by nat at 9:31 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

To sum up, it's on Republicans, each and every one, to demonstrate explicitly and positively that they are good-faith opponents and not toxic enemies.

Yeah but what if they don't? I strongly, strongly agree with this in principle. But what if Republicans won't do that? And what if there are enough of them to thereby make a governing plurality impossible? I literally don't know what to do with that question, and I keep coming back to it. And I have never had much success, rhetorically or in my actual lived life, with the "here is what you need to do" model of reaching consensus.
posted by penduluum at 9:32 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's not like we stop resisting when Trump is out of office. That's just step one. We have to make sure no Republican has political, social, or economic power ever again at any level.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:32 AM on May 26, 2017 [39 favorites]

I think it's important not to lose sight of just how totally, totally horrible Pence is, but you can do that while acknowledging that Trump adds a whole other new layer of terribleness to the preexisting terribleness condition that Pence represents.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:34 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Chapo crew may not be to everyone's tastes, but this week they have a really interesting interview with author China Miéville, who has written a new book, "October," about the Russian revolutions. His description of the state of Russia immediately prior to 1905 and 1917 was kind of a cracked mirror of 2017 USA. It's a good interview.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:35 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

> Not a Bernie or Buster. I am however a woman of reproductive age and Mike Pence scares the shit out of me.

Sure, but how much daylight is there between where the Trump administration is on reproductive freedom and where Pence would be? Neil Gorsuch is a forced birth fanatic, as any other Trump nominee will be. Trump has already signed both anti-abortion legislation and an anti-abortion executive order. How much further could Pence possibly go?
posted by tonycpsu at 9:35 AM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

His description of the state of Russia immediately prior to 1905 and 1917 was kind of a cracked mirror of 2017 USA

I started this book on Tuesday and had to stop and take a break after two chapters. It's really chilling.
posted by something something at 9:36 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

The reason behind Macron’s firm handshake with Trump, revealed: He was warned!: “Did you warn him about Trump’s handshakes?” my philanthropist friend asked. A look of surprise popped on Araud’s face as he inquired what exactly did that mean. Both of us told him about Trump’s affinity for the alpha male, grab-and-pull power pump that always seemed to reduce the other person to a rag doll. Forewarned, Araud said he would alert Macron.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:39 AM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

Here's some proper spleen venting from The Daily Beast, Trump Shamed Us All With His NATO Money Talk:

“This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States,” said the man who stiffed countless people and taxpayers, failing to pay nearly 300 contractors on a single project even as he siphoned off millions.

Maybe those nations that responded so quickly and selflessly to aid us after 9/11 should consider Trump’s prime strategy when faced with daunting debt.

The guy who failed to affirm NATO’s collective defense pact while standing beside the Artifact of Article 5 is himself a living Artifact of Chapter 11.
...
While Danes and Estonians were risking—and too often losing—their lives taking on al Qaeda and the Taliban, Donald Jr. and Eric were shooting an elephant and a cheetah and other creatures who could not shoot back.
...
While Rosie O’Donnell—the woman he loves to insult—reached in her pocket on 9/12 and committed $1 million of her own money to the victims’ families, Trump pledged only $10,000 and apparently failed to make good even on that. He appears to have given next to nothing until he was running for president last year, when made his first ever visit to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and presented it with $200,000. The check was drawn on his foundation, to which he had contributed nothing in eight years.

For some perspective, maybe six or seven years ago driving through NYC I got trapped in a traffic blockade on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn at 6am on a Saturday morning. The westbound lanes were closed to transport some of the preserved girders from the World Trade Center from somewhere on Long Island back into the city for the 9/11 memorial. It was essentially a funeral procession, there was a huge law enforcement and fire department escort followed by representatives of every union and civic organization in the city. It was a powerful moment to be surrounded by thousands of New Yorkers standing on the side of the highway all teary-eyed to watch the twisted pieces of metal drive by.

And now we have Donald Trump hectoring NATO over their imaginary debts and praising fucking Saudi Arabia while standing this close to a broken piece of the World Trade Center. What a crass and vile man.
posted by peeedro at 9:42 AM on May 26, 2017 [83 favorites]

> It's an accelerationist argument that I've definitely seen from the Bernie-leaning section of the leftopshere. The idea is that because Pence is perceived as more of Generic Joe Republican (even though that's far too charitable to his record) he will be less likely to bring about the REVOLUTION that self-styled leftists want. Example here and here.

God forgive me for defending an essay from counterpunch, but this is a misrepresentation of the argument in the two pieces you've linked — both of these pieces seem to have nothing to do with whether or not Trump, Pence, or Ryan is more likely to inspire "the REVOLUTION that self-styled leftists want," and instead for the most part argue that keeping Trump in position may be preferable to Pence or Ryan because Trump, unlike Pence or Ryan, is not competent — they're all protofascists, but the farther down the line of succession you get, the better they are at fashing.¹ You may have lost that thread in the counterpunch piece, though, since it is terribly written.

I don't think you should necessarily agree with that argument (I don't), but it's something worth engaging with. Positioning it as something said by self-styled accelerationist leftists aiming for THE REVOLUTION is a deep misreading.

It's important to keep the horrors of the rest of the Republican Party in mind when discussing Trumpism, since the improbable act of dislodging Trump is only the first step in climbing out of this disaster. And the people below Trump in the line of succession may really be more dangerous than Trump long-term.

Trumpism isn't really something distinct from Republicanism; Trump is a symptom of a party that allows the Tea Party to exist, just like the Tea Party is in turn a symptom of the old mainline Republican ideologies. To survive this godawful century, we'll have to somehow break Trump — and then we'll have to somehow break Pence and Ryan and all the rest of the right-wing scoundrels too.

None of this means that we should be comfortable with Trump remaining in place, of course. Analysing the argument for leaving Trump in place as accelerationist, though, especially the argument as presented in the articles you've linked, is a misstep. Really, an accelerationist take on the ongoing disaster would make the opposite argument from the one you've identified as accelerationist; a thoroughgoing accelerationist would want the most thoroughgoing monster in power (Ryan, say, rather than Trump) with the idea that that monster will run capitalism faster and harder, hastening us toward the moment when capitalism finishes shaking itself apart.

1: I tend to tune out whenever anyone attempts to make the argument that the Republican Party isn't fascist but instead protofascist or pseudofascist or whatever. There's no political utility to drawing fine distinctions between far-right ideologies, since right wing ideologies tend to be conceptually incoherent. They're much more about securing and maintaining material gains for specific people than they are about making sense as an intellectual system. Focusing on material gains rather than intellectual coherence, fwiw, not necessarily a bad thing; one reason why I self-style as a leftist rather than a liberal is because leftist approaches are at their best more about winning material gains rather than about building a coherent intellectual apparatus. The distinction between the left-wing approach and the right-wing approach is that right-wingers are about winning material gains for a small subset of the population (a subset that gets smaller and smaller the farther right you move), whereas left approaches are about winning material gains for broader and broader sections of the populace.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:45 AM on May 26, 2017 [22 favorites]

“This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States,” said the man who stiffed countless people and taxpayers, failing to pay nearly 300 contractors on a single project even as he siphoned off millions.

Not to mention is billing the American taxpayer for his stays at Mar-a-Lago, which lines his own pocket in ways that going to Camp David wouldn't.
posted by Gelatin at 9:47 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

But what if Republicans won't do that?

We keep fighting.

I still believe that there is a 99% chance that this only ends with some kind of violent conflict or civil war. Everything we're doing now is to prevent that. But even if we knew with nearly 100% certainty that the only effective option is going to be violence, we still have to do everything we possibly can to prevent that outcome. It's the only way I can ever consider a violent solution to be anything like morally acceptable.

If we're eventually going to say that violence or accepting defeat are the only solutions left to us, we had better be able to show ourselves that that's true and we really did try everything else we reasonable could first. Besides that, I really hope I'm wrong and by doing everything we can to avoid a violent end to this conflict we'll find that end if it exists.
posted by VTX at 9:50 AM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

This is Mueller's most plausible kill shot: connecting Russia's fake news distribution to Kushner's data operation. FBI Russia investigation looking at Kushner role

This is a very plausible path to conviction for the whole lot of them. If Russian hackers supplied raw polling data from DNC et al for Cambridge Analytics & that guided Team Trump in choosing areas to target, that's the whole ball of wax right there. Direct collusion in the election itself, the holy grail.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 AM on May 26, 2017 [71 favorites]

“These are the best,” he said, before explaining that his ambivalent attitude towards the EU was a consequence of his experiences trying to set up businesses, notably golf resorts, on the continent.

There's just a horrific future where someone has to explain to the Baltic EU states that Trump won't intervene against Putin's economic pressure for them because Paris wouldn't let him build a golf course.
posted by jaduncan at 9:51 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

According to a report in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, many EU officials were appalled by how little the Americans appeared to know about trade policy. The guests from Washington seemed not to be aware that EU member states only negotiate trade treaties as a bloc. According to the paper, Trump's chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, claimed during meetings, for example, that different customs tariffs are in place between the U.S. and Germany than between the U.S. and Belgium.

*sarcastic slow clap*

Bravo, Mitch McFuckingConnell, you shithead. YOU KNEW.
posted by petebest at 9:53 AM on May 26, 2017 [29 favorites]

> The reason behind Macron’s firm handshake with Trump, revealed: He was warned!

What I don't get is how Trump - a 70 year old man who apparently hasn't exercised since he was a teenager - is apparently strong enough to be able to pull off this bullshit power move. Is it just a function of his mass?
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:55 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I still believe that there is a 99% chance that this only ends with some kind of violent conflict or civil war.

There have been numerous incidents, including the stabbing over the weekend, in which people of color have been attacked and in some cases killed by white men wanting to "take America back" or some such nonsense. What makes the current situation distinct from a violent conflict is that so far the violence seems to be mostly one-sided.
posted by Gelatin at 9:56 AM on May 26, 2017 [24 favorites]

The guests from Washington seemed not to be aware that EU member states only negotiate trade treaties as a bloc.

Well, Merkel only told Trump this 11 times back in March, so I guess the message didn't get through to everyone yet.
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [54 favorites]

This is Mueller's most plausible kill shot: connecting Russia's fake news distribution to Kushner's data operation. FBI Russia investigation looking at Kushner role.

Could someone photoshop either a) cell bars or b) a prison jumpsuit onto this image, please? TIA
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:58 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

What I don't get is how Trump - a 70 year old man who apparently hasn't exercised since he was a teenager - is apparently strong enough to be able to pull off this bullshit power move. Is it just a function of his mass?

I'd guess most people aren't expecting to be jerked off their feet by a handshake, so he relies on surprise. I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is it just a function of his mass?

I would guess it's more about surprise. When I shake hands with someone, I don't expect them to yank my arm toward them. You can see that it doesn't work when they are expecting it. (Trudeau, Macron)
posted by Fleebnork at 9:59 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

I'd guess most people aren't expecting to be jerked off their feet by a handshake, so he relies on surprise. I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.

That seems to be exactly what just happened with Macron.
posted by Gelatin at 10:00 AM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

> You may have lost that thread in the counterpunch piece, though, since it is terribly written.

Perhaps, but I stand by my reading of the Patheos piece. The giveaway is in the update section where the author tries to say "no, really, I understand Trump is awful, but...":

My concern in writing this is not to prevent the ouster of Trump. I think it is a necessary thing given his indiscretions and incompetence. My concern is that people opposed to him, especially the Democratic party, will declare victory and forget that the war has not been won.

This is textbook heighten-the-contradictions accelerationism -- the public won't notice how awful things are unless we REALLY let them have it with Trumpism.

I know I read an even more clearcut example of this somewhere else, but I'm having trouble finding it in my RSS reader. It is certainly not a straw man -- even if it may not be the only or even primary reason people think Pence would be worse, it is there.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

yes, this move requires strength of dickishness, not strength of muscle. it's just one of the many fighting techniques of Trump's signature style of martial arts, Krap MAGA
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [77 favorites]

Trump is so awful that we sometimes lose track of the awful things the rest of the Republican Party is trying to accomplish. If anything, getting rid of Trump should help us get focused on the party as a whole.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

> I know I read an even more clearcut example of this somewhere else, but I'm having trouble finding it

Found it:

No. Keep him in office. Politically, Trump is the goose that’s laying a treasure trove of golden eggs. Let him spend four years making such a toxic wreck of the Republican Party that disgusted voters won’t want to get anywhere near the GOP for a decade. Let him finish the job that George W. Bush started and turn the party into a smoldering ruin at last.

posted by tonycpsu at 10:08 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

My concern is that people opposed to him, especially the Democratic party, will declare victory and forget that the war has not been won.

We n these friends have been frustrated when, say, Diane Feinstein seems to forget that, oh, Mitch McConnell stole Obama's last SCOTUS pick and babbles blandishments about working together in a bipartisan manner, but while Democrats (and only Democrats) are expected to make nice with the opposing party in public, I don't really see much valid reason for this, ah, concern. Many Democrats -- Franken, Lieu, McCaskill, Warren, Klobuchar, not to mention those running for special elections right now -- seem to be fully aware that the Republican Party is not dealing in good faith with the American people, and hardly seem to be in a forgiving mood.

Maybe this guy is just listening to too much NPR.
posted by Gelatin at 10:08 AM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'd guess most people aren't expecting to be jerked off their feet by a handshake, so he relies on surprise. I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.

Queen of England [or other British Royals]. Or the Pope.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:09 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

And here's another:

Impeachment would also help restore the damaged Republican brand. Trump lost the popular vote by the largest margin of any incoming president in history. His administration is mired in incompetence, chaos, and suspicion, and has already sparked a massive public resistance. His public approval rating hovers around 40 percent, by far a record low for a new president. If these trends continue, his presidency will be a massive albatross around the GOP’s neck in future elections.

By contrast, the robot-like Pence—despite his extreme right-wing views—would be packaged as a comforting return to normalcy. The relief at no longer having an egotistical lunatic at the helm could provide Pence with a long and generous public opinion honeymoon. Republicans could claim that Trump was “never one of theirs,” and approach the 2020 campaign with the benefit of incumbency and without Trump’s liabilities. [...]

Most important to progressives, Democratic ownership of impeachment would sacrifice the historic opportunity to integrate the massive anti-Trump resistance into a revitalized progressive movement and Democratic Party. A short-term focus on impeachment would divert the focus of many activists away from less glamorous, but more important, grassroots organizing, coalition building, and policy advocacy, and decrease the likelihood of mass grassroots mobilizations on critical issues such as health care, immigration, Planned Parenthood, electoral reform, climate change, and so many others.

posted by tonycpsu at 10:11 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Bloomberg: The Kushners, the Saudis and Blackstone: Behind the Recent Deals

When Saudi Arabia announced last week a $20-billion investment in a U.S. infrastructure fund managed by Blackstone Group LP, many noticed that it came shortly after presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner personally negotiated a $110-billion arms sale to the country. What went unnoticed -- and is largely unknown -- is how important Blackstone is to the Kushner family company.

Since 2013, Blackstone has loaned more than $400 million to finance four Kushner Cos. deals -- two of which have not been reported -- making it one of the business’s largest lenders. And their ties go beyond the loans. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder and chief executive officer, heads Trump’s business-advisory council and was in Riyadh with the president and Kushner. The Saudi promise to invest in Blackstone’s fund drove the firm’s stock up more than 8 percent.

In healthcare news, Trump’s latest tantrum will hurt hundreds of thousands of people. Here’s how., in which the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina straight up blames Trump and the Republicans for sabotaging Obamacare (unsurprisingly, the guy is about to retire):

In an interview with me this morning, Brad Wilson, the president and chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, said flat-out that the failure of the Trump administration and Congress to guarantee that these subsidies will continue is why rates are going to soar for hundreds of thousands of people in his state.

“The failure of the administration and the House to bring certainty and clarity by funding CSRs has caused our company to file a 22.9 percent premium increase, rather than one that is materially lower,” Wilson told me. “That will impact hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians.” The company says it has approximately half a million customers getting individual insurance via Obamacare.

“We filed a 22.9 rate increase for 2018 based on the assumption that the CSRs will not be in place,” Wilson also said. “The rate increase would be 8.8 percent if the CSRs were guaranteed for 2018. Because they are not, the rate is 22.9 percent.”

Finally, wingnut media is still lost without the Clintons to attack, so they keep doing it anyway. Drudge today: HILLARY STILL COUGHING...
posted by zachlipton at 10:12 AM on May 26, 2017 [38 favorites]

Let him finish the job that George W. Bush started and turn the party into a smoldering ruin at last.

Sheesh, what an idiot. The Republican Party's response to the miserable failure of George W. Bush's presidency was to use corporate money to re-brand itself as the Tea Party and fool the so-called "liberal media" into thinking it was a spontaneous grassroots resistance to government overreach.

The proper thing to do is rub the media's nose in its failure in hopes that it won't be fooled on January 21, 2021. They listened to the decades-long Republican bad-faith criticism of them being too liberal; it's high time for some pushback.
posted by Gelatin at 10:14 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

(By the way, even NPR is now using "Tea Party" as a synonym for "ultraconservative Republican," so the media do seem capable of learning, if not -- BUT HER EMAILS! -- before the damage is done.)
posted by Gelatin at 10:18 AM on May 26, 2017

Impeachment would also help restore the damaged Republican brand.

I don't give a fuck about the Republican brand. Trump has been in violation of the Emoluments Clause since Day 1, and he has committed obstruction of justice (regardless of his personal involvement in Russian election interference). He needs to be impeached and removed from office because he is violating the law.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:19 AM on May 26, 2017 [52 favorites]

yes, this move requires strength of dickishness, not strength of muscle. it's just one of the many fighting techniques of Trump's signature style of martial arts, Krap MAGA

Well, MAGAKarps do enjoy a reputation for unusual combat tactics.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? at 10:19 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Let him spend four years making such a toxic wreck of the Republican Party that disgusted voters won’t want to get anywhere near the GOP for a decade.

The problem is a significant portion of the right will continue to blame the Democrats. For obstructing his agenda. For constant investigations. For calls for impeachment. They'll be willing to believe that Trump "could have made it work" if it weren't for those evil Socialists.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:23 AM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Let him finish the job that George W. Bush started and turn the party into a smoldering ruin at last.

The danger there is that we can't be sure whether Trump's impact would only be on the party, rather than on turning the entire rest of the actual world into a smoldering ruin. I'm not quite sure I'm gonig to be satisfied with that particular Phyrric victory.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:25 AM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

CNN follows up on the Washington Post report about the fake Russian memo and the FBI, saying flat out that Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake

Then-FBI Director James Comey knew that a critical piece of information relating to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email was fake -- created by Russian intelligence -- but he feared that if it became public it would undermine the probe and the Justice Department itself, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the process.
...
Still, Comey did not let on to lawmakers that there were doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to sources familiar with the briefings. It is unclear why Comey was not more forthcoming in a classified setting.

Sources close to Comey tell CNN he felt that it didn't matter if the information was accurate, because his big fear was that if the Russians released the information publicly, there would be no way for law enforcement and intelligence officials to discredit it without burning intelligence sources and methods.

He apparently told lawmakers about this in classified briefings months ago. Remember that time Maxine Waters burst out of a briefing to hold the world's most amazing one-question press conference, the where she said "No, it's classified and we can't tell you anything. All I can tell you is the FBI director has no credibility." I'm beginning to suspect I understand why she came to that conclusion now.
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 AM on May 26, 2017 [95 favorites]

Let him spend four years making such a toxic wreck of the Republican Party that disgusted voters won’t want to get anywhere near the GOP for a decade.

This has never happened and will never happen. After Watergate, sure, we elected Carter for four years, but by 1980, six years after Nixon resigned, came the Reagan Revolution, followed the havoc it wreaked on the country that continues to this day.

Tribalism will always be stronger than sense. As Etrigan noted above, the foundation for support of Trump is that he's pissing off the coastal elites and it's a great show for his base; they're finally getting payback for what they perceive as eight years of humiliation. That's it. As long as he continues to do that, people will stand by him and the GOP.
posted by holborne at 10:33 AM on May 26, 2017 [26 favorites]

The Hollywood Reporter [yes, we live in a world where THR has political scoops now]: Donald Trump Angled for Soviet Posting in 1980s, Says Nobel Prize Winner (Exclusive)

Donald Trump, in the mid-1980s, aggressively pursued an official government post to the USSR, according to a Nobel Peace Prize winner with whom Trump interacted at the time.

"He already had Russia mania in 1986, 31 years ago," asserts Bernard Lown, a Boston-area cardiologist known for inventing the defibrillator and sharing the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize with a top Soviet physician in recognition of their efforts to promote denuclearization. Lown, now 95 and retired in Newton, Massachusetts, tells The Hollywood Reporter that Trump sought and secured a meeting with him in 1986 to solicit information about Mikhail Gorbachev. (Gorbachev had become the USSR's head of state — and met with Lown — the year before.) During this meeting, Lown says, the fast-rising businessman disclosed that he would be reaching out to then-president Ronald Reagan to try to secure an official post to the USSR in order to negotiate a nuclear disarmament deal on behalf of the United States, a job for which Trump felt he was the only one fit.

"He said to me, 'I hear you met with Gorbachev, and you had a long interview with him, and you're a doctor, so you have a good assessment of who he is,'" Lown recalls. "So I asked, 'Why would you want to know?' And he responded, 'I intend to call my good friend Ronnie,' meaning Reagan, 'to make me a plenipotentiary ambassador for the United States with Gorbachev.' Those are the words he used. And he said he would go to Moscow and he'd sit down with Gorbachev, and then he took his thumb and he hit the desk and he said, 'And within one hour the Cold War would be over!' I sat there dumbfounded. 'Who is this self-inflated individual? Is he sane or what?'"
...
In an April 8, 1984 profile in The New York Times, Trump revealed that concern about a nuclear holocaust had plagued him since his uncle, the groundbreaking nuclear physicist Dr. John Trump, first spoke to him about it 15 years earlier. "His greatest dream is to personally do something about the problem," wrote the Times' William E. Geist (NBC anchor Willie Geist's father), "and, characteristically, Donald Trump thinks he has an answer to nuclear armament: Let him negotiate arms agreements — he who can talk people into selling $100 million properties to him for $13 million." Geist continued, somewhat snarkily, "The idea that he would ever be allowed to go into a room alone and negotiate for the United States, let alone be successful in disarming the world, seems the naive musing of an optimistic, deluded young man who has never lost at anything he has tried. But he believes that through years of making his views known and through supporting candidates who share his views, it could happen someday."

posted by zachlipton at 10:33 AM on May 26, 2017 [52 favorites]

"The idea that he would ever be allowed to go into a room alone and negotiate for the United States, let alone be successful in disarming the world, seems the naive musing of an optimistic, deluded young man who has never lost at anything he has tried. But he believes that through years of making his views known and through supporting candidates who share his views, it could happen someday."

JMFC. We need a massive inheritance tax just to do away with the insulation of rich, spoiled failsons who are never permitted to have their delusions ripped away.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:37 AM on May 26, 2017 [29 favorites]

Talez: show up in Manhattan and buy the country from the natives, who are economically illiterate, with a bunch of shiny beads.

spitbull: Just to be clear this never really happened the way it is usually short-handed and is a self-serving tale told by generations of white folks.

There's a lot of nuance that gets lost in the abbreviated, white-washed versions of this story (The Beads that Bought Manhattan, previously).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:38 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Regarding the whole "We shouldn't Impeach Trump / use the filibuster / etc" concern-trolling attitude I keep seeing from people on the Left:

After 8 years of W., and the election of Trump, and the fact that they've gotten away with virtually every war, every shady backroom deal, every single selfish, destructive thing they've set out to do, (save for the occasional "gay scandal") and that it keeps getting *worse*, I'm going to regard any admonishments that we sit back and hope that the Republican tire fire burns itself out before it suffocates all life on earth to not only be stupid, but actively complicit.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:40 AM on May 26, 2017 [54 favorites]

And hell, forget about Watergate. At least with Watergate we still had a functioning, semi-sensible (at the very least) GOP. Think back three or four years, to the government shutdown/debt ceiling fiasco in 2013. Same predictions then: Hey, great! Let everyone see that the GOP is deliberately putting a stick in the spokes of democracy! That will pull the curtain back on them! What happened after that? Yep, that's right -- the 2014 midterms and the 114th Congress.

The idea that the GOP will finally do something to make itself implode is a pipe dream. Always has been. It's just the same "Surely this..." we saw through the 2016 campaign all over again.
posted by holborne at 10:40 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

> We need a massive inheritance tax just to do away with the insulation of rich, spoiled failsons who are never permitted to have their delusions ripped away.

Speaking of which, Krugman (already linked above) is pretty on-point as usual, here talking about how Trump is letting down his base in the 93% white West Virginia:

"To be fair, the Trump budget would protect West Virginians from the ravages of the estate tax, which affects around 20 — that’s right, 20 — of the state’s residents each year."

Leopards, faces, etc.: They thought "maybe he would take benefits away from Those People, but he would protect the programs white working-class voters, in West Virginia and elsewhere, depend on."

(And yes, I fully expect to see face-eating leopards appear in mainstream newspaper columns any time now, if they haven't already.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:43 AM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

Well, MAGAKarps do enjoy a reputation for unusual combat tactics.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty?

Poképonysterical.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:44 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Republican Party's response to the miserable failure of George W. Bush's presidency was to use corporate money to re-brand itself as the Tea Party and fool the so-called "liberal media" into thinking it was a spontaneous grassroots resistance to government overreach.

Sort of like Ford, renaming the Explorer to Escape after explorers started blowing up all over the place. Same piece of poop, different letters.
posted by yoga at 10:53 AM on May 26, 2017

> You can't make someone a Red Sox fan by convincing them that the Yankees are terrible.

Not a great analogy, because there are 30 MLB teams and only two political "teams" that matter, but let's go with it. It's true that convincing someone to be a Sox fan requires more than having them abandon their Yankee fandom, but it does require that. Getting Trumpists to abandon Trump, Republicans to stop voting for Republicans, etc. isn't sufficient, but it is necessary.

Furthermore, at a time when it's quite easy to draw straight lines from Trump's actions to the policy preferences of the GOP (upward redistribution of wealth, a lack of concern for the poor, an emphasis on style over substance, etc.) it would be political malpractice if Democrats weren't highlighting Trump's weaknesses and making the case that he and his party have failed to deliver on their promises. Trump's awfulness is central to the point of the Republican party's awfulness, and you can't get Republicans to vote Democrat if they're still voting Republican.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:54 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jennifer Rubin, WaPo: A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party is

Conventional wisdom says that Trump executed a hostile takeover of the GOP. What we have seen this week suggests a friendly merger has taken place. Talk radio hosts have been spouting misogyny and anti-immigrant hysteria for years; Trump is their ideal leader, not merely a flawed vehicle for their views. Fox News has been dabbling in conspiracy theories (e.g. birtherism, climate-change denial) for decades; now Republicans practice intellectual nihilism. Nearly every point of criticism raised against the left — softness on foreign aggressors, irresponsible budgeting, identity politics, executive overreach, contempt for the rule of law, infantilizing voters — has become a defining feature of the right.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [61 favorites]

Carrie Johnson, NPR (May 26, 2017): Top White House Lawyer Donald McGahn Sits At The Center Of Controversy

Four months into the Trump administration, the president's lawyer needs a lawyer.

Intensifying investigations into Russian interference in last year's presidential election and ties between Russians and the Trump campaign have a lot of high-profile people in search of legal advice, if only out of an abundance of caution. And, two sources tell NPR, one of them is White House counsel Donald McGahn.

Experts said it's natural that McGahn would seek out legal expertise; he served as the lawyer for President Trump's campaign, which has come under scrutiny from the FBI and Congress.
...
That announcement [that Robert Mueller was to be special counsel for the agency's Russia probe] has focused attention all over again on McGahn and his performance as White House counsel — a high-wire act in the best of times and one that requires an understanding of the Constitution, the scope of executive branch power, national security threats and, especially, damage control.

According to lawyers from both political parties, by those measures, McGahn is hanging on by a thread.
...
The barbs come as something of a surprise for McGahn, who made his name in Washington defending politicians accused of ethical foot faults and helping campaigns navigate a thicket of laws and rules governing finances and donations.

Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz, Washington Post (Feb. 14, 2017) Who is Donald McGahn, the fiery lawyer at the center of virtually every Trump controversy?

Less than a month into his presidency, Donald Trump has faced no shortage of controversies. Donald McGahn — the fiery lawyer who has represented the president since before his election — has been at the center of virtually every one.

When the acting attorney general wanted to warn the White House that its national security adviser was potentially susceptible to Russian blackmail, she passed the message first to McGahn.

When the director of the Office of Government Ethics wrote a letter recommending an investigation of senior adviser Kellyanne Conway for her public endorsement of Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, he made sure McGahn had a copy.

McGahn played a key role in helping Trump select Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court nominee and even told those not chosen that they had been passed over.

And while it is unclear the extent to which he scrutinized in advance Trump’s executive order temporarily barring refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, after it was issued he tried to dispel confusion over the ban.
...
If his predecessors provide any indication, McGahn will not be able to dodge high-profile controversies. Obama White House counsel Gregory B. Craig, for example, was responsible for drafting the executive actions that banned torture, and he was at the center of the failed attempt to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel and later attorney general under George W. Bush, was involved in crafting legal guidance that critics say paved the way for the use of inappropriately harsh interrogation techniques on detainees in the war against terrorism.

posted by filthy light thief at 10:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake

I'm probably overthinking this, but I've been wondering if this story, and the the ones Manchester bombing blamed on "leaks," were orchestrated by Trump/GOP loyalists to discredit Comey before his testimony, and the law enforcement/intel community (which has been dishing on Trump) in general.

Hard not to be a paranoid conspiracy theorist these days.
posted by martin q blank at 11:01 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

And another gut-punch from 2017: Texas Teachers Give Student 'Most Likely To Become A Terrorist' Award (Camila Domonoske, NPR, May 26, 2017)

Lizeth Villanueva, a 13-year-old honors student, received the terrorist award. She told KHOU that her teacher gave her the certificate during a "mock" awards ceremony at Anthony Aguirre Junior High.

"She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn't really care about our feelings," Lizeth told the local news station. "She was laughing about it."

But it wasn't a lone bad apple, there's a few more rotten ones in that particular basket (Amber Ferguson, Washington Post):

Other awards included “most likely to cry for every little thing” that was given to a girl and “most likely to become homeless” that was presented to a boy.

The three other teachers in the room laughed when the awards were handed out, according to Lizeth.

posted by filthy light thief at 11:02 AM on May 26, 2017 [42 favorites]

While everyone is paying attention to a million garbage fires at once, this is happening. CBS: Report: At least 42 children killed in airstrikes on ISIS-held town

Over 100 people, and at least 42 children, have been killed in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in eastern Syria since Thursday evening, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights reported Friday. The strikes occurred in al-Mayadin, a town held by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) near Deir al-Zor.

Two rounds of strikes, beginning Thursday evening, saw the collapse of a building that housed the families of ISIS-members, killing at least 42 children under the age of 16, the Observatory reported. The strikes also leveled a municipal building.

posted by zachlipton at 11:03 AM on May 26, 2017 [27 favorites]

Meanwhile, the Republican agenda rolls on, especially on their plan to slant the courts for the long term.

TPM: Senate GOP Eyes Major Change To Push Through Trump Judges

Senate Republicans are considering overhauling a long-standing tradition for processing judicial nominees to thwart potential Democratic obstruction of President Trump’s picks to fill the federal bench. Ironically, it’s a custom GOP lawmakers themselves took advantage of to block numerous judicial nominees under President Obama, creating the glut of vacancies on the bench they now seek to help Trump fill.

“We can’t allow Democratic senators to continue to obstruct this president’s agenda”, said yet another Republican senator who has had his sense of shame surgically excised.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [42 favorites]

Nearly every point of criticism raised against the left — softness on foreign aggressors, irresponsible budgeting, identity politics, executive overreach, contempt for the rule of law, infantilizing voters — has become a defining feature of the right.

I don't know what the heck has happened to Jennifer Rubin -- formerly a reliable neoconservative, Republican-supporting blogger / WaPo columnists (because neoconservatives are, after all, underrepresented on the WaPo op-ed page) -- but it sounds like she's this close to realizing what a howling void modern movement conservatism really is.

(edited because I accidentally deleted two entire lines of text somehow)
posted by Gelatin at 11:04 AM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

> You can't make someone a Red Sox fan by convincing them that the Yankees are terrible.

Probably not, but if you pointed out that the Red Sox were actively ripping them off, playing them for fools, actively working to make their lives worse, etc....well, you'd probably just get punched in the face, but in a better world they'd at least stop being Yankees fans.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:05 AM on May 26, 2017

Room 641-A: when I woke up the first thing I said was, "Is Trump still president?"

Piglet feels your pain.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:08 AM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

Ironically, it’s a custom GOP lawmakers themselves took advantage of to block numerous judicial nominees under President Obama

Memo to the press: That isn't irony, that's an admission of bad faith.

Feh.
posted by Gelatin at 11:10 AM on May 26, 2017 [37 favorites]

but it sounds like she's this close to realizing what a howling void modern movement conservatism really is.

Even Nicole Wallace and Joe Scarborough are vaguely realizing: "Why do the Republicans keep looking into cameras and lie?" He finds it necessary to attack the Clintons randomly in that rant, because Scarborough gonna Scarborough, but still.
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

English version of der Spiegel's Germany is bad bad bad take on whosis

According to a report in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, many EU officials were appalled by how little the Americans appeared to know about trade policy. The guests from Washington seemed not to be aware that EU member states only negotiate trade treaties as a bloc. According to the paper, Trump's chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, claimed during meetings, for example, that different customs tariffs are in place between the U.S. and Germany than between the U.S. and Belgium.

adn thanks for the link to the bombings in Syria, given this just didn't happen in the G7
posted by infini at 11:16 AM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Even Nicole Wallace and Joe Scarborough are vaguely realizing: "Why do the Republicans keep looking into cameras and lie?"

My high school journalism teacher told his class that if your interview subject lies to you, that's your story. Why are they lying? What don't they want you to know?

Many in the media seem to have forgotten, or never learned, this basic lesson. Though there are those like David Fahrenthold who are making a career out of it.
posted by Gelatin at 11:16 AM on May 26, 2017 [64 favorites]

Sean Spicer, in April, explaining the President's rationale for intervening in Syria:
"[I]f you [bomb] innocent people, I think you can see a response from this president," Spicer said in response to a question during his daily briefing. "That's unacceptable."
Oh! They got this all screwed up..., or language means anything: "First, who's to say who is innocent in those towns? And I said I think you can see a response from this president, but that's me padding my statement with two levels of vagueness. First 'I think' means here's my guess, not the president's official statement, and then 'see a response' could mean anything. Maybe he responds with a thumbs up and a goofy grin that seems unrelated to some other question, or perhaps he looks pensive for a moment, as if he's felt some great injustice done in the world, like when you get your well-done Trump steak without Trump ketchup, the ketchup of kings. And I didn't clarify what's unacceptable. Did I mean the general killing of innocent people in US air strikes? Or the fact I wouldn't clearly state that the president doesn't give a shit about anyone, especially foreign people who can't vote for him or pay taxes to pay his wages? Or was it something else all together? You decide, you're the reporters!" /fake
posted by filthy light thief at 11:19 AM on May 26, 2017

The coming civil war? I guess you missed the part about civil war ongoing when shooting of African American citizens by the police is OK'd, when beating people of color, and mass incarcerating people of color is ongoing. We are in a civil war, and this administration wants to up the ante. This is going to be a much more difficult time, before anything changes. The current administration wants to increase mass incarceration, by private entities again. We are in a civil war right now.
posted by Oyéah at 11:20 AM on May 26, 2017 [27 favorites]

> Don't just convince them their leaders are hurting them. Show them that the way forward is the opposition party that already exists, and not whatever crackpot idiot bullshit they can come up with on their own.

I kinda feel like that's what they've been doing? A popular parlor game in these threads during the election was the one where a Hillary critic comes in saying that Hillary needs to talk about X, at which point a half a dozen links would be posted of campaign speeches, interviews, or items on her campaign website where she was doing just that. Before her, Obama ran two decidedly positive campaigns. Did he also run against GWB's disastrous presidency in 2008 and then use Romney's weaknesses against him in 2012? Of course -- but it was always first and foremost about what he would do as President.

I feel like there are a lot of people who are seeing what they want to see in Democratic appeals, and that if they dare to try to highlight how bad their opponents are in any way, no amount of positive appeals to voters means anything. And the Democrats seem to be the only ones held to that standard. Why is that?
posted by tonycpsu at 11:22 AM on May 26, 2017 [20 favorites]

The proper thing to do is rub the media's nose in its failure in hopes that it won't be fooled on January 21, 2021.

I absolutely agree. And, No. Here's why:

1) We are literally unable to _not_ consume "media", which I'll condense to corporate news, which I'll condense further to CNN,FOX,ABC,NBC,CBS,MSNBC,NPR,NYT,WaPo, and wire services. (While some individuals are able to abstain,) it's more culturally ingrained than religion. It *is* religion to an incredibly disturbing extent. Saying we'll do anything to media is misunderstanding how it works.

2) How it works is, we watch and they get money. "Being fooled again" presumes they are fooled, which they aren't. Management says keep the camera on Trump; As a camera guy, that's what I do. Chuck Todd was specifically hired for his preternatural bothsidesism. Chuck Todd knows everything and he ain't gonna do shit.

Hey, prove me wrong Chuck! Kch! Kch! *finger guns* Who loves ya baby.
posted by petebest at 11:29 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

I imagine most actual changes of mind and party (and they do exist) happen by gradual stages.

1. 2016: vote for Trump, but with doubt (millions of loyal Republicans did this in 2016).
2. 2018: think about becoming an Independent, and maybe stay home this midterm.
3. 2020: vote third party for President instead of Trump.
4. 2022: consider voting for your incumbent Democratic congressperson instead of a no-name Republican challenger.
5. 2024: vote for the next Obama instead of the next McCain.
6. 2026: backslide and vote for the Republican challenger.
7. 2028: reelect the next Obama.
8. etc, etc, etc.
9. Finally die.

The question is what we can do to hasten this gradual process along at each step, without imagining that it's anything but a gradual, years- or decades-long process. But waiting for (9) is not good enough -- even with a bare majority and better tactics, we're still likely to lose major battles like 2016, if only by sheer accident, unless we can actually persuade some of the center-right to shift. But merely destroying Trump (a good thing in itself!) is not going to be sufficient to budge enough folks further down the process. It will takes years of explicitly anti-Republican (as opposed to just anti-Trump) branding, which I don't see enough of in Democratic campaigns, though 2018 may be different. And it will take exciting new positive messages from Democrats, where the immediate stumbling block there is that even enumerating potential new messages is so controversial on the left that even places like Metafilter can't really handle it right now.
posted by chortly at 11:31 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Honestly, more and more the imagine I get of Comey is someone who was so consumed with wanting to be seen to be doing the right thing that he kept doing the wrong thing.
posted by zachlipton at 11:34 AM on May 26, 2017 [35 favorites]

8. etc, etc, etc.
9. Finally die.

On the plus side the Republicans are doing everything in their power to hasten step 9.
posted by contraption at 11:35 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

I kinda feel like that's what they've been doing? A popular parlor game in these threads during the election was the one where a Hillary critic comes in saying that Hillary needs to talk about X, at which point a half a dozen links would be posted of campaign speeches, interviews, or items on her campaign website where she was doing just that. Before her, Obama ran two decidedly positive campaigns. Did he also run against GWB's disastrous presidency in 2008 and then use Romney's weaknesses against him in 2012? Of course -- but it was always first and foremost about what he would do as President.

I feel like there are a lot of people who are seeing what they want to see in Democratic appeals, and that if they dare to try to highlight how bad their opponents are in any way, no amount of positive appeals to voters means anything. And the Democrats seem to be the only ones held to that standard. Why is that?

I think it's important to talk about not just what policies get mentioned or put on a website, but on where the rhetorical focus is, on what gets nuance, and on where the narrative is. A smorgasboard of individual policies does not a narrative make, and that's a place where improvement must be made. That's the direction I'd go to extract value from that sort of critique, rather than counting positive and negative statements and comparing the totals.
posted by The Gaffer at 11:36 AM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Other awards included “most likely to cry for every little thing” that was given to a girl and “most likely to become homeless” that was presented to a boy.

I can't imagine an apology from these teachers that could possibly make up for this shit. Sometimes I have wondered if I'm too coarse or harsh with the things I've said in classrooms, but I say them with the students' feelings in mind. Most of the time I get laughs from whoever I'm talking to, and even when I don't I never say stuff I can't come back from. It's one thing to toughen your students up to the world and another entirely to straight-up mock and insult them. How the fuck are these kids supposed to respect their teachers now? They're assholes. This isn't a matter of a kid not liking the teacher's discipline style or a personality conflict. These teachers are objectively disrespectful and shitty to their kids.

And I'd bet just about anything those teachers all voted for the racist fascism we have in office now. They feel enabled.

This shit is going to get worse before it gets better.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:38 AM on May 26, 2017 [53 favorites]

A popular parlor game in these threads during the election was the one where a Hillary critic comes in saying that Hillary needs to talk about X, at which point a half a dozen links would be posted of campaign speeches, interviews, or items on her campaign website where she was doing just that. Before her, Obama ran two decidedly positive campaigns.

And before that, a favorite theme of op-ed columnists like David Brooks was "Why Oh Why Won't Obama Transcend Radical Partisainship And Support This Reasonable Proposal?" And then it'd turn out that whatever hypothetical reasonable compromise the columnist suggested would turn out to be Obama's actual proposal.
posted by Gelatin at 11:40 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

NSA Chief Admits Donald Trump Colluded With Russia

Meanwhile, Foreign Policy is going for the jugular and there's more in the sidebar

They'll never say it out loud, but a little somethiing broke inside the women and men who gave their best years for their countries. A Finn from the old russian border cried. Or so it was interpreted for me from Suomi.
posted by infini at 11:41 AM on May 26, 2017 [42 favorites]

2) How it works is, we watch and they get money. "Being fooled again" presumes they are fooled, which they aren't.

You're probably right. But I can't discount the effectiveness of movement conservatism's decades-long project to convince themselves, the public, and most importantly, the media themselves that "the liberal media" existed. The Republicans worked the refs; Democrats need to do the same, and not presume that the media is liberal or on their side at all.
posted by Gelatin at 11:43 AM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Meta.
posted by zarq at 11:44 AM on May 26, 2017 [25 favorites]

Other awards included “most likely to cry for every little thing” that was given to a girl and “most likely to become homeless” that was presented to a boy.

My office did one of these superlative awards things a few years ago. I made up all of the categories and made sure that no one would feel minimized or disrespected. They were all based on each employee's most positive features. Of course I didn't do one for myself, but the staff got together and made one for me that left me feeling completely unconsidered and disrespected. I was in my 40s and I left the event early. I can't imagine being in junior high, the most traumatizing time in kids' lives and having to go home with that on their shoulders.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:44 AM on May 26, 2017 [37 favorites]

Trump's chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, claimed during meetings, for example, that different customs tariffs are in place between the U.S. and Germany than between the U.S. and Belgium.

Not just any senior advisor.

But his Chief Economic Advisor. After his boss got personally, 1:1 schooled not just once, not just twice, but count them eleven times by Angela Merkel herself on basic facts about US-German trade two months ago, as linked upthread.

I just.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:45 AM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

Those teachers should be fired and blacklisted. I thought it was going to be a private school. Nope. TEA funded assholes.
posted by avalonian at 11:46 AM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

RedOrGreen: TPM: Senate GOP Eyes Major Change To Push Through Trump Judges
...
“We can’t allow Democratic senators to continue to obstruct this president’s agenda”, said yet another Republican senator who has had his sense of shame surgically excised.

Behold: The Republican Hypocrisy Hall of Fame ( Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, May 25, 2017)

We certainly don’t want leading Republicans to tumble into hypocrisy, so let’s refresh their memories.

Patriots like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have eloquently warned of the importance of ferreting out the truth and holding politicians accountable, including for leaking classified information. Thank God for their insistence on truth-seeking!

posted by filthy light thief at 11:48 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

I can't imagine an apology from these teachers that could possibly make up for this shit.

Reports are now coming out that the teachers have been "disciplined". I think the school board should hear that any kind of "discipline" short of termination is a slap on the wrist.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:48 AM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

> but count them eleven times by Angela Merkel herself on basic facts about US-German trade two months ago, as linked upthread.

I wish there were video of this, with a "ding!" noise and some sort of graphic (a mortarboard?) that pops up every time she tries to explain this very basic fact to Trump, like in the Futurama episode where Fry drinks 100 cups of coffee.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:52 AM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

I used to sub for a living, mostly at the high school level, but I haven't in a couple of years since I'm doing so much better for myself as an indie writer. As a sub, the good days are great, but the bad days are awful and when you're a sub every day is a crapshoot. The only real "power" you have is your ability to reason with teenagers (many of whom have good reasons to be disgruntled or upset or prickly); everything else is illusory, but when the illusion fails people get really fucking upset.

But by and large kids like me 'cause I'll level with them. I don't put on "teacher voice." And I'm more politically-aware and plain-spoken than a lot of their other teachers, so they're glad to have me to talk to about stuff going on in the world. I'm generally pretty good at telling them the truth while also not going into doom and gloom and making them feel scared and powerless (like so many of my teachers did). Sometimes I wonder if I'm not thinking too highly of myself for that, but then I see shit like these teachers in Texas and... argh. I don't think I'm crazy for thinking teenagers could use more people like me to talk to.

I haven't gone in to work much since the country took this hard right turn deep into the dumpster fire. I feel bad about that when I think about the kids and ask myself who's talking to them about all this shit. But on the flipside, the job totally sucks. It's hard to know if I'm passing up on a way to work for change or if I'm just doing the smart thing by sticking with my books.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:53 AM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

> I think it's important to talk about not just what policies get mentioned or put on a website, but on where the rhetorical focus is, on what gets nuance, and on where the narrative is. A smorgasboard of individual policies does not a narrative make, and that's a place where improvement must be made. That's the direction I'd go to extract value from that sort of critique, rather than counting positive and negative statements and comparing the totals.

Sure, but the further we get away from tangible measurement of what is being focused on, the easier it is to wedge whatever the facts are into a ready-made narrative of the candidate not using this ONE WEIRD TRICK to electoral success. In many of the instances I'm thinking about from the last election, it wasn't just "Hillary has this on her website", it was things she focused a large amount of her campaign on, but the narrative had already hardened to the point where the facts didn't matter. At some point, you do have to go beyond what you feel Democrats are doing, but engage with what they actually are doing.

As but one recent example: Tom Perez has been the most outspokenly progressive DNC chair in recent memory, but he was taken to task by many for -- *gasp* -- saying that he would meet with Democrats for Life[sic]. As if meeting with Democratic groups of all stripes wasn't one of his most important responsibilities! He wasn't offering the group any concessions -- just a meeting -- but it was talked about as if he was selling out the party's ideals for a few pieces of silver just by taking their calls.

And look, Democrats have sold out voters and activists, and they likely will again -- but at some point, looking at every move as a sell-out waters down the very concept of selling out, to the point that a fair evaluation of their record is impossible. Punish them when they're doing bad things, but give them enough space to do a good thing or two as well. Talking about "narratives" that develop around candidates is far too often an excuse for "don't make me prove that my preconceptions of a candidate are valid." Narrative is a fact of politics, but it's not one worth chasing, because it's often completely untethered from reality.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:55 AM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

I think the school board should hear that any kind of "discipline" short of termination is a slap on the wrist.

In recognition of your performance, we're happy to present you with this "Most Likely To Be Unemployed" award.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:57 AM on May 26, 2017 [47 favorites]

Reports are now coming out that the teachers have been "disciplined". I think the school board should hear that any kind of "discipline" short of termination is a slap on the wrist.

The thing that really gets me about this is that kids are expected to forgive and accept the mistakes and screw-ups of adults. They're usually not given space to be upset or to take action in response.

Y'know how we say nobody deserves to have their cars keyed or egged or have their tires slashed?
I think we now have a counterpoint. These teachers totally deserve to find that when they go out to the parking lot. All of it. And if not that, I hope their students find some way to make their teachers pay, because fuck this.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:00 PM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

Sure, but the further we get away from tangible measurement of what is being focused on, the easier it is to wedge whatever the facts are into a ready-made narrative of the candidate not using this ONE WEIRD TRICK to electoral success. In many of the instances I'm thinking about from the last election, it wasn't just "Hillary has this on her website", it was things she focused a large amount of her campaign on, but the narrative had already hardened to the point where the facts didn't matter. At some point, you do have to go beyond what you feel Democrats are doing, but engage with what they actually are doing.

That time to engage with what Democrats are doing is always, yes, but so is the time to acknowledge public perceptions. Hillary was kind of a special case in terms of how well known she was and how entrenched opinion was.

Sure, Perez caught some heat, but I'm not sure that doing literally anything won't attract complaints.

My point about narratives is that it's beneficial to go on the rhetorical offensive - not in the sense of criticizing conservatives, but in the sense of making some unhedged statements that tell a story. You can do that without surrendering all reason. It's all well to say that people shouldn't have knee-jerk emotional bases for their voting decisions, but that's not going to stop it happening.
posted by The Gaffer at 12:09 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

G7 summit: Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau meet to offer 'new face for Franco-Canadian friendship'

— some emotional relief
posted by mumimor at 12:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'd guess most people aren't expecting to be jerked off their feet by a handshake, so he relies on surprise. I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.

My first thought would be to grab my elbow and scream in pain, then cry that he must have damaged my arthritic elbow. Hilarity ensues.
posted by mikelieman at 12:22 PM on May 26, 2017

There is no chance that Twitler would feel guilty or even awkward about hurting someone with his handshake. None. He'd brag about it.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:23 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

uh

why isn't everyone jumping up and down and screaming about that Observer article?

In his town hall talk, Rogers reportedly admitted that President Trump asked him to discredit the FBI and James Comey, which the admiral flatly refused to do. As Rogers explained, he informed the commander in chief, “I know you won’t like it, but I have to tell what I have seen”—a probable reference to specific intelligence establishing collusion between the Kremlin and Team Trump.

Rogers then added that such SIGINT exists, and it is damning. He stated, “There is no question that we [meaning NSA] have evidence of election involvement and questionable contacts with the Russians.” Although Rogers did not cite the specific intelligence he was referring to, agency officials with direct knowledge have informed me that DIRNSA was obviously referring to a series of SIGINT reports from 2016 based on intercepts of communications between known Russian intelligence officials and key members of Trump’s campaign, in which they discussed methods of damaging Hillary Clinton.

posted by murphy slaw at 12:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [70 favorites]

There is no chance that Twitler would feel guilty or even awkward about hurting someone with his handshake. None. He'd brag about it.

I rise to remind this assembly that Trump bragged about the size of his penis on national TV during one of the primary debates.
posted by Gelatin at 12:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

I rise to remind this assembly

I see what you did there.
posted by Melismata at 12:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

why isn't everyone jumping up and down and screaming about that Observer article?

I am
posted by mumimor at 12:27 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

I don't jump up and down for reports of rumors from John Schindler about an NSA town hall. I'll throw it on the pile, sure, but I don't give him or his rumors a lot of weight on their own. The key part of that, the bit that would be new, is the "in which they discussed methods of damaging Hillary Clinton," and that's the part that isn't in quotation marks. It's not nothing, but if I jumped up and down for everything John Schindler said, I'd have rocking quad muscles by now.
posted by zachlipton at 12:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

thanks - i wasn't sure how reliable of a source he is.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:34 PM on May 26, 2017

Yeah, there have been so many nothingburger stories, it's just all so much. If WaPo or NYT reports it, fine. Otherwise, we wait.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:35 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

> There is no chance that Twitler would feel guilty or even awkward about hurting someone with his handshake. None. He'd brag about it.

Which is why I've long hoped that one day Trump would pull this move with the wrong person, who would crush his hand bones into powder and force him to his knees in tears.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.

Behold
posted by PenDevil at 12:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

By all means, jump up and down if it makes you happy. I personally think he's mostly a nut, but substantially closer to reality than Claude Taylor or someone, and I would never deny anyone here the happiness of jumping.

Anyhoo, remember how half this election was spent glorifying coal miners as the true American workers? Well... Gary Cohn Says Coal ‘Doesn’t Even Make That Much Sense Anymore’. He likes natural gas, wind, and solar because they're cleaner.
posted by zachlipton at 12:44 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Coal ‘Doesn’t Even Make That Much Sense Anymore’
What part of "going BACK to what made America 'great'" don't you understand? Coal-burning engines, open racism, no social safety net, dropping atomic bombs, they're all part of our Proud Heritage.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:51 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

why isn't everyone jumping up and down and screaming about that Observer article?

Surely this?
posted by dis_integration at 12:52 PM on May 26, 2017

By all means, jump up and down if it makes you happy.

at this point it seems like the sanest policy is hurry up and wait for the Mueller investigation to start flinging indictments around, or dig a fallout shelter if that never happens.

but it does nothing for my nerves.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:58 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

This sounds awesome.

The US Will Test Blowing A North Korean Missile Out Of The Sky: The Pentagon on Tuesday will test shooting down a dummy version of a North Korean missile capable of reaching US cities.

While North Korea doesn't currently have a rocket that could fly that far, the reclusive nation has steadily expanded the range of its missiles in the last decade — and claims it is working on nuclear-capable and sub-based missiles. It last test-fired a missile on May 13, one that travelled 435 miles before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.

The "threat representative class target" dummy missile will test a ground-based interceptor missile system that aims to blow up incoming ballistic missiles in middle part of their flight, according to Missile Defense Agency's Chris Johnson.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:59 PM on May 26, 2017

Surely this?

Basically. If this were President Clinton, most of the Democratic party would be screaming for her head. But I bet all we get out of this is that McCain and Graham are very concerned, yessir, something just seems off here
posted by middleclasstool at 12:59 PM on May 26, 2017

Behold

O how beautiful that curdled smirk is
posted by Existential Dread at 1:00 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Guys I'm starting to think Trump might be a dick.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:03 PM on May 26, 2017 [13 favorites]

Sometimes I have wondered if I'm too coarse or harsh with the things I've said in classrooms, but I say them with the students' feelings in mind.

Every teacher has said something in frustration that they can't take back.

This was a calculated, intentional, thought-out and planned attack on children.

Disgusting doesn't even describe it. I hope these parents are going after their licenses, which they won't even need in Devos's new America.
posted by archimago at 1:05 PM on May 26, 2017 [23 favorites]

Reuters live blog: Trump, with Bannon and Kushner, to set up 'war room' crisis management unit to address Russia probe, other problems - officials
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:06 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

G7 summit: Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau meet to offer 'new face for Franco-Canadian friendship'
Not as cute as Johnny Wallflower's animal FFPs but here's some political eyebleach.
posted by elgilito at 1:08 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Speaking of which, Krugman (already linked above) is pretty on-point as usual,

Third favorite comment is about how Hillary and the Democrats didn't say the words in the right order, so that's why. This is one of the most dispiriting things right now, with all the shit and chaos no one has learned anything.

The American people failed, not Hillary or the Democrats. We had a clear choice, push one of two buttons; one was a smiley face, circled with big arrows pointing to it, the other was a skull and crossbones with a big red slash across it. People still made the wrong choice, it was obviously the wrong choice, and yet there are people who still want to argue it was Hillary's fault because the arrows weren't big enough.

I'm watching Hillary's speech at Wellesley (on CNN) right now, and I just...this should have been our President.

The last couple years have been surreal and crushing, not just because a bad Republican won, or a good Democrat lost, but because literally one, if not the, most qualified people on the planet was denied being the first woman President of the USA by literally one, if not the, least qualified people on the planet. Sometimes I have a hard time believing this is reality. It's just too over the top.
posted by bongo_x at 1:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [130 favorites]

> Trump, with Bannon and Kushner, to set up 'war room' crisis management unit to address Russia probe, other problems - officials

Trump must be super-annoyed that he's actually going to have to put some work in to try and evade responsibility for his actions.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I could honestly use a good 5pm bombshell today.

I'm bombshell'd out.

After hearing the stories about how Jared is willing to cooperate in the inquires, I am just enjoying the though of Donald freaking out all weekend wondering if the reason Jared left early was so Jared could meet with his lawyers before shabbos and cut a deal ratting on Donald.
posted by mikelieman at 1:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

I will take a dirty win over no win. A "no honor among thieves" win. A "bit off dude's ring finger and fell into the volcano while doing a victory dance" win.

Even a win that denies me the joy of watching them pay. Anything so they can't hurt people.
posted by middleclasstool at 1:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

I had some respect for Andrew Feinberg, so this is very good to see. Erik Wemple: White House correspondent bolts Sputnik over the obvious

Andrew Feinberg, a correspondent for Sputnik, has announced on Twitter that he’s no longer working for the Russian “global wire, radio and digital news service.” And he’s intent upon doing so with as much detail as possible.
...
Feinberg: “They wanted me to be asking and writing stuff on this Seth Rich thing and I said, ‘I’m not going to do that.'” A good propaganda operation specializes in responses to bad publicity, too. Example: Feinberg on Friday tweeted out a Wall Street Journal article addressing the activities of an “alleged Russian hacker” who shared key voter data from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee with a Republican operative in Florida. “They wanted to push back” on that story, says Feinberg.
...
In the middle of an extensive interview about his brief tenure at Sputnik, Feinberg says, “I think I signed a non-disclosure agreement, and I really don’t care. Let the come for the ten dollars in my bank account.”

As the story notes, Feinberg pushed Mulvaney hard on the budget, and I hope he winds up with a job somewhere sane.
posted by zachlipton at 1:20 PM on May 26, 2017 [32 favorites]

Nearly 200 arrested in California in new immigration raids
posted by Room 641-A at 1:23 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

This sounds awesome.

The US Will Test Blowing A North Korean Missile Out Of The Sky: The Pentagon on Tuesday will test shooting down a dummy version of a North Korean missile capable of reaching US cities.

This will 100% be fake.

Even in an non-Trump timeline this would be fake. You would never announce and publicize a test of a defense system where something could go wrong and tell your enemies that you have no defense against their missiles.

So they will send up a missile with a homing beacon on it and they fire a missile that will home in on that beacon and make a pretty explosion in both real life and in the media in order to tell North Korea we have impenetrable missile defense and that they should not to even bother trying to launch one at us.

Doing anything else would be asinine.
posted by srboisvert at 1:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [35 favorites]

G7 summit: Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau meet to offer 'new face for Franco-Canadian friendship'

*totally shipping these two now*
*not apologizing*
*skipping off to write filthy Macreau fanfic*
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [35 favorites]

The last couple years have been surreal and crushing, not just because a bad Republican won, or a good Democrat lost, but because literally one, if not the, most qualified people on the planet was denied being the first woman President of the USA by literally one, if not the, least qualified people on the planet. Sometimes I have a hard time believing this is reality. It's just too over the top.

Hear hear!

Here you ca' haf aw my favowites. An a Hot Weewz. Not the blue one.
posted by petebest at 1:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

Doing anything else would be asinine.

And yet, here we are, with Trump disclosing the locations of nuclear subs to homicidal dictators. I wouldn't put it past this incompetent administration to fail publicly and put our servicepeople at increased risk. He's been doing that ever since assuming office.
posted by Existential Dread at 1:27 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

Doing anything else would be asinine.

You realize, of course, who's running this fiesta.
posted by petebest at 1:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Not as cute as Johnny Wallflower's animal FFPs but here's some political eyebleach.

Wow, the fanfic writes itself. [sigh]
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Doing anything else would be asinine.

Earlier there was a great comment which can be repeated here: all the foreign nations are looking for weaknesses in our present leader, for something to exploit one way or another (economically, militarily, etc.). And we know this, because this is exactly what we do to other foreign nations. Tit for tat. They're having a field day with us.
posted by Melismata at 1:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

> Doing anything else would be asinine.

As a man once said, "Anything less than the best is a felony."

Will it ever stop? Yo -- I don't know.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:37 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

And after the bombs drop, turn off the lights and watch us all glow.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:44 PM on May 26, 2017

Trump would never collaborate or listen, which objectively makes him less wise than Vanilla Ice.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:45 PM on May 26, 2017 [61 favorites]

NYT: President Trump Fails NATO (by the Editorial Board): That Mr. Trump and the allies were unable to agree on a common approach toward Russia was also worrisome. Moscow has become increasingly aggressive as Mr. Putin annexed Crimea, waged war in eastern Ukraine, meddled in the American and European elections and intervened militarily in Syria. The most that emerged from a meeting between Mr. Trump and Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, was that the two shared the “same line” on Ukraine.

All told, Mr. Trump’s commitment to NATO and America’s tradition of leadership remain very much up in the air. Should the president abdicate both, no one would be happier than Vladimir Putin.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:51 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Rebecca Traister's deep dive on Hillary Clinton post-election for NY Mag is quite good. It also makes me want to scream and cry, but these days that's just par for the course.

By the time the results were certain, Clinton and her advisers felt that it was too late to make a speech; she wanted to consider carefully what she had to say, and went back and forth with her team about the stance to take toward Trump. When Schwerin and Rooney came to her suite at the Peninsula Hotel the next morning to go over the draft, Clinton was sitting in her bathrobe at the table. She had slept only briefly, but she was clear: She wanted to take a slightly more aggressive approach, focusing on the protection of democratic norms, and she wanted to emphasize the message to young girls, the passage that would become the heart of her speech. As the pair of writers left her room and walked down the hall, Rooney turned to Schwerin and said, “That’s a president.” Schwerin remembers: “Because here, in this incredibly difficult moment, she was thinking calmly and rationally about what the country needs to hear.” Schwerin said that until then he had held it together. “But I kind of lost it then.”

And

In particular, Clinton recalls one night at the theater. “It was intermission, and a woman came over holding the hand of a young woman. She literally dragged her daughter over to see me. And she said, ‘My daughter has something to tell you … Tell her.’ And this girl says to me, ‘I am really sorry; I didn’t think you needed my vote and I didn’t vote.’ And her mother says [yelling], ‘Yes, she didn’t vote! You didn’t vote! You’re part of the problem!’ I said, ‘Okay, well, next time I hope you’ll vote.’ And she said, ‘But I marched!’” Here Clinton smiles. “And I said, ‘I’m really glad you marched. I’m so glad you marched.’ ”

And just read it.
posted by rewil at 1:52 PM on May 26, 2017 [100 favorites]

The American people failed, not Hillary or the Democrats.

This was the most disappointing election for me in the past 25 years. Trump should never even have gotten the nomination, much less won a close election. His pre-election conduct was disgraceful, disgusting, and (should have been) disqualifying.

The second-most-disappointing election for me in the past 25 years is 2004. We already knew Bush was a fuckup and we should have repudiated him for lying us into Iraq.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [45 favorites]

When dealing with the scourge of the liberal media, who has time for half-measures like chokeslamming?

Texas Governor jokes about shooting reporters after signing gun bill

This is your modern Republican party.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:58 PM on May 26, 2017 [31 favorites]

hurry up and wait for the Mueller investigation to start flinging indictments around

No, I think we as citizens have an important job in the Russia investigation, and that is to get the word out about what is already known.

Even those of us who are obsessively following the news can barely keep up with all the headlines.

"Normal" Democrats have no idea about any of this... they are still shaking their heads over the fact that the DNC hacking really was done by Russia. They vaguely think the rest of this has something to do with that "dossier" and they know there's something fishy about Comey's firing, and that's about it!

Most Republicans are stuck back on finally conceding that maybe the DNC hacking had something to do with Russians. (Please help spread this link explaining the public evidence around!)

...
They don't know about Trump's web of connections to Russian oligarchs. (I think the story of how he bought a condo for $41 million and sold it to Dmitry Ryobolovlev for $95 million is a good entry point for talking about this -- but there is so much more )

They don't know about all the contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials -- at LEAST 18 that weren't disclosed, not counting the meetings with Kislyak etc NOT listed on Sessions' or Kushner's security clearance forms. They don't know about Michael Flynn being paid to meet with Putin by Russia's propaganda network (and paid by Turkey). They don't know that when Sally Yates warned the Trump administration that the Russians could blackmail Flynn because of his lies, Trump fired her instead of Flynn (until Flynn's problems became public.)

They don't know about Paul Manafort's name appearing in a secret ledger for a pro-Putin political party in Ukraine with $12 million next to it, right before he resigned. They don't know about Kushner meeting with Vnesheconombank, "Putin's private slush fund", who also helped finance Trump Tower Toronto.

They don't understand that intelligence agencies picked up Russians talking about undermining Clinton well before Wikileaks started releasing stuff, that they picked up Russians bragging about their influence over Manafort and Flynn, or that Crowdstrike was watching in real time while the Russian hackers were in the DNC system, again, well before the Wikileaks. (If they understood that last point the Seth Rich theory wouldn't have gone anywhere!)

They don't understand that Trump's anti-NATO rhetoric is everything Putin has dreamed of for years. They don't understand how desperate Russia is to end the sanctions. They don't know the Trump got language about arming the anti-Russia forces in Ukraine taken out of the Republican platform at the convention. They don't understand how Russia helped created the Syrian refugee crisis.

They really don't understand how sophisticated Russia's disinformation capabilities are these days.
...

We have two very important jobs to do: 1) Resist the Trump agenda. Show up at protests, call members of congress, write letters to the editor, speak up to our friends and family, and keep those disastrous and cruel budget and health care and immigration proposals from undermining our society 2) EDUCATE PEOPLE about Putin's agenda, about Trump's relationship with him, and about how Russian propaganda and disinformation work.

Because if and when Mueller does find hard proof of something clearly criminal... If the vast majority of the country is as clueless as they are now, it will still be interpreted as a coup when the impeachment charges are brought (or they won't be brought at all). We need to catch people up on what is known, so that taking action when the evidence comes in will be politically palatable. It takes time for information to diffuse through a society. We need to help that happen as fast as it can.

(What's hilarious about that huge link dump is how much stuff I consciously left out... Sorry Carter Page and Felix Sater, you're just impossible to explain.)
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:10 PM on May 26, 2017 [185 favorites]

Things are a changin' when Trump gets back. WSJ: Trump Eyeing White House Shakeup

“He’s 100% focused on this,” said a White House official, noting that the president slept only two hours in Saudi Arabia the night before his widely-anticipated speech on Islam that he spent little time rehearsing.
...
One major change under consideration would vet the president’s social media posts through a team of lawyers, who would decide if any needed to be adjusted or curtailed. The idea, said one of Mr. Trump’s advisers, is to create a system so that tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.”
...
Other changes under discussion include removing communications director Mike Dubke and installing Sarah Sanders as the main spokesman instead of Mr. Spicer. Another consideration is scaling back on daily press briefings.

posted by zachlipton at 2:12 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

One major change under consideration would vet the president’s social media posts through a team of lawyers, who would decide if any needed to be adjusted or curtailed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHEEHEEHEE sorry
posted by Melismata at 2:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [24 favorites]

I can't read that Clinton article because there's something wrong with my eyes after reading that excerpt.
posted by angrycat at 2:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [30 favorites]

Right on schedule, the Fortnightly Rumor of Trump's Pivot.
posted by notyou at 2:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

("Reports of my Pivot are greatly exaggerated.")
posted by notyou at 2:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

The idea, said one of Mr. Trump’s advisers, is to create a system so that tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.”

"Guys, we need to think of a convoluted euphemism for 'stop tweeting' that won't end with us thrown into the Gorka Pit or sharing an oubliette with Spicer"
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [20 favorites]

Reuters: Exclusive: Tillerson declines to host Ramadan event at State Department. It seems pretty clear that Tillerson declined and someone lower down at State just went ahead and leaked it.

The Hill: DHS chief: If you knew what I knew about terror, you’d ‘never leave the house’. As Ben Rhodes writes: "I used to know all the same things and I love getting out of the house. Scaring people is not a CT policy - it's doing what terrorists want"
posted by zachlipton at 2:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [55 favorites]

Rebecca Traister's deep dive on Hillary Clinton post-election for NY Mag is quite good.

while I understand the need to not overbreed politics FPPs, it is regrettable that the link to this excellent piece has to be buried deep in the bowels of yet another weekly horrorshow thread about the malignant idiot Donald Trump. Everybody should go read this and then scream into a pillow for an hour or two about what we all lost.
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [27 favorites]

These guys are all psychopaths:

Snowflake Sheriff Clarke sicced his deputies on plane passenger who shook his head at him

Riverwest resident Dan Black is suing Clarke, Milwaukee County, and several sheriff’s deputies over the incident, which occurred in January. Black says he encountered Clarke on an American Airlines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Milwaukee. While boarding the plane, Black asked Clarke, who was sitting in first class, if he was indeed the sheriff. When Clarke responded in the affirmative, Black reportedly shook his head and headed to his seat.

At this point, Clarke texted his deputies in Milwaukee and told them to confront Black when he got off the plane and detain him. Clarke’s text messages were provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Black’s attorney, who likely obtained them via discovery.

posted by Room 641-A at 2:31 PM on May 26, 2017 [78 favorites]

Several threads ago, I shared with y'all a message from a friend of mine pointing out how Trump and his team were showing a pattern of perpetrating outrages on various minorities and women during times that were particularly important to those groups: e.g, his speech implying Frederick Douglass was still alive during BHM, issuing statements in support of Bill O'Reilly during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, etc.

Well, there he goes again: in stark contrast to his predecessors, Trump Ramadan statement is almost entirely about terrorism.

What a classless, graceless, and utterly small bunch of humans are he and everyone on his team.

He's the goddamned jelly doughnut that the Republicans snuck into the barracks, and although some of them are crying while eating it, the fact is they're still eating a sweet jelly doughnut while the rest of us are the ones being forced to do pushups to pay for their poor judgement, lack of discipline, and unwillingness to act for the good of the entire group.

By the way, I wanna take this opportunity to be the nth person to state that I truly do not know how I could make it through the Trump presidency without MetaFilter. Thank you to all of the contributors and the mods for helping me to stay sane and maintain at least the embers of hope. If I could, I would buy you all a round of drinks or whatever it is you're turning to for comfort during these turbulent times.
posted by lord_wolf at 2:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [65 favorites]

I hated GWB so much, and I honestly can't believe how good he looks in comparison to Trump. WTF?
posted by bongo_x at 2:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [68 favorites]

The Simpsons takes on Trump-Comey (complete with Nixon cameo) and it’s the *perfect* way to start your weekend. [video]

"Paid for by the committee to turn the clock ahead to 2020, or back to whenever, just not here."
posted by zachlipton at 2:44 PM on May 26, 2017 [56 favorites]

Oh god zachlipton, thank you for that
posted by mabelstreet at 2:49 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I had so many debates about whether Bush would be seen as being in the top 5 or 10 worst Presidents ever and now that scale has been so warped it doesn't even apply. There's just Trump and Presidents who weren't Trump.
posted by bongo_x at 2:57 PM on May 26, 2017 [41 favorites]

There's just Trump and Presidents who weren't Trump.
And Jackson, don't forget Jackson. Cause he was a largely competent asshole.
posted by teleri025 at 2:59 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

Not to quibble but

They don't know about Trump's web of connections to Russian oligarchs. (I think the story of how he bought a condo for $41 million and sold it to Dmitry Ryobolovlev for $95 million is a good entry point for talking about this -- but there is so much more )

In the interest of non-alternative facts, that transaction was horrendous but it was hardly a condo. It was an 81,738 sf beachfront mansion in Palm Beach. On the other hand, the deal was more shocking in other ways -- Trump bought near the peak of the real estate boom and sold in 2008 a year into the crash, and Ryobloblev never moved in or did anything with it before tearing it down.

It was a blatant payoff to Trump, for what we don't know. But it wasn't a condo.
posted by msalt at 3:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [19 favorites]

But it wasn't a condo.

You're quite right. I was thinking about the Russian condo buyers in Florida and New York. I decided not to include those links in my dump because it is too easy for Republicans to say "so what?"... but the word condo slipped out of my head and into the text I was typing.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:20 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I hated GWB so much, and I honestly can't believe how good he looks in comparison to Trump. WTF?

It's possible that Trump won't damage the US as badly as Bush did. Among other terrible harms, the Great Recession, unbridled surveillance, the Iraq War and No Child Left Behind all severely tarnished internal US institutional legitimacy, and that set the stage for a character like Trump to be plausible. It's not clear at this point whether Trump will be able to generate that much political will for bad ideas.
posted by Coventry at 3:23 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's not clear at this point whether Trump will be able to generate that much political will for bad ideas.

on the other hand, his willingness to stonewall on budget negotiations, veto continuing resolutions, and default on the national debt could lead to massive institutional collapse due to sheer pigheadedness.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

It was a blatant payoff to Trump, for what we don't know. But it wasn't a condo.

It's gonna take me a while to find the link to support this (I'll post it when I find it), but I seem to recall that Trump was about to default on a debt to Deutsche Bank, and paid the debt back with money from that sale. I can't quite remember what the implication was supposed to be, but Deutsche Bank has a long history with Russian money laundering.

(Filling in some of those left-out links anyway now...)
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not to abuse the edit window -- I found the link. It was on Maddow.

I mean, in terms of explaining this presidency, you should know that at the time this magical deal emerged out of nowhere that put tens and millions of dollars in Donald Trump`s pocket, at that time, Donald Trump was financially having a very difficult time. It is a matter of public record that he was fighting very hard, among other things, to avoid paying off a big loan that he had with Deutsch Bank.

Deutsch Bank needs the money, that means Trump needs the money, that means Trump needs to get the money. So, it`s mysterious windfall infusion of cash from the Russian guy came at the right time for now President Trump.

Every investigative reporter in the country is trying to figure out whether there is some reason that our new president seems so beholden to Russia and to Vladimir Putin. Well, this part here, it`s not like a loose thread. This is like a rope ladder hanging down from the ceiling begging people to crawl up this and look around.

I know this is all old news, it's just that there's so MUCH news, I find it helpful to review sometimes.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:36 PM on May 26, 2017 [31 favorites]

trump is a continuous, overwhelming denial of service attack on incredulity
posted by murphy slaw at 3:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [36 favorites]

Bush=the monsters' pet

Trump=the monsters' pet monster
posted by Caxton1476 at 3:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

DHS chief: If you knew what I knew about terror, you’d ‘never leave the house’

So what is he doing outside of his house?
posted by srboisvert at 3:57 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

I just want to bang the accelerationists' heads together until they fucking get it. There is never going to be something vile enough to destroy the Republican Party from within. It's not going to fucking happen.

I might have to invent a perpetual head smacking machine and spare ourselves the workout.
posted by lydhre at 4:02 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Because he doesn't have anything to worry about, it's you all who should be terrified.
posted by contraption at 4:02 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

WaPo: Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.
Ambassador Sergei Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, then President-elect Trump’s son-in-law and confidant, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.
The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

posted by rewil at 4:05 PM on May 26, 2017 [107 favorites]

Maybe he can get his dad's old cell
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:07 PM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

More WaPo: Senate Intelligence Committee requests Trump campaign documents (not as sexy)
posted by guiseroom at 4:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Jesus:

The Post was first alerted in mid-December to the meeting by an anonymous letter, which said, among other things, that Kushner had talked to Kislyak about setting up the communications channel. This week, officials, who reviewed the letter and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said the portion about the secret channel was consistent with their understanding of events.

For instance, according to those officials and the letter, Kushner conveyed to the Russians that he was aware it would be politically sensitive to meet publicly, but it was necessary for the Trump team to be able to continue their communication with Russian government officials.

(my emphasis)
posted by bluecore at 4:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [73 favorites]

I wrote this in some other thread but when Bush was in office I tried to remind myself that while he was a catastrophically awful president, he was a good husband and father who clearly loved his family very much and so in my mind he retained some sort of very basic shred of humanity.

At the risk of repeating myself from oh god it was only yesterday every day this month has been its own year: for all GWB's no-shit-really-awfulness making him the Worst President Ever until now, even he did some very real good for the world. The strides made by virtue of GWB's support in fighting HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are difficult to overstate. A massive number of people are alive today who wouldn't be because of programs funded largely on his own initiative.

The horrors he inflicted with his wars were real. Conversely, as HRC pointed out during the campaign, Bush repeated and reiterated again and again that this wasn't against Islam. Is that empty rhetoric? Sure, maybe, but god damn it if anyone can't tell even simple rhetoric makes a real difference I'd like to bang their head into the head of the nearest accelerationist, because yes it fucking matters. Bush didn't try to ban Muslims from entering the States, y'know? He didn't play footsie with fucking Nazis. It matters.

And again, I don't say this shit to praise him, although credit is due where it's deserved. It's to point out that pretty much any president before this dumpster fire did some real good in the world, and there's no sign of any good from Trump in sight. Not now, not in the future. By now he should have at least stumbled into doing something good on accident and he hasn't even managed that. He's that fucking bad.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:16 PM on May 26, 2017 [43 favorites]

I thought we all agreed we'd do this earlier in the day! This bit is interesting:

The Post was first alerted in mid-December to the meeting by an anonymous letter, which said, among other things, that Kushner had talked to Kislyak about setting up the communications channel. This week, officials, who reviewed the letter and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said the portion about the secret channel was consistent with their understanding of events.

I would like to know much more about this December anonymous letter to the Washington Post and what else it said. Also this part:

Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team.

Even Kislyak thought Kushner was nuts.
posted by zachlipton at 4:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [40 favorites]

Maybe this?
posted by contraption at 4:18 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

Pretty sure Jared just got moved from "witnesses" to "subjects" on the FBI white board.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:18 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

points docked for lateness tho

We'll accept another bombshell as extra credit
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

More WaPo: Senate Intelligence Committee requests Trump campaign documents (not as sexy)

Not as sexy, no, but does this really say they've requested "all documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign’s launch in June 2015?" That seems really broad, and given what a disorganized mess the campaign was, an opportunity to nail them for failing to hand stuff over.
posted by zachlipton at 4:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team.

Jesus H. That's...incredible. I mean, are you trying to look like you're committing espionage?

Small consolation, but if Kush gets a great big jail sentence out of this I'll kick back with a beer and some serious schadenfreude.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [13 favorites]

Even Kislyak thought Kushner was nuts.

Kislyak and the rest of the Putin Pals didn't think this gigantic fucking moron would get elected, either. They just wanted to kneecap the hell out of the President Clinton they were sure they were getting. I have to imagine the whole "what do we do with this idiot now" conversations were hilarious in a quintessentially darkly ironic Russian way! It's like the Russians are the parents who accidentally won the goldfish at the county fair when they just thought they were going to play and lose to humor their kid, and now they're stuck carrying a damn goldfish around the fair for the rest of the day and it's a huge drag and also the goldfish has access to a nuclear arsenal and is so fucking racist
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [169 favorites]

Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake ... Then-FBI Director James Comey knew that a critical piece of information relating to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email was fake -- created by Russian intelligence -- but he feared that if it became public it would undermine the probe and the Justice Department itself, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the process.

This excuse sounds like yet another lie made up to protect Comey's reputation. This excuse does not explain:

1. why he kept his boss Loretta Lynch out of the loop. His previous excuse was that he didn't trust Lynch, but if he knew the Russian disinformation about Lynch was false, then that excuse is out the window.

2. why he did a hatchet job on Clinton in July, which was contrary to department guidelines.

So his story is that the Russians were trying to discredit his investigation, so he decided to beat up on Clinton in July in order to pre-emptively show tough he could be in case the fake Russian document leaked. Just like he pre-emptively released the email letter a week before the election in case his New York agents leaked the information.

It's a recurring pattern of Comey beating up on Clinton in order to protect his reputation in case of leaks. Which is awfully convenient for Trump.

I don't believe it for a minute. Comey is just a political hack who was out to get the Clintons. Instead of being truthful, he repeatedly tried to cover up.
posted by JackFlash at 4:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

What really got me about Trump's recent trip is how admiring Trump and his whole entourage are of the Saudi Arabian autocracy/theocracy, and how dismissive and resentful they are of the thriving and successful European democracies.

You can just tell at a glance which system they love and which they just can't stomach . . .
posted by flug at 4:29 PM on May 26, 2017 [79 favorites]

* He went to jail

Sent to jail by Chris Christie, which is why they dangled the job for Christie and then yanked the football away at the last second. Wild twitter idea I just saw: what if Christie sent the anonymous letter?
posted by bluecore at 4:29 PM on May 26, 2017 [25 favorites]

Remember that the meeting in question is one of the ones Kushner failed to disclose on his security clearance paperwork.

The insane thing is that it is such common knowledge that we intercept Russian communications that the folks leaking this really aren't revealing much about NSA capabilities. Everyone except Jared knew this.

If I had to guess where this is going, it's going to involve, and this is pure speculation on my part, Kushner's role in the campaign's data operation. We know random GOP blogger in Florida was getting gigabytes of hacked DCCC data from Guccifer 2.0. If that was going on, surely the Trump campaign was getting some tips about where to target their resources, right?
posted by zachlipton at 4:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

Pretty sure Jared just got moved from "witnesses" to "subjects" on the FBI white board.

*ahem*
posted by Fizz at 4:31 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's like the Russians are the parents who accidentally won the goldfish at the county fair when they just thought they were going to play and lose to humor their kid, and now they're stuck carrying a damn goldfish around the fair for the rest of the day and it's a huge drag and also the goldfish has access to a nuclear arsenal and is so fucking racist.

[hopefully] Is there a cartoonist in the thread?
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:31 PM on May 26, 2017 [19 favorites]

> If I had to guess where this is going, it's going to involve, and this is pure speculation on my part, Kushner's role in the campaign's data operation. We know random GOP blogger in Florida was getting gigabytes of hacked DCCC data from Guccifer 2.0.

+1 to this. It is just too obvious and too perfect to not be true.

We know exactly what random GOP blogger in FL did with this data. What would Kushner do if he received the same data?

It's like a question that answers itself . . .

As I've mentioned before, these people probably don't even know that they are Russian intelligence assets. They are just plugging along doing the obvious thing and the Russians are leading them by the nose . . . they are some combination of too stupid + too venal + too lacking in any degree of moral scruples to even notice.
posted by flug at 4:36 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

I would guess it's more about surprise. When I shake hands with someone, I don't expect them to yank my arm toward them. You can see that it doesn't work when they are expecting it. (Trudeau, Macron)

That's what's so appealing about these things as dominance displays. You get to win at a game that the person doesn't know they're playing.

It would work on me even though I'm well versed in this bullshit because I've been shaking hands with professional adults and serious people exclusively for a few years now. I'd walk away thinking, "Great, he's doing that alpha male dominance bullshit, this'll suck." But he's still thinking that he "beat" me and it'll subtly pay off later. Even if I did that to him, he'd still write it off mentally with some excuse. No matter what the ego must be fed.

What bugs me about the stupid plaid sports coat used car salesman bullshit is that when I was being taught to me, my manager described it as shit we USED to do. Instead, I was taught shake hands like a normal person, the only variation was to do the "slow landing" as we called it so that the customer has plenty of time figure out that you're about to shake their hand.

It turns out that the best way to sell cars is to be honest, give a shit about the customer and their needs, and ask them to buy a fucking car. All that dominance bullshit is a waste of time.
posted by VTX at 4:38 PM on May 26, 2017 [34 favorites]

I really don't understand why the transition team went to such lengths to placate and talk secretly to the Russians. Didn't EVERYONE KNOW that the sanctions were toothless because Trump was going to be super friendly to Russia? Like what was there to discuss? Did they want a secure line so they could just cackle all day long?
posted by acidic at 4:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Fizz: Pretty sure Jared just got moved from "witnesses" to "subjects" on the FBI white board. *ahem*

I prefer to imagine The Wire's Lester "All the pieces matter" Freeman running this investigation. It's the only thing that keeps me sane.
posted by bluecore at 4:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [30 favorites]

There is this thing where they/Trump are just smart enough to realize the greasy skullduggery necessary to successfully rule but then just completely half-ass it.

Like, resistance from the secret police and the spies is gonna be a problem... solution: Just get my boy from the hedge fund to do an audit and put 'em in their place, easy-peasy!

There's an investigation going trying to take Trump guys out, needs to be outmaneuvered & negated... solution: Just ask my boy Jim Comey to let the whole thing drop nice & quietly!

Aforementioned secret police are gonna listen in on convos with Russia and fuck things up there, need a secure diplomatic backchannel... solution: Just ask my boy Jared to go see if we can borrow the Russian secure comms!
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 4:43 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

What seems weird to me is that the newsheads keep referring to Jared as Trump's "family." Like, "how will Trump react when his family is in the firing line?" "Jared is so close to Trump; will he take the fall out of family loyalty?" "Trump can't fire Jared like Flynn because he's family," etc.

Excuse me, but the fact that this guy and Ivanka Trump got married and Kushner and Trump find it convenient and mutually enriching to be in business together and Trump relies on Jared doesn't make them family.

Seriously, how would you as a possibly halfway normal person feel about your parent-in-law who had once (and possibly still) had at minimum a creepy fixation on your spouse? And who is a big dumb abusive tacky blowhard?
How would you as a giant raging narcissist feel about the guy your [cough] beloved daughter pays more attention to than you nowadays?

Hell, Trump doesn't even give a momentary miniscule shit about 4/5 of his actual children. Any loyalty he feels toward Jared is an inch deep and based entirely on how much Kushner caters to his bullshit and enables his general onanism. Family. Jesus. When has Trump displayed any sort of appropriate family feeling to anyone ever?
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:45 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

If I had to guess where this is going, it's going to involve, and this is pure speculation on my part, Kushner's role in the campaign's data operation. We know random GOP blogger in Florida was getting gigabytes of hacked DCCC data from Guccifer 2.0. If that was going on, surely the Trump campaign was getting some tips about where to target their resources, right?

I have little doubt that the exfilled DCCC database dumps went straight to Cambridge Analytica to provide Team Trump the tailwind they needed to win. It fits all available information & especially tracks with Trump's Razor because of course that's the thing he boasts about, he wants to rub our noses in the secret that he cheated to win the election. Once you see it it's painfully obvious.
posted by scalefree at 4:47 PM on May 26, 2017 [13 favorites]

NYT fires back: Russian Once Tied to Trump Aide Seeks Immunity to Testify Before Congress

Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch once close to President Trump’s former campaign manager, has offered to cooperate with congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but lawmakers are unwilling to accept his conditions, according to congressional officials.

Mr. Deripaska’s offer comes amid increased attention to his ties to Paul Manafort, who is one of several Trump associates under F.B.I. scrutiny for possible collusion with Russia during the presidential campaign. The two men did business together in the mid-2000s, when Mr. Manafort, a Republican operative, was also providing campaign advice to Kremlin-backed politicians in Ukraine. Their relationship subsequently soured and devolved into a lawsuit.
...
In March, Mr. Deripaska took out newspaper ads stating that he was willing to participate in hearings before Congress after The Associated Press published a report alleging that Mr. Manafort had provided him with a plan in 2005 outlining steps to “greatly benefit the Putin government,” by influencing politics and news coverage in the United States. Mr. Deripaska has denied ever entering into such an arrangement and sued The A.P. for libel last month. The news organization has said it stands by its article. Mr. Manafort has denied that his work for the oligarch was aimed at aiding the Russian government.

Bonus: I try really hard to avoid cluttering this thread with single-tweet photoshop jobs in here, but this darth response to the Senate Intel Committee's request for campaign documents is exactly what I needed on a Friday afternoon [for the avoidance of all doubt: fake]
posted by zachlipton at 4:50 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

What really got me about Trump's recent trip is how admiring Trump and his whole entourage are of the Saudi Arabian autocracy/theocracy, and how dismissive and resentful they are of the thriving and successful European democracies.

This is exactly what I was thinking all fucking day yesterday. Every once in awhile I would stop and think about our President was sooooo enamored with the Saudis and such a dick to our European Allies. Saudi Arabia....where Osama Bin Laden came from. S.A. may not have been directly responsible for 9/11 but they sure were indirectly involved. Meanwhile it was NATO who came to our defense and went to war with us when we asked. Jesus, he is a goddamn traitor.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [58 favorites]

Trump's affinity for the vile Gulf monarchs is one of the most normal things about his presidency.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 4:57 PM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

Never leave the thread. WTF lets setup secure communications to the Russians!
posted by notyou at 4:58 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

So after Jared goes to prison, in 15 years Ivanka will shop around a memoir

Hah! In my fevered imagination they all go to jail and it is Tiffany who gets to shop around her memoir: Don't Call Me Miss Trump!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:59 PM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

Every once in awhile I would stop and think about our President was sooooo enamored with the Saudis and such a dick to our European Allies.

Yes, let's review Trump's Swipe Right list thus far:

Putin
Sisi
Erdoğan
Duterte
Saudi ruling class
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:04 PM on May 26, 2017 [24 favorites]

I forgot something else that pissed me off about this NATO meeting-- Trump talking about his golf courses. I'm sorry, the tax payers did not fly you to Europe to talk up your businesses, President Shithead.

God, I sound like I'm drunk and honestly I haven't even had a drop yet. I better go pour one.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:06 PM on May 26, 2017 [19 favorites]

I'm personally looking forward to Spicy getting fired and the resulting tell all coming out six months later. Followed quickly by the tell alls from other bitter former staff. I think it will be a cottage industry for a while.
posted by honestcoyote at 5:07 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm personally looking forward to Spicy getting fired and the resulting tell all coming out six months later. Followed quickly by the tell all from other bitter former staff. I think it will be a cottage industry for a while.

Some of them can just assemble all the shit they've already told Daily Beast and have half of a first draft right there.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:09 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

If anyone wants to set up a secret back channel with me send me a message

nobody will know
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:12 PM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

I assume NDAs become null and void when actual illegal activity is taking place?
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:18 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

I just want to bang the accelerationists' heads together until they fucking get it. There is never going to be something vile enough to destroy the Republican Party from within. It's not going to fucking happen.

Qf-mf-t. There is no bottom floor on Republican mendacity and evil. Accelerationist thinking assumes that there is a point past which all the GOP voters and party members will wake up and go, "no sir, this is not ok!" and then seize their party back for rational conservatism. It ain't gonna happen. It didn't happen when the GOP blatantly weaponized racism into votes. It didn't happen with torture. It didn't happen with "free speech zones". It didnt happen with Katrina, the subprime mortgage meltdown, birtherism, or a stolen supreme court seat.

You know how you'll know a staunchly anti-choice right winger who nonetheless will suddenly consider abortion as an option if it's their daughter who gets pregnant? This is the GOP in a nutshell. Rules are for other people. Principles are only sacred as long as they don't interfere with their agenda. If they're inconvenient then they're suddenly flexible rather than fixed. Astounding arrogant hypocrisy.

Side note: the Hillary article is the stuff of all women's nightmares. You tell yourself that if you just don't give up and you keep becoming more and more accomplished that you can insulate yourself from misogyny. Well guess what, you can't. There is always a group of people who will hate you enough to try and tear you down, even if it utterly fucks them in the process. People hate women. A frightening number of them are our neighbors and coworkers. It's like living among a group of fucking werewolves. You never know whose face you can trust and which is a mask.
posted by supercrayon at 5:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [112 favorites]

I mean, who could have written this anonymous letter, which "came to Ellen Nakashima and appeared to have come from someone inside the transition?"

I was assuming from the Post article it would have been someone from an intelligence agency who saw the intercepts, but if it's someone inside the transition, and actually legit, that has to be a really small number of people involved, especially since this was the meeting with Kislyak that they tried to hide in the first place. Like, the number of people who were inside the transition, aware Kushner wanted to setup a secret backchannel with the Russians, and who would specifically reach out to a Washington-based national security reporter (as opposed to the political reporters that were closer to the campaign) has got to be single digits, right? Assuming this letter is genuine.
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

I assume NDAs become null and void when actual illegal activity is taking place?

I don't think a contract is valid if it requires illegal behavior, and contempt of court is illegal.
posted by Coventry at 5:22 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

MIke Flynn?
posted by notyou at 5:28 PM on May 26, 2017

Just popped over to Fox News to see how they were covering the latest Kushner story, and unless I am misreading it completely, Fox actually seems to be relaying the story without any minimization. Is this a first for them? Is the ratings slump hitting them or do they just feel Kushner is a more acceptable target than Trump?
posted by not that mimi at 5:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Surely there must be something Ivanka can go to jail for.

Ivanka is a pretty White woman.

Accelerationist thinking assumes that there is a point past which all the GOP voters and party members will wake up and go, "no sir, this is not ok!" and then seize their party back for rational conservatism.

Isn't there something in German history about this?
posted by bongo_x at 5:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Holy shit was Trump serious in the debates about an overweight guy in a basement in Florida??

Well goddamn. That guy is such a motormouth fuckup - just keep him talking, here, press the Coke button a couple of times . . .
posted by petebest at 5:31 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seriously, if the GOP voters haven't mutinied by this time, they never will. There's no point where it will be so bad that they won't be able to parrot some bullshit talking point excuse for Trump's behavior.
posted by octothorpe at 5:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

i swear to god, i took a two hour nap and BOTH the times and the post bring the thunder

maybe i should do a news blackout over memorial day weekend.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:34 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

I went to make a Yakov Smirnoff joke and . . well it went like:

[latest droppo on Jared + Kislyak]

"Ha! In Soviet Russia . . they . . " huh . . no, it's the same either way.
posted by petebest at 5:34 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Seriously, if the GOP voters haven't mutinied by this time, they never will.

Every day that goes by is another day closer to the midterms. Trump is very unpopular and Democratic candidates are already tying Republicans to him in closer-than-expected special elections.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:36 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

So, healthcare maven Topher Spiro says:

INTEL: Several GOP Senators have privately said this recess is the test - if they get blowback at home, they'll tell McConnell [AHCA is] over.

This is important. Since not a single Senator is having a [real, open] town hall, you must go in groups to offices. Rally outside any public events.

Rallies planned outside local Senate offices:
Sat. 5/27 PORTMAN
Tues. 5/30 HELLER
Town halls:
Tues. 5/30 GRASSLEY - Guthrie Center, IA
Wed. 5/31 CASSIDY - Covington, LA

More info and resources

posted by FelliniBlank at 5:38 PM on May 26, 2017 [47 favorites]

i swear to god, i took a two hour nap

Thank you for your service.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:38 PM on May 26, 2017 [54 favorites]

I highly recommend ceasing to expend literally any mental energy on wondering or hoping or speculating about what will finally make Republicans turn away from their awful party. The answer is manifestly nothing. The majority of them are pro-fascist or fascist sympathizers. You want to know how we could end up with an even more terrifying fascist state? Look at what Republican voters have shown they are okay with over the past year and change alone.

Give up on Republicans and go about asking what it will take to get the nonvoters to the polls. Republicans can't be helped until/unless their pet brainwashing source of Fox News is dismantled.
posted by yasaman at 5:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

So, what are the odds Kush and Flynn take the fall and Trump ducks responsibility? It's not beyond belief he doesn't know what the fuck is actually going on. It'd be consistent with him being a fucking moron.

Of course, if I'm them I flip and point at the President, it's not like they've any loyalty to him.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:45 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Aforementioned secret police are gonna listen in on convos with Russia and fuck things up there, need a secure diplomatic backchannel... solution: Just ask my boy Jared to go see if we can borrow the Russian secure comms!

It's so weirdly out of touch to think that you need a nation state to set up secure communications these days, too.
posted by Coventry at 5:46 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Surely there must be something Ivanka can go to jail for.

I bet she'd be able to credibly claim that her job is managing her father's image and emotions, and she doesn't have anything to do with the kind of policy stuff that could get people in trouble. Plus, if the shit really hits the fan, I bet she dumps Jared and then claims that her father has dementia and was manipulated and taken advantage of by Bannon, Jared, and his other advisors.

Tues. 5/30 GRASSLEY - Guthrie Center, IA

Fucking Grassley is having this thing in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, in a town of 1500 people in the middle of nowhere. People are coordinating protests, but it's going to be a challenge to get much of a crowd, I think.

Trump was supposed to hold a rally in Cedar Rapids on Thursday night, and I think the protest there would have been substantial, but word is that he's canceling it. We'll see.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:46 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

To me, the most frightening thing about this story is that the intelligence officials who leaked this weighed the costs of exposing exactly how much of Kislyak's communications we intercept against the danger of allowing Kushner to keep doing this unchecked, and decided that the sources and methods were less important. That's how serious the Kushner situation is.
posted by zachlipton at 5:47 PM on May 26, 2017 [44 favorites]

if he's totally out of the loop from a plot between his closest advisors and the russian intelligence apparat to elect and then suborn him…

that's not a good look for a chief executive
posted by murphy slaw at 5:48 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

The answer is they intercept all of Kislyak's communications except possibly those on his secure line to Moscow and those sent via diplomatic courier. They do so by literally having racks full of spy equipment hooked into the telecom infrastructure.

It doesn't reveal much. It highlights it a bit, like, it's a minor unseemliness to talk about listening to the Ambassador and reveal his convos...
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 5:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fucking Grassley is having this thing in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, in a town of 1500 people in the middle of nowhere. People are coordinating protests, but it's going to be a challenge to get much of a crowd, I think.

Maybe the people who can go could bring like baskets and baskets of written messages/emails from the folks who can't make it, featuring selfies of the authors holding their Iowa driver's licenses (picture visible, info covered) or something?
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Surely there must be something Ivanka can go to jail for.
It was good enough for Martha Stewart (who then temporarily replaced Trump on The Apprentice)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:55 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

BuzzFeed News: Luxembourg's openly gay first husband Gauthier Destenay, poses with other NATO world leader spouses.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:58 PM on May 26, 2017 [30 favorites]

Trump has already signed both anti-abortion legislation and an anti-abortion executive order. How much further could Pence possibly go?

Pence knows how the government works. He can actually pass more legislation and write EOs that actually pass muster.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:04 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Reuters came out to play too: Trump son-in-law had undisclosed contacts with Russian envoy - sources

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters.

Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two of the sources said. By early this year, Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, said two other sources - one current and one former law enforcement official.
...
Separately, there were at least 18 undisclosed calls and emails between Trump associates and Kremlin-linked people in the seven months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, including six calls with Kislyak, sources told Reuters earlier this month. . Two people familiar with those 18 contacts said Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke to the ambassador by telephone. Reuters previously reported only Flynn’s involvement in those discussions.

Six of the sources said there were multiple contacts between Kushner and Kislyak but declined to give details beyond the two phone calls between April and November and the post-election conversation about setting up a back channel. It is also not clear whether Kushner engaged with Kislyak on his own or with other Trump aides.
...
Officials familiar with intelligence on contacts between the Russians and Trump advisers said that so far they have not seen evidence of any wrongdoing or collusion between the Trump camp and the Kremlin. Moreover, they said, nothing found so far indicates that Trump authorized, or was even aware of, the contacts.

posted by zachlipton at 6:04 PM on May 26, 2017 [22 favorites]

*waves* HEY, HAVE A GREAT LONG HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN THE BOSOM OF YOUR FAMILY, JARED!

Maybe you and Dad-in-Law can go garage-sale-ing, have a nice bbq, play some golf.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:10 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

[hopefully] Is there a cartoonist in the thread?

I got u MeFi
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 6:12 PM on May 26, 2017 [224 favorites]

Whitehouse : *crickets*

Looking forward to the multiple stories they're going to come up with to spin this one away. This needs some post-doctorate level of spinness.

We're waiting Whitehouse. What is taking you so long? This one really, really hard huh?
posted by Jalliah at 6:15 PM on May 26, 2017

Wow.
Edit: That's a great illustration, phobos!
posted by lkc at 6:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

I got u MeFi

♫ Have I ever told you you're my hero? ♫

This is so awesome, I'm honestly a little verklempt.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:18 PM on May 26, 2017 [19 favorites]

Is this when the backstabbing and selling out goes in to full swing? Because that is inevitable. None of these people have any loyalty to each other, and I said many moons ago there is no one in the world loyal to Trump.
posted by bongo_x at 6:19 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

I got u MeFi

It's Perfecto!
posted by petebest at 6:23 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

all of these fuckers need to swing
posted by entropicamericana at 6:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [16 favorites]

Okay so now I find myself very impatient. We've got a bombshell plot event but it's still just a teaser. We got Jared and his brilliant comm plan. What are the exact motives? I want to hurry up and get to the part where we get to know exactly why they were doing this. So far there are lots of tidbits to speculate about but I'm ready for drops that put together exactly what they were/are up to.
posted by Jalliah at 6:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

We've got a bombshell plot event but it's still just a teaser. We got Jared and his brilliant comm plan. What are the exact motives? I want to hurry up and get to the part where we get to know exactly why they were doing this. So far there are lots of tidbits to speculate about but I'm ready for drops that put together exactly what they were/are up to.

I'm afraid the ending is going to be disappointing. The writers aren't very good.
posted by bongo_x at 6:29 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin

Does setting up a back-channel communications line directly to the Russian government and lying about it to the American government count?

I mean is that collusion, treason, or espionage?
posted by petebest at 6:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

That Clinton profile made me fill with both despair and hope.

Despair for what could have been. Despair for those who will suffer and those who will die for reasons that are completely unnecessary and are born out of hate, spite, and selfishness.

Hopeful because even when delivered the ultimate blow to the gut, the ultimate blow to one's ego, that she's ready to step back up and fight in the best way she knows how. She hasn't given up because all is not yet lost. Even though there are many that we will lose, there will be those that remain that will still need us to fight for them.
posted by Talez at 6:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [21 favorites]

Kushner, or his lawyer anyway, is going with the I don't recall defense. Normal White House style is much closer to "we deny it, and if it happened, it wasn't at all improper, ok it happened," so this shift is not a good sign for Jared.
posted by zachlipton at 6:35 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

They need to talk privately in order to get rid of sanctions and proceed to make themselves and their pals a ton of fucking cash, is my guess. I mean, Bannon wants to tear down the state, but every other move they've made, all the cabinet picks, etc., is totally inspired by the desire to monetize everything and remove all regulatory and other obstacles to doing that -- or by racism/hatred, or vengeance on political enemies, or all of the above.

The whole trip to Europe just now was about getting paid, one way or another.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:35 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm afraid the ending is going to be disappointing. The writers aren't very good.

I'm thinking that it's going to depend on whether or not one fancies big rich people corrupt deals in order for people to make oodles of money type plots. It looks like there could be some more complex wheeling and dealing in more countries then just Russia so that could make it more interesting. (Turkey and Saudi)
posted by Jalliah at 6:37 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

On second thought, the term "back-channel" may not be the best here. Kennedy made use of non-official diplomatic communications, often referred to as back-channel, but he was President already and had some idea what the fuck he was doing.

Call it what it is - 1-800-IM4-PUTIN
posted by petebest at 6:40 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

okay, i know we try not to do the single tweets but this is just beyond:

Funny how we condem Jared Kushner for trying 2 find a back channel to Russia but when Christopher Columbus does it we get day off work 🤔

-- @PFTCommenter

posted by murphy slaw at 6:40 PM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

Kushner, or his lawyer anyway, is going with the I don't recall defense.

Dang, if only there were some way for Jared to refresh his memory. Some, I dunno . . . records of calls he made and received. If only there were some company he had contracted with to provide him with such a service.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I want to hurry up and get to the part where we get to know exactly why they were doing this.

Spoiler alert: it was hubris with more than a dash of rank incompetence.
posted by lydhre at 6:41 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Can any lawyers or people familiar with lawyering comment on him and the others not putting these Russian meetings on their security forms. Can this be used in court to counteract any sort of 'I was stupid, naive and didn't realize how wrong it was ' defence? As in they must have known it was wrong or they would have reported them.
posted by Jalliah at 6:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

One interesting wrinkle is that it was widely reported that Jared was a key voice in getting Trump to fire Comey and attack the special counsel. Is that because Jared knew he had something to hide and was trying to shut down the investigation, because others at the White House knew this was coming and wanted to set him up to look even worse, or both?
posted by zachlipton at 6:43 PM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

Sarah Kendzior GOP: It’s time to get off the Trump train. You have nothing left to lose

Logically, there was never any incentive to board the Trump Train. The President has spent his whole life acting like Faust only without an actual soul to sell, striking bad bargains that humiliate whoever joins him. Trump's promises never hold: Support this lifelong con artist and you will sacrifice yourself for nothing. Ask Sean Spicer, whose dream of seeing the Pope this week Trump denied. In Trump's America, the train rides you.

One would think, with a 40-year track record of malfeasance and an administration under investigation by multiple intelligence agencies, that the GOP would realize it is finally time to leave the Trump Train. The stakes are as high as they can get: The fate not only of the U.S. but of the world rests on their ability to put country over party, to rein in Mr. Trump's violent ambitions and to investigate Mr. Trump as the public demands.

Unfortunately, the GOP shows few signs of wising up

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:44 PM on May 26, 2017 [30 favorites]

monetize everything and remove all regulatory and other obstacles to doing that

"Fascism /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and control of industry and commerce"

It's almost like they're trying to tell us something . . . but, what?
posted by petebest at 6:46 PM on May 26, 2017 [22 favorites]

Hopeful because even when delivered the ultimate blow to the gut, the ultimate blow to one's ego, that she's ready to step back up and fight in the best way she knows how.

I don't know why Hillary isn't naked on the beach in a far away country, with a giant drawing in the sand of a hand with a middle finger raised that can be seen from the air, that she refreshes every morning as her only work before going back to the hammock.

Hillary is better than me.
posted by bongo_x at 6:46 PM on May 26, 2017 [54 favorites]

So, what are the odds Kush and Flynn take the fall and Trump ducks responsibility? It's not beyond belief he doesn't know what the fuck is actually going on.

Sure, that's certainly plausible, but the problem for him is that he has actively and personally tried to derail the investigation. Which opens him up for obstruction of justice charges despite the possibility he might not have been directly involved with Russia.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:46 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

Business Insider 'This is serious': Jared Kushner reportedly tried to set up a secret Trump-Russia backchannel

"GOOD GRIEF. This is serious," said Bob Deitz, a veteran of the NSA and the CIA who worked under the Clinton and Bush administrations.

"This raises a bunch of problematic issues. First, of course, is the Logan Act, which prohibits private individuals conducting negotiations on behalf of the US government with foreign governments," Deitz said. "Second, it tends to reinforce the notion that Trump's various actions about [fired FBI Director James] Comey do constitute obstruction."

"In other words, there is now motive added to conduct," Deitz noted. "This is a big problem for the President." [...]

"If you are in a position of public trust, and you talk to, meet, or collude with a foreign power" while trying to subvert normal state channels, "you are, in the eyes of the FBI and CIA, a traitor," said Glenn Carle, a former top counterterrorism official at the CIA. "That is what I spent my life getting foreigners to do with me, for the US government."

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:48 PM on May 26, 2017 [78 favorites]

Whoever is leaking all this Jared stuff was very smart to wait until after several months of coverage of how CLOSE he and Trump are, how he's THE MOST TRUSTED of Trump's team, intimately involved with everything, part of all the big decisions, how his office is right next to the Oval, the two of them are like peas and carrots, thick as [heh] thieves, etc.

If this gets hung on Jared, the only possible way they can keep Trump out of it is indeed to paint him as a total senile doddering disengaged incompetent.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:52 PM on May 26, 2017 [44 favorites]

Sure, that's certainly plausible, but the problem for him is that he has actively and personally tried to derail the investigation. Which opens him up for obstruction of justice charges despite the possibility he might not have been directly involved with Russia.

The wild card is also how Trump is going to respond to this. There's a very good chance that he's going to double down and do more ridiculously stupid things (if you're trying to distance yourself) and get himself into more hot water. I'm not even going to bother to try to predict if he's gonna stick with Kushner like he has with Flynn. And if he does stick with him who the heck knows what he's going to do or say.

Totally uncharted waters here.
posted by Jalliah at 6:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Okay, I just figured out why a few conversations around here haven't sat right with me / have left me very confused about what people were saying:

> Accelerationist thinking assumes that there is a point past which all the GOP voters and party members will wake up and go, "no sir, this is not ok!" and then seize their party back for rational conservatism.

That is not related to accelerationism as I understand it. Is this a use of the phrase that's become common since the election? The more typical understanding of the term accelerationism has it referring to the idea that the appropriate response to the broader ongoing disaster of late capitalism is to accelerate the processes of capitalism to the point where capitalism's internal contradictions destroy it; the point where, for example, the processes of wealth concentration implicit in capitalist markets are allowed to run so thoroughgoingly rampant that everyone is dispossessed, leading to total market collapse and the opportunity to establish something better than capitalism in the aftermath.

The people who tend to get talked about in conversations about accelerationism are left accelerationists who want to establish socialism after the acceleration and collapse. this idea is bad in more than one way; for my part, I find it distasteful because the people espousing it tend to be from demographics that the accelerating market monster would eat last: young white men from well-off backgrounds. I've never met a broke accelerationist.

Left accelerationism is an interesting thought experiment, though as I understand it it's not that much different than the old "heighten the contradictions" line. I think possibly one has to understand Deleuze well to understand the differences, and I don't understand Deleuze well.

Right accelerationism, on the other hand, is literally the worst ideology in the world. The storyline with how the acceleration works out is more or less the same as in left accelerationism; capital is allowed to run rampant, wealth concentrates into fewer and fewer hands, markets collapse because there's no one left to sell to, capitalism ends. However, right accelerationists want to establish neofeudalism in capitalism's wake; the wealthy families become the new aristocratic class to which everyone else is pledged, access to resources becomes explicitly regulated by one's level of closeness to and favor among people connected to the ruling families, the idea of human equality is abandoned, women and people of color become understood more or less as chattel, and so forth.

The only open right accelerationist I know by name is Nick Land, but that's because I try not to look in that direction more than I have to. I believe some major MRA/redpill boys are right accelerationist, plus it's obviously fashionable on the alt-right proper; Steve Bannon is making right accelerationist noises when he compares himself to Lenin cause both he and Lenin wanted to smash the state (I love when he does that; it reveals how he hasn't actually read Lenin, and also how shallow his understanding of his own philosophy is).

Needless to say, none of this has anything to do with wanting to restore conservative order to the Republican Party through encouraging Trump to be as repulsive as possible in order to shock them back into supporting the liberal market order as previously established. (plus that argument is just dumb; I could see it showing up on the WaPo editorial page, maybe, but nowhere smart.).

I can see why that usage of the term might become prevalent in this thread; we operate here under the assumption that restoring the previous pre-Trump order is possible, that a return to liberalism is both possible and good, and that deep down liberalism, broadly construed as ranging from market libertarianism on the right to social liberalism in the center, is an ideology that Americans would like to return to, or at least should want to return to. We also tend to operate under the assumptions that capitalism is stable and not ending anytime soon. When operating under these assumptions, "accelerationism" understood in the original sense is not a coherent idea, since it refers to capitalism as something that can possibly end, that has internal processes that cause it to tend to eat itself alive left unchecked, and so forth. This conception of capitalism is not possible under our axioms for discussion.

There are two troubling (read: non-broey, non rich-kid) arguments for something like a left accelerationist stance that I can think of, though I don't think they're necessarily sound.

First is the argument from present conditions. This argument is roughly that we're already in the start of an unavoidable accelerationist crisis, brought on/ exacerbated by the actions of right accelerationists like Bannon, by people functionally equivalent to right accelerationists, like Paul Ryan, and by barely literate morons who have reason to believe that they might maneuver themselves into favored positions in post-capitalist neofeudalism, but who don't realize that what they're doing involves the destruction of capitalism (see: most tea party electeds and the orange man himself). Because this disaster is already happening (sort of like how the climate disaster is already happening, we have to stop trying to restore previous conditions and start maneuvering to turn the crisis toward the left version rather than the right version; we've got to build alternate structures of power and governance (political organizations, mutual aid groups, cooperatives, and so forth) outside of the market, and then look to them for leadership when the crisis turns into a collapse. Basically, the strategy is to organize to steal the revolution from the right accelerationists, sort of like how the right wing stole the Iranian Revolution, but in reverse. My response to this argument is that that's not accelerationism so much as simply acknowledging that we're nominally ruled by accelerationists right now without any clear path to getting rid of them in the near future, and to note that it's good to organize even if capital's not ending, and focusing on the end of capital as an inevitability right now isn't politically sound or politically useful, and that there are better concepts to use as organizing tools.

The second argument that's not on the face of it wrong, and the one I do find legitimately troubling (though I don't have anything like the gumption or the skills required to live the values this argument implies), is the argument from ecological collapse. This argument goes roughly "Capitalism is killing the Earth, if it survives for long enough to extract all the fossil fuels it wants Earth will be Venusified, and so we must find whatever means possible of destroying capitalism as quickly as possible in order to ensure that it can't scrape up and burn enough fossil fuels to kill the world. This is going to kill a lot of people, but you can't save a planet without breaking a few eggs."

This is an awesome argument, in the original sense of the term, not the bro sense of the term. It inspires awe, fear, dread; it is horrible but it may be right. I couldn't espouse it, myself, and I give SO MUCH side-eye to people who espouse it. It is more or less an argument for ecoterrorism, but ecoterrorism on a vast scale; if you're a radical ecological activist who lives on a modern pirate ship, I trust you to make that argument, but if you're a white guy software developer who doesn't do shit, you need to either start living your values or find another line to follow.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [36 favorites]

Kushner, or his lawyer anyway, is going with the I don't recall defense

Hey, Kush, I don't know why I'm giving you this advice, but Brendan Sullivan is still alive.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:55 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Sarah Kendzior GOP: It’s time to get off the Trump train. You have nothing left to lose

"The doors . . . They're locked!"

*power goes out*

*eerie silence*
posted by petebest at 6:55 PM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

That gives my gut the bad tickle.
posted by rhizome at 7:04 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seriously, how would you as a possibly halfway normal person feel about your parent-in-law who had once (and possibly still) had at minimum a creepy fixation on your spouse? And who is a big dumb abusive tacky blowhard?

but..this is about Jared Kushner. Kushner the sociopath who worships his criminal pig of a father, his father who did horrifying despicable things to his own family without ever troubling his son's loyalty. The difference between Kushner père and Trump beau-père is Trump is SMARTER. New daddy didn't get taken down by Chris Christie like original daddy. Kushner married into a family where the dumb criminal morally vacant patriarch was a step up from his own. no fanciful imaginative play-psychological profile of him can fail to take this into account. it's everything. it's why I. Trump is the dominant partner in the marriage even though Kushner is the more powerful member of the administration: the latter because of D. Trump's immense sexism, but the former because her dad is worse than his dad. and Kushner aspired to cringe before the best (worst).

tl;dr the awful things about his father-in-law are not reasons Kushner will turn on him; they're why he got into this in the first place. it's all he's after. this is why patriarchy is a scary story to tell in the dark.

if I am wrong and he flips I'll eat twenty cakes, my birthday is coming, etcetera
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:07 PM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

Welp: EXCLUSIVE: Hannity Goes 'Underground' to Decide If He Will Return to Fox News, Source Says

O frabjous day!

This came from a source close to him. I expect this is Hannity trying to get Fox to beg him not to quit, 'we need you Sean. Don't be so sad.' It's a power game.
posted by Jalliah at 7:09 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just stay down there and enrich the fuckin soil, Sean
posted by prize bull octorok at 7:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [49 favorites]

I wonder where Russia got Trump's internal polling numbers so they knew where to deploy fake news with surgical precision.

posted by FelliniBlank at 7:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [25 favorites]

I thought accelerationism was when Mahasamatman wanted the descendants of the original settler's bodies to share in the same technologies available to the self-styled gods... .
posted by Slothrup at 7:12 PM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

Kushner Talked to Russian Envoy About Creating Secret Channel With Kremlin

NYT says it was to be able to talk about Syria strategy.

The idea behind the secret communications channel, the three people said, was for Russian military officials to brief Mr. Flynn about the Syrian war and to discuss ways to cooperate there. Less than two weeks later, Mr. Kushner backed off the idea of the communications channel when Mr. Trump announced Rex Tillerson, a former chief executive of Exxon Mobil who had worked closely with Russian officials on energy deals, as his choice to become secretary of state.

So my guess is WH may go for, a sort of 'it never actually happened' and besides 'Syria it's serious and we need Russia' strategy. Possible bonus. 'President believes that ISIS cannot be defeated without Russia and Dems so against Russia that we were forced to be more quiet about it. If Dems/Obama/Clinton weren't so bad we wouldn't have to do these things'.
posted by Jalliah at 7:16 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

The WaPo story makes Shindler's article in the Observer sound awfully plausible.
posted by diogenes at 7:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

De Spiegel is one of Germany's leading magazines and recently published an editorial which is going viral so I will gladly help it along.
It's Time to Get Rid of Donald Trump
Donald Trump has transformed the United States into a laughing stock and he is a danger to the world. He must be removed from the White House before things get even worse.
posted by adamvasco at 7:18 PM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

I wonder where Russia got Trump's internal polling numbers so they knew where to deploy fake news with surgical precision.

People have shrugged their shoulders at the selective targeting of the electorate for disinformation through social media platforms because no one can tell what effect it had on the election, but what these people are missing is that it doesn't actually fucking matter if the targeting worked. All that matters is that Russians tried to use targeted psychological warfare via disinformation campaigns on the American people and it's very likely that Americans helped them, wittingly or unwittingly. That some of the most complete reporting I've seen on this was from Samantha Fucking Bee is a sad commentary on the modern media.
posted by xyzzy at 7:20 PM on May 26, 2017 [50 favorites]

The idea behind the secret communications channel, the three people said, was for Russian military officials to brief Mr. Flynn about the Syrian war

Riiiiight.
posted by diogenes at 7:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

I was just about to quote that paragraph from the NYT. So did Russia basically say "nevermind, we got our guy" after Tillerson was in place?

It's a flatly ridiculous plan. Kushner was supposed to go to the Russian Embassy to have secret briefings about Syria instead of, I don't know, just inviting Kislyak over to the White House because such meetings are literally his job?
posted by zachlipton at 7:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

EXCLUSIVE: Hannity Goes 'Underground' to Decide If He Will Return to Fox News, Source Says

He's getting some advice from an old friend who lives waaaaay down there.
posted by Behemoth at 7:21 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

It's a flatly ridiculous plan.

That's because it's a cover story made up after the fact.
posted by diogenes at 7:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

No one has ever been as happy to be fired as Sean Spicer is right now.
posted by bongo_x at 7:24 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

> I thought accelerationism was when Mahasamatman wanted the descendants of the original settler's bodies to share in the same technologies available to the self-styled gods...

that too.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 7:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

NYT: U.S. Quietly Lifts Limit on Number of Refugees Allowed In

WASHINGTON — Despite repeated efforts by President Trump to curtail refugee resettlements, the State Department this week quietly lifted the department’s restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.

The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to well over 1,500 people per week by next month, according to refugee advocates. Tens of thousands of refugees are waiting to come to the United States.

The State Department’s decision was conveyed in an email on Thursday to the private agencies in countries around the world that help refugees manage the nearly two-year application process needed to enter the United States.

can't imagine why the lifers at State might think this is an opportune moment to push back
posted by murphy slaw at 7:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [65 favorites]

Did... did you guys make a Lord of Light reference?
posted by Justinian at 7:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [18 favorites]

FWIW, some people on Twitter are speculating that Jim Woolsey was the source of the anonymous December letter. He's a former CIA director and was a part of the transition team up until January when he bailed, "because of growing tensions over Trump’s vision for intelligence agencies" (according to the WaPo).

Supporting evidence for this speculation: Ellen Nakashima is the reporter at the Post who got the anonymous letter. When Woolsey quit the transition, she's the lead author on a story that cites "People close to Woolsey" providing reasons for his departure.
posted by zachlipton at 7:37 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Holy shit: two people who tried to interfere in harrassment of muslim women on a train were stabbed to death in Portland.
posted by suelac at 7:49 PM on May 26, 2017 [66 favorites]

I mean, there is nominally an adult working on this stuff now...why the need to keep going public with stuff?

This presumes it's not the Russians doing the leaking. When your end goal is to sow chaos, everything is fair game.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:51 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

tonycpsu: "Sure, but how much daylight is there between where the Trump administration is on reproductive freedom and where Pence would be? Neil Gorsuch is a forced birth fanatic, as any other Trump nominee will be. Trump has already signed both anti-abortion legislation and an anti-abortion executive order. How much further could Pence possibly go?"

Pence a) actually knows how to work government to realize his ends and b) seems pretty passionate about his anti-abortion stance. Much worse and far ranging legislation would be enabled by Pence.

Fleebnork: "I would guess it's more about surprise. When I shake hands with someone, I don't expect them to yank my arm toward them. You can see that it doesn't work when they are expecting it. (Trudeau, Macron)"

$100 to the first world leader to lean into the pull and embrace Trump in a bear hug.

yoga: "
Sort of like Ford, renaming the Explorer to Escape after explorers started blowing up all over the place. Same piece of poop, different letters."

The Explorer and Escape are/were completely different vehicles; one a body on frame truck like SUV and the other a unibody CUV. And the Escape was introduced along side the Explorer as a smaller UV option not a replacement for the Explorer.

leotrotsky: "So, what are the odds Kush and Flynn take the fall and Trump ducks responsibility? It's not beyond belief he doesn't know what the fuck is actually going on. It'd be consistent with him being a fucking moron."

Trump seems unlikely to be able to play a "I didn't know what was going on" role. He is way to megalomaniacal. He also seems incapable of staying on message.
posted by Mitheral at 7:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Jesus, suelac. Those two men are heros.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:54 PM on May 26, 2017 [28 favorites]

Good point: If Kushner's interest in secretly talking to Russia was "Syria" why was the follow-up meeting Kushner and a Russian banker?

The Vnesheconombank meeting points to all sorts of nefariousness, but military cooperation on Syria is something defense attachés do; not the President's son-in-law and the head of a sanctioned bank that provided cover to at least one Russian spy.
posted by zachlipton at 7:55 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

How the hell is that Portland story not the number one story everywhere? I'm sick.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:57 PM on May 26, 2017 [45 favorites]

> Holy shit: two people who tried to interfere in harrassment of muslim women on a train were stabbed to death in Portland.

Thats my commute home. And it is still very much breaking news - the station is still blocked off, and the timestamp on my phone has the alert of them shutting it down at at 5:34pm.

And it is sickening.
posted by mrzarquon at 8:02 PM on May 26, 2017 [26 favorites]

I mean, is this the new normal? We're all supposed to cower in fear on the train and the bus while these human garbage bags abuse Muslims in front of us? With the understanding that if we speak up, white supremacist terrorists will cut our throats?

What the hell do we do to respond to this? City people, what do we do? Do we have a copwatch for fascists and just try to have our own physical presence to intervene? They're getting bolder and bolder, and anyone can get a knife.

It's not like there weren't hate crimes before November, but my perception is that this is different.

Fuck this, fuck these people. We have a large Muslim community here in Minneapolis. This could be our young women, our train.
posted by Frowner at 8:03 PM on May 26, 2017 [70 favorites]

FBI: now quietly sliding Jared from "subjects" to "targets"
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:03 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's not entirely clear in that Willamette Week article, but three people trying to intervene were stabbed, two of whom died. I've been following this a bit this afternoon, as I'm one MAX stop away and they stopped the train service to this area.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:04 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

I'm really shaken up seeing the Portland stabbing story. I heard so many sirens at home earlier and couldn't find any information about what was happening — now I know. This out of all the sick things going on makes me want to go to bed all weekend.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 8:06 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Kushner, or his lawyer anyway, is going with the I don't recall defense.

Well, this is Sergei Kislyak we're talking about, who is apparently the most unmemorable conversationalist in the world. Every conversation anyone has with him vanishes shortly thereafter from their mind like the morning mist.
posted by jackbishop at 8:06 PM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

> I mean, is this the new normal? We're all supposed to cower in fear on the train and the bus while these human garbage bags abuse Muslims in front of us? With the understanding that if we speak up, white supremacist terrorists will cut our throats?

As a Portland resident, I'm more prone to thinking this is a homeless person with untreated mental illness and not the result of a coordinated white nationalist movement.

Not to say that recent politics wouldn't have a play in tipping someone over into violence by convincing them their problems are because of immigrants and muslims. Or that Portland doesn't have a problem with racism or extremism, but what resources we have to care for the homeless have been at a breaking point (or have already broken) as a result in part to the massive housing boom here.
posted by mrzarquon at 8:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

This is the first time in my life I've ever thought that I want a gun. It goes against everything I normally believe, but if we're talking about white supremacist stabbings right in the street then it seems like your choice is to sit there like a fucking good German while these shitbags threaten people or...or learn to use something that will stop them

If you or any other Mefite is in the PNW and wants to be armed against these fucking monsters so you can defend people just minding their goddamned business and trying to live in apparently New Reichland, memail me and I will drive to pretty much anywhere and help you pick out & practice. This is not a thing I could have conceived of a year ago and I think it's my goddamned canary in the coal mine.
posted by corb at 8:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [78 favorites]

What frightens about the Portland story is that every single "should I say something?" calculation now comes with a slightly extra dose of "I could be killed if I do," and it will be that much harder to intervene.

That said, the KATU article says that "the suspect appeared to be acting erratically, and wasn't necessarily focused on anti-Muslim insults during the attack," which supports mrzarquon's theory.
posted by zachlipton at 8:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

(Also for those outside of Portland, seasonal increase in homeless related violence has been a thing for a while. I personally don't see this as justification for grabbing or owning a gun, but instead working more towards dealing with housing inequalities and poor access to healthcare. Portland is known as a 'welcome' city so we attract a lot of homeless from through the PacNW region also.)
posted by mrzarquon at 8:22 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

Sure, maybe he's an unstable person. But would he have been concerned with Muslims if not for the current environment? Stochastic terrorism.
posted by chris24 at 8:23 PM on May 26, 2017 [50 favorites]

Frowner, I'm with you. My wife is adamantly opposed to having guns in the house, and I've supported that position for a long while. But if we're traveling down this path, maybe it's time to start rethinking that absolutism.
posted by mollweide at 8:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

If the news reports have confirmation of Kushner's activities from Russian sources, what is the motivation of those sources to confirm these reports?
posted by cell divide at 8:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

> He may have been drunk or high, but someone taught him to hate women and Muslims and people who challenge his authority as a white man. Whatever his excuse is is no fucking excuse. We apply this standard to others, it's about time we apply it to white supremacist Christian America.

The difference is trying to disarm or subdue someone who is a radicalized militant vs someone who is homeless and hearing voices are two entirely different strategies. In one scenario you may try to talk someone down, because there might be some common stability to work with, in the other there isn't a baseline for any predictable behavior.

I'm not trying to excuse or say that this isn't influenced by white supremacist ideology, but on the ground, thinking "oh, this is a skin head, I'll stand up to him, and he'll back down" won't work if the person is literally insane.

(And all of this is super early for us to know what else is happening, as we are still just getting the news from it)
posted by mrzarquon at 8:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

The President Just Told a Room of Israelis That He 'Just Got Back From the Middle East'

It's great to be here in British Columbia. I've just got back from Canada.
posted by juiceCake at 8:30 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

*nostalicizing* Hey, remember that one time way back two whole ~~centuries~~ days ago -- y'know, with the Grumpy Pope and the Montana Journalist Beat-Down, when Barack Spinoza was all:

I say this everyday and everyday I also say I won't say this again but

today was fuckin' bonkers

That sure was a carefree innocent era.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [15 favorites]

Hmm, so what is motivating the leakers regarding this Kushner stuff? Do they believe Mueller wouldn't have found it? Or maybe that he would have found it, but not fast enough?

I mean, there is nominally an adult working on this stuff now...why the need to keep going public with stuff?

I think it's to put pressure on Congress to impeach, to remove him sooner rather than at the end of a long investigation by Mueller. Which feels futile with the GOP we have, of course, but it makes sense if the leakers are people who know how bad this shit will be when the investigation is wrapped up, and know that it's an urgent problem that can't wait on a slow process - I can't imagine how infuriating it must be to have to wait on the process while the klaxons are going off, I'd leak too if I were sure the leaked information wouldn't compromise the investigation.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Literally, what is the difference between "terrorism" and a "hate crime"? Why do we we not refer to all politically motivated attacks on civilians, with the apparent motive of intimidating others, as "terrorism"?

Because I've seen right wingers on the internet complaining that "hate crime" is thought crime, but they deplore "terrorism."

I'm just thinking about this because it's hard for me to believe we wouldn't be calling a multiple victim stabbing in a train out as "terrorism" if the perpetrator were Muslim, instead of the initial targets. I mean if these attacks were someone drives a car into a crowd are terrorism, why not this?
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:33 PM on May 26, 2017 [31 favorites]

Maybe guns and more mental health services?

I mean, I would much rather assume either that this is a shitty racist who progressed to killing people because of impulse issues that are due to illness and therefore with treatment he would still be a shitty racist but not stab people, or that he is so severely ill that he was completely delusional*.

It seems like if some people are shitty racists but don't commit violence unless they have untreated mental illness, for merely pragmatic reasons we have to figure that out because ultimately the most important thing is to keep people safe.

This is so horrible. Those men's families! The people who witnessed the attack! The women who were being harassed! I feel like I did when I woke up and read about the Pulse shootings, like it's so awful that it must be some mistake.

*I have known a person who had a very severe episode of an illness during which they said things that were 100% not what they believed or lived by, and I don't believe that someone in the grip of a severe mental illness is necessarily revealing their "true" self. Sometimes people's illness reflects their character but sometimes it doesn't.
posted by Frowner at 8:33 PM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

A witness on Reddit says that he was saying racist stuff to a black man on the train too.

Whether he was in control of his actions or not is obviously an important question for the legal system, and the distinction between Richard Spencer and "homeless man shouting racist stuff on the streetcorner" is an interesting one, but it's also a distinction that isn't particularly meaningful at the time to the targets of such hate or the hateful culture that produces such incidents.
posted by zachlipton at 8:34 PM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

Yes, OUAT, this was absolutely an act of Terrorism. "Hate crime" is way too mild a term to use.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:34 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

Even if the guy was mentally ill, the No More Baby Parts guy was mentally ill too. Doesn't change that the Hannities of the world have trouble holding things due to all the fresh blood on their hands.
posted by delfin at 8:36 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

Literally, what is the difference between 'terrorism' and a 'hate crime'?

Terrorism = brown person does something bad.

Hate crime = someone says something that hurts a white person's fee-fees.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:37 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

However, right accelerationists want to establish neofeudalism in capitalism's wake; the wealthy families become the new aristocratic class to which everyone else is pledged, access to resources becomes explicitly regulated by one's level of closeness to and favor among people connected to the ruling families, the idea of human equality is abandoned, women and people of color become understood more or less as chattel, and so forth.

I'm confused. Didn't you just describe today?
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:38 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

If I'm sounding like I'm trying to rationalize this, I did the math and realized I would have probably been on that MAX home today because of leaving work early for errands. I decided to not take the MAX for other reasons, and it's still surreal that I could have been there.

For a lot of people in Portland, being screamed at / yelled at by an unstable homeless person is an experience all of us have dealt with in one way or another. So that is the first place I went to with this, not the notion of it being an act of terrorism.
posted by mrzarquon at 8:39 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

I think it's to put pressure on Congress to impeach, to remove him sooner rather than at the end of a long investigation by Mueller.

I concur. Tonight's mega-drop occurs right at the start of a nice relaxing recess, when instead of being surrounded by the Rah-Rah Stay the Course Go Team groupthink party discipline machine, the GOP Congressjerks are all on their way home where they can have a good long think about things. Home, where herds of enraged constituents are currently gathering in order to flay them alive over the AHCA etc.

It may not change anything, but if Paul Ryan et. al. spend even a little bit of the next week feeling deeply uneasy somewhere in the cobwebby corners of their useless minds, it can't possibly hurt.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:39 PM on May 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm not going to criticize anyone for doing what they need to do to feel safe -- whether they're actually making themselves safe is another matter -- but this is precisely what our enemies want. It's no coincidence that these monsters are aligned with the party that has worked tirelessly to make sure there are as many guns in our streets as possible. So now all these new gun owners will start tooling up, and then the Nazis will swap their knives for guns, and then everyone's living in fear and shooting each other.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [10 favorites]

For those uncomfortable with guns, I can rec from experience self defense training. If there is an aikido or juijitsu group you can join, the training I got from those two schools helped me channel my natural response to imminent violence into healthy patterns that can reduce damage overall while assisting in deescalation. Or a take down, should that be needed. I tend to think it better to know how your body reacts in a fight before guns are added to the mix.
posted by Vigilant at 8:42 PM on May 26, 2017 [35 favorites]

I think future primary and election debates must address white, Christian, home-grown terrorists. That goes for Senators, Reps, and LEOs, too. It's unforgivable that these men are treated any differently, and even hand-waved away.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:47 PM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

yeah people guns are not the answer here. resist nonviolently. defend yourself sure, but gunning up is not going to solve our political problem.
posted by vrakatar at 8:51 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

I personally don't see this as justification for grabbing or owning a gun, but instead working more towards dealing with housing inequalities and poor access to healthcare.

We have to survive to the mid-terms to even have a chance of making those changes happen.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:02 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Reminder: At no point will Republicans or Fox News do anything substantive at all to dial back the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim hysteria that they are responsible for spreading.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:05 PM on May 26, 2017 [19 favorites]

yeah people guns are not the answer here. resist nonviolently. defend yourself sure, but gunning up is not going to solve our political problem.

Unfortunately, they may make it more likely you're going to get shot by a trigger-happy asshole with a badge.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:12 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

666 Fifth Avenue

Seriously?
posted by xyzzy at 9:15 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Boy, Trump's insanely supportive stance toward Flynn all these months is suddenly soooooooooo much more understandable, isn't it? Flynn is like Jared's own personal cement overcoat.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:22 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yglesias: The dueling scoops about Jared Kushner’s plan for secret communications with Russia, explained, in which the NYT "discuss Syria" explanation is looked at with the skepticism it deserves (the Vnesheconombank side of things is also discussed separately, and is yet another strong reason to doubt this was simple about Syria):

Documentary evidence or sworn testimony may emerge some day to confirm this characterization of events, but on its own terms it seems hard to believe for three reasons.

One is that it’s not clear why a Syria backchannel the Times is positing would require access to the Russian government’s secure diplomatic communication channels.

The other is that it’s not clear from the Times’ account why the backchannel was never established. In the Post’s story, Russia rejected the use of diplomatic channels as unworkable and then Kushner dropped the matter since the ability to evade US government surveillance was evidently key to whatever he wanted.

Last, the Trump White House simply lies very frequently. Sometimes they lie about obvious, easily checkable facts like how many people attended Trump’s inauguration or whether or NATO members owe a financial debt to the United States. When a group of people lie frequently, it seems sensible to discount their future self-serving but unverifiable claims.

It is deeply frustrating to me how often NYT reporters, Maggie Haberman, the lead author of this story, in particular, blindly repeat anonymously-sourced White House talking points in their copy, then turn around and complain on Twitter about the White House's total lack of credibility.
posted by zachlipton at 9:44 PM on May 26, 2017 [28 favorites]

Please remember that while delusions, erratic behavior, aggressive speech, etc. may be symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses (frequently comorbid with homelessness), violent actions are not actually strongly predicted by such illnesses. I don't think speculating on the mental health of the Portland attacker is particularly helpful. I totally understand the impulse to try to make sense of such senseless violence, but please be cautious about stigmatizing the homeless and mentally ill, whose behavior may be unpleasant and unsettling but is rarely dangerous.

The murder of those people is absolutely terrifying and sickening. I agree with chris24 that this is stochastic terrorism.
posted by biogeo at 9:45 PM on May 26, 2017 [32 favorites]

> I totally understand the impulse to try to make sense of such senseless violence, but please be cautious about stigmatizing the homeless and mentally ill, whose behavior may be unpleasant and unsettling but is rarely dangerous.

I realize this. And for many folks, this is how we deal with increased presence this time of year - just avoid it, give them space, etc. The presumption is they are harmless.

I'm afraid for as much as backlash against the already beleaguered homeless and mental health groups in town who will be considered enablers if this does indeed turn out to be the background of the assailant.

Portland also had to deal with this guy, who pulled a gun on "don't shoot" protestors in Portland, and he's employed and with a home, presumably.

The entire situation is fucked.
posted by mrzarquon at 9:53 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

It's reported that the attacker said to the two women ‘Get off the bus, and get out of the country because you don’t pay taxes here,’ which to me leans away from the possibility that he was homeless, because taxes aren't one of their greatest concerns. That's the talk of an ignorant, employed asshole.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:02 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

It's quite possible for multiple things to be true; that this was a mentally ill homeless person and that Trump and the GOPs racist xenophobia has created an atmosphere were such things are much more likely to occur.
posted by Justinian at 10:03 PM on May 26, 2017 [11 favorites]

The difference between this guy and your latest ISIS murderer is nobody bothers to wonder if mental ilness was a contributing factor for the ISIS guy.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:10 PM on May 26, 2017 [52 favorites]

666 Fifth Avenue
Seriously?

My personal theory is that whatever McGuffin of evil has led to this point in the story is being kept inside One Times Square behind all the advertisements
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:11 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

whatever McGuffin of evil has led to this point

is it an orb
posted by murphy slaw at 10:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [36 favorites]

Michael Strickland only got 40 days in jail? What the FUCK. He was looking for an excuse to kill a few black people, and there is video evidence that he went with the intent to cause shit.
posted by Yowser at 10:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't think babbling about taxes counter indicates the guy being homeless.

Anecdotally the homeless people I have met are very likely to be obsessed with taxes and being a taxpayer and property rights and entitlements. Much more so than middle class folks I've met.

Some of the only people who give these people the time of day, and the people that usually put food in their bellies, are disproportionately right wing religious conservatives. This is changing fast, but for a very long time, the only cheap and available entertainment for a homeless person was AM talk radio.

The self-hating right wing poor are a pretty major phenomenon in the US.
posted by idiopath at 10:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

tonight i really wish that twitter would be a little less "surely this" about the kushner revelations because i want to believe but i dare not hope
posted by murphy slaw at 10:29 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

Yeah I'm feeling a lot more "And this? How does this strike you?" about the whole thing.
posted by contraption at 10:33 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

a number of folks are speculating that the insider knowledge about kushner's conversations with kislyak are because flynn has already copped a deal.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:36 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

The latest spin seems to be some variation of "Kissinger had backchannels too," which sort of misses the point that Kissinger wasn't an inexperienced real estate developer setting up secret communications with the hostile foreign power that just got him elected, nor was he talking about wandering into the Russian Embassy to use their communications gear.

If you want a historical backchannel analogy, the time Nixon and his staff secretly wrecked the Vietnam peace talks, ensuring the war would be prolonged to his electoral benefit, seems far more on point. That one never really got attention for the treasonous act that it was, or the deaths that maybe, possibly could have been averted had he not interfered.
posted by zachlipton at 10:38 PM on May 26, 2017 [47 favorites]

Jumping waaaaay back, but:

"I'd guess most people aren't expecting to be jerked off their feet by a handshake, so he relies on surprise. I'd love to see him get his hand crushed by someone who was expecting it, though.
Queen of England [or other British Royals]."

When the Queen of England wants to fuck with people, she invites them for a ride in her Land Rover. She drives. She drives like a banshee out of hell, using all her wartime driving skills.

It is a particular favorite tactic with visiting Middle Eastern royals from countries where women can't drive. Since she's not a politician, she can't register her displeasure vocally about inequality, especially with an ally, so she instead drives the King of Saudi Arabia (say) around and makes him fear for his life. So, you know, watch this space for when Trump visits the Queen. Heads of state she doesn't like frequently emerge quite green from the honor of having the Queen take them for a drive. She prefers Balmoral for her asshole driving excursions.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:39 PM on May 26, 2017 [151 favorites]

As long as we're living in a real life unbelievable conspiracy theory;

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I'm not at this point convinced the election was legit. I don't think that Trump's people necessarily rigged it personally though. These are really stupid and arrogant people. I think there is the real possibility that they got themselves wrapped up with the Russians and committed treason thinking they were being clever, but there could be, and probably is, even be more illegal activity than the Trump people knew about. Why would the Russians and whoever else is involved fill them in? They're morons, there's too much chance they'd fuck things up. There's really not a good reason to tell a lot of people about something like that, you don't need their input or cooperation. Trump's people (at least most of them) may have been legitimately surprised they won.

With all that's going on it still seems far fetched to me that Trump won a handful of votes in a couple of states that just happened to be the magic number that won the lottery.

I think it's probable that Trump is a horrible traitorous criminal AND that he was played.

I'm not sure that's something we're going to find out though. If the President is brought down with who knows who else, and we have a complete government breakdown, I'm not sure the intelligence community is going to throw "oh yeah, and the election was rigged" on top of that.
posted by bongo_x at 10:47 PM on May 26, 2017 [9 favorites]

Queen Elizabeth is a WWII vet. She helped fight the original Nazis. I don't think she'd be much fazed by any Trumpian power play antics, but I really hope Trump's proposed UK trip is delayed indefinitely. He doesn't deserve the honour of a state visit.
posted by dazed_one at 10:48 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

Regarding Portland, Trimet metro service drives the point home.
posted by mrzarquon at 11:08 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Whenever I ask myself if something will blow up the Republican party, I remind myself that 9/11, Iraq War and financial crisis of '08 all happened on G.W.Bush watch, and two years after his term, in 2010, there was a wave election in Republican favour, and in 2014 Senate flipped to Republicans as well. That's the bottom line. That's how things worked since at least Reagan and that's how it will be for the foreseeable future. Democrats can win elections but the Republican party will be there, waiting, coming out in strength and fighting for every inch on the beaches, on the waterfront properties, on private beaches, on golf courses, what have you.
posted by rainy at 11:14 PM on May 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Re: Portland, what do we do in these situations, etc.

I've been spinning through some thoughts over the past few hours:

-There's no 100% way to root out every publicly violent bigot. No matter what we do, there will always be someone who will go that far. And I have very little faith in understanding, deprogramming, treating, rehabilitating, etc., these hateful bigots. They're too far gone.

-As others have noted, responding by arming ourselves is not a safe or effective solution and will likely (and literally) backfire in some situations.

-Preventing the scenario would have been best. But that's moot because see 2016. The zombies are here. (Setting aside the homeless/mental health angle as that hasn't been confirmed yet.)

So, it seems that one of the remaining options is the NIMBY response. Take it as a given that these atrocities will happen some time, somewhere--but when it does, everyone in the city responds with a visible outpouring of "We will not take this BS." Prison time for perps. Vigils and protests. Personal safety classes. Posters, PSAs, safety pins...Collectively scream back. If fighting back in the moment is too risky, you can still fight back the hour after.

Even if this doesn't shut up the terrorists, it would boost morale for the public. I'm thinking of the rush of hope from the Women's March earlier this year and the proof of the power of a public display of will.

Someone upthread made an "even in Portland" comment. I agree, what happened is horrible. But on the flip side: the fact that this took place in Portland gives me a little bit of hope, because I have more confidence that communities in "somewhere like Portland" would be stronger and better at fighting terrorism/hate crimes, and whacking the bigots when they do pop up.

(But of course, this is just me wondering aloud. Please stay safe, everyone, as best you can.)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:16 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

the Republican party will be there, waiting, coming out in strength and fighting for every inch
...and fighting dirty. Any Republican not willing to go along won't be allowed into the money bin.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:17 PM on May 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think it's probable that Trump is a horrible traitorous criminal AND that he was played.

I'm not sure that's something we're going to find out though.

I keep worrying about destruction of evidence. They've already gotten away with so much. Who would put it past this lot, devoid of competence and scruples, to destroy or hide evidence that should come up in the Russia investigations?
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:22 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

one thing that gives me some hope about the republican party is that they are running dangerously low on smart people.

the fact that paul ryan is considered a policy wonk when he has basically no legislation to his name and is only speaker because he was dumb enough to take the poisoned chalice from boehner's hand says a lot about how shallow their bench is.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [29 favorites]

And oh my god my parents' conspiracy theory nutterism is rubbing off on me!

PS: But then again we have facts to support THIS conspiracy theory. During the election, there were articles about how Trump et al had destroyed documents that were required in lawsuits.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:25 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

But then, it takes a certain amount of competence to destroy evidence successfully. I recall that Oliver North's "shredding party" was a factor in keeping the Iran/Contra scandal comparatively contained.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I keep worrying about destruction of evidence. They've already gotten away with so much. Who would put it past this lot, devoid of competence and scruples, to destroy or hide evidence that should come up in the Russia investigations?

if his offer of transcripts of the trump/lavrov meeting is any indication, i suspect that putin has backup copies and would be magnanimous enough to share them.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:26 PM on May 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

one thing that gives me some hope about the republican party is that they are running dangerously low on smart people.

But...does this matter as long as you have enough dumb people to vote for you?
(Sorry, murphy slaw. I too would like to hang on to any thread of hope, but one of the takeaways from November was to listen to the pessimist.)
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:27 PM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure they have all the evidence to destroy. I don't know that they are anywhere near as in charge of things as they think.
posted by bongo_x at 11:28 PM on May 26, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think this may turn out to be a Fargo-esque caper with lots of;
"I just wanted you to scare them!"
"I thought you had the documents, then who has the documents?"
"Look, we had a deal"
"The deal is off, I want out, forget the deal"
etc.
posted by bongo_x at 11:32 PM on May 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

well damn, now if this doesn't end with steve bannon barricaded behind the Resolute Desk and taking on all comers with a broken bottle i'll be disappointed
posted by murphy slaw at 11:33 PM on May 26, 2017 [14 favorites]

I don't know that they are anywhere near as in charge of things as they think.

This is the same thing that keeps tripping me up about the Kushner secret channel thing. Is it really the proof of Secret Nefarious Scheming? Or a nothingburger, just more examples of oopsies by the administration?
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:34 PM on May 26, 2017

This is the same thing that keeps tripping me up about the Kushner secret channel thing.

I think they are trying to commit crimes but are stupid and in way over their heads with much smarter and more ruthless people. Guess who's going to jail though? Not Putin.
posted by bongo_x at 11:37 PM on May 26, 2017 [17 favorites]

Is it really the proof of Secret Nefarious Scheming? Or a nothingburger, just more examples of oopsies by the administration?

it seems like it's proof of a desperate ploy to establish secure communications with moscow that was so stupid that kislyak was like "what the fuck is wrong with these people?"

i think it's still espionage even if your plan is too stupid to possibly work?
posted by murphy slaw at 11:39 PM on May 26, 2017 [33 favorites]

If Hannity is really out, then, taken together with firing of O'Reilly and Bill Shine, it's the more consequential change than any other story that bubbled up in the past 3 weeks. Trump and the congress Republicans are less of a problem than the ecosystem of rightosphere with people like O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh and more recently Alex Jones and Breitbart. It's them who create that layer of 20-25% of true believers who pull the party far to the right. Visit some of these conservative blogs -- the sheer devotion not to just the cause but to the alernative facts AND to alternative interpretation of the same facts is quite amazing.

When Trump talked about shooting someone on 5th avenue, he throughly understood this. He neglected to mention that his 20% will tune in to the talk radio, not yet sure what to think, and will have 8 hours, on that same day, (and all consequent days), of endless explanations, counterattacks, whataboutism, righteous indignation.
posted by rainy at 11:44 PM on May 26, 2017 [12 favorites]

Boy, Trump's insanely supportive stance toward Flynn all these months is suddenly soooooooooo much more understandable, isn't it? Flynn is like Jared's own personal cement overcoat.

I'm on the board with my first prediction:

I wonder if it's possible that the FBI's net would scoop up a Trumpenkinder.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:00 PM on May 11 [3 favorites +] [!]
posted by Room 641-A at 12:06 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

When Trump talked about shooting someone on 5th avenue, he throughly understood this.

I think you give him too much credit. I think he believes the hype.
posted by bongo_x at 12:13 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

‘This Is Now Espionage’: MSNBC’s Malcom Nance Calls For Jared Kushner’s Security Clearance to be Pulled

And if there was any uncertainty on his stance, he finished by saying, “This one incident requires Jared Kushner and all of his immediate staff to have their clearances pulled right now and to have the FBI descend on there and to determine whether this is hostile intelligence in the White House one step from the president.”

posted by Room 641-A at 12:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [56 favorites]

If anyone wants to set up a secret back channel with me send me a message

ACTIVATE RESTON 5
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 12:59 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

I was just doing some chores, and my brain ticked over a thought.

Remember back in November? I know it's hard.

Trump ripped into Christie by phone before demotion: report
By Nikita Vladimirov - 11/19/16 12:27 PM EST

Trump expressed worries about Christie's involvement in the Bridgegate scandal and disappointment in his job performance on the transition team, Politico reported Saturday.

Starting with:

1) Trump lies.

2) Christie Busted Jared's Dad

3) Christie thinking "Jared can't be as dumb as his dad."

4) Jared and Russia sitting in a tree.

5) Christie thinking, "OMFG, Dumber."

6) Christie bails

7) Trump smears him.

8) Trump makes Christie eat Nixon Submission Meatloaf.

9) Christie seethes all the way back to jersey, thinking, "I'll show that piece of shit loser from Queens not to fuck with Jersey..."

10) Ride up Turnpike/Cue Soprano's theme/Call buddies at FBI and DOJ from old Fed. Prosecutor days to let them know you got disrespected and NO-ONE does that to Jersey...
posted by mikelieman at 1:16 AM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

I've been mainlining the news for waaaay too long, and now it's almost 4 am and I'm still up thinking about Jared Fucking Kushner. (So much for tomorrow's bike ride.)

At this point, I'm pretty much in the camp that 90% of this can be explained by stupidity, greed and sheer arrogance. I don't think there's a grand scheme to place the US government in thrall to Russia. I don't think these assholes have any political aspirations at all aside from personal power (Bannon's nihilism aside).

I was struck by one of the talking heads tonight who brought up the arrogance of Kushner - his actions showing that he thought that the rules for dealing with foreign agents simply didn't apply to him, because he knows better. He thought he could do the same kind of shady back-door shit he'd always done in his businesses, and no one would say anything because...well, they hadn't so far. Rules are for little people, after all. Great Men can do what they've always done, which is whatever the hell they want. And if he wants to talk secretly to Russian diplomats and oligarchs and bank owners to prove he's finally the Big Man that people will have to listen to now? He'll do it. After all, he's not begging them for money this time. This time, he has something they want. What a fucking rush that must have given him.

I think everyone is sort of stunned at the sheer disbelief that someone could be so transparently bad at being an awful person. There's no Machiavellian genius or deep power-behind-the-throne scheming beyond the barest level here. I mean, his one real power is having Trump's ear, which really isn't that hard given Trump's distrust of anyone outside of his immediate family circle. (Aside from Flynn, because Trump's superpower is picking the most shady-ass randoms to suddenly decide to trust.) The answer to "How could Kushner be such a moron as to think that this sort of thing was okay, or that no one would find out or care?" is...because he's a Grade-A example of Toxic American Male who was born on third and thought he hit a triple. That's it, really.

I'm convinced that this will all come down to money in the end - and not, like, an extravagant Bond-villain scheme to team up with Putin and take over all the world's oil reserves. That would actually be interesting. No, I think our country is being held hostage by a bunch of assholes whose main goal in life is to get a better interest rate on the properties they stupidly bought at the wrong time, and whose only dream is to put up yet another tacky hotel or golf course with the family name plastered across it. These morons are in hock up to their eyeballs to foreign powers, and they just want to ride the whirlwind to get to the point where they'll never have to go begging for funding again because all of the world's gangsters will finally be beholden to them. (And of course, that means that all of this will take forever to finally uncover. This level of leaking can't possibly be sustainable.)

And it's all working because the Republicans are cowards who would stand behind a dictator-loving disease just so they can get their precious tax cuts for the billionaires whose life won't be complete if they can't manage to add an extra couple of zeros to their obscene wealth. It's just so...petty. So unbelievably, depressingly petty.

CNN has been airing a promotion for a special they've got planned for the 100th anniversary of JFK's birth. Seeing that "ask not what your country can do for you," clip feels like a slap in the face compared to the piggish misery that is the current inhabitant of the White House, whose only purpose in life appears to be to want to make everyone as small and mean and petty as he is.

Not with a bang but a whimper, indeed.
posted by Salieri at 1:49 AM on May 27, 2017 [104 favorites]

I can't wait to see if the WH sends anyone out for the Sunday shows.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:00 AM on May 27, 2017

I can't wait to see if the WH sends anyone out for the Sunday shows.

Every show should setup a chair for the WH spokes, and when they don't show up, just you know, do the show with an empty chair.

I would ask the empty chair questions.

I believe there's precedent...
posted by mikelieman at 2:12 AM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

OMFG, Precedent indeed.

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

Empty chair debating is a performance when one pretends to debate another individual, often represented by an empty chair. It stretches back to at least 1924, when Progressive vice-presidential nominee Burton K. Wheeler debated an invisible President Calvin Coolidge.

invisible Calvin Coolidge is my new favourite thing!
posted by mikelieman at 2:14 AM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

When you're rich I imagine every one around you tells you how smart you are. I imagine that you're also shielded from the consequences of your stupidity. So there's no way to learn how profoundly stupid you are. Kushner's proposed backdoor was probably about stupidity, arrogance, and greed. You know, negotiate with the Russians about sanctions, make a little money on the side, and prove what a big man you are. However, when you're proposing to the Russians that you use their communication network to evade monitoring by your own government you're an intelligence asset, whether you know it or not. So the spin will probably be that he was thinking outside the box in the interest of MAGA and why are you freaking out about him doing his job.
posted by rdr at 2:47 AM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Re: empty chair

Since I cannot find The Onion's take on that anti-Obama chair speech by Clint Eastwood, I offer this instead: HIGNFY "tub of lard" episode.

From the wiki summary:
When [the show's guest and Member of Parliament] Roy Hattersley failed to appear for the 4 June 1993 episode — it was the third time he had cancelled at the last minute — he was replaced with a tub of lard (credited as "The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP"), as it was "liable to give much the same performance and imbued with many of the same qualities".

By comparison to the present alternatives, a tub of lard sounds so good now.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 3:00 AM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

Jared Kushner is The Spy Who Didn't Know Shit
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:01 AM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

Empty chair debating is a performance when one pretends to debate another individual, often represented by an empty chair. It stretches back to at least 1924, when Progressive vice-presidential nominee Burton K. Wheeler debated an invisible President Calvin Coolidge.

The empty chair was actually played by Kislyak in one of his less memorable roles.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:11 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

Danielle Allen, WaPo: Trump’s weird adherence to this 1980s concept explains his whole presidency

What’s the standard line on President Trump these days? That he’s an erratic creature of no fixed commitments and no stable policy objectives? Not so fast. In fact, Trump’s entire administration can be understood through the lens of his weird, consistent, unwavering adherence to a 1980s concept of the War on Drugs.

This adherence unifies his policy actions: not only the appointment of drug-war hard-liner Jeff Sessions as attorney general but also his approach to immigration and “the wall,” his calls for a revival of “stop and frisk” and “law and order” policies, key features of the Republican House health-care bill, the bromances with Rodrigo Duterte and Vladimir Putin, and even the initial proposal to defund the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:56 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

I keep worrying about destruction of evidence. They've already gotten away with so much. Who would put it past this lot, devoid of competence and scruples, to destroy or hide evidence that should come up in the Russia investigations?

They'd have to be smart enough to know what evidence is and based on the way they unknowingly manufacture it they don't seem to have any idea.
posted by srboisvert at 5:11 AM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

They'd have to be smart enough to know what evidence is and based on the way they unknowingly manufacture it they don't seem to have any idea.

Literally no one will be surprised when a Post-It reading "Shred these files - they are very bad evidence against us!!! - DJT" appears. Some people will defend it, but no one will be surprised.
posted by Etrigan at 5:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [15 favorites]

Not that I should be surprised by the alt-reality the alt-Reich and Republicans live in, but still impressive how the geniuses who think Clinton ran a pedo ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor without a basement see absolutely zero evidence of any weird Russia connections.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on May 27, 2017 [72 favorites]

However, when you're proposing to the Russians that you use their communication network to evade monitoring by your own government you're an intelligence asset, whether you know it or not. So the spin will probably be that he was thinking outside the box in the interest of MAGA and why are you freaking out about him doing his job.

He's so far out of the box he likes to generate his own kompromat file.
posted by jaduncan at 5:49 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Trump at the G7 is the only leader not bothering to listen to the Italian chair.
posted by stonepharisee at 5:50 AM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

He looks asleep.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:57 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Amazon Prime Video will have "The Hunting of the President" on June 15. Bezos appears to be all in on crushing the Republican propaganda machine.

"There can be no doubt that we live in one of the most tumultuous political climates of the nation's history, a climate where politicians can be toppled on a whim, election results disputed in the country's highest courts, and governors unceremoniously recalled. It's enough to leave even the most cynical voter asking, how did this happen? Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry's incendiary documentary, based on the best-selling book by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, offers a glimpse at the genesis of these partisan vendettas and explores the myths and truths behind the nearly twenty five year campaign to systematically destroy the political legacy of the Clintons."
posted by srboisvert at 5:58 AM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

Amazon Prime Video will have "The Hunting of the President" on June 15. Bezos appears to be all in on crushing the Republican propaganda machine.

Oops. It'll be on Hulu not Amazon Prime Video.
posted by srboisvert at 6:04 AM on May 27, 2017

Spicer claims that Trump is listening through an earpiece in his right ear.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:05 AM on May 27, 2017

Per @PressSec: Trump has earpiece in his right ear that is not visible here ... using the secondary brain at the base of his spine that normally co-ordinates his lower half...
posted by Devonian at 6:09 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Come on now be fair, you can see he's concentrating intensely - his eyes are closed.
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:15 AM on May 27, 2017

when all this is over he will be remembered as History's Dumbest Monster
posted by murphy slaw at 6:33 AM on May 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

@W7VOA:
Backchannel communications “allow you to communicate in a discrete manner,” says McMaster, who says not concerned about @jaredkushner.

@HeerJeet:
The interesting thing about a reputation is you can spend decades acquiring one and destroy it almost instantly.
posted by chris24 at 6:53 AM on May 27, 2017 [32 favorites]

Backchannel communications “allow you to communicate in a discrete manner,” says McMaster, who says not concerned about @jaredkushner.

I think McMaster may be doing that thing I sometimes do, where I think about the thing, try to figure out, "What would be in my mind if I had somehow gotten to doing that thing", come up with a reasonable explanation, and then think, "It would be unfair if I didn't ascribe at least as much good intention to him as I can come up with myself." And he's just ignoring the fact that this presidency is a skinsuit full of bees.

Then again, I may just be doing the thing again where I try to envision what I would be doing if I were McMaster.

It's turtles all the way down.
posted by corb at 7:06 AM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

They're moving renarkably quickly through the 'we didn't do it; if we did do it there's nothing wrong with it; we did it' three-clause reversal cadence, aren't they? Can't tell how much of this is due to practice by now, and how much driven by the preonderance of evidence.

Is anyone keeping count of the sheer number of criminal activities they're admitting to, by preference including the statutes apparently violated? It'd power a blog all of its own...
posted by Devonian at 7:08 AM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Backchannel communications “allow you to communicate in a discrete manner,” says McMaster, who says not concerned about @jaredkushner.

Oh, like you've never tried to have encrypted communications with the Kremlin.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:16 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Backchannel communications “allow you to communicate in a discrete manner,” says McMaster, who says not concerned about @jaredkushner.

I wish people would stop calling it a backchannel. A backchannel would be meeting in a DC restaurant with the ambassador to discuss things quietly.

What Kushner did was complete treason/spy shit. You don't conduct back channels in the embassies of foreign powers.
posted by Talez at 7:16 AM on May 27, 2017 [83 favorites]

all the kids are doing it these days
posted by octobersurprise at 7:18 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

People, having a gun is not a magical +5 to armor. You have to have to practice and practice and practice to have the right reactions while using it in a chaotic situation to know what is going on around you and most importantly be willing to kill another person. That is actually a very hard thing to teach people to do. All of those things are hard to do!

If you do it wrong then at worst you either get killed or you kill people other than the ones you intend to kill. Please don't let the pro-gun lobbyists make you think that owning a gun protects you. It really doesn't in most cases. Being able to use a gun correctly is very hard work and even people who do it for a job fuck it up badly frequently.
posted by winna at 7:21 AM on May 27, 2017 [106 favorites]

I think McMaster may be doing that thing I sometimes do, where I think about the thing, try to figure out, "What would be in my mind if I had somehow gotten to doing that thing", come up with a reasonable explanation, and then think, "It would be unfair if I didn't ascribe at least as much good intention to him as I can come up with myself."

Alternately, it might be the case that McMaster has never been a decent and honorable person, and had only been pretending to be one because doing so was tactically useful to him. Or that he has never been a decent and honorable person but we didn't know that because he had never in his public-facing career been called on to lose something in order to continue to appear decent and honorable.

These are times that reveal character. His seems to be low.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:22 AM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

I think McMaster may be doing that thing I sometimes do, where I think about the thing, try to figure out, "What would be in my mind if I had somehow gotten to doing that thing", come up with a reasonable explanation, and then think, "It would be unfair if I didn't ascribe at least as much good intention to him as I can come up with myself."

If you're projecting your own mind and motives onto McMaster, ask yourself his: if you, yourself, were in his position as a decent conservative opposed to treason/fascism, would you be behaving like him? I highly doubt it because I've come to know your character, corb. I think it's time we all put McMaster in the Credibility Airlock and eject him into Trumpspace.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:26 AM on May 27, 2017 [16 favorites]

Then again, I may just be doing the thing again where I try to envision what I would be doing if I were McMaster.

Unusually, you're underestimating yourself.

You're IC leadership, and a White House official takes it upon themselves to attempt to start using encrypted communications to a different and traditionally somewhat hostile state explicitly to avoid oversight. They visit the embassy of that nation frequently, and lie about having done so. They also appear to have benefitted from previous interventions by the intelligence services of that nation. Oh, and the nation is the largest intelligence threat, and is known to have many ongoing intelligence operations and a history of seeking leverage over US political leadership.

I doubt you'd be letting that person touch classified documents until completion of every possible investigation, and possibly not even after that for pure lack of judgment.

I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but I *really* doubt it.
posted by jaduncan at 7:27 AM on May 27, 2017 [16 favorites]

I wish people would stop calling it a backchannel. A backchannel would be meeting in a DC restaurant with the ambassador to discuss things quietly.

What Kushner did was complete treason/spy shit. You don't conduct back channels in the embassies of foreign powers.

Yeah, everyone needs to heed Malcolm Nance and substitute "covert" or "clandestine" for "backchannel." This is not Kennedy and Krushchev passing messages via unofficial and discreet means to resolve a global national security crisis.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:30 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

Okay, I freely admit that my initial impulse to get a gun is not a good idea. Unlikely to be useful 99% of the time and to be useful the remaining 1% would require me totally dedicating myself to becoming an armed vigilante. (And I'm saving that for when I head up north to form a guerilla band.)

But the thing is, the reaction ought to be "hm, this is what police are for; as garbage as they are, surely we should be able to rely on them to, like, prevent totally unprovoked violence by one civilian against another". The police are the people who ought to be able to handle a tazer, have protective gear, etc.

All my life until now, I have known that you don't call the police for bullshit reasons, and you don't involve the police in situations with people of color....but if it's literally "someone is going to die if the police don't intervene", then you call. I've always felt like if there's terrorism or a disaster, the police will at least do their jobs.

And now I don't feel that way. I feel like the police are no longer under any social pressure to stop, say, a racist terrorist stabbing people unprovoked on the train. I feel zero confidence that there is any non-civilian who will intervene. And that makes me think "what the fuck do we do?" If there is starting to be a Weimar-esque uptick in violence against marginalized people and political opponents, and the state won't help, what do you do if you literally think you might encounter violence?

I go to protests. I ride public transit. I am visibly queer. I live in a city and in a part of town with many immigrants and many Muslims. If there's going to be more violence against any of us, the odds that I will encounter it are starting to go up. So it's starting to not be enough to say "don't bring the violence, don't think about arming yourself, it does more harm than good". I do accept the reasoning that Frowner: First Blood Part II is unlikely to be a good solution, but I also feel like "keep whistling in the dark and assume it will never happen around you" is not going to work indefinitely.
posted by Frowner at 7:30 AM on May 27, 2017 [35 favorites]

People, having a gun is not a magical +5 to armor. You have to have to practice and practice and practice to have the right reactions while using it in a chaotic situation to know what is going on around you and most importantly be willing to kill another person. That is actually a very hard thing to teach people to do. All of those things are hard to do!

Particularly against a sudden unexpected knife attack. You generally won't believe someone is going to stab you until they are stabbing you and at that point a holstered gun is not particularly effective.
posted by srboisvert at 7:34 AM on May 27, 2017 [15 favorites]

murphy slaw: "
i think it's still espionage even if your plan is too stupid to possibly work?"

If you involve anyone else it would still be conspiracy even if the plan can't work.
posted by Mitheral at 7:35 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

This illustration is an excellent guide to how intervene when witnessing harassment. I think they key in the deescalation is that you focus on the victim, not the perpetrator, thus letting the air out rather than feeding the rage. Highly recommended.

A Bystander’s Guide to Standing up Against Islamophobic Harassment (and Other Types of Harassment, Too)
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 7:38 AM on May 27, 2017 [21 favorites]

This is more than a petty spelling correction: discreet and discrete mean different things, and there's an interesting shade of nuance to the incorrectly chosen spelling.

On the notion of evidence: I suspect Team Trump is pretty screwed there because they're so inept with everything digital. They probably do think that shredding a bunch of notes and files is sufficient, because they probably do not realize that, in an age of digital replication, there are multiple copies of all documents and audio files, and they are easily disguised and shared. There is probably a tremendous amount available, and they probably will not even be aware most of it exists.
posted by Miko at 7:39 AM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

Trump cancels Iowa rally: "Due to an unforeseen change in President Trump's schedule, we will need to unfortunately postpone the previously scheduled rally in Cedar Rapids on June 1st," according to an email sent from his campaign Saturday.

Since when has he ever let anything come before his favorite and most disgusting pastime?
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:42 AM on May 27, 2017 [17 favorites]

Discrete in the streets, discreet in the sheets
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:43 AM on May 27, 2017 [20 favorites]

discretin in the white house, am i right guys
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:44 AM on May 27, 2017 [32 favorites]

If you're projecting your own mind and motives onto McMaster, ask yourself his: if you, yourself, were in his position as a decent conservative opposed to treason/fascism, would you be behaving like him?

I mean, if I were in McMaster's position I'd be like "hey Mattis, how do you feel about a fucking coup because these people cannot be allowed to run our country into the ground much longer" but I am also clearly a hothead who is scared by what has festered in the dark corners and is now finding itself brought to light.

I actually don't know much about McMasters' character. I know and believe in Mattis's character, and I think I've been tempted to as such believe in McMasters. But I don't know him, don't know anyone who served with him. I can't really say what he would do or what he's feeling.

I guess a better way of saying this, "If I suddenly found myself standing over a dead body with a bloody knife in my hand, I can totally come up with reasons why it could have been innocent, because there's no way I would just deliberately murder someone. But probably 90% of the time you come upon said situation, there isn't really isn't a complex explanation and everything is just shit."
posted by corb at 7:45 AM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

This is more than a petty spelling correction: discreet and discrete mean different things, and there's an interesting shade of nuance to the incorrectly chosen spelling.

I still have nightmares about the discrete mathematics class I had to take two decades ago so I'll never forget the distinction.
posted by octothorpe at 7:49 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

The suspect in the Portland murders: apparently not some random, homeless guy.

Christian is a known right wing extremist and white supremacist. On April 29, Christian showed up to the right-wing "March for Free Speech" on 82nd Avenue in Montavilla with a baseball bat in an attempt to assault left-wing protesters. The bat was quickly confiscated by Portland police officers. He ranted how he was a nihilist. He'd soon yelled racial slurs ("fuck all you n*****s") and gave the Nazi salute throughout the day. He yelled "Hail Vinland" throughout the day.

posted by maudlin at 7:49 AM on May 27, 2017 [63 favorites]

...and most disgusting pastime?

Let's not jump the gun here. We haven't seen the tape yet.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:50 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

I didn't expect to spend the weekend finding out how the nation reacts to reports of actual treason, but here we are.

Jesus CHRIST I feel like my hair is on fire.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:50 AM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

I can't believe I forgot that Kushner was already caught once for lying about meeting Russians on his security clearance form, back in April. So he "accidentally omits" stuff on his form and when it's brought to his attention, he and his legal counsel correct it. If I were an honest person who had made an honest mistake, at that point I would be really, really, really careful to check all my records and search my memory and consult my staff and make super-extra-sure I was not leaving anything else out.

And now we discover Kushner actually left several other meetings out even after being caught once, and those meetings coincidentally were with Russians. It's just so ODD how these failures of memory in Kushner, Sessions, et al. only seem to affect their ability to recall Russia-related incidents. Go figure.

I'm totally sure there is not and never was a Master Treason Plan to collude with and be in thrall to Russia; it's perfectly clear that these dunderheads thought they were being real smart and making clever back room deals and in charge of everything when they actually were all assets semi-unwittingly being run by Kislyak and other handlers. They're like Martha on The Americans, only 700 times less sympathetic and decent, because they got roped in not via love and loneliness but petty moneygrubbing greed and incompetence. If they had done it for ideological reasons, at least that would be some sort of principle.

But crime is crime and treason is treason even if you're too fucking dumb and conscienceless and arrogant to realize it, and every White House or campaign bozo who was remotely involved in this shit or knew about it and said nothing needs to spend some quality time in a federal penitentiary. Maybe Jared can get the cell next to Jeff Skilling and they can compare notes about what smart cool businessmen they are.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:50 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

Jesus CHRIST I feel like my hair is on fire.

In fascist kakistocracy, as with 80s-era shampoo: the tingle means it's working.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:55 AM on May 27, 2017 [26 favorites]

They're like Martha on The Americans, only 700 times less sympathetic and decent, because they got roped in not via love and loneliness but petty moneygrubbing greed and incompetence.

And arrogance. Let's not forget the part where they think they're the first ones to ever come up with these brilliant ideas.
posted by Superplin at 7:57 AM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

@joshchafetz:
1/ As lots of people have been pointing out, this isn't about "backchannel" diplomacy, which is about keeping comms out of the public eye.
2/ It isn't even *just* about keeping these communications away from the American intel agencies, although that's a big deal.
3/ It's also about *giving* those communications to Russian intel. That's a bigger deal, it seems to me.
4/ Kusher and Flynn wanted Russian intel to be privy to conversations that they didn't want American intel privy to.
5/5 No matter what they intended to discuss in that channel, that's bad.
posted by chris24 at 7:59 AM on May 27, 2017 [86 favorites]

How dumb do you need to be to worry that your communication with Moscow may attract attention, so therefore you invite the Russian ambassador over to the President-elect's home for a meeting in which you suggest visiting the Russian Embassy to conduct your business. Because that would be totally unremarkable and not attract any attention at all! Especially when you repeatedly "forget" about the totally-innocent meeting.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:03 AM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

LA Times: Europe's reaction to the Trump style ranges from envy to 'you tiny, tiny, tiny little man': Trump’s image as an outsider continued in Italy on Friday at the G-7 meeting in Taormina, Italy, where the distance between Trump and the others was as much physical as political. The presidents, chancellor and prime ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom walked the streets of Taormina.

Trump followed in a golf cart.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:04 AM on May 27, 2017 [49 favorites]

On NPR, Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal says that demographic changes mean the only realistic way to get to the 3% economic growth Trump's budget relies on (twice!) is to massively increase immigration, and man would I love to hear Donald's thoughts on that idea
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:07 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump followed in a golf cart.

Known colloquially as The Dopemobile
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:08 AM on May 27, 2017 [87 favorites]

Who envies Trump?
posted by Artw at 8:10 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm totally sure there is not and never was a Master Treason Plan to collude with and be in thrall to Russia; it's perfectly clear that these dunderheads thought they were being real smart and making clever back room deals and in charge of everything when they actually were all assets semi-unwittingly being run by Kislyak and other handlers. They're like Martha on The Americans, only 700 times less sympathetic and decent, because they got roped in not via love and loneliness but petty moneygrubbing greed and incompetence. If they had done it for ideological reasons, at least that would be some sort of principle.

Oh my god, yes, this. They're so far from eleven-dimensional chess players that they think they're Vry Smrt if they can put pen to paper and make X's and O's like big boys and girls.

I'm not a Trust All The Experts Unconditionally person at all - questioning authority is a good thing! - but this is what happens, albeit a worst case scenario, when completely unqualified chucklefucks take the reins of power. Even Ronald Reagan was governor of CA before he became President - hell, even Sarah Palin (!) was mayor of Wasilla and then governor of Alaska before she was a vice presidential candidate.

We require experience for the most mundane of "joe jobs" in corporate America. I wish we could have an "experience required!" clause, or even informal requirement, for Presidents.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:11 AM on May 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

I think we're all grokking the "don't call it a 'backchannel'", because it unnecessarily seems to validate it.

I'm serious. Use this in all your one-to-one discussions about this: it's a

SPY PHONE.
posted by petebest at 8:12 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

SPY PHONE.

But that makes it sound cool. Who doesn't want a SPY PHONE?
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:13 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

My 5yo daughter misheard me saying that the White House was considering having a team of lawyers screen the President's tweets, as "SCREAM" the President's tweets, which actually sounds like a good idea
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:14 AM on May 27, 2017 [69 favorites]

determine whether this is hostile intelligence in the White House one step from the president.”

That far?
posted by petebest at 8:14 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Charles Pierce: Yet Another Crucial Financial Story Flying Under the Radar These Days. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is under attack.

Jeff Sessions' Justice Department Backed a Mortgage Corporation Over a Veteran. Happy Memorial Day.

Those Little Flags Matter: Some thoughts for Memorial Day weekend.
posted by homunculus at 8:15 AM on May 27, 2017 [18 favorites]

But that makes it sound cool. Who doesn't want a SPY PHONE?

A traitor going to Leavenworth for a long time?
posted by petebest at 8:15 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

4/ Kusher and Flynn wanted Russian intel to be privy to conversations that they didn't want American intel privy to.

Nance just suggested on MSNBC that what Kushner did is a mind-bogglingly blatant version of saying something like, "Hey, Sergey, let's set up a system where I chalk a mark on a building, and that directs you to pick up the note I left in a fake hollow stone next to a trash can in the park, so you can take that message directly to Vladimir Putin and leave his replies for me."

I mean seriously, "How about I sneak into the Russian embassy and use your phone to chat with the Kremlin?" Kushner deserves some kind of platinum-plated Hold My Beer special achievement trophy.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:17 AM on May 27, 2017 [38 favorites]

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94: "My 5yo daughter misheard me saying that the White House was considering having a team of lawyers screen the President's tweets, as "SCREAM" the President's tweets, which actually sounds like a good idea"

I'm imagining Garret Morris yelling the president's tweets now.
posted by octothorpe at 8:18 AM on May 27, 2017 [24 favorites]

"backchannel" is the trowel they'll use to cover it over. SPY PHONE is not only appealing - for the repetition - it's fucking accurate and much more relevant. Give this story the armaments it came in here with.
posted by petebest at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

I still have nightmares about the discrete mathematics class I had to take two decades ago so I'll never forget the distinction.

I got an A in Discrete two decades ago. It's the reason I neither play lotteries nor patronize casinos.

Those credit hours actually had value. Unlike so many others...
posted by mikelieman at 8:20 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

I would just say 'a method of communication not subject to safeguards against espionage or counterintelligence review.'
posted by jaduncan at 8:22 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

via Politico: Trump just referred to Canadian PM Trudeau as "Justin from Canada"

I mean, I realize this is all hilarious, and our president is just a flaming bag of embarrassment right now, but I'm also picturing him sitting on AFO with a book of photos, trying to remember who everyone is.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

> NYT fires back: Russian Once Tied to Trump Aide Seeks Immunity to Testify Before Congress

Everybody wants immunity.—Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid)

There's a song there somewhere.—Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright)

🎶...Drop a dime on my community. I know we 'sposed to show some unity. But Orange is acting with impunity....🎶—Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle)

And now EEEVVV'rybody wants immunity!—Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [35 favorites]

Who envies Trump?

Apparently one Italian woman who misses Berlusconi or something like that.
posted by sukeban at 8:30 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Nance just suggested on MSNBC that what Kushner did is a mind-bogglingly blatant version of saying something like, "Hey, Sergey, let's set up a system where I chalk a mark on a building,

At around the same time, Nance or one of the other visiting pundits on Morning Joy also used the term "covert" (in preference over the term backchannel) and actually used the word "treason". (The sentence may have had an "if... then" clause.) I like seeing them be bold, if they have the facts to back it up.
posted by puddledork at 8:30 AM on May 27, 2017

I don't think this is the last time we'll be seeing the "most fit president in history" using his rich man's rascal scooter to get around.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:36 AM on May 27, 2017 [31 favorites]

Part of the reason why I think a lot of folks try to ascribe as generous a motive to McMaster as possible is because it's not clear why he would be carrying the administration's water. Most of the people in the administration are one or more of the following: political-amateur kleptocrats doing a smash and grab, ideologues trying to make their dreams reality, too stupid to realize they're on a sinking ship, and/or involved from the beginning and going all in on the sunk-cost fallacy. McMaster is a late arrival, with a reputation as a public servant of integrity and discernment. What the hell could motivate him (or Rod Rosenstein, to pick another figure who appeared to be becoming a Dignity Wraith for no apparent reason) to become a Trump loyalist at this point?

Tom Lehrer once sang, "It's so nice to have integrity! I'll tell you why: / If you really have integrity, it means your price is very high." Despite the delightful cynical wisdom in this line, it seems like it's not cynical enough. People will apparently sell out integrity for a handful of magic beans and moonbeams.
posted by jackbishop at 8:38 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

determine whether this is hostile intelligence in the White House one step from the president

Jared Sexton had a great take on this:

You want to know whether Trump knew about Russian collusion? Connect the dots between Manafort and Flynn and Kushner.

If there's no apparent connection, you've got your answer.

posted by murphy slaw at 8:38 AM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

Sorry, you want snappy. "A phone where Russian intelligence can hear but US intelligence can't."
posted by jaduncan at 8:40 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

I would just say 'a method of communication not subject to safeguards against espionage or counterintelligence review.'

But,

"When your campaign manager SECRETLY meets with the Russian Ambassador and asks for a SPY PHONE, that's beyond "collusion", that's espionage."

has a pretty good ring to it..
posted by mikelieman at 8:40 AM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

What the hell could motivate him (or Rod Rosenstein, to pick another figure who appeared to be becoming a Dignity Wraith for no apparent reason) to become a Trump loyalist at this point?

Just Following Orders? Which is apparently why McMaster took the job in the first place.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:41 AM on May 27, 2017

Greenwalds hot take just in: 'Sure the president's son in law was committing treason, but do you really want secure diplomatic discussions to go through the unelected State Dept' [fake]
posted by PenDevil at 8:43 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Since Trump is a treasonous thief who collaborated with Russians to steal our democracy for his family's enrichment, I think we have plenty of material to work with without having to mock his mobility issues even if he's such a vacuous hypocritical blowhard that he draws attention to them himself.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:51 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump followed in a golf cart.

Are there pictures or video of this anywhere? I can't seem to find any.
posted by octothorpe at 8:55 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Kushner should have asked for a Harpoon spy radio, the ones deisgned for the Gladio post-Soviet invasion stay-behind European guerilla force. That was subverted by right-wing insurrectionists, so is clearly fit for purpose. Plus, it looks like a spy radio should, so is a perfect prop to be using when the G-men burst into the attic at midnight.
posted by Devonian at 8:55 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

With his constant stamina/low energy comments, macho man toxic masculinity and handshakes, and healthiest president ever faux doctor's note, I think Donny made his mobility/health an issue, not us.
posted by chris24 at 8:56 AM on May 27, 2017 [52 favorites]

Since when has he ever let anything come before his favorite and most disgusting pastime?

Since he got lawyers. If they are any good we will never hear Donald speak in any extemporaneous way ever again.
posted by srboisvert at 8:57 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

I mean seriously, "How about I sneak into the Russian embassy and use your phone to chat with the Kremlin?" Kushner deserves some kind of platinum-plated Hold My Beer special achievement trophy.

And of course, Flynn was sitting right there during this conversation, so I don't even know what to say about him. The Turks must be shaking their heads right now saying, "Fuck, if this self-sabotaging moron is the caliber of agent we're recruiting and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, there is something very wrong with our hiring process."
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:57 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

If the Kremlin has Kompromat about your money laundering, it's Laundromat
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:58 AM on May 27, 2017 [68 favorites]

With his constant stamina/low energy comments, macho man toxic masculinity and handshakes, and healthiest president ever faux doctor's note, I think Donny made his mobility/health an issue, not us.

I wouldn't mock Trump's mobility issues if he had any, but I will enthusiastically mock all day long his batshit desire not to drain his "finite lifetime personal energy battery" by engaging in unnecessary exercise, and I'm betting that (and juvenile pouty pissiness toward the G7 members) is what inspired the golf cart ride.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:02 AM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

Seriously? A 70 year old overweight man has mobility issues and it's cool to mock that around here just because he's a horrible asshole? Come on, now. Trump is a treasure trove of horrible ethics and venal hypocrisy. Isn't that enough?
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:06 AM on May 27, 2017

Seriously? A 70 year old overweight man has mobility issues and it's cool to mock that around here just because he's a horrible asshole?

If he didn't represent himself as the healthiest president there's ever been, or hide his medical records, or be on record about how exercise TAKES TIME OFF YOUR LIFE, I would agree with you.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:08 AM on May 27, 2017 [113 favorites]

This is unbearable, fascinating, tragic and hilarious. It's like a 1000 clown car pileup.
posted by srboisvert at 9:09 AM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

Trump claimed Clinton was low energy and didn't have stamina, and criticized her for fainting when she had the flu. He put this on the table.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:09 AM on May 27, 2017 [90 favorites]

No, because he makes great claims for his stamina and energy, when he's borderline incapable of making it through the working day of a foreign business trip.

Mock all his lies. All of them.
posted by Devonian at 9:10 AM on May 27, 2017 [61 favorites]

Trump claimed Clinton was low energy and didn't have stamina, and criticized her for fainting when she had the flu. He put this on the table.

I mean, we can leave it there though, right?
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:10 AM on May 27, 2017

Here's the other thing. If Trump genuinely had mobility issues, he could have said something, and because these are world leaders and not fucking clownshows, they would undoubtedly have waited or revised their plan, because they understand it's rude to go on ahead for someone with mobility issues.

Trump does not have mobility issues. Trump wants to present the image of Power At All Times, so he doesn't want to say "I have difficulty climbing a hill", he wants to pretend like he's just so royal that he must be carried at all times. And that's why they didn't wait for him and that's why he continued on in a golf cart alone.
posted by corb at 9:11 AM on May 27, 2017 [64 favorites]

Trump is an Old-School bully, preening and vain. Mocking his false portrayal of himself as an Übermensch is one of the most effective tools in our arsenal. If he ever resigns, the desire to get away from that mockery will likely play a part.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:14 AM on May 27, 2017 [36 favorites]

Until we get a doctors note I am safe with assuming he's a lazy fuck who doesn't even want to try to put in the effort, same as he is in all other areas.
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on May 27, 2017 [39 favorites]

This is not about mocking disability. It's about mocking hypocrisy.
posted by thebrokedown at 9:16 AM on May 27, 2017 [45 favorites]

I doubt he has mobility issues.

Checking the letter:

“Mr. Trump takes 81 mg of aspirin daily and a low dose of a statin. His PSA test score is 0.15 (very low). His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary.”

His blood pressure was 110/65, or “astonishingly excellent”, his “cardiovascular status is excellent”, and he was to be the "healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency".

What, are we caling his doctor and campaign staff blatant liars now?
posted by jaduncan at 9:17 AM on May 27, 2017 [34 favorites]

You have to admit that a golf cart is a very regal form of transportation, though. I mean, every time I see somebody riding in one I assume they're at the very least an Archduke or somethIng.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:17 AM on May 27, 2017 [46 favorites]

On top of every other US-humiliating thing he has done on this trip, it's also just cringe-inducingly mortifying that he ends the meeting with a stunning visual example of "Americans are so fucking lazy and sedentary that they won't walk 10 feet if they can drive instead."

It makes me want to hide my head in a hole and die of embarrassment.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:17 AM on May 27, 2017 [49 favorites]

I mean, I'll grant you that I am assuming that the doctor means that his strength and stamina are extraordinary in the positive sense. But still.
posted by jaduncan at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

They go low, we go "Hey, tough guy, not so tough going up and down stairs and walking moderate distances, are ya!"

Ugh.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Re schadenfrau's comment...

While we are busy spending the weekend contemplating alleged espionage with a view to selling out the U.S. to a foreign power committed by people in the trump campaign and the trump administration, please remember that this is Memorial Day weekend. The irony burns and the obscenity sears.

I know we've talked before about 2017 writers, but now they're just phoning it in. They should at least have to adhere to the FCC's obscenity laws.

My thanks and everlasting respect to all of you who serve and who have served, as well as all people who serve and have served.
posted by Silverstone at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

. . . lazy and sedentary and wasteful piggy consumers of natural resources! I mean, they just discussed the damn Paris Accord! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:20 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

But her emails.

@nedprice:
Isn't it a problem that POTUS has location services enabled on his phone? Even my WH iPhone had geolocation capabilities entirely disabled.
[screenshot of Trump Paris Accord tweet revealing location]
posted by chris24 at 9:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [42 favorites]

folks, point taken about hypocrisy but still let's be mindful about how we pose criticism of Trump that mobility scooters are a normal thing people need sometimes and mobility issues aren't something to make fun of in general.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

It's the Paris Accord, the current last best hope. If it meant Trump would stay in it I'm sure the rest of the G7 would quite happily have a photo op where they clap Trump for ceremonially punching hippies for an hour.
posted by jaduncan at 9:28 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

An hour either titled The Aristocrats or Diplomacy!, naturally.
posted by jaduncan at 9:29 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mr. Trump takes 81 mg of aspirin daily and a low dose of a statin. His PSA test score is 0.15 (very low). His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary.”

Worst. Pokemon. Ever.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:32 AM on May 27, 2017 [34 favorites]

They go low, we go "Hey, tough guy, not so tough going up and down stairs and walking moderate distances, are ya!"

I don't disagree with you that it's unpleasant, but I'm inclined to think it's important to highlight this hypocrisy not because it's fun to kick Trump but because we literally just saw that a decades-long smear of a highly competent and intelligent woman works. It may be that it's hard to push back on this effectively. Some of the making fun is absolutely uncool. But how do we make sure we don't let this shit go?

I do not know for sure, but just turning away can't be it. When Jeb Bush was governor (and I was a resident) of Florida his daughter had to enter a facility for recovery for drug dependence. That's something I think is a medical issue and her own business and not something he should pay any political price for... except that it came literally on the heels of his slashing of programs to help people with drug and alcohol problems.

We shouldn't go low when they do, but we can't go high in a way that lets them skate on harming the rest of us.
posted by phearlez at 9:49 AM on May 27, 2017 [60 favorites]

He wants to be the very best
Like no one ever was
To make deals is his real test
To con us is his cause
posted by Artw at 9:52 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

From Politico, a summary of the week's events:

Swamp Diary, Week 1: The President Flew Away and an Investigation Took Root

This was the week that the seeds of scandal and ineptitude planted over the past six months finally sprouted their first shoots, wrapping green tendrils around the president’s ankles and around the throats of his aides, yanking them to earth. This was the week the idea that Trump could stall or outrun his tormentors was put to rest as two congressional committees, one special counsel, the FBI and the deep state pressed him from every angle. Trump is now caught in history’s grinder, and the sparks and noise emitted are lighting up the media universe.

posted by euphorb at 9:54 AM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

@nedprice:
Isn't it a problem that POTUS has location services enabled on his phone? Even my WH iPhone had geolocation capabilities entirely disabled.
[screenshot of Trump Paris Accord tweet revealing location]

TBH I think it's still probably more of an issue that Trump won't commit to the Paris Accord (and this makes me suspect he will withdraw, because otherwise that would be an excellent card to play to get at least a moment of love from other G7 leaders).
posted by jaduncan at 9:56 AM on May 27, 2017

Trump is now caught in history’s grinder, and the sparks and noise emitted are lighting up the media universe.

That's all well and good and I'm glad the media has lots of grist for their mill. But I'm getting impatient for consequences beyond a harsh editorial. Because if all this amounts to is an ocean of spilled ink, it means nothing. I want perp walks, mug shots, and hard time.
posted by nubs at 10:01 AM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

Instant Karma for Trumpist. It's not just a GIF, it's a metaphor.
posted by scalefree at 10:04 AM on May 27, 2017 [21 favorites]

Trump family members met with GOP leaders to discuss strategy: Their most recent effort came Thursday, when the president’s eldest sons and Lara Trump visited the Republican National Committee’s headquarters in Washington. Those three family members, who were invited by the RNC, stayed for about two hours, according to four people who were not authorized to speak publicly.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:08 AM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

Instant Karma for Trumpist. It's not just a GIF, it's a metaphor.

It's these people's entire fucking lives.
posted by Artw at 10:10 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

David Frum in The Atlantic - Trump's Moral Holiday:

Half a century ago, conservative commentators often blamed the riots of the 1960s on the “moral holiday” declared by permissive authorities. Leaders who might have delegitimized violence instead acquiesced in it, thus inviting more of it. For many conservatives, May 25 was a moral holiday of their own.

These four events each represent one of the great themes of the Trump era:

- The anti-alliance pro-Russia tilt of administration policy
- Collusion with hostile foreign nations for domestic political advantage
- Use of political power for personal financial advantage
- The breakdown of inhibitions and the weakening of sanctions against political violence.
On May 25, one bright burst of news illuminated who Trump is—what he has done—and where he is trying to lead the nation. Will he succeed in taking America to that place? He and his supporters have repeatedly tested the limits of political impunity, and thus far they have survived. Yes, the FBI continues to function, pending the appointment of its next director. Yes too, the special counsel continues to investigate, subject to whatever action the attorney general and president may take against him. But Greg Gianforte is headed to Congress. Jared Kushner and Donald Trump will soon return to the West Wing. There, they’ll continue to deploy the powers of the presidency to protect themselves. They’ll leverage dark and dangerous forces in American society to help them. Someday, maybe, they will cease to get away with it. But not yet.

posted by bardophile at 10:10 AM on May 27, 2017 [20 favorites]

Instant Karma for Trumpist. It's not just a GIF, it's a metaphor.

The video is from Australia, and it's not a Trump hat.
posted by teraflop at 10:23 AM on May 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

I thought Trump's two eldest sons (the 4Chan two? What do we call them) were staying away from politics to avoid a conflict of interest.

(AHHAHHAAAHAHA)
posted by Yowser at 10:24 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Lenny & Squiggy.
posted by petebest at 10:27 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

(the 4Chan two? What do we call them)

Uday and Qusay?
posted by Mister Bijou at 10:28 AM on May 27, 2017 [39 favorites]

So Trump told US troops in his speech in Italy that his trip was a "home run." Which I suppose would be fine, if anybody in Europe played baseball.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:33 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh you mean the Atlantic City Volturi?
posted by penduluum at 10:34 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Unfortunately the article about Breitbart traffic "cratering" is based on some very bad reporting. From the article's own graph you can see that Breitbart's numbers were weirdly inflated for a very short period. The jumps at the start and end of this period are clearly not organic growth or decline. The article itself mentions that this is because of a change in their Alexa configuration, but then ignores this when drawing conclusions from the change.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:36 AM on May 27, 2017 [16 favorites]

This is why we can have nice things: we fact check.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:42 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

This is why we can have nice things: we fact check.

I'll own it.
posted by scalefree at 10:44 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

(the 4Chan two? What do we call them)

Thing One & Thing Two. That's what their Dad calls them anyway,.
posted by scalefree at 10:45 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's still a metaphor though.
posted by scalefree at 10:47 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh my God, I never made the Trump/Cat in the Hat connection before. He comes waltzing in and tears the house/country apart while the exasperated children/public watch on in horror.

I doubt Trump will clean up his mess before leaving though...
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:52 AM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

NYTimes Trump Returns to Crisis Over Kushner as White House Tries to Contain It

Mr. Kushner, who organized the president’s Middle East stops at the start of the foreign trip, chose to return to Washington with several days to go and has been unusually subdued since then. But he has no plans to step down from his role as senior adviser or to reduce his duties, according to people close to him.

Still, there are signs that he is tiring of the nonstop combat and the damage to his reputation. He has told friends that he and his wife have made no long-term commitment to remain by Mr. Trump’s side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York.

Hmmm. No long-term commitment? Like they are pretending Ivanka could just leave any time she wanted?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:04 AM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'm going to stop you right there scalefree. Dr. Seuss is awesome and asavage refers to his twin boys as thing one and thing two in order to keep their lives private. Don't ruin awesome things by associating it with those walking bags of high functioning herpes.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:05 AM on May 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

What will be very interesting to see is if Jared is forced to leave the WH because of security clearance issues or optics or however it happens. What will Ivanka do? Will she leave Daddy's side and go back to NY? Or knowing that that is a real possibility will DJT hang onto Kushner until the bitter end?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:06 AM on May 27, 2017

Kushner has friends?

I guess Kissinger did too. Man the NY socialite scene is such a garbage pile. How did Donald Trump not fit in?
posted by Yowser at 11:07 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Does. Kissinger does. Because evil people never die.
posted by Yowser at 11:07 AM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hmmm. No long-term commitment? Like they are pretending Ivanka could just leave any time she wanted?

I'm sure the CIA loves giving Top Secret access to dudes on what amounts to a handshake freelance contract.
posted by PenDevil at 11:08 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Cat In the Hat is a trickster spirit, full of mischief, but also wisdom, and no real malice. Trump is not that.

No, Trump is a miserable, craven creature like Lotho Sackville-Baggins, who conspired with foreign powers to take over the Shire through unlawful means, all so he could enjoy petty power games while allowing his foreign masters to industrialize and exploit his formerly beautiful land.
posted by mubba at 11:09 AM on May 27, 2017 [33 favorites]

I think one of the weirdest things about DJT is that for a man in his position he has so very few friends and that's one of the many reasons this administration is in trouble. He has no one to advise him, no one who has contacts, no one with experience. Why does he cling so hard to M. Flynn? Because he is one of Donald's very few friends. And I am sure the friendship is all on Donald's side-- for Flynn, Donald is just a usable asset.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:12 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

He has told friends that he and his wife have made no long-term commitment to remain by Mr. Trump’s side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York.

. . . after making a stop in federal prison en route.

Sounds as if ol' Jared has one penny loafer out the door already. Hasta luego, buddy!
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:15 AM on May 27, 2017

Kushner has friends?

Kushner and Ms. Trump are a young, wealthy, pretty couple. I have no doubt at all that they have a very superficial friendship circle with lots of lunches and charity events and weekends in the [insert trendy resort]. They may even have a deeper friendship with a few people who have the same values: isn't it fun being rich, I pity the poor, and why are the poor so ugly.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:20 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

They may even have a deeper friendship with a few people who have the same values: isn't it fun being rich, I pity the poor, and why are the poor so ugly.

Case in point: Ivanka and Richard Murdoch's ex Wendi Deng are pretty much BFFs.
posted by PenDevil at 11:25 AM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Isn't Ivanka friendly with Chelsea Clinton?
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:26 AM on May 27, 2017

They were friendly prior to the election. I've seen no evidence that they're even still on speaking terms today.
posted by palomar at 11:29 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Case in point: Ivanka and Richard Murdoch's ex Wendi Deng are pretty much BFFs.

(Wendi Deng, who is rumored/known to be dating Putin)
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:30 AM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Isn't Ivanka friendly with Chelsea Clinton?

A year ago, yes. You think they're still going to happy hour after she sat by while her father went out on TV and asked for "2nd amendment people to take care of" Hillary?
posted by cmfletcher at 11:30 AM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

Somebody asked earlier for pictures of the golf cart. I'm only seeing the one taken from inside the cart which isn't very helpful but Politicus has that plus a nice quote from the London Times* describing the scene: Trump Was So Tired That He Had To Ride In A Golf Cart While Other G7 Leaders Walked

The rest of the world was walking strong and united together, while the tired old United States was puttering along behind in a golf cart. This is the perfect metaphor for what Donald Trump has done to the US image of strength and vitality around the world.

Republicans with a big assist from their Russian friends managed to replace an energetic and young forward-thinking president, with a tired older president who can’t keep up with the world around him.

* Behind a pay wall
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:32 AM on May 27, 2017 [43 favorites]

Wait, I get why he may be cranky and overwhelmed, but why would he be too tired to walk? Has he been walking a lot on this trip?

I mean, it doesn't really scan for me; why would he be wobbly on his feet? Isn't it more likely that he was seeing this as his snubbing the other leaders or something? Or is he just that lazy of a shit human being?
posted by angrycat at 11:39 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

I guess Kissinger did too. Man the NY socialite scene is such a garbage pile. How did Donald Trump not fit in?

It's not surprising when you remember that Donald J. Trump is, and always will be, just another fucking real-estate loser from Queens.
posted by mikelieman at 11:42 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

How much walking do you ever see him do, angrycat? He walks from his cart to the hole on the golf course. He walks from the helicopter to the car. He walks from the car to inside his hotel room. He walks from backstage to frontstage at his rallies. He is not a walker.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:42 AM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Shoving people and yanking their arms takes a lot of energy.
posted by Artw at 11:43 AM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

Or is he just that lazy of a shit human being?

ding ding ding
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:44 AM on May 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

Trump Was So Tired That He Had To Ride In A Golf Cart While Other G7 Leaders Walked

He isn't getting a ride in the Queen's Royal Carriage so he got this instead.
posted by scalefree at 11:46 AM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Shoving people and yanking their arms takes a lot of energy.

Every step taken, every motion of the legs, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from arms that ache to pull and grab but cannot.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:52 AM on May 27, 2017 [17 favorites]

if you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot sort of lazily nudging and smooshing a human face, in order to conserve vital energies, forever
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:55 AM on May 27, 2017 [70 favorites]

This whole walk thing may seem gossipy and not something make a big deal about but regardless of why Donald rode the cart it is illustrative of the sorts of power dynamics going on between these leaders. This was a walk with big time geo-political implications. In international diplomacy these small things matter and smart leaders know it. I guarentee that history books will use examples like this and the Macron handshakes as examples of how the US reputation and power changed under Trump.

If Donald just did it to snub them or because he just didn't feel like walking with them then that says something about what he thinks about them all.

If he did it as some sort of snub or whiny pout thing then the fact that the leaders didn't bother to even try to walk with him or near him is indicative to what they think. Namely there is no need to publicly suck up to this guy. They literally left him behind.

And lets say he rode the cart because he was tired and couldn't physically do it. The leaders still didn't give a shit and walked on their own. If Donald was respected and some sort of physical reason was the case there is no way that these leaders would have walked without him. They would have all rode golf carts or not walked at all in order for a respected leader to save face so speak. If one of them had hurt their foot or something they would not have left them behind. It just would not have happened.

This was the G7 symbolically shrugging 'whatever' and leaving the US behind.
posted by Jalliah at 11:56 AM on May 27, 2017 [150 favorites]

The golf cart thing just makes me want to vomit because of vicarious embarrassment. I can't handle it.

It's like having an evil and stupider Erlich Bachman as president.
posted by lydhre at 11:58 AM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

@jdawsey1: "Adviser close to Trump says he was "very unhappy" yesterday that John Boehner attacked his presidency. But decided not to tweet about it." This, friends, is the moment Donald Trump truly became President, amirite?

This is an important paragraph in the NYT story. McGhan represents the White House, not Kushner personally, and while he seems to have taken an extraordinarily casual attitude toward his job, it's interesting to think some of this may be too much even for him:

As reports emerged about investigators’ focus on Mr. Kushner, he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, discussed the possibility of having Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, issue a statement denying that Mr. McGahn had been contacted by federal officials about Mr. Kushner. Mr. McGahn, who has been increasingly uneasy in his role since Mr. Trump ignored his advice to delay Mr. Comey’s dismissal, said he was not the person to write such a statement, suggesting that doing so would create a precedent requiring a response to each new report. Mr. Kushner’s private lawyer issued a statement instead.

There's an interesting little detail in this New Yorker article: The White House initially lied to the New Yorker about the Kislyak meeting, claiming it was just a brief meeting between Kushner and Kislyak without Flynn present. Yet another instance of them being unable to keep their story straight.
posted by zachlipton at 11:58 AM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

I see that I wasn't completely off my head with a comment I made lo those million years ago in a thread far, far away about postmodernism's role in our current plight. Here's an interesting article re: Errol Morris' feelings about Thomas Kuhn's part to play in Trumpening of America.
posted by thebrokedown at 12:00 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Unfortunately the article about Breitbart traffic "cratering" is based on some very bad reporting.

Just to elaborate on this, the real story in the article is that Breitbart's traffic never actually spiked as they claimed it did. They just took advantage of the fact that the way their rankings were measured changed to spin it as though they were suddenly beating out more mainstream news sources. Now they've gone back to the old way of measuring their rankings, and it's clear that their traffic has been more or less stable since last year, following the same trends as peer right-wing propaganda sites.

The reporter unfortunately doesn't really seem to have understood this, despite having the evidence right in front of her. The real story is that Breitbart lied, distorted, and misrepresented their traffic numbers, the same way they do everything else.
posted by biogeo at 12:02 PM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

SO it turns out that the Portland bus murderer is not a poor homeless person but a raging awful white supremacist with a history of shitty violent behavior. Someone posted up thread and then silence from all the people who were speculating about the mental health of this person. Can we have a few apologies or mea culpas for all the baseless speculation? Because being mentally ill and homeless makes you more likely to be a victim of violent crime not a perpetrator, and I hate that we keep falling into this rhetorical trap every time someone shitty does something shitty. Its really upsetting for those of us who aren't neurotypical to know that our fellow mefis probably view us as ticking time bombs.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:07 PM on May 27, 2017 [89 favorites]

Interesting that Trump choose to walk across the ramp with his whole entourage to AF1 instead of hopping in the limo after the golf cart incident. Really curious what the heck happened there, since it so obviously looks like a snub.
posted by zachlipton at 12:10 PM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

if you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot sort of lazily nudging and smooshing a human face, in order to conserve vital energies, forever

The rich will certainly disrupt the paradigm by outsourcing it to an app: Bootr, for all your proletariat-stomping needs at the touch of a button and at half the price (except for surge pricing during strikes and protests) -- a subsidiary of Securitas AB.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:18 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

being mentally ill and homeless makes you more likely to be a victim of violent crime not a perpetrator

This is so true, and needs to be highlighted in this age of cuts to mental health care and aid to the homeless.

But, a very tiny group of mentally ill people do commit crimes, and need to be treated before this happens. I know it is a lot to ask, but we really need to be able to care for all citizens in a way that both accepts that non-neurotypical people can contribute to society in valuable ways and acknowledge that some need early help in order to avoid dangerous choices, including both self-harm and harm towards others.

IMO, anyone who chooses to attack innocent citizens is mentally ill (and yes, this opens a huge discussion). This in no way whatsoever implies that everyone who is vulnerable is violent or harmful.
posted by mumimor at 12:21 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you want an exercise in despair, do a compare and contrast with Obama and Trump. Outside of both being human adult males who play golf they really are a study in contrasts.

One is a constitutional law scholar who understands the role of the Presidency in the US Government and one is not.

One attempted to be the President of both parties in America and pass bipartisan legislation and one came out of the gate as President to his voters only.

One attempted to do the best thing for all Americans both domestically and abroad and one is more interested in his personal feelings and his personal fortunes.

One is a graceful athlete who dresses well and is a superlative orator, the other is none of these things.

One treats his wife with dignity and as his full equal, the other does not.

One is concerned with Global Warming, Human rights at home and around the world, and voting rights in America and the other is not.

One is thoughtful, measured, and kind to others including his staff, the other is rash, impulsive and quick to anger while treating his staff with disdain.

One started his career as a community organizer, the other as a rent collector for his father the landlord who wouldn't rent to Blacks.

One is well-read, a quick study, open to new information and glad of input from experts, the other isn't.

I'm sure we could all write many many more words on this topic but when you look at this list what it really makes clear is how we can never reach the Republican base. They think Obama was a shitty President and Trump is a great leader. There is no way to refute that opinion because it is completely without logic or sense.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:22 PM on May 27, 2017 [69 favorites]

Please let's not open the "are attackers mentally ill ipso facto" discussion, we've done it with every attack in recent memory and we don't need to do it in this thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [16 favorites]

IMO, anyone who chooses to attack innocent citizens is mentally ill
NO NO NO
anyone who chooses to attack innocent people is a shitty shitty human being and an asshole, but dollar to donuts, they are neurotypical and not mentally ill in any way!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:26 PM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

WaPo: Trump considers major changes amid escalating Russia crisis

Some White House aides have discreetly discussed among one another whether Kushner should at some point in the future play a lesser role — or even take a leave — at least until the Russia-related issues calm, but they have been reluctant to discuss that view with Kushner himself, and Kushner’s network of allies within the West Wing has rallied behind him.
...
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the principal deputy press secretary, is being considered as a replacement behind the podium, and is likely to appear on camera more often in coming weeks. White House aides have also talked about having a rotating cast of staff brief the press, a group that could also include officials like National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Having several aides share the briefing responsibilities could help prevent Trump — who has a notoriously short attention span — from growing bored or angry with any one staffer.
...
Underscoring the uncertainty of what lies ahead, some Trump associates said there have even been conversations about dispatching Priebus to serve as ambassador to Greece — his mother is Greek — as a face-saving way to remove him out of the White House. A White House spokeswoman strongly denied that possibility on Saturday.
...
Several Trump advisers cited the president’s recent interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, in which Trump made clear it was his idea to fire FBI Director James B. Comey, as the kind of thing to avoid going forward.

Er, yeah, I'd say they would want to avoid that kind of thing.

The idea to do briefings with a rotating cast of characters is an interesting avoidance maneuver. If, say, Mulvaney is doing the briefing, he can punt on any scandal/Russia questions by saying "not my department" and they can just avoid having to answer them entirely.
posted by zachlipton at 12:30 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

He is not a walker.

About five years ago Walgreens was doing a walking-promotion tie in with Celebrity Apprentice (yeah idk) and they ran a few promos with Trump sitting at his desk, saying something along of the lines of "WALKING IS A GREAT FORM OF EXERCISE THAT'S GREAT FOR YOUR HEALTH. I WISH I DID IT MORE. VISIT WALK WITH WALGREENS DOT COM." I can't find evidence of this anywhere except for this one weird billboard column
posted by theodolite at 12:30 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Okay I guess there's also a press release and an episode recap, but the point is that I thought it was funny that he couldn't bring himself to say that he liked to walk in a PSA about walking and I wish I could find that freakin clip
posted by theodolite at 12:38 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

The following year Walgreens was featured in the finale of Celebrity Apprentice promoting their house brand ice cream. I hope they gave the Trump his two scoops.
posted by peeedro at 12:40 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

A year ago, yes. You think they're still going to happy hour after she sat by while her father went out on TV and asked for "2nd amendment people to take care of" Hillary?

Not really, but the fact that they were friends to begin with was already pretty perplexing. The ways of rich socialites are mysterious to me. Anyhow, they're apparently still publicly pretending to like each other at least.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:41 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

About Ivanka and Chlesea: regardless of how they really feel about each other, the media would EXCORIATE Chelsea Clinton if she openly stated anything negative about Ivanka Trump.

I would hope that Chelsea would realize what kind of garbage person Ivanka is but her reaction would not reverberate in a vacuum, I grant her that much.
posted by lydhre at 12:47 PM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

Some White House aides have discreetly discussed among one another whether Kushner should at some point in the future play a lesser role — or even take a leave — at least until the Russia-related issues calm, but they have been reluctant to discuss that view with Kushner himself, and Kushner’s network of allies within the West Wing has rallied behind him.

Steve Bannon must be just beside himself with grief and sympathy to see Jared on the brink of immolation. And by "beside himself" I mean, of course, "dancing a merry jig while snickering malevolently and muttering, 'Take that, you preppie little shit.'"
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:48 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

But b-b-but Bannon was on his way out! That tub is lurching, baby.

This is madness! /c3po
*Rebel klaxon*

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posted by petebest at 12:53 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Or is he just that lazy of a shit human being?

Have you even seen him? He looks like uncooked biscuit dough propped up in a cheap suit. I'm impressed he can even lift a golf club or a pen to sign EOs. The hardest thing about him is the knot in his tie!
posted by loquacious at 12:56 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Its really upsetting for those of us who aren't neurotypical to know that our fellow mefis probably view us as ticking time bombs.

I'm sorry if my conjecture led you to that. My own experience and background in Portland, knowing we are struggling to cope with mental health and housing issues, led me to think first of that and not the terrorists in our backyard. The rally where the terrorist was happened in my neighborhood. They decided to cancel the local parade because of it, and the police provided protection to this guy while arresting the anti fa counter protestors.
posted by mrzarquon at 12:58 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

(In summer of 2017 is looking a lot like 1977 news, we've also had three accounts on the police scanner of men with knives and a stabbing since last night).
posted by mrzarquon at 1:02 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Sources say he's both a known, raging Nazi and possibly mentally ill from a head injury.
posted by loquacious at 1:12 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Part of a known gang of lone wolves.
posted by Artw at 1:19 PM on May 27, 2017 [40 favorites]

...the police provided protection to this guy while arresting the anti fa counter protestors.
...he's both a known, raging Nazi and possibly mentally ill from a head injury.
And the Portland Police enters the Law Enforcement Hall of Shame.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:20 PM on May 27, 2017

I hope they all get put in the same screwed up cell block
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:24 PM on May 27, 2017

> Law Enforcement Hall of Shame.

They've been there quite a while.
posted by mrzarquon at 1:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

uh, sorry but these Portland items seem to be worthy of their own thread, and the mods need to get back to deleting my insouciant bon mots.
posted by petebest at 1:33 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Bons mot?
posted by thebrokedown at 1:38 PM on May 27, 2017 [15 favorites]

> Not doing so has always been a hallmark of bad policing.

He wasn't arrested or charged with anything at the march, even though he showed signs of violent behavior, and arrived with a baseball bat. His speech was protected by the police, even though his behavior was indicative of future violence (and his past and record showed that). That's white privilege and how deeply rooted that is in our police here.

Recently the police shot and killed a black teenager who was a robbery suspect.

But a white man who murdered two people was apparently just tazed and brought into custody no problem.

Our police department has some very serious issues.
posted by mrzarquon at 1:40 PM on May 27, 2017 [35 favorites]

The weirdest part is the Portland guy was a Sanders supporter, not a Trumper. What the heck?
posted by Justinian at 1:41 PM on May 27, 2017

The videos of Jeremy Christian at the "free speech rally" in mrzarquon's link are really amazing. The affected, exaggerated masculinity is almost cartoonish -- the way he lowers the pitch(?) of hjs voice when shouting, the boxy, shoulder swinging swagger, the way he beats his chest -- it's all such a desperate performance.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:42 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

The weirdest part is the Portland guy was a Sanders supporter, not a Trumper. What the heck?

The category is "accelerationists who are okay with gays", I think. Not particularly right- or left-accelerationists, just "accelerationists".
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:44 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

People gravitate towards the mentally ill angle because it easier to understand and makes it easier to view the perpetrator with compassion. It makes it a macro mental health problem instead of micro shitty person problem. Also the mental health problem feels easier to solve.

I try not to speculate but there aren't a lot of likely explanations for what happened and I'm not surprised that folks around here prefer the one that asks them for compassion instead of contempt. That doesn't make the criticism of the speculation any less valid, just trying to give it a little context.

I mean, I know that people with a mental condition that can make them more likely to engage in that kind of violence are quite rare but I wish that the number of people evil enough to do it while Neuro-typical were rarer still.
posted by VTX at 1:47 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

The guy who wandered into a comicon with a bunch of guns because he beleived he was The Puniser and he was there to kill a Power Ranger? That guy I can buy is mentally ill. Ranty stabby nazi on the other hand just looks like a ranty stabby nazi.
posted by Artw at 1:51 PM on May 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

I've watched some of the video from the free speech alt-right non-keyboard brigade. Not much because it's really boring, but one thing that's obvious is that the police always protect the armed flag waving nazi saluting Periscope/Facebook Living assholes over everyone else.
posted by Yowser at 1:56 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Some of the highest leadership of Nazi Party version 1.0 believed that they were in contact with mystical gnomes and hollow-earth atlanteans. I don't think "crazy or nazi" is a helpful dichotomy.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:57 PM on May 27, 2017 [33 favorites]

I had an experience once with a not obviously homeless, but obviously ill person, who started following and harassing a family in a store. He just kept ramping up as the family tried to walk away and ignore him. My brother and I had to block him and calmly but firmly talk him down and make him leave without pushing the wrong button, which was tricky to say the least. The whole time I'm thinking "this guy is about to attack me and I'm going to be on the news." He ended up leaving and it was fine.

The family, nor anyone else in the store, never said a word to us or acknowledged anything had happened. That was weird. It's really hard for some people to face.
posted by bongo_x at 1:59 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump opposes European Union because he had trouble opening golf courses there

which is like opposing vaccination because one time the needle gave you an owwie

which I would not be surprised to learn is the reason behind Trump's opposition to vaccination
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:00 PM on May 27, 2017 [29 favorites]

For those wondering about the Sanders supporter thing, it's been pointed out to me that Nazis ideologically reject both the left and the right. My readings of their promotional materials since then has confirmed this. Lots of Nazis still think the southern strategy never happened and are Democrats, no doubt.
posted by Yowser at 2:01 PM on May 27, 2017

The golf cart thing just makes me want to vomit because of vicarious embarrassment. I can't handle it.

It's like having an evil and stupider Erlich Bachman as president.

Initially read this as Eric Cartman & it still worked.
posted by rifflesby at 2:07 PM on May 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

It warms my heart that so many Republicans who have been listening to talk radio and watching Fox News and feeding on conspiracy crumbs and choux pastry scandals during the Obama years are now missing out on the Trump-Russia buffet because they're blind to it.
posted by BeginAgain at 2:10 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing you guys might be about to enter stage two of this clusterfuck, where Kushner gets thrown under a bus and the Trumps decide grandad needs a rest. Which means the repubs might be able to salvage a Pence presidency if Trump never makes a comment in public again. So good luck and sincerely, may the force be with you. I HOPE they don't get away with it.
posted by glasseyes at 2:23 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think it's that good people have such a hard time imagining being evil that they look for weird loopholes to make someone not really evil but instead just "crazy" or misguided or confused or or or.

I think it's a sad testament to how good most people honestly are. But I wish it didnt have the unfortunate effects of either centering compassion for the perpetrator over the victim, or slopping over onto either the homeless or mentally ill who are largely blameless.
posted by supercrayon at 2:23 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

SO it turns out that the Portland bus murderer is not a poor homeless person but a raging awful white supremacist with a history of shitty violent behavior.

Well to quote from this article: "A few Portland police officers on April 29 appeared to be familiar with Christian, but not threatened by him. They claimed he had a head injury and was mentally ill."

I find that illuminating, as traumatic brain injuries often have the effect of causing impulse control issues, and violent and angry outbursts. Much more so than typical mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The fact that the police used that as reason to dismiss him as a threat is proof of how much better training LEO need in dealing with this kind of thing. Knowing that someone making threats of violence had a head injury would make this former mental health crisis intervention specialist take the threats MORE seriously, not less. And, of course, ALL threats should be taken seriously.

So it's possible that he had some underlying "cause" for his instability and also that he was a racist piece of shit white supremacist. I DO absolutely blame right wing media and Trump for this attack, as much as I do the individual. Putting out there the idea that evil people walk among us and can be identified by their ethnicity and dress is fucking irresponsible. Eventually someone will take you at your word and something like this happens.
posted by threeturtles at 2:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [15 favorites]

So I guess what I'm saying is I understand the impulse but I wish people would curb it when it impacts the vulnerable.
posted by supercrayon at 2:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Portland attack clearly needs its own thread, not least because Trump/the White House have yet to release a statement, predictably. In the meantime, the local paper has published some details about the murdered defenders, army veteran Ricky John Best and recent college graduate graduate Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:29 PM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

Folks, gonna ask that we drop the "what about the attacker's psychology" discussion. People have made the pertinent points about mental illness stigma. Beyond this it basically always leads to a similar tailspin, and this is already a long thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:29 PM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

... so there's a bunch of stuff I can't wrap my head around here, but mainly I'm like "so did he just like not notice that Sanders is Jewish?"
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

The press secretary basically blamed Muslims for existing to be shot by Alexandre Bissonnette to justify the Muslim ban.
posted by Yowser at 3:08 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Philip Rucker, WaPo: Trump adviser: ‘I would not be concerned’ about a Russia back channel, irrespective of Kushner

McMaster, a decorated three-star Army general, was asked whether he would be concerned if an official on his National Security Council staff or elsewhere in the Trump administration sought a back-channel communications system with the Russian embassy or the Kremlin in Moscow.

"No," McMaster said. "We have back-channel communications with a number of countries. So, generally speaking, about back-channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discreet manner."

He continued, "No, I would not be concerned about it."

If there was any lingering doubt that McMaster has sold his soul, this lays it to rest.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:10 PM on May 27, 2017 [30 favorites]

White House aides have also talked about having a rotating cast of staff brief the press

Do they understand that when we talk about media "spin", it's just a metaphor?
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:12 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Just like McMaster's non-denial denial about Trump blabbing to the Russians ("no sources or methods were revealed" -- yeah, nobody said they were, dude), this weasels out of addressing the relevant issue by, as we predicted, hanging everything on the word "back-channel," which is an actual OK thing government and intelligence people use.

What non-treasonous government people don't do is what Jared did: try to set up a rogue covert line of communication with an adversary nation using the adversary's facilities, for the specific purpose of eluding the attention of US government monitoring.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:18 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

While we are busy spending the weekend contemplating alleged espionage with a view to selling out the U.S. to a foreign power ... please remember that this is Memorial Day weekend. The irony burns and the obscenity sears.

My sister texted a pic of a flag they put on my father's grave. Yeah, I've wanted to ask: "Do you think Dad fought Nazis (and supported the civil rights and union movements) so his descendants (except me) would be white supremacists voting for a treasonous, racist, demagogue thug?"

But I won't say that because I still have to interact with my sister due to shared family issues. In general though, I can't see myself ever again having a LOT to do with other tRumpers I know. Because they really are deplorable.

Or maybe I'll throw giant shade at my family by giving them all "Learn to Speak Russian" books for next Xmas.

Tovarish Trump, y'all.
posted by NorthernLite at 3:22 PM on May 27, 2017 [30 favorites]

We define them in the story as current and former US officials - i.e., the US Goverment.

The best uncritical mouthpiece for spook propaganda my "open in private window" can buy.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 3:24 PM on May 27, 2017

I don't know if this was a mistake or there is something truly wrong with these people, but the White House's Facebook post on the spouse' picture just pretends that the Luxembourg First Gentleman, isn't there.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:38 PM on May 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

Of course the omission is deliberate. Pissing off liberals is the one thing these traitorous idiots have, it's the only thing they're good at.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:42 PM on May 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

Article from a reporter who interviewed the Portland attacker:

He called President Donald Trump the antichrist, but meant it as a compliment.

"If Donald Trump is the Next Hitler then I am joining his SS to put an end to Monotheist Question. All Zionist Jews, All Christians who do not follow Christ's teaching of Love, Charity, and Forgiveness And All Jihadi Muslims are going to Madagascar or the Ovens/FEMA Camps!!! Does this make me a fascist!!!"

...

Some reports will emphasize Christian's criminal record and his mental illness, just as early reports stressed the "random" nature of the double murder he is alleged to have committed yesterday, but it would be negligent not to investigate the possibility that Christian committed a premeditated hate crime, and that others may have known of his intention or encouraged him in the act.

Judging by the susurration from the alt-right nests...

@NYCAntifa "4chan /pol/ is claiming Jeremy Christian's murders as victory, even going so far as claiming him as being "/ourguy/" using vile language" _{[screencaps on linked tweet that your faith in humanity won't be better for reading]}
posted by Buntix at 3:48 PM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

Fundamentalist Christian Dominionists have been actively infiltrating the military for a decade, and now hold many of the top positions.

Later in the article they define "fundamentalist" as someone who believes their religious expression trumps their duty to country or the constitution.

They're not thrilled about Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ, or women.

This seems incredibly ominous.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:49 PM on May 27, 2017 [57 favorites]

"When you're rich I imagine every one around you tells you how smart you are. I imagine that you're also shielded from the consequences of your stupidity."

As the old Yiddish saying goes, "When you're rich, you are handsome, you are wise, and you sing well too!"
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:54 PM on May 27, 2017 [21 favorites]

Scoop: Trump tells confidants U.S. will quit Paris climate deal
President Trump has privately told multiple people, including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, that he plans to leave the Paris agreement on climate change, according to three sources with direct knowledge.

Publicly, Trump's position is that he has not made up his mind and when we asked the White House about these private comments, Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks said, "I think his tweet was clear. He will make a decision this week."
posted by PenDevil at 4:09 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

I hope Jared and Ivanka get a warm welcome in their meals at every restaurant they ever go to again.
posted by Yowser at 4:12 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Gianforte thing + Portland murders + Dominionist military = my first half-serious thoughts about leaving the country before it's too late
posted by theodolite at 4:12 PM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

The amazing part is he couldn't say it to anyone's face when he was in Europe.
posted by dilaudid at 4:14 PM on May 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

I hope Jared and Ivanka get a warm welcome in their meals at every restaurant they ever go to again.

That's an unusual way to spell "spit".
posted by biogeo at 4:14 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm sure chefs will be much more creative than that.
posted by Yowser at 4:16 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

McMaster, a decorated three-star Army general, was asked whether he would be concerned if an official on his National Security Council staff or elsewhere in the Trump administration sought a ~~back-channel communications system with~~ SPY PHONE from the Russian embassy or the Kremlin in Moscow.

C'mon, you can do this . . . BE the ball, Danny . . .
posted by petebest at 4:37 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

That Newsweek article posted by schadenfrau doesn't pull any punches:

The U.S. military has long been seeded with radical Christian fundamentalists—sometimes called Christian Dominionists or Christian Reconstructionists—who believe a “Warrior Jesus” has their backs while they fight against Islam. They believe they are establishing a “Kingdom of God” on earth, starting with the United States, and are predictably anti-LGBT and unfriendly to females among their ranks...

The MRFF [Military Religious Freedom Foundation] estimates that 84 percent of military chaplains are evangelicals, and about a third of them are fundamentalists, defined by the MRFF as Christians who have decided that their evangelizing and proselytizing need not conform to the U.S. Constitution, case law or any DoD directives restricting their behavior.

The Christian right’s willingness to see Trump as a savior for their cause—if not a messianic figure, despite his living as an urban libertine who has had three wives and a history of lewd acts and statements—continues to grow. His selection of an evangelical as vice president, plus the appointment of at least nine evangelicals to his Cabinet, has apparently soothed any concerns the religious right had about his personal life.

It also mentions "defrocked ex-felon Jim Bakker, no stranger to licentious behavior with women himself..." Wooohooo Newsweek, look at you, getting all provocative.

Kidding aside, that article is some scary shit.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:56 PM on May 27, 2017 [56 favorites]

metafilter: "something that will make it easier for the bees living in your brain to focus".
posted by idiopath at 5:22 PM on May 27, 2017 [39 favorites]

Somebody had to.
posted by orrnyereg at 5:27 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Texas state GOP reps trying to get a special session to draw new lines before the courts do for 2018.
posted by Talez at 5:45 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Here is the YouTube video of President Fox.
posted by winna at 6:18 PM on May 27, 2017 [18 favorites]

This is becoming a real problem for newspapers. If a Post editor can tweet that they talked to people offering the "Syria" defense and those people wouldn't agree to be identified as Team Jared, they could have written that into their story. And if the Times is going to uncritically regurgitate whatever explanation Team Jared gave them, they can explain the motivations of the people providing the information and then ask the many follow-up questions that the Syria story calls for.

And as Yashar writes, the Syria explanation raises far more questions than it answered. Not one of those questions is answered, or even raised, by the Times story. This is journalism, not stenography, and you shouldn't get to anonymously defend your buddy Jared in the paper without at least having to explain why your version makes the slightest bit of sense and being pressed on the implications of Jared trying to conduct secret Syria talks with the Russian government. If you can't do that, then the resulting article needs to say so.

We keep hearing from reporters, especially NYT political reporters on Twitter, about the White House's complete lack of credibility. Yet the same people with no credibility keep winding up as anonymous sources defending the White House. Why? How are you possibly serving readers if you allow people you deem to be liars to pass on their lies, unchallenged and anonymously, in your newspaper?

Reading the newspaper is supposed to make one more informed. Understanding the competing narratives here, at least to the degree they can be understood, required, at a minimum, a very close reading of articles in two different papers, following the twitter accounts of the reporters and editors responsible, and reviewing articles and tweetstorms by half a dozen different commentators. This is a story that's entirely too important to be confined to those with the time, information literacy, and critical thinking skills that are required to find and process all that.

This game of dozens of anonymous sources all leaking conflicting information is incredibly dangerous. It's necessary and important, yes, but the game also steadily undermines the credibility of a press that already has very little in a lot of people's eyes (as Dylan Scott, of Vox, put it last night: "something just occurred to me / we lament the public's eroding trust in the media / but *I* don't believe half the stuff I read"). Anonymous sources mean that judgements about credibility have to be done by the reporters, not readers. When reporters are passing along quotes from people they know to be utterly unreliable, when anonymous attributions omit any indication of the interests and motivations of the sources, those judgements become increasingly hard to trust and it becomes increasingly easy for people to dismiss some of the most consequential journalism in decades.
posted by zachlipton at 6:31 PM on May 27, 2017 [52 favorites]

We know the inner circle is leaking on purpose. Are they leaking on purpose to undermine an underfunded media, and to help their right-wing pundit friends who thrive on low-cost blather, whether it be on AM talk radio or on 3 hour long Google Hangouts?
posted by Yowser at 6:35 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Could you imagine how fast the articles of impeachment would have been drawn if HRC brought on Marc Mezvinsky who then proceeded to drive to the Russian Embassy to request a safe room and private line to talk to the Kremlin?
posted by Talez at 6:39 PM on May 27, 2017 [18 favorites]

That President Fox video is amazing. Everyone go watch it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:40 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Ok, this is from way upthread, but I just can't let go of how Ivanka has so completely lived the cliche that women marry men like their fathers: Kahlon described her former boss on Facebook thusly: “We’re talking about a guy who isn’t particularly bright or hard-working, doesn’t actually know anything, has bought his way into everything ever (with money he got from his criminal father), who is deeply insecure and obsessed with fame... and who is basically a shithead.”
posted by TwoStride at 6:44 PM on May 27, 2017 [23 favorites]

The thing I keep wondering about is: given the Trump team's already-close ties with Russia and their evidently excellent access to officials, what was so delicate that Jared would only discuss it while within Russian territory, on equipment the Russians had certified as secure? It certainly wasn't another corrupt business deal; they do those practically out in the open. Maybe it was something like "we'll give you a free hand in Syria in exchange for a share of oil revenues", which is actually pretty close to what candidate-Trump advertised. Maybe it really, truly, was literal treason.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:44 PM on May 27, 2017 [17 favorites]

The thing I keep wondering about is: given the Trump team's already-close ties with Russia and their evidently excellent access to officials, what was so delicate that Jared would only discuss it while within Russian territory, on equipment the Russians had certified as secure? It certainly wasn't another corrupt business deal; they do those practically out in the open. Maybe it was something like "we'll give you a free hand in Syria in exchange for a share of oil revenues", which is actually pretty close to what candidate-Trump advertised. Maybe it really, truly, was literal treason.

If I were a betting man my pet conspiracy is bringing together a plan of attack to get Rosneft in the hands of the Trump family while figuring out bringing down the sanctions.

But that's just my apophenic opinion.
posted by Talez at 6:49 PM on May 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is that really President Fox? I mean it looks like President Fox, but...wow.
posted by uosuaq at 6:49 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

What astonishes me about Ivanka is how strongly she identifies with her father, as though she sprang full-grown from his forehead. She does have a mother, after all--a mother who was repeatedly publicly humiliated by her father. A mother who, according to some reports, was physically abused by her father. What about Ivana? Doesn't she matter at all?
posted by orrnyereg at 6:50 PM on May 27, 2017 [11 favorites]

Can Ivana line Ivanka's pockets? If the answer is no, then she might as well not exist, as far as Ivanka is concerned.
posted by Yowser at 6:54 PM on May 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Anonymous sources mean that judgements about credibility have to be done by the reporters, not readers.

Not so. It's the editor who makes that call. You as an editor don't let a reporter run with an anonymous source just because the reporter says it's OK. Your reporter has to tell you who it is - often, you're the only person they can and must tell - and if necessary explain to you why it's credible/necessary/moves the story on.

The NYT may be abusing the privilege of using unnamed sources, and WaPo may be doing things better - I don't know. There are a lot of extremely difficult, extremely consequential decisions being made in those newsrooms right now, in real time, by people who fully understand the stakes. But if you want to identify someone to hold to account over this, it's the editor who holds the buck-stopper, not the reporters.

This might seem a fine point of protocol, but it's very important.
posted by Devonian at 6:54 PM on May 27, 2017 [40 favorites]

Prison?
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:03 PM on May 27, 2017 [26 favorites]

Trump choose to walk across the ramp with his whole entourage to AF1 instead of hopping in the limo

Which is much less secure than riding in the RPG-proof limo, which is why the underpaid and overworked Secret Service guys are expending ten times as much effort to get him across the tarmac. One of these days they're going to make a mistake due to sheer exhaustion, and I hope only the right person suffers the consequences.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

White House Considering Plan to Have Legal Team Vet Trump’s Tweets
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

If Trump pardons Ivanka or the prosecutor gives her full immunity, she can't take the 5th or refuse to testify, can she?
(Evil Me so badly wants Ivanka's testimony to be the lynchpin that sends her dad to prison.)
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 7:35 PM on May 27, 2017 [7 favorites]

Correct, you can't take the 5th if you have immunity.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:40 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Correct, you can't take the 5th if you have immunity

Moot if she skives off to a non-extradition country afterwards. Surely if it comes to all that, the Trump clan will have done with the US.
posted by rhizome at 8:04 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mother Jones:
The G7 broke with tradition to release an unusual statement where six nations reaffirmed the Paris climate agreement, without the US. “The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics,” the communiqué reads. "Understanding this process, the Heads of State and of Government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom and the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement."

Full text of G7 Taormina Leaders’ Communiqué (pdf).
posted by valetta at 8:10 PM on May 27, 2017 [41 favorites]

Is there any doubt that the anti-international cooperation, anti-science president with Russian and oil business ties who represents an anti-science party that's in the pockets of oil business is say going to back out of Paris?
posted by Artw at 8:12 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Warren Demands Trump Aide Gary Cohn Recusal From White House Proposal That Could Benefit Goldman Sachs

In February, the White House said Cohn would recuse himself from matters in which Goldman Sachs had a direct interest in. That followed Trump’s executive order requiring White House employees to wait two years before working on matters related to their former employers. That executive order, however, included language allowing Trump to waive the rules.

Under past administrations, those waivers had been made public. The Trump administration, by contrast, has has refused to disclose who has received such waivers, leading to a stand-off between the White House and the Office of Government Ethics.

...

After the White House released the outline of its plan to sell off public assets in order to spur investment in U.S. infrastructure on Tuesday, an IBT review of recent SEC filings showed that Goldman Sachs is anticipating investing in public infrastructure, including “airports, toll roads and shipping ports.” Cohn worked at the bank for 25 years before receiving a $285 million payout to leave the firm and join the Trump administration, a deal that prompted concern among ethics experts.

Drain the swamp.
posted by indubitable at 8:20 PM on May 27, 2017 [49 favorites]

Eric Trump: Russia Controversy Is ‘A Total Hoax’

Trump dismissed all of this as “nonsense” and a “witch hunt,” even citing his father’s decision to strike Syria as evidence.

“There’s some pretty disappointed people out there,” he told Watters, “so they want to further a narrative for their own political agenda. And I really believe that they would rather see this country fail than see him succeed.”

Did every single man in this godforsaken saga step out of a Coen brothers movie?
posted by Room 641-A at 8:21 PM on May 27, 2017 [24 favorites]

Actually... Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

OMG OMG OMG please tell me there's a chance this filthy, fetid, bag of donkey shit might yet die in prison PLEASE.

(I know. Won't happen. But let me have this pleasant dream to fall asleep to.)
posted by CommonSense at 8:25 PM on May 27, 2017 [13 favorites]

I was too far behind to post this during the discussion on the visit to Saudi Arabia. This piece by Kunwar Khaldune Shahid in The Diplomat provides an interesting window into the way US rhetoric makes waves in places that aren't obvious to the casual observer. Why the Trump-Led Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia Was a Disaster for Pakistan
posted by bardophile at 8:27 PM on May 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

Petition to make Melania move to the White House or start paying the bills.
posted by bongo_x at 8:31 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump followed in a golf cart.

Worst Leto Atreides II, God Emperor imitation ever.
posted by juiceCake at 8:32 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Correct, you can't take the 5th if you have immunity.

But if Trump is on the Pardon Train he can just pardon her for perjury/contempt of court/whatever for lying or refusing to testify.
posted by Justinian at 8:33 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

i knew the Duke... you're no duke.
posted by j_curiouser at 8:42 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

According to the Wikipedia article on Contempt of Congress, a presidential pardon would not save someone who refused to testify. Civil sanctions cannot be pardoned away.

Also found a 2007 Daily Kos post discussing this in detail.
posted by honestcoyote at 8:46 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Actually... Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

OMG OMG OMG please tell me there's a chance this filthy, fetid, bag of donkey shit might yet die in prison PLEASE.

Man, I hope not. They might bury him in the prison, and then I'd have to do some Ocean's 11 style bullshit to piss on his grave.
posted by Etrigan at 8:51 PM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

Phrasing!
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:53 PM on May 27, 2017 [53 favorites]

Harry Siegel: What Donald Trump doesn’t know

I’m told that Trump wanted a picture [at the National Museum of African American History and Culture] with the statue of Thomas Jefferson by the exhibit “The paradox of liberty.” Behind the founding father, there are bricks with the names of some of the 600 men, women and children he’d kept in bondage in the course of his adult life. That was explained to Trump and he moved on, without a photo.

posted by zachlipton at 8:56 PM on May 27, 2017 [20 favorites]

Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

Phrasing!
posted by Faint of Butt

Epona**terical.
Sorry.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 9:00 PM on May 27, 2017 [26 favorites]

OMG OMG OMG please tell me there's a chance this filthy, fetid, bag of donkey shit might yet die in prison PLEASE.

I'm setting the bar low and just hoping he doesn't somehow get awarded another Nobel Peace Prize, any consequences he faces beyond that are a bonus.
posted by Buntix at 9:06 PM on May 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

you know all this Kissenger talk just started the countdown to Hillary Clinton popping up to tell everyone what an awesome mentor he is
posted by indubitable at 9:29 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

> Trump dismissed all of this as “nonsense” and a “witch hunt,” even citing his father’s decision to strike Syria as evidence.

If no one noticed, that whole episode was pretty transparently an orchestrated 'photo op' to show the world what mortal enemies Putin & Trump really are. "US/Russia relations are at a LOW POINT IN HISTORY" announced Putin, as Spicer intoned almost the same exact words in tandem from the White House podium. But there was no coordination there, none at all, yeah? . . . no.

So a bit of fist-waving, kaboom, blah-blah-blah, a couple weeks later it's bear hugs as usual with Kislyak in the Oval Office.

Is it possible to have a Potemkin War? Because that was exactly what this was.

BTW Trumpkins Jr bringing up exactly this, months later, as "proof" of the non-coordination between Trump & Putin just seals the deal here. Yes, it was designed and planned and coordinated exactly to be "evidence" that Trump and Putin are mortal enemies and no coordination is happening at all whatsoever.

But, no one with any brains fell for it . . .

Trump wages war about the same way he posts on Twitter--as a PR stunt.
posted by flug at 10:24 PM on May 27, 2017 [28 favorites]

lol they were running sorties the same day. Of course no one fell for it.
posted by Yowser at 10:30 PM on May 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

the vote in north carolina may have been manipulated:

We estimate that at least 80,000 votes may have been shifted from Clinton to Trump via these “red shifts”.

posted by and they trembled before her fury at 10:35 PM on May 27, 2017 [12 favorites]

Rosie M. Banks: "We require experience for the most mundane of "joe jobs" in corporate America. I wish we could have an "experience required!" clause, or even informal requirement, for Presidents."

This is what the primary process is supposed to be for. Both major parties are free to put whatever restrictions on nominees they deem appropriate. "Must have been elected to something at least once" would be a good start.
posted by Mitheral at 10:46 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

We estimate that at least 80,000 votes may have been shifted from Clinton to Trump via these “red shifts”.

I don't...There's an observation of a trend related to precinct sizes and votes, one that is presented without regard to whether it is statistically meaningful or explained by anything about how these counties draw precincts (or whether early/mail voters in those precincts have different behavior). Then it just pulls the number "at least 80,000" out of nowhere, with no indication where it came from, and declares them to be "red shifts" despite not providing any evidence that a "shift" took place.

This is, at best, a vaguely supported observation about voting behavior, not evidence of any kind of fraud.
posted by zachlipton at 10:55 PM on May 27, 2017 [27 favorites]

This is, at best, a vaguely supported observation about voting behavior, not evidence of any kind of fraud.

The linked page starts with "As explained on our home page, an election should normally obey the law of large numbers fairly well, unless there is a strong reason for people in larger precincts to vote one way rather than another."

And I believe the home page did a pretty good job of explaining the significance.

http://www.votesleuth.org/

The math suggests something happened. And thus it should be investigated until the reason why the math suggests something happened. That's where the fraud evidence is gathered.
posted by mikelieman at 11:03 PM on May 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

Please tell me there's no video of this.
posted by bongo_x at 11:05 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Zachlipton, presuming their numbers are right and the data hasn't been massaged, there's enough there to raise eyebrows. I can't imagine any reason for there to be a smooth relationship between precinct size and Republican voter percentages, but it certainly looks as though one exists.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:07 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Think of it like this. If you're running a chain of stores, you get a good sense of the patterns that cashiers have. One may be short 10-20 cents as they make up pennies for customers most of the time. Another might be dead on. The point is... when there's a change in the pattern you investigate.

If a cashier goes from 1 return a week to 10 returns a week, you make damn sure that they're not faking it ( swiping receipts from earlier customers then submitting the refund themselves on the down-low and pocketing the cash for example... )
posted by mikelieman at 11:08 PM on May 27, 2017

Kissinger may have a hand in Trump's back-channels

No puppet!
posted by progosk at 11:15 PM on May 27, 2017 [31 favorites]

unless there is a strong reason for people in larger precincts to vote one way rather than another

Is this such an implausible scenario when not dealing with uniform spherical voters? I see very little actual evidence on the front page.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:22 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Is this such an implausible scenario when not dealing with uniform spherical voters? I see very little actual evidence on the front page.

I see the value in looking at patterns that do not match the expected ones, and investigating why.

If the reason is voter preference, than that should be easy enough to discern by looking closer.

What we SHOULD BE DOING is counting, by hand, every single vote to verify the computers aren't reporting incorrect results.
posted by mikelieman at 11:38 PM on May 27, 2017 [6 favorites]

Pardon me, but I'm going to rant about that North Carolina voting "analysis". tl;dr I think it's a bunch of nonsense.

The point is... when there's a change in the pattern you investigate.

The page doesn't show evidence of a change, because it doesn't compare results of different elections in the same populations. Instead, it contrasts the NC results with one specific example from Ohio, and asserts that the Ohio graph is "normal" while the NC ones are unusual. But there's no analysis to show that either type of graph is representative of a wider pattern — just a few cherry-picked examples. I wonder why that is?

More importantly:

I can't imagine any reason for there to be a smooth relationship between precinct size and Republican voter percentages, but it certainly looks as though one exists.

There isn't a smooth relationship; the graphs are constructed to make it appear misleadingly smooth.

More specifically: the graphs are labeled with precinct size on the x-axis, and vote percentage on the y-axis. But the y-axis isn't the vote percentage for that precinct; it's a cumulative percentage that includes all of the points to the left. That will make any realistic pattern look like a smooth line, because the points on the right of the graph are averaged over a much larger subset of the population. The left side shows a bunch of small, high-variance precincts, and the variance is smoothed out as the graph converges to the true average. So the graphs are only really telling you about the small precincts — the outliners — and not a large-scale trend affecting all of the vote results. Either the people behind this analysis didn't understand this basic idea, or they knew but were deliberately trying to mislead.

But even if the graphs showed what they purported to, it still wouldn't show that there was vote manipulation.

A piece of data can only be used to support a theory if it's more likely to result from that theory than an alternative. The "alarming" pattern this page describes would be unlikely to result from tampering: why would anyone deliberately choose to introduce an artificial-looking pattern into the results, instead of just changing all of them equally? On the other hand, it's easily explained if both votes and precinct size within a county are correlated with socioeconomic or other demographic factors, of which there are countless possibilities.

Finally, I want to point out a little piece of rhetorical sleight-of-hand: the article tries to argue that large precincts had a disproportionate number of Trump votes, and then tries to suggest that those votes were "moved" from Clinton to Trump. If the argument held water, wouldn't it be equally valid to say that votes in small precincts were "moved" from Trump to Clinton?

This is very similar to the kind of analysis that was used to "prove" that the 2004 election was stolen from Ron Paul, and I complained about it when it was used again to insinuate that presidential and congressional races were manipulated in 2012 and 2014. I have very little patience for the use of statistics to try to make a point by dazzling the audience with numbers and graphs, without making any kind of reasoned argument for what the data actually supports. There are real, serious issues with electronic voting machines, but the solution is to provide an audit trail, not to read tea leaves.
posted by teraflop at 12:02 AM on May 28, 2017 [58 favorites]

And here's an actual political scientist doing a similar debunking, in case you don't want to take my word for it.
posted by teraflop at 12:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [14 favorites]

Oh god more liberal fake news.

Please don't. The first clue should be that this is only on votesleuth.org. Might as well link to blackboxvoting.

We can't on the one hand look down on people for propagating the bullshit that flooded twitter and right wing media during the 2016 and then turn around and propagate fake stuff ourselves.
posted by Justinian at 2:04 AM on May 28, 2017 [50 favorites]

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: How US nuclear force modernization is undermining strategic stability: The burst-height compensating super-fuze (from March 1^st)

New Zealand Radio interview this morning with one of the authors, Hans M. Kristensen

The US nuclear forces modernization program has been portrayed to the public as an effort to ensure the reliability and safety of warheads in the US nuclear arsenal, rather than to enhance their military capabilities. In reality, however, that program has implemented revolutionary new technologies that will vastly increase the targeting capability of the US ballistic missile arsenal. This increase in capability is astonishing—boosting the overall killing power of existing US ballistic missile forces by a factor of roughly three—and it creates exactly what one would expect to see, if a nuclear-armed state were planning to have the capacity to fight and win a nuclear war by disarming enemies with a surprise first strike.

[...]

Because the innovations in the super-fuze appear, to the non-technical eye, to be minor, policymakers outside of the US government (and probably inside the government as well) have completely missed its revolutionary impact on military capabilities and its important implications for global security.

Before the invention of this new fuzing mechanism, even the most accurate ballistic missile warheads might not detonate close enough to targets hardened against nuclear attack to destroy them. But the new super-fuze is designed to destroy fixed targets by detonating above and around a target in a much more effective way. Warheads that would otherwise overfly a target and land too far away will now, because of the new fuzing system, detonate above the target.

[...]

Russian planners will almost surely see the advance in fuzing capability as empowering an increasingly feasible US preemptive nuclear strike capability—a capability that would require Russia to undertake countermeasures that would further increase the already dangerously high readiness of Russian nuclear forces. Tense nuclear postures based on worst-case planning assumptions already pose the possibility of a nuclear response to false warning of attack. The new kill capability created by super-fuzing increases the tension and the risk that US or Russian nuclear forces will be used in response to early warning of an attack—even when an attack has not occurred.

The increased capability of the US submarine force will likely be seen as even more threatening because Russia does not have a functioning space-based infrared early warning system but relies primarily on ground-based early warning radars to detect a US missile attack. Since these radars cannot see over the horizon, Russia has less than half as much early-warning time as the United States. (The United States has about 30 minutes, Russia 15 minutes or less.)

[...]

In all, the entire Russian silo-based forces could potentially be destroyed while leaving the US with 79 percent of its ballistic missile warheads unused.

Even after Russia's silo-based missiles were attacked, the US nuclear firepower remaining would be staggering—and certainly of concern to Russia or any other country worried about a US first strike.

[...]

The Russians have most recently reacted to this ongoing program by publicly displaying and implementing a new and novel sea-based nuclear weapons delivery device as a hedge against US missile defenses.

In particular, Russia is now in the process of testing a 40-ton nuclear-powered underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) that could robotically deliver, across thousands of kilometers, a 100-megaton nuclear warhead against the coastal cities and ports of the United States. The technical details of this bizarre system were released by Putin himself in September 2015—apparently intentionally—and testing began in December 2016. Such actions by the Russian government clearly indicate a grave concern about the unpredictable character of ongoing US missile defense programs.

[...]

We cannot foresee a situation in which a competent and properly informed US president would order a surprise first strike against Russia or China. But our conclusion makes the increased sea-based offensive and defensive capabilities we have described seem all the more bizarre as a strategy for reducing the chances of nuclear war with either Russia or China.

(My emphasis in the last paragraph)

Trump, of course, didn't know what the nuclear triad was or what the U.S. first-strike policy was during the election, declared "Let there be an arms race" during the transition, and as president had to end a call with Putin because he didn't know what the New START treaty was.
posted by XMLicious at 2:25 AM on May 28, 2017 [32 favorites]

Well, that's absolutely terrifying. This bit didn't help:

We cannot foresee a situation in which a competent and properly informed US president would order a surprise first strike against Russia or China.

The negation of that sentence is "We can foresee Donald Trump causing a nuclear armageddon", and I think they're perfectly right.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:43 AM on May 28, 2017 [12 favorites]

is mcmasters owned or compromised in some way? what is his motivation for downplaying the spy phone request? if a cleared person says "hola" to a guy at the bar and the guy says his job is cleaning toilets at the russian embassy, that is a mandatory self-report. slum lord jared k goes to the embassy,
meets high ranking russians, asks for a spy phone, and lies (by omission) on his sf-86... it's just so mind boggling that he is not in custody.
posted by j_curiouser at 3:31 AM on May 28, 2017 [15 favorites]

Interesting perspective by David Schraub: Discriminatory Motives Have Consequences

I don't know whether I accept his view that Trump will lose support if he can no longer be publicly bigoted, but it would be nice to think so.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:53 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

is mcmasters owned or compromised in some way?

Maybe he sees his job as lying to the press until Trump's impeachment, so that we can have another responsible adult in the White House to block Trump et al from doing some horrible. It's a shitty job to have to do but in his shoes would you leave it undone?
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:01 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

is mcmasters owned or compromised in some way?

The most generous explanation for McMaster's behaviour is that he might feel that he has to remain in the administration because Trump has his tiny fingers on the nuclear button. A more likely explanation is he's ambitious. You don't get to be a general without a healthy dose of ambition and ego. The political world we're heading into doesn't recognize or reward honesty so there's no reason to maintain a reputation for integrity.
posted by rdr at 4:05 AM on May 28, 2017 [8 favorites]

Half of 8th grade class from New Jersey refuses to pose with Speaker Ryan
posted by octothorpe at 5:35 AM on May 28, 2017 [102 favorites]

A more likely explanation is he's ambitious.

But he's very much not stupid, or uneducated on corrupt government power plays, he quite literally wrote a book about it. Even if it were ambition he's got to grok that there's a better than even chance that the shit ship Trump is going down with all hands on deck.

Compromised somehow, or actively working with the FBI et al and keeping his cover, or wildcard option 3: Which almost certainly involves an actual centuries old illuminati plot coming to light, started by the aliens that it turns out really did build the pyramids (and for approximately one hour and thirty-six minutes the fact that Erich von Däniken was right is going to be the biggest news on the planet; then the next even more improbable can of rat-arsed rabbit holes will burst open showering us with worms across the stars, and in the middle the Orb will rise and pop and suddenly spiders and everyone goes "WTF, like WTFF, FFSRWTF? FTFAGOD")

To de-digress: is there any significance in Jeremy Christian being charged with aggravated murder rather than just the regular sort? Of the criteria I found (not sure if it's a federal thing or with regional variations) the only ones that would apply seem to be premeditated murder, or murder committed as part of a terrorist act. [is there a generic 'murder committed while committing another crime' case law?]

It does seem pretty clear that this was a premeditated and planned attack (whether or not in specifics and he went out that morning planning to be "martyred", or just a plan that was triggered). He killed an outdoorsy and fit 23 year old, and a retired trained soldier, presumably fairly quickly. Without getting much more than a black eye. It may be that he just lucked out in a darkest timeline way. But it's also possible/probable that he had been practising for that moment, and it's possible that the practice involved partners.

The guy who killed Jo Cox had attended training camps as well.
posted by Buntix at 6:17 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Suspect in Portland double murder posted white supremacist material online
posted by mumimor at 6:28 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

is there any significance in Jeremy Christian being charged with aggravated murder rather than just the regular sort?

Oregon distinguishes between "murder" (ORS § 163.115) and a more serious charge of "aggravated murder" (ORS § 163.095). Jeremy Christian was probably charged with aggravated murder because more than one victim was killed in the same episode (see ORS § 163.115 (1) (d)). The significance of this is that aggravated murder is the only crime subject to capital punishment in Oregon (although it has been more than 20 years since an execution in Oregon).
posted by RichardP at 6:42 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here we go. Happy Sunday!

It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017

Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017

….it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 6:45 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

Oh, good, he has his phone back. Here are his statements, in chronological order:

Big win in Montana for Republicans!
Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!
It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.
Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names....
....it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!
Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won? V was poorly covered

NBC: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Sunday condemned intelligence leaks after the Manchester attack as "darn close to treason."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:46 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

The negation of that sentence is "We can foresee Donald Trump causing a nuclear armageddon", and I think they're perfectly right.

Oh, how long can trusty President Trumpy hold out? How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence? Will his tortured mind give in to its uncontrollable desires? Can he withstand the temptation to push the button that, even now, beckons him closer? Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history? At the MERE PUSH of a SINGLE BUTTON! The beeyootiful shiny button! The jolly candy-like button! Will he hold out, folks? CAN he hold out?
posted by entropicamericana at 6:56 AM on May 28, 2017 [20 favorites]

The most generous explanation for McMaster's behaviour is that he might feel that he has to remain in the administration because Trump has his tiny fingers on the nuclear button.

Oooh, yes! That's exactly how it will play out!
One day, when the day of reckoning comes (and God, do I hope that it will come), all those scumbags that Trump has surrounded himself with will be all like "I had to stay there and play along. If I'd jumped ship, the situation would have been much worse. This way, I could at least talk him out of doing much bigger damage."

To which Jared Kushner will add: "And that is exactly why I was trying to establish back-channel communications with Russia. It was my patriotic duty, you see?"

God, they are all gonna go home free, aren't they?
posted by sour cream at 7:02 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Trump: Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won? V was poorly covered

Didn't he say exactly the same thing about Kansas?
posted by Room 101 at 7:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.

Way ahead of you Donny, I been assuming maybe a 10% rate of fabrication for some time.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 7:11 AM on May 28, 2017

"darn close to treason"

leaking information about an ongoing police investigation: possibly felonious, not treason

attempting to set up a secure backchannel to an adversary state: light treason
posted by murphy slaw at 7:18 AM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the ~~#FakeNews media~~ White House Staff.

FTFY
posted by murphy slaw at 7:19 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

German media: The past few days - especially the G7 summit - obviously do not let them go. And so she uses her speech in the face of the serious crisis of the G7 alliance and profound differences with the US to a passionate plea for Europe. "The times when we could completely rely on others are a little over, I've seen in the last few days," she says. The 2500 in the tent seem to realize how serious the Chancellor is, applause for a minute, when Merkel warns: "We Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:40 AM on May 28, 2017 [32 favorites]

Aside from a few of his pet subjects, such as immigration, Trump seems to have almost no effect on the workings of the federal government. What we have seen is a demonstration that it is actually a fairly robust establishment.

If you live a life of privilege.

If you don't live in fear of your own damned government.

In times like this, the people who get screwed are those on society's margins. The poor, minorities, etc. The destruction runs downhill.

Trump can do major, lasting damage. Worse, his administration seems to have no problem giving state secrets to a hostile foreign country, endangering us in unimaginable ways.
posted by zarq at 7:43 AM on May 28, 2017 [54 favorites]

So, lots of time to condemn the media this morning but nothing to say about a white supremacist killing two people?
posted by nubs at 7:44 AM on May 28, 2017 [17 favorites]

So, lots of time to condemn the media this morning but nothing to say about a white supremacist killing two people?

You don't want to alienate your base, after all.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:45 AM on May 28, 2017 [13 favorites]

I can't keep up with what sources are good & what sources are bogus, but The Intercept had an article about yet another asshole cesspool - a "competitor of Blackwater" - from NC, being involved in the defeat of Standing Rock.

More cesspool search results here.

I want to move in with Vincente Fox now, please.
posted by yoga at 7:53 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

The latest batch of Trump tweets includes the non-Trumpian disclaimers of "It is my opinion" and "it is very possible". Is this what Trump's tweets look like vetted by lawyers?
posted by peeedro at 7:56 AM on May 28, 2017 [12 favorites]

He's still going. @realdonaldtrump: British Prime Minister May was very angry that the info the U.K. gave to U.S. about Manchester was leaked. Gave me full details!

I wouldn't be surprised if he gave some sort of bizarro press conference this week.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:56 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

So, lots of time to condemn the media this morning but nothing to say about a white supremacist killing two people?

Or a white supremacist killing an active military officer because he was black
posted by schadenfrau at 8:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [33 favorites]

So, lots of time to condemn the media this morning but nothing to say about a white supremacist killing two people?

Just the fifty or so comments as it unfolded upthread. Would someone please make an FPP for that?
posted by petebest at 8:04 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

I see the value in looking at patterns that do not match the expected ones, and investigating why. If the reason is voter preference, than that should be easy enough to discern by looking closer.

It's horseshit, to a degree that doesn't speak well of the honesty of the person creating it. The big shocking graph of Forsyth County? Because larger precincts tend to be more Republican. This took about 20 seconds to copy, paste into stata, and check.

Please don't get all "Well it's good that we checked." They should have checked something that obvious before they started blethering about it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:07 AM on May 28, 2017

What if he is replaced by a right-wing extremist who operates on an alternative set of “facts”? So much the better, I say.

How's the accelerationism working out so far?

I'll raise you that and go one higher: how about every adult American in the government resign, so Trump has to replace them all with barely literate eight year olds? That will teach this administration to dick around with people!

Except it won't, of course, because it turns out that "let this administration fail" only works if you're comfortably insulated from everything they could do. Which is only true if you're in a secret colony on Mars somewhere. Everyone else is at risk from their actions. (Our actions. The United States is us.)

There are things you can't walk away from. There is such a thing as too big to fail, and this is one such case.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 8:18 AM on May 28, 2017 [12 favorites]

The leader of the free world.

@YanniKouts:
Merkel: We can't rely on the US anymore. I have experienced this in the last days. We Europeans should take destiny in our own hands. ~@BILD
posted by chris24 at 8:22 AM on May 28, 2017 [45 favorites]

Remember when Republicans accused Obama of damaging our alliances?
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:25 AM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

Merkel: Fuck the US. I'm drinking this beer.
posted by Yowser at 8:28 AM on May 28, 2017 [14 favorites]

Everyone's liking Merkel and Macron and so on these days... perhaps there really is no alternative.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 8:33 AM on May 28, 2017

Video of the Merkel speech.
posted by chris24 at 8:33 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

So basically Trump supports assaulting reporters for asking questions. We all knew that but his failure to condemn Gianforte and focus instead on his win confirms it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:50 AM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

We Europeans should take destiny in our own hands.

If we're all trapped in a tv series based on Ken MacLeod books and they're going to build the Europawehr, I'm moving to Norlonto.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:53 AM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Remember when Republicans accused Obama of damaging our alliances?

Remember when Republicans had a tantrum over the "apology tour"?

Hold my beer....
posted by Talez at 8:57 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

Europe can't rely on the US & the UK anymore and "must take destiny in own hands".

I know Merkel is definitely one of the good ones, but when I hear those words I can't help but picture a shape with lion body and the head of a man, moving its slow thighs.
posted by Miko at 9:02 AM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

On the one hand, I like Merkel and think her intent is serious. On the other, you probably have to view this kind of statement at least in part in the context of the upcoming German elections.
posted by Slothrup at 9:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

In which the President of the United States of America not-so-surreptitiously flips off the Prime Minister of Italy.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:04 AM on May 28, 2017 [35 favorites]

G7 - 1 = G6

The chancellor spoke after returning from a G7 summit that ended on Saturday without a deal between the US and the other six major advanced nations on upholding the 2015 Paris climate accords.

Merkel said the result of the “six against one” discussion was “very difficult, if not to say very unsatisfactory”.

Trump offered a more positive assessment on Twitter on Sunday, writing: “Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!”

Merkel says EU cannot completely rely on US and Britain any more (Graunaid)
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:05 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

I find the Merkel comments so sobering. I lived in Germany for a year thanks to a scholarship in which the German parliament and American Congress pay for an exchange program for high schoolers. This was in 1996-7. The exchange program the scholarship fed me into was established after WWII to foster goodwill between the nations by exposing some people to real-life conditions in postwar Germany/America.

At the time, the Germans I met had some reservations about America. George W. Bush wasn't in office yet, but there was a view that Americans might not be trustworthy, that we lived in a crime-riddled society, were fake and materialistic, and thought we were better than everyone else. It wasn't even a decade since the wall fell and everything was still shaking itself out in Germany. But all in all the tone I met with was "we aren't sure how we feel about Americans but they are our allies and always will be, we will never lose the bond we forged after WWII and we will share the stage as world powers. Here, want a piece of bread with lard and onions on it?" People were willing to have those assumptions challenged because of the geopolitical legacy of the two countries as allies.

My year in Germany completely changed my life. I came back fluent in German and with a vastly expanded view not just of other people and myself, but of the bigger forces that shape the world stage. Every single German I met was nothing less than gracious and welcoming, and once I showed that I was willing to try to learn their language and something more about them, they opened up even more.

This is a dark day for me. I did not come home German—in some ways the program made me realize even more how American I am. But Germany and our relationship with them is so important to me, and to have finally lost their trust as a nation after everything is just so horrible and sad.
posted by mynameisluka at 9:08 AM on May 28, 2017 [93 favorites]

(And all of this is even after I take the upcoming German elections and the evolving EU landscape into consideration. For Merkel to be saying this in public at political events is a big deal.)
posted by mynameisluka at 9:09 AM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Everyone's liking Merkel and Macron and so on these days... perhaps there really is no alternative.

unfortunately it looks like it's going to be years of dutifully electing Not-Nazis before we can be extremely picky about who the Not-Nazis are.

part of our work will be electing more suitable candidates into the lower echelons of the existing power structures.

it's not going to get better overnight but we still have a responsibility to keep it from getting worse.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:10 AM on May 28, 2017 [28 favorites]

Merkel Is sadly correct, and I'm glad she stated the obvious.
posted by Artw at 9:15 AM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

Europe can't rely on the US & the UK anymore and "must take destiny in own hands".

Even if nothing else comes of Trump's presidency, Putin can rest easy knowing he's managed to drive a giant wedge in the middle of the western world carving a wound that will take decades if not centuries to heal.
posted by Talez at 9:21 AM on May 28, 2017 [27 favorites]

Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won? V was poorly covered

So this, and a couple of other things on the overseas trip, really crystallized for me what Trump's major issue is: He sees the Presidency as a reward for winning the election, rather than as a job in and of itself.

That's why he gets upset at the popular vote and the size of the election crowds and why he hands out maps of his electoral victory: Because he thinks that all of the policymaking is something that a President gets to do, not has to do. He gets mad when people don't let him do whatever he wants because they can't see what is obvious to him: they have to let him give executive orders and enact a budget and whatever else, because he won. Everything about the job is a perk. He took Jared into the meeting with Netanyahu rather than Tillerson or McMaster because meeting with the PM of Israel is a reward for winning the election, not an important piece of diplomacy that has to be handled by professionals. He butted to the front of the line for the photo because he won a bigger election than any of those other people. He rode a golf cart because walking isn't a perk. The media should be covering Gianforte even more after the election as a reward for winning.

And he's always thought like this. Look at what the winners of The Apprentice got: bullshit PR no-show gigs. The "position" that people were "interviewing" for on that show was never really a job, because Trump doesn't know what a job really even is. He knows "winning" and "rewards", because that's all he's ever been given.
posted by Etrigan at 9:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [136 favorites]

> In which the President of the United States of America not-so-surreptitiously flips off the Prime Minister of Italy

Surely this! Glad that's finally sorted.
posted by stonepharisee at 9:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

I am both fascinated and repulsed by all things Ivanka and can't wait to see where she ends up after this.
posted by lalex at 8:56 PM on May 27 [1 favorite +] [!]

Prison?
posted by downtohisturtles at 9:03 PM on May 27 [20 favorites +] [!]

The real test of rehabilitation is whether she ends up being good friends with Snoop Dog.
posted by srboisvert at 9:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [8 favorites]

I wouldn't trust the current U.S. administration to help run a children's lemonade stand at this point. First they'd go out of their way to alienate everyone whose absolute favourite drink isn't lemonade. Then they'd run it into bankruptcy and sell it to LemonCo Inc., who would double the price and switch from fresh-squeezed to a powdered mix. Then they'd give some neighborhood kids a few bucks to go around and wreck any competing stands so everyone was forced to buy their crappy, overpriced lemonade.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

Even if nothing else comes of Trump's presidency, Putin can rest easy knowing he's managed to drive a giant wedge in the middle of the western world carving a wound that will take decades if not centuries to heal.

As 45 himself said: “Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!”

posted by Devonian at 9:26 AM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

So what happened to the visit with the Queen of England and all that? Did it just get cancelled?
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:27 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

So what happened to the visit with the Queen of England and all that? Did it just get cancelled?

They rescheduled it for the summer when Parliament was due to be in recess so that Trump wouldn't be embarrassed by heckling, jeering, or the speaker outright telling him no and to fuck off back where he came from.
posted by Talez at 9:30 AM on May 28, 2017 [38 favorites]

Also they plan to get him out of London up to Balmoral ASAP so that his feewings won't get hurt by all the protesters who are going to show up in Westminster.
posted by Talez at 9:33 AM on May 28, 2017

Hey, can someone make an animated GIF of Trump's bird flip followed by the smile right at the camera?

JEEBUS.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:34 AM on May 28, 2017

Way ahead of you Donny, I been assuming maybe a 10% rate of fabrication for some time.

Wasn't there a Politico or Hill article about white house staffers competing to get the most outrageous lies into the press?
posted by srboisvert at 9:35 AM on May 28, 2017

Russia scandal ices government lawyer hiring
Trump has top DOJ positions as well as U.S. attorney posts and judicial vacancies to fill, but as scandals spread the candidate pool has shrunk.

And in stupider news:

Donald Trump on Saturday capped off his gaffe-filled international tour by referring to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Justin from Canada.”

Also, the page is pretty much not loading anymore, so excuse the non-preview.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:35 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also they plan to get him out of London up to Balmoral ASAP so that his feewings won't get hurt by all the protesters who are going to show up in Westminster.

Balmoral! Great! The queen can take him for a nice pastoral drive.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:37 AM on May 28, 2017 [42 favorites]

Balmoral! Great! The queen can take him for a nice pastoral drive.

I expect him to say something stupid like "it's great to be back in jolly old England" while in Scotland.
posted by Talez at 9:40 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Hey, can someone make an animated GIF of Trump's bird flip followed by the smile right at the camera?

https://twitter.com/fcummins/status/868869454167453696
posted by stonepharisee at 9:43 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Queenie is nearly 100, and I don't think she's doing the assault course driving thing any more.

However, technically, she is not subject to the law, so could just stick his head on a pike outside the Tower instead. ([true] but possibly [false] if she actually did it, the UK constitution is like that...)
posted by Devonian at 9:46 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

> In which the President of the United States of America not-so-surreptitiously flips off the Prime Minister of Italy .

Please note that the source of the Youtube link is a Trumpian fan channel and that the comments are eating it up. While we here on the Blue are appalled at Trump's behavior, from his major diplomatic blunders to such petty gestures, his nativist base applauds it all. That's his intended audience when he tweets about his trip being "a great success for America" with "big results".

He also put off his announcement about the Paris climate accord, like a cheesy cliffhanger, until he got back just so he could have the spotlight again. This is what having a reality show host/nativist demagogue in the Oval Office means.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:47 AM on May 28, 2017 [21 favorites]

Ugh, just got into a fight with my aunt (I've mentioned her before. Claims to be a democrat but loved Palin and now Trump. And yes, she's pretty racist). Now I'm sitting outside because apparently I'm at the point where I can't even be in the room with a Trump supporter without shaking in rage. But you know what? I'm right and don't feel bad.
posted by downtohisturtles at 9:48 AM on May 28, 2017 [90 favorites]

Making nice with these people and giving them the impression that their ideas are normal and acceptable is one of the ways we got here. You are right and shouldn't feel bad for ostracizing.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:51 AM on May 28, 2017 [75 favorites]

….it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy! — DJT, May 28, 2017

All leaks henceforth should be attributed to either John Barron or John Miller.
posted by GrammarMoses at 9:52 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Trump has top DOJ positions as well as U.S. attorney posts and judicial vacancies to fill, but as scandals spread the candidate pool has shrunk.

Who's going to be dumb enough to climb on this sinking ship now? Being associated with this administration is at best going to hurt your reputation and at worst land you in jail; even lawyers from Liberty Baptist aren't going to risk it.
posted by octothorpe at 10:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

2017 - the year everyone stayed home for Thanksgiving.
posted by Artw at 10:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [35 favorites]

Oh yeah, no more Thanksgivings. I moved out to California on my own and my aunt was the only family I had out here, so she was the default for holidays/etc. But not now.
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:06 AM on May 28, 2017 [6 favorites]

2017 - the next year everyone stayed home for Thanksgiving.

Yeah, we're done there.
posted by petebest at 10:14 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wow.

Macron finally speaks out about the Trump handshake: "it wasn't innocent"

My handshake with him, it wasn’t innocent," Macron said. "One must show that you won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones, but also not over-publicize things, either."

posted by Room 641-A at 10:14 AM on May 28, 2017 [83 favorites]

Of all the batshit things that have happened in the last few weeks, Merkel (correctly) saying that Germany can no longer rely on America has me closest to tears. This is just a tragedy.

Actually, I think she was speaking for all of Europe.
posted by sour cream at 10:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [40 favorites]

Wow, Trump at the G7, he's literally not fit to be in the room. I saw the speech to the end, and then all the cameras were removed in a rather dramatic manner. I guess someone realized what had just happened and found it fit to control the damage before a black person started speaking.
posted by mumimor at 10:27 AM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

video of some kayakers practicing for a protest today at Trump's PGA golf tour.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:35 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

2017 - the next year everyone stayed home for Thanksgiving.

At Thanksgiving I told my one conservative relative, "let's not fight -- by this time next year you'll know that Trump is a terrible president." (And if he faces facts, then I've got a fat arsenal of facts on my side.)
posted by puddledork at 10:37 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm sorry, did Trump just admit to leaking intel on his Twitter account?
posted by Yowser at 10:39 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Merkel: Fuck the US. I'm drinking this beer.

And drink beer is exactly what she did after the speech.
posted by chris24 at 10:39 AM on May 28, 2017 [18 favorites]

At Thanksgiving I told my one conservative relative, "let's not fight -- by this time next year you'll know that Trump is a terrible president." (And if he faces facts, then I've got a fat arsenal of facts on my side.)

If he identifies as a Republican, there's a 75-80+% chance that I have some bad news for you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:42 AM on May 28, 2017 [20 favorites]

Egg has as good of summary as any.

@Evan_McMullin:
Kushner didn't propose a "back channel" on behalf of the US Government. It was a means of covert comms for the benefit of the Trump family.
posted by chris24 at 10:42 AM on May 28, 2017 [87 favorites]

Yeah, I heard someone on tv this weekend (because I guess I'm watching TV news now, fuck) that the media needs to stop calling it a back channel. Back channels are legit, this was a way to evade US intelligence and law enforcement. Plus what Egg said, above.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:00 AM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

Whoa whoa whoa. People are dumb enough to think of this as a government backchannel and not a Trump backchannel? Ehhh.... I guess I need to more thoroughly cover all the avenues for dumbness.
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

No, I thought it was more so people like whatshisface can't defend it or hand-wave it away by claiming that back channels are used all the time. So as not to normalize the events that actually took place, I guess.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:08 AM on May 28, 2017

Fortunately, my being a Hillary supporter puts me on the far right side of my family's political spectrum. I've gotten into a few "Bernie would have won arguments" but no one is even close to supporting Trump.

Same here; I live in "whaddya mean, people can't afford Whole Foods?" territory. Once in a while I'll point out that a lot of people west of here are angry, so perhaps there's a (misguided) reason why they voted for T. And I still get funny looks.
posted by Melismata at 11:08 AM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Looking for more videos from the G7, it was striking how Trump was isolated/isolating himself throughout. Regardless of politics, it can't be a good thing that the president of the US is isolated from the other world leaders. On commentator even said it was more like the G6, because Trump was outside of the common agreement on climate.
Obviously, he is behaving like a bull in a china store, but I'm wondering wether they are also holding back because they know he is a liability and they can't even share normal world leader stuff with him?
posted by mumimor at 11:10 AM on May 28, 2017 [15 favorites]

@PhilipinDC:
Leaving this here without comment. A senior administration official to reporters on Air Force One:

And so, l'll just implore you all, whether
you're talking about our successes on trade
and migration in the G7 or summit in Saudi
Arabia, to tell the story back home about
what an unprecedentedly and historically
successful trip this was by an incredible
leader and an amazing man who has done
extraordinary things in a very short time for
the country he loves and the people of
America that he serves so faithfully.
Thank you.

posted by chris24 at 11:24 AM on May 28, 2017 [23 favorites]

my third-party voting in PA family member Sanders supporter will go on and on and ON about how horrible Trump is. I just don't grok her. If we had a more honest relationship, I'd ask her like 'doesn't it feel weird complaining after you voted third party' but then she would start talking about how the DNC failed in not offering solutions to the WWC and well then the red haze of rage would ensue on my end, I guess.
posted by angrycat at 11:26 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

So three days ago I made this comment

Today Merkel said this and the AFP page is missing although screen caps abound
posted by infini at 11:27 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

And so, l'll just implore you all, whether
you're talking about our successes on trade
and migration in the G7 or summit in Saudi
Arabia, to tell the story back home about
what an unprecedentedly and historically
successful trip this was by an incredible

most important word highlighted
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:33 AM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

my third-party voting in PA family member Sanders supporter will go on and on and ON about how horrible Trump is. I just don't grok her. If we had a more honest relationship, I'd ask her like 'doesn't it feel weird complaining after you voted third party' but then she would start talking about how the DNC failed in not offering solutions to the WWC and well then the red haze of rage would ensue on my end, I guess.

They just say stupid shit like "I voted for the right person. Everyone else needs to wake up and vote third party instead of the Democrats".
posted by Talez at 11:33 AM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Let's refloat the Titanic before we try rearranging the deck chairs, here.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:39 AM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

A senior administration official to reporters on Air Force One

John Barron or Meredith McIver?
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 11:55 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Couple comments removed. Please cool it pronto; it's a long weekend and I've got even less patience than usual for an nth round of internecine sniping.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:03 PM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

They are giving away tickets to the Trump PGA golf tour today. Sad.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:19 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Looking for more videos from the G7, it was striking how Trump was isolated/isolating himself throughout. Regardless of politics, it can't be a good thing that the president of the US is isolated from the other world leaders.

Yeah. It reminds me of how after the Al Smith dinner, Hillary stuck around to talk to everyone while Trump and his family quickly exited. His unwillingness to engage in the everyday soft diplomacy of small talk and remembering names will have more negative consequences than his tendency to say outlandish things on the reg. :\
posted by Emily's Fist at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2017 [12 favorites]

but then she would start talking about how the DNC failed in not offering solutions to the WWC

Something something most progressive Democratic platform ever something something Sanders influenced.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:34 PM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

From The Nation: Trump DOJ perverting a technicality to demand that immigration attorneys drop their clients. Law firms fight back.
posted by bz at 12:45 PM on May 28, 2017 [29 favorites]

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that former FBI Director James Comey would have been "incredibly incompetent" if he took actions based on email he knew to be fake.

"He talked to members of the Senate and House intel committee that he was sitting on emails that the Russians had between the Democratic Party and the Department of Justice that were highly explosive," Graham said. "He never once told a member of the House or the Senate that he thought the email was fake."

So Comey is looking worse every day. He was feeding Russian disinformation that he knew was false to Congress. And he used this false information to slander his boss Loretta Lynch as an excuse to cut her out of the loop and justify his political attack on Clinton.

Of course Republicans were demanding that Comey go all out on Clinton because he was intentionally riling them up with Russian lies implying that Lynch was crooked.

Comey had it in for Clinton all along. He was abusing the FBI intelligence system to justify his crusade.
posted by JackFlash at 12:54 PM on May 28, 2017 [22 favorites]

Two great segments on AM Joy this morning:

DNC refuses to face Joy Reid’s panel on ignored black women voters — and insists spokesman must appear alone

George Takei scorches racist Star Trek critics: ‘In this society we have alien life forms we call trolls’
posted by Room 641-A at 1:03 PM on May 28, 2017 [13 favorites]

NYT: The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’

The British are known to take matters of heraldry seriously, and Mr. Trump’s American coat of arms belongs to another family. It was granted by British authorities in 1939 to Joseph Edward Davies, the third husband of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the socialite who built the Mar-a-Lago resort that is now Mr. Trump’s cherished getaway.

In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”

He tried to use the thing in Scotland, but was prevented from doing so by the Lyon King of Arms Act of 1672, which I presume they keep around just for assholes like Donald Trump. And because 2017 isn't weird enough:

There is one historical parallel between Mr. Trump and Mr. Davies.

Both men were controversially pro-Russian. Mr. Davies, who played an important role as a go-between for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Soviets, has been criticized for being taken in by Stalin’s propaganda machine.

posted by zachlipton at 1:03 PM on May 28, 2017 [58 favorites]

the DNC failed in not offering solutions to the WWC
As a graduate of Warren Wilson College, this tickles me everytime.
posted by piglord at 1:03 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”

Heraldry is extremely standardized: that's always the spot where the motto goes. So the motto of the Trump family is "Trump."
posted by theodolite at 1:13 PM on May 28, 2017 [36 favorites]

So the motto of the Trump family is "Trump."
well, FWIW, that makes sense
posted by mumimor at 1:28 PM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

So the motto of the Trump family is "Trump."

I can't possibly think of a better metaphor for what goes on inside that man's head.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:29 PM on May 28, 2017 [45 favorites]

I made the mistake of learning the basics of heraldry many years ago, with the result that I go through life constantly noticing people Doing It Wrong. My local pub has just designed a new coat of arms for itself and it has a white diagonal on a white field (i.e. argent, a bend sinister argent). And some of the charges are in heraldic style and some aren’t! I really hate the fact that it annoys me, because the whole thing is a ridiculous feudal throw-back… but it does.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:30 PM on May 28, 2017 [14 favorites]

From 2008:

The crest shows the Trump name along with a spear-wielding fist above a knight's helmet on a shield of lions and chevrons and is understood to have been designed by the tycoon himself.

No, he literally stole it and (in an excessively blatant bit by earlier scriptwriters) he took off the word "Integritas" (integrity) and replaced it with "Trump".
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:34 PM on May 28, 2017 [18 favorites]

They could just acknolwledge the possible conflusion by changing the motto.

"Trump, non integritas."

That should clear things up.
posted by jaduncan at 1:53 PM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

The Trump family motto should be "Videri quam esse."
posted by biogeo at 1:57 PM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

The Trump family motto should be "Videri quam esse."

Given his gilded dollar store style wouldn't the generic "dum spiro spero" be more appropriate?
posted by Talez at 2:07 PM on May 28, 2017

I thought we already agreed on "carpe vaginam."
posted by Behemoth at 2:12 PM on May 28, 2017 [52 favorites]

This is fine:

Defense secretary Mattis says US policy against Isis is now 'annihilation'

The whole ME policy of this administration is a time bomb, and in my mind scarier than their collusion with Russia. Though it might well be two ends of the same stick.

It's not so much that I think the Saudis will go to war with Iran (outside of Yemen), among their many detestable traits, the Saudis are bunch of spoilt cowards. It's more that we are now back to what created 9/11, only times ten as ugly: the US upholding corrupt regimes across the Middle East. Back in the day, there was at least the argument that since the US was dependent on Gulf oil, it was necessary to embrace Gulf dictators. Now that argument is almost reversed: while the rest of the world (and the US until a few months ago) are aiming for less dependence on fossil fuels and also more diverse sourcing of the fossils fuels we still use, Trump, with Tillerson of all people as his secretary of state, wants to reengage with Gulf leaders, with fossils fuels and with Sunni-Shia drama. I think even a 16-yo high-schooler can see how corrupt this is. And in all the countries, regions and areas where 16-yo high-schoolers have no future, that will be a problem.
posted by mumimor at 2:14 PM on May 28, 2017 [17 favorites]

Meanwhile Cory Booker thinks its too soon to revoke Kushner's security clearance. Not great look for someone who wants to be the Democratic nominee in 2020.

Question: "Do you think Kushner's security clearance should be revoked or at least suspended?"
Cory Booker: "No, I think we first need to get to the bottom of this."

Get to the bottom of this?
Sheesh, can't you get to the bottom of this while Kushner's security clearance is at least suspended? What a bunch of total whimps! What is wrong with Demcrats? Trump was calling for Clinton to be put in prison for having a private email server - Kushner is asking for a private telephone line to the Kremlin from the Russian embassy and you can't even find it in your heart to frigging suspend his security clearance?

For what it's worth Mr. Booker, you don't need to get to the bottom. You already are the bottom. Trump and his cronies are the tops. That's just the way they like it and it's going to stay that way until you grow a pair of balls - or find someone in the Democratic party who has some.
posted by sour cream at 2:16 PM on May 28, 2017 [41 favorites]

I'm just going to quote myself from up this thread:

What I want to say is, that when we get impatient and/or run out of evens and surely this's, remember that most people, even most smart wonks are not that aware of what is going on. It takes time to distribute all the information to all the relevant people, and for some, there are significant mental firewalls against that information. I'm not just talking about right wing politicians and publicists. A lot of sane, thoughtful and liberal people I know find it hard to accept the level of competence of the Trump administration. They can't accept the US is ruled by a bunch of corrupt crooks who are also ignorant of almost everything, because that knowledge breaks their core beliefs.
posted by mumimor at 2:19 PM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

Ivanka and Jared did host two fundraisers for Booker and maxed out their contributions, not that there's likely to be more money in the future either way.
posted by zachlipton at 2:24 PM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

Dod anyone yet link this from the NY Times?

Kushnerville

The poor woman who legally got out of her lease early, only to be hounded for years for $4000 back rent, to the point of having wages garnished.

Fuck Jared Kushner to fucking hell.
posted by NorthernLite at 2:33 PM on May 28, 2017 [30 favorites]

There is a credible argument against assuming that Kushner is guilty. The evidence for Kushner requesting that the Russians set up a secure communication link for him comes from intercepts of the Russian ambassador. The ambassador must have known that there was a chance that he was being monitored so it's odd that he'd include the Kushner stuff in his transmissions to the Kremlin. Flynn was at the meeting. If Flynn confirms that Kushner asked to use the Russians' channel, then Kushner is sunk so Flynn has something to trade for immunity. We'll see.
posted by rdr at 2:33 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

The evidence for Kushner requesting that the Russians set up a secure communication link for him comes from intercepts of the Russian ambassador.

Which we haven't seen, let alone tested against the complex calculus of revealed agency intelligence.

I think more seductive hints come from how the WH (or whichever faction one feels is most representative of who's actually exerting the most influence on whatever's going on in there) has moved to justify the 'back channel'/espionage claims as being unremarkable and what everyone does all the time anyway (it so isn't).

In other words, if this didn't happen then the field would be clear for incandescent righteous denial.

God, and I thought my Kremlinology tendencies had been deprecated this past quarter century.
posted by Devonian at 2:56 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

Actually, it's unknown if the information came from an intercept, and also multiple sources aware of the conversation have confirmed that Kushner asked for the secret direct channel to the Russian government. He still may not be guilty of treason, but he's guilty as heck of concealing this request, one which compromised him far more than Flynn's meetings.

Kushner will ask to be removed from the White House soon, along with Ivanka (who is also now compromised). I have no doubt about this. Simply asking for the direct communication, behind the president and the U.S. government's back, is likely a crime. What remains to be seen is the extent and content of Kushner's collusion with the Russians. If there is any, the president will have to pardon him.
posted by xammerboy at 3:02 PM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Y'all remember that story from January about how the golfer Bernhard Langer apparently told Trump a weird racist story about how he wasn't allowed to vote (he's not a citizen), but other people in line "who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote" were?

Well the writers decided to bring that particular storyline back up: Bernhard Langer won the Senior PGA Championship at Trump National in Virginia.
posted by zachlipton at 3:07 PM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

Forget the back channels for now. We know that Kushner lied multiple times and omitted meetings with Russians on his security clearance form. That's enough for a suspension:

Ted Lieu @tedlieu
Certification for my SF86 security clearance form, which says false statement punishable by imprisonment. Jared Kushner lied on his form (Photo)

Also, this just in from Ted Lieu:

Dear Jared: I have been told that Siberia, Russia has lovely weather this time of the year. You can backpack and back-channel all you want. Attached to the tweet is this article:

Jared Kushner under pressure to take a leave of absence from the White House: report
posted by Room 641-A at 3:12 PM on May 28, 2017 [62 favorites]

fivethirtyeight: Will Donald Trump Be Impeached?

"This might all seem like a liberal fantasy: No president has ever been booted out of the job, and only Richard Nixon resigned under the pressure of the impeachment process.

But people putting money on the line are taking impeachment seriously. According to the prediction market Betfair, the chance that Trump will fail to serve out his four-year term is about 50 percent (!). There’s even a 20 to 25 percent probability (!!) that Trump doesn’t finish out 2017 in office, these bettors reckon."

The article explores the history and mechanics of impeachment and distills and examines 6 factors that, in the opinion of Nate Silver, contribute to an impeachment of Pres 45.
posted by bz at 3:34 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Just sounds like Booker is being "conservative" (as in the definition "cautious") not to get ahead of the narrative, and if there is a political purpose to that, it's to be seen as more "reasonable/level-headed" than other candidates when the time for campaigning starts (California's Jerry Brown has been guilty of it a few times, with his classic "accepting Prop 13" stance and a few times during his current term... why he's doing it now is a mystery if he has no further ambition; come on Jerry, go for broke on Single Payer California!!)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:44 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ted Lieu is a state, if not national, treasure. Speaking of local, if he primaries Dianne Feinstein I will throw every dime I can spare at him. Otherwise, I want to see if I can help Cali's red districts flip blue. I live in a district with a great representative (who is on the Medicare for All committee!) and at least Dianne F. is a Democrat, so I don't have to "get the red out" in my immediate area. But I think it could make a big difference in Congress if CA had just a few more Democratic reps and I think it's definitely possible.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:45 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

FIGHTS ABOUT THE 2020 PRIMARIES WILL BE DELETED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:46 PM on May 28, 2017 [104 favorites]

Kushner will ask to be removed from the White House soon, along with Ivanka (who is also now compromised). I have no doubt about this.

i dunno, trump stalled on flynn for 18 days. i think he's capable of stonewalling for this favorite daughter's favorite boy for a lot longer than that – unless his own skin is directly on the line.

i'd say that if kushner is booted from the white house (with a pardon?) in the next seven days, there's a pee tape or much, much worse.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:02 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Trump isn't going to pardon Kushner until and unless he gets charged with something. Well, I suppose if Trump were about to be impeached or resign he would issue blanket pardons. But there's absolutely no reason for him to start issuing pardons right now.
posted by Justinian at 4:05 PM on May 28, 2017

Sam Stein goes ridiculously mind-numbingly deep on The Madness And Science Behind The Donald Trump Handshake:

If you want to better understand Donald Trump ― his presidency, his approach personal diplomacy, even his psyche ― simply follow his hands.

Those hands, and their unexceptional digits, have been the source of immense insecurity, prompting him to lash out at critics and boast about his genitalia. They give insights into his marriage for the way they search ― ever so subtly and often unsuccessfully ― for his wife’s embrace. They tell us about his comfort in office as he attempts to find his footing on the world stage. And they illustrate his preoccupation with imagery and the role it plays in advancing his agenda.

posted by zachlipton at 4:11 PM on May 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

If the reasonable choice is to not pardon anyone, then we can expect pardons any day now. I feel like it will follow the pattern of Comey's firing. A moment of panic and everything will go to hell (for him).
posted by honestcoyote at 4:12 PM on May 28, 2017

A leave of absence for Kushner? Wow, the mood in the White House must be vicious. I can't imagine Trump going for it though: it's too close to home.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:18 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

He'll be stepping aside to spend less time with his family?
posted by peeedro at 4:23 PM on May 28, 2017 [117 favorites]

Ted Lieu is a state, if not national, treasure.

National.

i dunno, trump stalled on flynn for 18 days. i think he's capable of stonewalling for this favorite daughter's favorite boy for a lot longer than that – unless his own skin is directly on the line.

I feel like Kushner is the perfect scapegoat, and I bet a lot of R's do too.
posted by bongo_x at 4:58 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

wut

@realDonaldTrump
I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead - the Republicans will do much better!
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:00 PM on May 28, 2017 [16 favorites]

Steve Bannon has been waiting for a chance to get back at Jared.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:01 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

add more dollars to Healthcare

They can't, can they? Reconciliation rules require they save just as much money?

I guess they can drop some of the tax cuts. I HOPE Trump presses for that. He'll be impeached in no time. What's he for if not to sign tax cuts into law? They have no incentive to keep him around if he won't do that.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:04 PM on May 28, 2017

add more dollars to Healthcare

...this is his "Make the pie higher", isn't it?
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:06 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

The second tweet: The massive TAX CUTS/REFORM that I have submitted is moving along in the process very well, actually ahead of schedule. Big benefits to all!

How do "massive TAX CUTS" square with "add more dollars to Healthcare?" Does he have any clue what's actually in his proposals? No.
posted by zachlipton at 5:08 PM on May 28, 2017 [32 favorites]

we can take the money we save the american people with the tax cuts and spend it on healthcare!
posted by murphy slaw at 5:09 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

They can't, can they? Reconciliation rules require they save just as much money?

You're reacting to the tweet as though it actually means something and isn't simply a world salad reflection of whatever fever dream is currently occupying the President's "mind".
posted by Justinian at 5:10 PM on May 28, 2017 [37 favorites]

you know, i knew trump had no idea how the budget worked, i suspected that he had no idea how the government worked, but those tweets make me suspect he has no idea how money works.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:13 PM on May 28, 2017 [56 favorites]

Big benefits to all!

This is, shall we say, a pretty große Lüge.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:14 PM on May 28, 2017 [6 favorites]

Time for another Daily Beast gripe session though: President Trump Turned International Diplomacy Into A Fistfight—And Lost

“When it comes to diplomacy, President Trump is a drunk tourist,” a State Department official told the Daily Beast. “Loud and tacky, shoving his way around the dance floor. He steps on others without realizing it. It’s ineffectual.”

That's not a foreign diplomat talking; that's someone who works for our government. And: Team Trump Rallies Around ‘Made Man’ Jared Kushner as Tensions Mount

Multiple White House sources told The Daily Beast this weekend that Trump’s aides and advisers in the West Wing—even those who are “very annoyed,” as one official described it, with Kushner for what they see as another shambling, self-inflicted wound—are prepared to rally around the the senior adviser, at least publicly.

"He's a made man," one senior administration official said, referring to the fact that Kushner familial bond to Trump makes him virtually untouchable in a White House plagued by infighting and chronic job insecurity. "[Jared] is not going anywhere [and] it doesn't matter what regrettable mistakes he's made."

posted by zachlipton at 5:14 PM on May 28, 2017 [14 favorites]

He's defensive and full of piss and vinegar again. Mostly piss. And I'm not so sure about the vinegar.

@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News Media works hard at disparaging & demeaning my use of social media because they don't want America to hear the real story!
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:23 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Do you think it's possible that the only reason he refrained from ridiculous tweets while he was away was because someone just told him he didn't have an international data plan or smartphones were a uniquely American invention or something?
posted by zachlipton at 5:29 PM on May 28, 2017 [44 favorites]

Do you think he spent the entire trip begging for his phone, or just like 2/3rds of it? I think the real negotiations going on last week were DJT versus the lawyers and his staff over his tweeting rights.
posted by threeturtles at 5:35 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think someone just put his phone in airplane mode.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:39 PM on May 28, 2017 [18 favorites]

Do you think he spent the entire trip begging for his phone, or just like 2/3rds of it?

He spent the entire trip being spoon-fed selected media bites that were all about how awesome the trip has been going.
posted by Etrigan at 5:41 PM on May 28, 2017 [6 favorites]

Christ, those must have been hard to come by.
posted by Artw at 5:43 PM on May 28, 2017 [22 favorites]

The weirdest part is the Portland guy was a Sanders supporter, not a Trumper. What the heck?

I realize this comment is old, but because certain centrists with platforms on Twitter want to re-litigate the primaries over a pair of corpses, it should be pointed out that the murderer, who hates Jews and socialism, couldn't have supported Sanders on more than a superficial level, if he ever really did support him. 4chan types have flooded his Facebook page, calling him a Berniebro in an effort to fool the credulous into thinking that Sanders's policies have significant support from Nazis, or that Medicare-for-all and the $15 minimum wage are Nazi policies. It's classic /pol/ disinformation. Don't fall for it.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:44 PM on May 28, 2017 [45 favorites]

Well that's kind of No True Scotsman but, sure, it makes no sense a racist, anti-semitic white supremacist would support Sanders. Nothing about the past year makes sense. Yet here we are.
posted by Justinian at 5:48 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Christ, those must have been hard to come by.

I'm sure Bannon could supply as many Breitbart fluff articles as were required.
posted by jaduncan at 5:56 PM on May 28, 2017

He was aware enough of the Real News going on to call it Fake News. He might just not be able to Tweet while not in his own bed.

But now that he has returned, he has gone into full "promise everything and take credit for anything good" mode which will make the Republicans in Congress who have to deliver something especially uncomfortable, which will bring the Apocalypse of Lost Support closer for him.

This is no experiment for The Donald, this is just the unaltered way he has always lived his life, leaving nothing but ruins behind him. It'll take a lot of work by a lot of people to limit most of the damage to the Republican Party; just don't rely on a Clinton or Obama to be a savior - it's a massive group effort; based on the current distribution of wealth, it'll take millions of Americans to outweigh the Trumps and their co-defendants.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:08 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Visiting upstate, and the local Sunday paper had a lovely editorial from the EIC about how Trump had a magnificent trip abroad, sticking it to a Europe so obviously starved for real leadership.

I tried to get the cat to shit on it, but the cat has standards.
posted by delfin at 6:12 PM on May 28, 2017 [43 favorites]

I wanna walk out of this movie. The plot (if there is one) is ridiculously over-complicated and full of holes, the characters are skin-deep caricatures, and there's no detectable vestige of artistic life in any of it. This isn't reality it's just dead phenomena. I suppose it's meant to be experimental.

I read this comment and got seriously confused for a moment. A couple of nights ago, I discovered the FanFare section and have been going back and forth between movie reviews and this political thread. Time for a break.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 6:14 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

The weirdest part is the Portland guy was a Sanders supporter, not a Trumper. What the heck?

JJ MacNab pointed out today, obviously I think, that the shooter was likely motivated purely by hatred and rage. At every opportunity he chose whatever he believed might produce the most hurt and/or chaos. He "supported" Sanders only insofar as he hated Clinton, afterwards he apparently supported Trump because he hated ... everthing else. I'm doubtful that the man has much of a coherent ideology beyond that.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:53 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

Friday, it was the NYT publishing the pro-Jared side of things. Tonight, the knives are out. Kushner’s Relationship With Trump Tested as Russia Accusations Swirl. There's a ton in here, including.

In a statement to The New York Times on Sunday night, Mr. Trump said: “Jared is doing a great job for the country. I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person.”
...
The most serious point of contention between the president and his son-in-law, two people familiar with the interactions said, was a video clip this month of Mr. Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, pitching potential investors in Beijing on a Kushner Companies condominium project in Jersey City. At one point, Ms. Meyer — who remains close to her brother — dangled the availability of EB-5 visas to the United States as an enticement for Chinese financiers willing to shell out $500,000 or more.

For Mr. Trump, Ms. Meyer’s performance violated two major rules. Politically, it undercut his immigration crackdown, and in a personal sense, it smacked of profiteering off Mr. Trump — one of the sins that warrants expulsion from his orbit.

In the following days, the president made several snarky, disparaging comments about Mr. Kushner’s family and the visas during routine West Wing meetings that were clearly intended to express his annoyance, two aides said.
...
That unfailing self-regard has not endeared him to the rest of the staff. Resentful Trump staffers have long talked about “Jared Island,” to describe the special status occupied by Mr. Kushner, who, in their view, is given license to exercise power and take on a vague portfolio — “Middle East peace” and “innovation” are its central components — without suffering the consequences of failure visited by the president on mere hirelings.

Adding to the animus: Mr. Kushner’s aloof demeanor and his propensity for avoiding messy aspects of his job that he would simply rather not do — he has told associates he wants nothing to do with the legislative process, for instance. He also has a habit, they say, of disappearing during crises, such as his absence on a family ski trip when Mr. Trump’s first health care bill was crashing in March.

Mr. Bannon, a onetime Kushner ally turned adversary known for working himself into ill health, has taken to comparing the former real estate executive to “the air,” because he blows in and out of meetings leaving little trace, according to one senior Trump aide. Just as Mr. Trump does, he quickly forms fixed opinions about people, sometimes based on scant evidence. But Mr. Kushner is quicker to admit to others when he has misjudged a situation, and to change course.
...
Oftentimes, that entails soothing Mr. Trump. Other times, he serves as a goad, as he did in urging Mr. Comey’s ouster and assuring him that it would be a political “win” that would neutralize protesting Democrats because they had called for his ouster over his handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, according to six West Wing aides.

People Trump says he has "total confidence" in have typically not fared so well. Six White House sources blaming Jared for firing Comey and promising it would be a political "win" is damning.
posted by zachlipton at 7:09 PM on May 28, 2017 [30 favorites]

We're supposed to think that profiteering off Trump is a problem? Did he not get a cut? This is delicious.
posted by mollweide at 7:12 PM on May 28, 2017 [6 favorites]

Trump views every dollar he's ever made as the measure of his existence on this planet. It does no good to him if the profits wind up on someone else's scorecard.

There's also a claim in there that Jared is now not so hot on the Paris Climate Agreement, which reads to me as a deliberate effort for someone on the anti-Jared side to smear him as too right-wing, for the alleged friends of his who still believe he's "the good one."
posted by zachlipton at 7:18 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mr. Bannon, a onetime Kushner ally turned adversary known for working himself into ill health

Yes, working himself into ill health... The piles of coke and gallons of Jack are business expenses, you see.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:28 PM on May 28, 2017 [21 favorites]

he has told associates he wants nothing to do with the legislative process, for instance

continually gobsmacked by these people who want to "run the government like a business" and yet have no idea how anything is actually accomplished within the government.

if someone told you they were going to run a passenger jet like a speedboat, you would think they were crazy, but somehow running the government like a business is just good sense.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:35 PM on May 28, 2017 [48 favorites]

"In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”"
He tried to use the thing in Scotland, but was prevented from doing so by the Lyon King of Arms Act of 1672, which I presume they keep around just for assholes like Donald Trump. And because 2017 isn't weird enough:
"There is one historical parallel between Mr. Trump and Mr. Davies.
Both men were controversially pro-Russian. Mr. Davies, who played an important role as a go-between for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Soviets, has been criticized for being taken in by Stalin’s propaganda machine."

So many times already, I found myself thinking, in a movie theater I would be throwing things at the screen at this point to protest the over-the-top stereotypical Idiocracy theft these screenwriters pulled.

The president of the United States replaced integrity with "Trump."
posted by sacre_bleu at 7:41 PM on May 28, 2017 [28 favorites]

The president of the United States replaced integrity with "Trump."

Not to mention what he did with that coat of arms!
posted by uosuaq at 7:46 PM on May 28, 2017 [61 favorites]

In a statement to The New York Times on Sunday night, Mr. Trump said: “Jared is doing a great job for the country. I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person.”

And then the rest of the article shows how he is virtually respected by no one with no accomplishments anyone can list while doing work no one understands. Ouch.
posted by xammerboy at 7:57 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Not that I doubt Bannon's personal habits may be adverse to his health but the recent Frontline episode Bannon's War (yt) does make him seem like someone who works relatively obsessively in pursuit of his political goals.
posted by XMLicious at 7:59 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

And the infighting between Jared and Bannon sounds insane and must make the environment totally dysfunctional. Staff members must pick a side?
posted by xammerboy at 8:02 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, isn't "I have total confidence in him" very similar to what Trump said about Flynn like twelve hours before firing him?
posted by IAmUnaware at 8:02 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

He probably DID have total confidence when he said it. Trump's brain operates like the Ministry of Truth - one moment's opinion is not constrained by previous moments.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:13 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

Bannon has not been removed, despite that a while ago there was a lot of hype about how he was on his way out. IMHO, that was a tactic to reduce his public exposure, but he's still there doing what he was doing before. I think this hype about Kushner being on the way out is the same: he's not going away, but the public will be made to think he has so that it looks like Trump did something about the problem.
posted by StrawberryPie at 8:15 PM on May 28, 2017 [12 favorites]

Worth reading and with a great illustration:
The People’s Princess
Ivanka Trump is hard at work in Washington — but for whom?

Via @onlxn.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:20 PM on May 28, 2017 [5 favorites]

...666 Fifth Avenue and the purchase of the Observer, are total failures.
...following the proud example of his father-in-law.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:20 PM on May 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

In other perfectly normal news, either Bannon escaped his nocturnal containment unit or someone didn't realize that an indoor burn barrel would trip the fire detectors.

#VIDEO What do you think the flashing lights are in the @WhiteHouse right now? They seem to be inside the 2nd floor residence. #FOX35

posted by sebastienbailard at 8:25 PM on May 28, 2017 [23 favorites]

> Worth reading and with a great illustration:
The People’s Princess
Ivanka Trump is hard at work in Washington — but for whom?

Seeing Ivanka in that pose really makes my blood boil. She'd never choose country over her own ambitions.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 8:34 PM on May 28, 2017 [10 favorites]

Please let it be the ~~ship~~ orb that will take them back to their home planet.
posted by zachlipton at 8:36 PM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

Melania's trying to send the pre-arranged signal to Brienne of Mar-A-Lago
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on May 28, 2017 [19 favorites]

It's that demonic pig from Amityville
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:59 PM on May 28, 2017 [8 favorites]

Also, isn't "I have total confidence in him" very similar to what Trump said about Flynn like twelve hours before firing him?

Trump had "great confidence" in Chris Christie. Christie was fired three weeks later.

Trump had "full confidence" in Mike Flynn. Flynn was fired the next day.

Trump had "total confidence" in Jeff Sessions. Sessions was forced to recuse himself later that day.

Trump had "confidence" in James Comey. Comey was fired less than a week later.

I hear it narrated in Ron Howard's Arrested Development voice.

TRUMP: I have complete confidence in Jared Kushner!

NARRATOR: He did not.

posted by Justinian at 9:03 PM on May 28, 2017 [69 favorites]

I distinctly remember my reaction when I first hear the term "Reality TV," when that was a rather new thing. I thought, "great, now when somebody uses the word 'reality,' everybody's going to think they're talking about TV. Pretty soon our language won't support the distinction between fact and fiction at all."

I expressed that thought to a few people, thinking it cynically amusing, but most seemed to take it as obscure, pedantic, and unfunny.

In retrospect, they were clearly right that it wasn't funny.
posted by dirge at 9:34 PM on May 28, 2017 [29 favorites]

I thought, "great, now when somebody uses the word 'reality,' everybody's going to think they're talking about TV. Pretty soon our language won't support the distinction between fact and fiction at all."

To go along with this--just look at what we've done to the word literally. :(
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 9:38 PM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

To go along with this--just look at what we've done to the word literally.

I figuratively can't believe our actions.
posted by jaduncan at 10:00 PM on May 28, 2017 [9 favorites]

Keep up that winning streak, Fareed. You goddamned dunce.

Fareed Zakaria: Liberals think they're tolerant, but they're not

"The word liberal in this context has nothing to do with today's partisan language, but refers instead to the Latin root, pertaining to liberty. And at the heart of liberty in the Western world has been freedom of speech. From the beginning, people understood that this meant protecting and listening to speech with which you disagreed"
[fuck you]
In addition, Zakaria noted what he called "an anti-intellectualism" on the left. "It's an attitude of self-righteousness that says we are so pure, we're so morally superior, we cannot bear to hear an idea with which we disagree," he said.
"Liberals think they are tolerant but often they aren't," he added. No one, he continued, "has a monopoly on right or virtue."
[nngggggaaaaaa fuck you]
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:01 PM on May 28, 2017 [26 favorites]

I have long preferred the term "progressive" to "liberal", especially considering its sharing a base with "libertarian" and "libertine".
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:05 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Perhaps Zakaria should wait until Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche's and Rick Best's bodies are done cooling before he goes on again about the intolerant left?
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:15 PM on May 28, 2017 [73 favorites]

I've always hated the "tolerant left" strawman.

I'm on the left, and I'm super-intolerant of: anti-Semites, racists, and misogynists for example.
posted by mikelieman at 10:25 PM on May 28, 2017 [77 favorites]

In addition, Zakaria noted what he called "an anti-intellectualism" on the left. "It's an attitude of self-righteousness that says we are so pure, we're so morally superior, we cannot bear to hear an idea with which we disagree," he said.
"Liberals think they are tolerant but often they aren't," he added. No one, he continued, "has a monopoly on right or virtue."

And yet he does not invite the Aryan Nations on his show. Surely the truth is in the middle?
posted by jaduncan at 10:33 PM on May 28, 2017 [4 favorites]

Open letter to Fareed,

Thanks for your input.

An interesting thing that some of us have discovered, is that genuine freedom of speech requires the ability to exclude disruptive speakers from the conversation. Without that, it's just freedom to shout obscenities at each other, which isn't really the same thing at all.

It's really not helpful to tell us we can't lay claim to tolerance unless we're willing to sit quietly and listen to somebody unleash a torrent of lies, insults, and obvious logical fallacies. In fact, a lot of us are starting to think you're trying to stop us from moderating our own forums, which would, if you'll stop to think about it for a moment, be a restraint on our speech.

If you keep this stuff up, we may just decide you don't belong in the conversation here either. That'd be a shame, because sometimes you seem like a pretty smart guy. Still, we're going to have to ask you to stop pushing to loosen up community rules so your friends can jump in with angry, rude derails.

Your advocacy for these trolls is itself starting to border on trolling behavior.

Please stop.

Also, go fuck yourself.
posted by dirge at 10:44 PM on May 28, 2017 [85 favorites]

I'm sure we could do a few thousand comments on the "ZOMG INTOLERANT LIBERALS!" thing again, but let's rein this back in to discussion of 45/administration, etc. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:38 PM on May 28, 2017 [7 favorites]

A Washington Post analysis of the travel ban smackdown and the courts starts like this:

A substantial majority of the judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond delivered a rather remarkable judgment last week: The president of the United States is not to be believed.

Will the Supreme Court conclude the same thing? And by “Supreme Court,” we mean “Justice Anthony M. Kennedy,” whose name was invoked 23 times in the 205 pages of majority opinions, concurrences and dissents in the appeals court’s 10-to-3 rejection of President Trump’s revised travel ban.

posted by kingless at 4:58 AM on May 29, 2017 [16 favorites]

Fellow Justified fans

...it makes so much sense now. Trump thinks he's a Wynn Duffy or a Robert Quarles, but is actually a Dewey Crowe with more money and a Scotch-taped tie.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

The fake news is coming from inside the White House (Philip Bump: WaPo)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:04 AM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Theresa May Accused of Being ‘Donald Trump’s Mole’ In Europe After UK Tries to Water Down EU Climate Change Policy Although the accusation comes from a Labour shadow secretary, it's definitely time to put May on Dignity Wraith Watch. At this rate, it could be complete well before Trump's visit in October.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:21 AM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Republican Sen Chuck Grassley calls for probe into promotion of Kushner

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has called for an investigation into “potentially fraudulent statements and misrepresentations” made by companies promoting investment in a property development involving the family company of White House advisor Jared Kushner.

Citing a May 12 report by Reuters, Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, requested a review of claims made by Chinese migration agency Qiaowai and the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF) in the marketing of the One Journal Square project in Jersey City, New Jersey to potential investors in China.

posted by Room 641-A at 6:42 AM on May 29, 2017 [34 favorites]

I hope that May story (which I will say here and now I believe utterly, despite not seeing it verified yet or hearing her response) gets traction. Because while America has the right to fuck itself up the arse with a Yucatan Fire Cactus and no lube, taking the rest of the planet with it is just not on, chaps.
posted by Devonian at 6:43 AM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

Great tactics. Great.

It's not like we need goodwill from the EU27 or anything.
posted by jaduncan at 6:46 AM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm fine with America self-immolating if the rest of us can point to them as an example.
posted by Yowser at 6:47 AM on May 29, 2017

McCain's so concerned he's raising questions! That's the highest level of concern.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [27 favorites]

I can never get past how those guys always come at Bruce Lee (or whomever) one at a time. Each waits his turn for an ass-kicking.

Donald Trump has no honor, so you can pile on all at once
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:51 AM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

A moment of light:

Muslims Unite for Portland Heroes
Muslims Fundraise for Families of the 3 Portland Heroes - killed and injured while defending 2 women from anti-Muslim harassment

They have raised $341,400 so far on nothing more than word of mouth.
posted by jaduncan at 6:52 AM on May 29, 2017 [68 favorites]

McCain's so concerned he's raising questions! That's the highest level of concern.

Fear not, there are plenty more levels of concern before maverick senator John McCain actually has to lift a finger about anything.

- Gravely disappointed
- Demanding answers
- Demanding immediate answers
- Repeating the demand for immediate answers
- Outraged
- Ready to take action
- Ready to take immediate action
- Getting Botox for extreme frown lines caused by elevated levels of concern
- Outrage level orange, no I did not mean that as a joke about the president, let's just call it level red
- Threatening to withhold support for an unrelated bill
- Retired
posted by Behemoth at 7:06 AM on May 29, 2017 [60 favorites]

Don't forget:

- Almost speechless
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:20 AM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

It's Memorial Day here, so thank you to all our current and former military members for your service and also for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:23 AM on May 29, 2017 [35 favorites]

Donald Trump has no honor

Great, now I have a mental image of Trump appeared in an Oglaf strip, trumpeting "Victory at Sea"!
posted by Ber at 7:28 AM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Dear John,

Putin a bigger threat than ISIS? Then why did you vote to confirm a SoS who received the Russian Order of Friendship from Putin?

Why did you endorse the candidate who asked for Russia to hack our elections?

Why did you vote for the man who hired as campaign manager the fixer for one of Putin's cronies?

The man who changed the Republican platform to reflect Putin's wishes on Ukraine?

All things well known before all the latest Russia revelations?

Fuck you very much.

- People with half a brain and one or two vertebrae in their spine
posted by chris24 at 7:28 AM on May 29, 2017 [56 favorites]

After GWB and Trump, I sure as hell wouldn't trust American voters. Which is why the loss in stature will last much longer than Trump.

@Max_Fisher:
One crucial piece of context getting lost in assessing Trump's damage to American alliances: the still-healing wounds from GW Bush's tenure.
- Particularly among European allies and Australia, there is still a sense of distrust and skepticism toward the US over the Iraq invasion.
- The Iraq war comes up over and over in my conversations with Euro officials. A lingering doubt about US leadership, which Trump has surfaced
- In the UK, Iraq damaged not just the US alliance but Britain's global role, maybe permanently. Again, Trump is surfacing something deeper.
- Americans are oblivious to this. We wrongly remember European objections to Iraq as purely political, or see them thru our own partisan lens
- The American debate over Iraq was so politicized that we mistook the damage to our alliances as just a partisan talking point. It wasn't.
- Iraq is why you see US allies still skeptical, still ready to doubt the alliance and to defy the US. Trump is tapping into all that.
- This legacy is why, per @KSchultz3580, allies are starting to wonder if the problem isn't Trump, it's American voters. And thus permanent.
- (As a side note, I have to roll my eyes at WH 43 officials who spent years overtly attacking European alliances and now decry Trump for it.)
- Americans convinced ourselves that the Iraq debate is behind us. But it's not over among our allies, their electorates or FP establishments.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on May 29, 2017 [94 favorites]

Meanwhile, Texas is continuing to lead the nation in being awful. Gregg Abbott looks ready to veto the bill to up the marriage age to 18, no exceptions. And he just signed a bill allowing discrimination against non-Christians in adoption.

Isn't that nice?
posted by sotonohito at 7:50 AM on May 29, 2017 [15 favorites]

John McCain is The Most Concerned Man In America(tm).
posted by azpenguin at 7:54 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yeah, the one-two punch of W Bush plus Trump has cemented the perception abroad that US voters (and our democracy as a whole) cannot be relied upon, and that cement's gonna last 50 years at least.

Obama between the two hasn't really helped this: it only means that we're both not to be relied upon and unpredictable, instead of reliably voting the worst possible way.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:58 AM on May 29, 2017 [28 favorites]

Just out: the John McCain Concern Level Key.
posted by Devonian at 8:11 AM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Buzzfeed News:
People Are Sharing This Open Letter From Dan Rather To Trump About The Portland Victims
"I wish we would hear you say these names, or even just tweet them"
posted by Room 641-A at 8:16 AM on May 29, 2017 [23 favorites]

Most of the people who look at Donald Trump and think "I can use this guy to further my own interests" are like the 27th guy who takes a run at Bruce Lee after watching the first 26 get kicked into paste.

The only way to survive getting in bed with Trump, figuratively speaking, is to fuck him over first.

One of my biggest fears is that Putin has figured that out and is about to make his move, which, in even a best-case scenario, will be bad news for the US as collateral damage.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:24 AM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

I can't think of a more hopeless, futile act than appealing to Trump's sense of dignity and compassion.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:27 AM on May 29, 2017 [25 favorites]

- The American debate over Iraq was so politicized that we mistook the damage to our alliances as just a partisan talking point. It wasn't.

Max Fisher, the only American person who actually gets the rest of the world.

See, the thing is, in the rest of the world, we don't put D or R after US officials names like here in the USA. Apart from the most politically informed, the rest of the world doesn't give a shit about D or R, they just care whether the leadership are a bunch of fucking evil nutjobs. They didn't oppose the Iraq war because Shrub was a Republican. They opposed it because it was a fucking stupid idea.
posted by Talez at 8:32 AM on May 29, 2017 [72 favorites]

The electorate is various shades of blind, despaired, misinformed, apathetic, disinterested, racist that the from the perspective of the rest of the world we've not only fallen down the rabbit hole, we've eaten the cake, drunk the bottle, and at this point we're pretty much at the Mad Hatter part of Wonderland.

This is not going to be solved by Hope II: Electric Boogaloo. Without major changes in the thinking of the electorate (i.e. at least coming back to some form of reality) we're probably witnessing the start of the terminal decline of the American institution.
posted by Talez at 8:40 AM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

Switching gears...

WALLACE: Are you going to ban laptops from the cabin on all international flights both into and out of the U.S.?

KELLY: I might. That's a quick answer.

JFC. I have a trip coming up over Christmas. This is not going to be fun. I might just buy a Chromebook and take that with me because this is getting absurd.
posted by Talez at 8:44 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

KELLY: I might. That's a quick answer.

"Quick" is one of many accurate descriptors for that answer.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:47 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

i'm glad we can rely on the president's cabinet secretaries to give quick, off-the-cuff answers, unburdened by excessive consideration.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [24 favorites]

Americans convinced ourselves that the Iraq debate is behind us. But it's not over among our allies, their electorates or FP establishments.

Who convinced themselves in the what now? I think a lot of these journos, they are getting high on their own supply and they actually believe their own bullshit now... i.e. "the debate [being] behind us", media reluctance to discuss the United States Government's war crimes in the previous decade, is something the journalists themselves did (especially what with Hillary running!) and not necessarily related to any other phenomena.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 8:53 AM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

Without major changes in the thinking of the electorate

Mmmyess, . . Yes . . . but wouldn't we need some sort of an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished?

What if such an agency, means, or instrument were totally locked down by dysfunctional corporations?
posted by petebest at 8:55 AM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

A hopeful reminder that there are other places where Trump's fondness for corruption may flare up and bite him.

From the Guardian: A close friend and major fundraiser for Donald Trump is under investigation in Italy for allegedly evading €170m (£147m, $190m) in taxes after the sale of a luxury resort on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast, the beach playground frequented by Gulf Arabs and Russian oligarchs.

Thomas Barrack played a critical role in Trump’s 2016 election campaign and inauguration and has been described as one of the president’s key advisers outside the West Wing.

posted by Devonian at 8:57 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

What if such an agency, means, or instrument were totally locked down by dysfunctional corporations?

Fixing the media isn't going to do shit if the citizenry have the equivalent education as a bag of rocks.

It's not like the guy who screams about fake news is in cahoots with the media to suppress rational thought. It's not like the guy is about as subtle about his idiocy as a sledgehammer.

We can blame institutions all we want but when it comes down to it, half the electorate are proud of being dumb and like it that way.
posted by Talez at 9:01 AM on May 29, 2017 [17 favorites]

John Clayton, Salon: Dear President Trump: America’s most egregious “federal land grab” was in 1891, under Benjamin Harrison

In 1891, a House-Senate conference committee appeased a congressman’s interest in the emerging field of forestry by adding a last-minute rider to a broad public-lands reform bill. Most members of Congress, and indeed most conservationists, appeared to be unaware of its implications: it allowed the president to set aside “timbered portions” of the public domain as public reservations.

A week after its passage, the rider came to the attention of two advocates for Yellowstone National Park, geologist Arnold Hague and attorney William Hallett Phillips. They realized it could accomplish their long-held aim: to expand the then 19-year-old national park’s boundaries. With the approval of Interior Secretary John Noble, they drafted a proclamation setting aside the 1.2 million-acre Yellowstone Timber Land Reserve, immediately east and south of the park, using the expanded park boundaries they had proposed in previous legislative efforts. On March 30, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison signed it into law.

...

Acreage-wise it may not have been history’s most “massive” federal land grab. But because it was the first, and because most congressmen hadn’t even been aware that they had given Harrison this tool, it was the most audacious. And it was quickly followed by more of the same. Harrison went on to preserve 12 million more acres in reserves, and his successor, Grover Cleveland, another 25 million acres. But there was a catch — indeed, an almost fatal flaw. Since the 1891 law had not indicated what the purpose of the reserves should be — nor how they should be used, administered or funded — all uses were effectively prohibited.

...

It would be nice to think that Trump’s “land grab” rhetoric — playing to his supporters’ resentments with little appreciation for history — will fail to make a difference. But his actions do represent a threat to the policy and meaning behind all of our public lands. And this is where Benjamin Harrison’s story also becomes a cautionary tale: Even a mediocre president, lacking understanding of legislation that he himself has signed, can leave a lasting legacy.

posted by ZeusHumms at 9:02 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

We can blame institutions all we want but when it comes down to it, half the electorate are proud of being dumb and like it that way.

As an outsider, I don't find this particularly singular or unique to the USA. What's concerning is the levers of hegemonic influence and power that is available to you. And the erosion of outside institutional trust, in my mind, is only one that is finally matching the existing skepticism we do have about that power and influence. Right now, all I can say is, so what? I resent these domestic shennanigans will be impacting my quality of life in untold ways, unlike how the political idiocy in my country means nothing for a typical american.
posted by cendawanita at 9:09 AM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

The shortsighted stupidity of the Republicans letting Donnie run wild on breaking international obligations is going to bite them in the ass when this country really needs something down the line - I can easily see the day coming where the EU and China have a very lucrative economic partnership and we're on the outside looking in, and you know they won't let us in without very serious assurances that 4 years down the line obligations won't just be thrown out the window, which means stronger international sway over US sovereignty if we want a seat at the table (or a life preserver, more like) and that's absolute anathema to the Republicans. But that's the position we, and post-Brexit Britain, will find ourselves in. It's so, so stupid to walk away from all your leverage like this, but that's where the Republicans want to take us.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:09 AM on May 29, 2017 [39 favorites]

Between crushing Trump's hand, ignoring him to greet Merkel, and now slamming Russia and their propaganda while standing right next to Putin, Macron is quickly moving up the rankings in my world politician fantasy league.

French President Emmanuel Macron has made an extraordinary attack on two Russian media outlets, saying they acted as “propaganda” organs during France’s election campaign.

Speaking at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Macron accused the two outlets, Russia Today and Sputnik, of spreading fake news.

He said that’s why he banned their reporters from his campaign headquarters during the race for the French presidency, which he went on to win May 7.

posted by chris24 at 9:13 AM on May 29, 2017 [76 favorites]

Dunning-Kruger times two? If you're stupid you don't know you're stupid TIMES if you're stupid you don't know you're surrounded by stupidity? Are we doomed? Arendt talked about the banality of evil. What about the stupidity of evil?
posted by njohnson23 at 9:13 AM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

...continually gobsmacked by these people who want to "run the government like a business"

We talked about the CEO as king aspect of this in the last thread or two but there is a different way that this "run the government like a business" idea is dumb. There is HUGE variety ways businesses run. Some are better than others, some are just a better fit for that specific business. A train company probably wouldn't do well being run like Apple, for instance.

At the company where I work the board of directors is pretty active in directing the company and a lot of what the CEO wants to do must be approved by the board. We also have a whole compliance wing that answers directly to the board specifically so that they're able to hold the CEO accountable. It's a system of checks and balances. I wonder where they got that idea from?

I'm sure we can also find a ton of examples of companies taking on debt in order to fund an expansion/growth too. When the government does it we call it stimulus spending.

The next time I hear someone say that the government should run like a business, I'm going to have to make a point of asking them exactly what they mean by that. I kinda think people just mean "differently" and don't really understand how the government or businesses work.
posted by VTX at 9:20 AM on May 29, 2017 [19 favorites]

Just run it like a government, because that's what it is.
posted by Artw at 9:26 AM on May 29, 2017 [25 favorites]

a State Department official told-
...
That's not a foreign diplomat talking; that's someone who works for our government.

I don't know a single State Department person - conservatives included - who are happy with Trump or think he's anything better than a buffoon. My circle doesn't run to top level folks; they're all various paper pushers/analysts/IT. But I don't think it would be a big challenge to find a statie who can tell you - presuming they think you're going to keep their identity secret - that they don't think much of how this admin is running things.
posted by phearlez at 9:29 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

In my experience consulting on local campaigns, whenever a business-person-turned-politician says "I think government should be run like a business" they always mean "I think government should be run like my business, and I should make money off it."

And from the president of the USA down to county commissioners, they are all shady af.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:31 AM on May 29, 2017 [42 favorites]

When somebody says they want to run government like a business, they mean Enron.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:32 AM on May 29, 2017 [20 favorites]

Or the Congo Free State.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:36 AM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Run the government like a business? Sure, let's use the Costco model, higher minimum wage and cheap delicious hot dogs!
posted by jason_steakums at 9:39 AM on May 29, 2017 [35 favorites]

When voters say that they mean "I want a dictator."
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:40 AM on May 29, 2017 [18 favorites]

Right off the bat the major flaw in that is businesses are run to make a profit and government exists to offer services its to citizens.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:47 AM on May 29, 2017 [31 favorites]

The hell?
I agree with save alive nothing that breatheth: journos be high on their own supply. "The voters" had nothing the fuck to do with it. The voters didn't want dubya, we didn't want the goddamn war, and we didn't want donny twoscoops. We DID want Obama. We can be trusted to want reasonable things, but since the map is gerrymandered and since the voting rights act got gutted and since corporations are people, now, we usually cannot GET what we want. This is because what we want is the opposite of what the fixers want. Oh, and then sprinkle on liberal lashings of Putin, who has a few brain cells to rub together and seems to get a huge kick out of playing Ming the Merciless. "The voters." Fuck off with that noise. Is the rest of the world as confused about this as Trump?
posted by Don Pepino at 9:51 AM on May 29, 2017 [95 favorites]

More Texas shitbaggery. They are currently in special session, and apparently a state representative called ICE on the protestors there. You can follow the hashtag #txlege for developments.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:55 AM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

Don Pepino: if you see your number of comment Favorites going up and down by one, over and over, that's just me clicking Favorite that many times.
posted by Rykey at 9:55 AM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

The voters" had nothing the fuck to do with it. The voters didn't want dubya, we didn't want the goddamn war, and we didn't want donny twoscoops. We DID want Obama. We can be trusted to want reasonable things, but since the map is gerrymandered and since the voting rights act got gutted and since corporations are people, now, we usually cannot GET what we want. This is because what we want is the opposite of what the fixers want. Oh, and then sprinkle on liberal lashings of Putin, who has a few brain cells to rub together and seems to get a huge kick out of playing Ming the Merciless. "The voters." Fuck off with that noise. Is the rest of the world as confused about this as Trump?

Don Pepino, have all the favorites and a "fantastic" flag. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Listen up, world, listen up, journos: HILLARY. CLINTON. WON. THE. POPULAR. VOTE. So if you're going to blame "the voters" or "the American public" then fuck off and stick it in your ear.

Gerrymandering, the gutting of voting rights and disenfranchisement of persons of color and those with felony convictions, corporate big-money donors, and mealy-mouthed, feckless Democratic leadership bear more of the blame than "the voters." Yes, many of "the voters" did cast their ballots for Trump, but more of us cast our ballots for Hillary Clinton.

I can well believe that your generic "stupid American" exists, and can cause more damage than a stupid person elsewhere because of America's numbers and its power on the world stage. But your average American isn't going to be any more inherently stupid than your average person somewhere else; other countries have their share of the ignorant and incurious. (Cendawanita, upthread, put it very well.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:02 AM on May 29, 2017 [58 favorites]

P.S.: if journalists are going to blame voters for Dubya and the war in Iraq, that's goddamn rich. The media (journalists) hated Al Gore. The media - journalists - played a huge part in enabling the war in Iraq. Gore won the popular vote in 2000, and there were huge - yuge! - protests against the Iraq war by voters. Journalists, for the most part, were "rah rah Bush, rah rah war." #Notalljournalists, #notallmedia, but many of the major media outlets were pro-Bush and pro-war.

You know the old saying, when you point the finger at someone there are three fingers pointing back at you. Blaming the voters makes me so mad I could spit.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:17 AM on May 29, 2017 [42 favorites]

Fisher is pretty clearly I think expressing the views and opinions of European politicians and leaders, not personally condemning American voters. And sure those leaders are probably aware of the mechanics of how our president is chosen, but ultimately what matters to them is the end result that the system has resulted in two historically awful presidents. Not sure I blame them when three times it's been basically a tossup with manifestly unfit candidates. And that doesn't necessarily imply that the American voter or public is dumber or worse than Europeans, but it is the final nail in American Exceptionalism.
posted by chris24 at 10:19 AM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

I'd add the people who think of voting for President as an individual expression of utopian rapture to the shit list...people who weren't ecstatically thrilled by voting for Clinton, and who just didn't vote
posted by thelonius at 10:28 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

ICE are just a goon squad for harassing brown people on behalf of Republicans now? Good to get official confirmation of that.
posted by Artw at 10:28 AM on May 29, 2017 [24 favorites]

video of Trump singing along with the national anthem today at Arlington. He can't go a day without being a national embarrassment.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:29 AM on May 29, 2017 [24 favorites]

video of Trump singing along with the national anthem today at Arlington. He can't go a day without being a national embarrassment.

from the "are you absolutely sure the entire population of the US hasn't been secretly conscripted into the greatest mockumentary of all time" dept.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:38 AM on May 29, 2017 [19 favorites]

Trump can't go a minute if he's not the center of attention. And Mattis's face is absolutely frozen.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:39 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

No joke: his base will see this as a beautiful moment, showing their president lost in the reverie of his love and respect for our troops. I would bet five american dollars (still useful as currency for at least a few more months) that there'll be an admiring thread on /r/the_donald within hours.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:43 AM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

Man, the fidgeting leading up to the singing... there is something profoundly wrong with that guy.
posted by Artw at 10:44 AM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

One would be led to believe he prefers the troops who didn't get killed.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:45 AM on May 29, 2017 [12 favorites]

He looks like he's singing it sarcasticly too, but that might just be because his face is a hateful bag of poo incapable of any form of earnestness.
posted by Artw at 10:46 AM on May 29, 2017 [29 favorites]

showing their president lost in the reverie of his love and respect for our ~~troops~~ generals

ftfy
posted by murphy slaw at 10:47 AM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

> "I wish we would hear you say these names, or even just tweet them"

The official POTUS account, which frequently retweets @realDonaldTrump, just tweeted, "The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them."

There is currently no mention of this on @realDonaldTrump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:47 AM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

video of Trump singing along with the national anthem today at Arlington

"Play ball!"

"Uh, Mr. President, there's no ball game after this."

*confused face*
posted by leotrotsky at 10:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

The nazi base can assure themselves he didn't actually write those words.
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

TFW it's Memorial Day & there's a Trump sponsored post in your IG feed & the sample signed photo misspells "country".
-- Evan Gregory

image, sadly, attached.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:49 AM on May 29, 2017 [25 favorites]

I've watched it four times and it's actually worse each time. I want to keep replaying to see what kind of journey it takes me on but this feels like I'm walking into an SCP.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:52 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

The nazi base can assure themselves he didn't actually write those words.

Still seems pretty cuckish of him to submit to that kind of lawyerly control over his messaging, though, right?
posted by contraption at 10:53 AM on May 29, 2017

TFW it's Memorial Day & there's a Trump sponsored post in your IG feed & the sample signed photo misspells "country".

At least that's not the worst possible way to misspell that word.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

T-R-U-M-P spells "qualty'.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:54 AM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

I kind of feel the soil at Arlington should have risen up to throw him off.
posted by corb at 10:56 AM on May 29, 2017 [20 favorites]

Wow, that signature.

Donald Trummmmmmmmmmmmmmmp
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:58 AM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

I still proscribe to the "stolen from Neiman Marcus" school of thought re: Trump's signature.
posted by Yowser at 11:00 AM on May 29, 2017 [12 favorites]

No contry for old men.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:02 AM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/the-place-where-letters-to-hillary-clinton-go?utm_term=.jp5wyJ3xm9#.tcLgPev51a: What has remained out of public view are the letters that come into P.O. Box 5256. Rob Russo has spent the six months since Election Day reading, sorting, and answering each one — a job still months from completion — as the staff around him has dwindled steadily to the small cadre of aides who preceded the campaign, working once again out of Clinton’s old personal office in Midtown Manhattan.

The space is clean and nondescript and more or less what you’d expect of a big office building above a Bobby Van’s Grill on 45th Street: the shaded glass entryway, the reception desk, the hallway of gray carpet, the line of adjacent offices. And then, you see the mail room. Piles of white corrugated postal bins sit in stacks of five and six across from Russo’s office, spilling out of the room, into the hallway, filled with packages and envelopes of different shapes, sizes, colors — all waiting for a response.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:34 AM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

Report: Trump to reverse Obama Cuba policy
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:14 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

What's offensive about him singing the anthem? Just not the done thing in the US? When is it appropriate? (I am Australian.)
posted by Coventry at 12:23 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Of course. He was always going to reverse on Cuba, but I guarantee he waited until after meeting the pope because he's the pettiest motherfucker on the planet.
posted by palomar at 12:24 PM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

Report: Trump to reverse Obama Cuba policy

The Daily Caller report surfaceed days after Trump met with Pope Francis, who facilitated the deal between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro.

I believe that Trump is easily petty enough for this to be the reason.

Question: "Do you think Kushner's security clearance should be revoked or at least suspended?"
Cory Booker: "No, I think we first need to get to the bottom of this."

Cory Booker: ‘I’m Not Going to Rush to Impeachment’

I just want to tell you, I’m not going to rush to impeachment,” the Democratic lawmaker told guest host Dana Bash. “I think we need to deal with this in a very sobered way.”

He continued, “This can’t be a relitigation of an election that is now past. This has to be about an objective assessment /about the facts that are going on right now.”

posted by Room 641-A at 12:25 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Fish in a barrel and all that, but Ann Coulter has gone full Russian

We should form a military alliance with Russia to protect it from Western Europe. —@AnnCoulter

And now that Assange has gone full Kushner, I wish them all many happy years in a Siberian forced labor camp.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:27 PM on May 29, 2017 [12 favorites]

Dear Cory,

Please don't fucking do this.
We don't need a John McCain, we need an Obama.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:28 PM on May 29, 2017 [38 favorites]

Assange working hard for that extradition immunity.
posted by PenDevil at 12:29 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

What's offensive about him singing the anthem? Just not the done thing in the US? When is it appropriate?

Are solemn moments of national mourning regarded as appropriate places for karaoke in Australia?
posted by octobersurprise at 12:30 PM on May 29, 2017 [20 favorites]

What's offensive about him singing the anthem? Just not the done thing in the US?

It's more about Arlington, one of the most secularly holy sites, which already produces a hushed feeling of awe, on Memorial Day, its most important day.
posted by corb at 12:31 PM on May 29, 2017 [16 favorites]

What's offensive about him singing the anthem? Just not the done thing in the US? When is it appropriate? (I am Australian.)

I think it's usually OK to mouth the words, at a sporting event. This was at Arlington National Cemetery, on Memorial Day, and Trump looks like he's lip syncing for his life on RuPaul's Drag Race.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:31 PM on May 29, 2017 [24 favorites]

[It also appears that he doesn't know all of the words.]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:33 PM on May 29, 2017 [16 favorites]

I just want to tell you, I’m not going to rush to impeachment,” the Democratic lawmaker told guest host Dana Bash. “I think we need to deal with this in a very sobered way.”

To be fair, while this is what a gun-shy politician would say, this is also exactly what a strategic politician would say if they wanted an impeachment to succeed and they knew it wasn't going to happen ASAP without Republican cooperation. And if Cory Booker is anything, he is a strategic politician.
posted by Anonymous at 12:35 PM on May 29, 2017

If you look closely, it looks like he's singing "Hotel California."
posted by octobersurprise at 12:35 PM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

Are solemn moments of national mourning regarded as appropriate places for karaoke in Australia?

Everyone sings the anthem on ANZAC day, Australia's equivalent of Memorial Day. The Australian anthem itself is an embarrassment but not the singing of it, I think.
posted by Coventry at 12:39 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

In the US, I think it's that military funerals are just not occasions where you sing things. It's not like church, where everyone sings hymns; it's more like a respectful-listening-to-a-performance moment.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:41 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

Yeah, it's just not a done thing. It would be like skipping around Dachau. Okay, maybe not quite that level of atrocity, but... it ain't good. His base will eat it up, though, disrespect is their fave thing.
posted by palomar at 12:44 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

[It also appears that he doesn't know all of the words.]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:33 PM on May 29 [3 favorites +] [!]

He jumped right in on "rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air".
posted by jaruwaan at 12:46 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's literally singing at a funeral. Like a clown.
posted by bongo_x at 12:47 PM on May 29, 2017 [17 favorites]

Did he fake trombone with his lips when they played Taps?
posted by PenDevil at 12:48 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Guys, I fucking hate Trump but this is our version of Obama's tan suit in terms of the effect it will have on anyone's opinion.

(by "our" I mean Trump-haters, lest I make assumptions about lurkers)
posted by Anonymous at 12:56 PM on May 29, 2017

Report: Trump to reverse Obama Cuba policy

This is going to have a financial impact in central and south Florida. We have daily flights to Cuba out of Tampa international that have been very popular and the mayors of Tampa and St Pete have made a few trips to Havana to spur economic development. Cuba is/ was even looking at opening a consulate in Tampa. I bet the Tampa and Orlando chambers of commerce have a fit when they hear this news.
posted by photoslob at 12:57 PM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

Erg. Maybe the Cubans could offer Trump a hotel or something to sweeten the deal.
posted by notyou at 1:02 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

(He's already expressed some interest in doing so.)
posted by notyou at 1:05 PM on May 29, 2017

Fixing the media isn't going to do shit if the citizenry have the equivalent education as a bag of rocks.

Media *is* education. Good, bad, or other.

"It takes a licking and keeps on ___________."
posted by petebest at 1:06 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

And if Cory Booker is anything, he is a strategic politician.

Also gun-shy
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:10 PM on May 29, 2017

With the whole "run the government like a business" thing, another factor is one President Obama noted in a speech to the tech industry last year. Government has to be for everyone; businesses can turn customers away because they're more trouble than they're worth. We see this in technology all the time: the marginal cost of supporting a customer with an ancient web browser, or a slow internet connection, or no internet connection, or who needs telephone support, or who needs support at all, just isn't worth it. Google may want you to use GMail, but not at the expense of providing one-on-one customer support. Government can't work that way. Social Security, or Medicaid, or Medicaid, or SNAP can't just turn you away if your situation is complicated. You can't just "move fast and break things" when people will starve while you fix the breakage.

Trump ran his businesses disregarding people left and right. His rentals racially discriminated; he didn't pay his vendors; he ran roughshod over homeowners with eminent domain; he turned firing people into a game show. The problem with running government like a business is that businesses fire their customers all the time, and the guy who thinks he's the government's CEO right now talks a big game about firing people.

In other news, WaPo/Ashley Parker: Snubs and slights are part of the job in Trump’s White House

Trump sometimes refers to his 45-year-old chief of staff, Reince Priebus, as “Reince-y,” a diminutive nickname that some aides and outside rivals recount with gleeful relish. The president also frequently reminds Priebus that when “Access Hollywood’ tapes emerged during the campaign on which Trump could be heard boasting about groping women without their consent, Priebus urged him to drop out of the race.

The president has described House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), in theory one of his top allies on Capitol Hill, as a “Boy Scout” — a dig the that lawmaker joked he chose to take as a compliment even though “I’m not sure he meant it that way.”
...
Macron, France’s newly elected 39-year-old leader, later said he wanted to show Trump that he would not be pushed around or demeaned.

“I don’t believe in diplomacy by public abuse,” he said.

Finally, it's an appropriate day to look back on this 2005 article about Humayun Khan and his father's grief.
posted by zachlipton at 1:15 PM on May 29, 2017 [47 favorites]

And if Cory Booker is anything, he is a strategic politician

and incredibly business friendly
posted by bootlegpop at 1:16 PM on May 29, 2017

What't the legal status of the POTUS twitter account blocking users? If it is being used for official non-campaign purposes should it be allowed to block citizens for political purposes?
posted by srboisvert at 1:20 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

If being old enough to remember Watergate means anything, I think it's still to early to talk Impeachment. We need to make sure all forms of investigation are moving forward, to provide an airtight case even FoxNews can't deny (and if the word around one of Rupert's sons is true, the channel's going to be in for a genuine ideological shakeup in the next few months). I am long-term optimistic (although the Montana result was a couple percentage points short of encouraging) that we can recover from a "Trump Era" of 2-3 years, even if it feels so painful until then. The Democrats have 48 Senate seats; let's not focus on one of two.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:23 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Everyone sings the anthem on ANZAC day, Australia's equivalent of Memorial Day.

That's very moving, thanks for sharing. But, yeah, not like the Head of State free-stylin' it at the National Cemetery.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:27 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also gun-shy

and incredibly business friendly

About what I expected. What strategic politicians haven't picked up yet is that the best strategy is to be non-strategic. You'll be less successful in getting laws passed, but humans are driven by feelings and right now the feeling is overwhelming rage to the expense of all else. And if you are successful in getting anything passed you'll inevitably be condemned for not going far enough and everything the voters like will be credited to the politician who appeals to the feels.
posted by Anonymous at 1:46 PM on May 29, 2017

From the "Snubs and slights" article zachlipton linked to:

> “President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him,” Hope Hicks, Trump’s communications director, said in a statement. “He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor . . . and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.”

"Hicks went on to say "President Trump is the is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life," before sitting down and passing the time by playing a little solitaire." [FAKE]
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:46 PM on May 29, 2017 [22 favorites]

I'm fine with America self-immolating if the rest of us can point to them as an example.

AKA The Sheep Look Up, 1972.
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:47 PM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

What's offensive about him singing the anthem? Just not the done thing in the US? When is it appropriate?

It's not offensive so much as it's crass.
posted by srboisvert at 1:52 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

AKA The Sheep Look Up, 1972.

Donald J. Prexy
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:53 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Sounds like ol' Hope's being held hostage there, doesn't it? I wonder if she was blinking Morse code while she wrote the statement.
posted by orrnyereg at 1:57 PM on May 29, 2017

good analysis from WP book maven Ron Charles: "the best literary precedent for what we’re enduring now is not the static image of Big Brother but the turbulent eruptions of King Lear".
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:57 PM on May 29, 2017 [14 favorites]

Could be both, the latter being the cause of the former.
posted by Mitheral at 2:06 PM on May 29, 2017

you know what? I've been working with my shrink about how I'm seeing this through the prism of King Lear and I was sort of hoping at one point that he would tell me to calm down so I guess I could pat my back for being like all literary and shit but mostly I am not liking that somebody also and maybe not crazy had that thought.
posted by angrycat at 2:08 PM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

/r/the_donald describes this .gif as "Trump holding back tears as the NY Military Academy passes by." Currently at 5600 upvotes. To me it looks more like gas, or maybe a flashback to traumatic childhood memories.

I read somewhere that sentimentality is a sign of corruption. Maybe Milan Kundera? I'm not happy with it, because I tear up easily, but whoever wrote this discerned very sharply between sentimentality and sorrow and grief.
posted by mumimor at 2:10 PM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

I read somewhere that sentimentality is a sign of corruption. Maybe Milan Kundera?

I recall there is a rant/mini-essay against kitsch in one of his novels, probably discussing its connection to fascism (think of the blood-and-soil heroic paintings that Hitler approved of, for example).
posted by thelonius at 2:20 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

The last day of the Texas Legislature's regular session, er, didn't go so well. Republican lawmaker: I called immigration authorities on Capitol protesters: "On the last day of the regular session of the Texas Legislature, hundreds protested at the Capitol — and Republican state Rep. Matt Rinaldi called ICE on them. He also nearly came to blows with Democratic colleagues."

Here's Matt Rinaldi's statement:

Today, Representative Poncho Nevarez threatened my life on the House floor after I called ICE on several illegal immigrants who held signs in the gallery which said "I am illegal and here to stay." Several Democrats encouraged the protestors to disobey law enforcement. When I told the Democrats I called ICE, Representative Ramon Romero physically assaulted me, and other Democrats were held back by colleagues. During that time Poncho told me that he would "get me on the way to my car." He later approached me and reiterated that "I had to leave at some point, and he would get me." I made it clear that if he attempted to, in his words, "get me," I would shoot him in self defense. I am currently under DPS protection. Several of my colleagues heard the threats made and witnessed Ramon assaulting me.

And some analysis on the property tax and bathroom bills they didn't pass before the end of the session, which will likely prompt calls for a special session.
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on May 29, 2017 [14 favorites]

Fascism can be - is - highly sentimentalised. It relies on a strong emotional reaction to its stimuli, strong enough to overcome reservation and make analysis seem inhuman and cruel.

In fact, it's a strong diagnostic marker.
posted by Devonian at 2:24 PM on May 29, 2017 [34 favorites]

It's definitely worth revisiting King lear these days, not least the Peter Brooks version

In a review of a 'revolutionary' RSC production, first published on 11 November 1962, the former Observer critic feels closer than ever before to a Lear who is as much sinner as sinned against

MOVIE REVIEW
KING LEAR

Previously
posted by mumimor at 2:28 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Australian anthem itself is an embarrassment but not the singing of it, I think.

I realize You're the Voice is kind of dated but it's hardly an embarrassment.
posted by Talez at 2:34 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sounds like ol' Hope's being held hostage there, doesn't it?

That or she's getting ready for a mass wedding.

And, yeah, Lear's certainly occurred to me, too. So far the governing trope has been more "Mad King" than "Big Brother."
posted by octobersurprise at 2:37 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump's Arlington singalong has been quietly scrubbed from /r/military.
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:51 PM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

Jon Cooper‏Verified account @joncoopertweets 55m55 minutes ago

To clarify, rumor among WH staff is that Jared will be forced to resign soon - not Trump. Blame the 140 character limit for confusion, lol!

---

Jon Cooper‏Verified account @joncoopertweets 1h1 hour ago

🔥🔥🔥Multiple sources say a lot of yelling in WH since Trump got back, w/ much centered around Jared. Rumors flying that he'll "resign" soon.

Cooper = Chairman of The Democratic Coalition @TheDemCoalition; formerly National Finance Chair of Draft Biden, LI Campaign Chair for President Obama #TrumpLeaks #Resist
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:59 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Thanks for the reminders everyone. The quote I was looking for was: kitsch is a folding screen used to curtain off death, also from The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Kundera has a lot more about politics and sentimentality, in several of his books. Maybe this is the time to revisit his work. It is ironic in an immensely tragic form that all of the stuff he wrote against Communism can now be used as descriptors of Trumpism.
posted by mumimor at 2:59 PM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

Of course Jared will resign soon. See my previous comment about the history of Trump having confidence in advisors.

Spinal Tap has Full Confidence in Latest Drummer.
posted by Justinian at 3:05 PM on May 29, 2017 [24 favorites]

You look like you enjoy lying to women.
- Milan Kundera

Trump looks like he enjoys lying to everyone about everything.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:06 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Mnuchin clarifies that he meant not every single human job will be automated in the next 50-100 years. At least, that is the charitable interpretation. What he actually said was

"When I made the comment on artificial intelligence — and there's different views on artificial intelligence — I was referring to kind of like R2D2 in Star Wars. Robotics are here. Self-driving cars are something that are gonna be here soon. I am fully aware of and agree that technology is changing and our workers do need to be prepared."

posted by Coventry at 3:09 PM on May 29, 2017

Trump's Arlington singalong has been quietly scrubbed from /r/military.

I'm a semi-regular reader of /r/military. Lately, they've been trying to avoid Trump posts because of the noise, the imported t_d people, and because it gets in the way of them making jokes about Marines eating crayons. The overall opinion of the Americans on the sub is generally anti-Trump & pro-Mattis. I wouldn't read too much into them removing the post.
posted by honestcoyote at 3:10 PM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

Spinal Tap has Full Confidence in Latest Drummer.

"YOU'RE THE PUPPET" SHOW and SPINAL TAP
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:11 PM on May 29, 2017 [19 favorites]

I'MMA NEED A REAL/FAKE TAG ON THAT R2D2 QUOTE PLEASE
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:12 PM on May 29, 2017

OK, I have this idea for a sitcom, it's like The West Wing except the President behaves like Obama's Anger Translator. Also, he's not very bright: Trump yelled at Abbas: ‘You tricked me in DC,’ Israeli TV reports
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:12 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

A few days ago we looked at today's imperfect parallels to Arrested Development, but we may be getting another: Jared Kushner as Tobias Fünke. But yes, it does all need to be narrated by Ron Howard.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:14 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

REAL/FAKE TAG ON THAT R2D2 QUOTE PLEASE

I have 90% confidence it's real. Axios seems like it's trying to be a serious news site.
posted by Coventry at 3:18 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

> Trump yelled at Abbas: ‘You tricked me in DC,’ Israeli TV reports

"Abbas reportedly chuckled and returned Mr. Trump's nose, which he had "stolen" during an earlier visit to Washington." {fake}
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:22 PM on May 29, 2017 [41 favorites]

Just realizing that for Lord Dampnut: Master Negotiator being tricked by foreign agents is quite a thing.

Tricked by Russia Today's Larry King back in the more innocent days of Autumn of 2016

Tricked by Russian Photographer back, what, Jeebus, less than three weeks ago. Really?

Tricked by Abbas reported yesterday.

Like, other than greed and shitty hair, it's like his whole shtick.
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:27 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Of course Jared will resign soon

To become FBI Director?
posted by thelonius at 3:31 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

OK this is the most hilarious relief from Trump stress ever

Pee is included
posted by mumimor at 3:36 PM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

This explains why the Trumpeople hinted before the trip that a big move in Israel/Palestine relations may be imminent, even possible during the trip, so when Netanyahoo showed Donald a two page summary of Palestinian misdeeds, he turned on Abbas. But considering that there was no lingering evidence of his outburst in the post-meeting press event, maybe Abbas had a semi-successful counter-argument. Remember, the "last person he talked to" element of Donald's rotten decision-making.

And, as long as comparisons to King Lear are still not too off-track, webcomic genius Kate Beaton has "The Madness of King ~~Donald~~ Lear". "Lear has gone so far into madness, he begins to make sense..."
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:37 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

The responses to Ivanka's twitter suggestion that you make a champagne popsicle for Memorial Day are A+. This damn family.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:58 PM on May 29, 2017 [20 favorites]

Guys, I fucking hate Trump but this is our version of Obama's tan suit in terms of the effect it will have on anyone's opinion.

I think people here are just comiserating and looking for a little comic relief, not trying to make it newsworthy or change people's opinions. I mean, I think we've seen that betraying your country isn't enough to change opinions. And speaking of betrayals...

Erg. Maybe the Cubans could offer Trump a hotel or something to sweeten the deal.

Enjoy Havana, President Fredo.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:09 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

So the motto of the Trump family is "Trump."

I can't possibly think of a better metaphor for what goes on inside that man's head.

I'm late to this, but is it possible that, sometime during the early '90s Trump went through his own portal?
posted by leotrotsky at 4:10 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

> He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect

And yet what was strange about the Republican National Convention was how few friends DJT had to speak his praises. I remember a business acquaintance and a video by female employees.* And of course his family. I think that it has been made clear DJT has very, very few friends so he is either "building great relationships" with people who do not care to acknowledge him in public or else he really has terrible relationship skills. I'm going to go with option B.

*If you, like me, want to refresh your memory of the line up here is the list of speakers. Oh look! Jeff Sessions, Sheriff Clarke, Michael Flynn, and Rudy Guiliani. I guess those people are what pass for his friends yet somehow I don't think they are bosom buddies with deep abidding love for Trump, more like sucker fish who have attached themselves.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:18 PM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Portland Republican says party should use militia groups after racial attack

Asked if this meant Republicans making their own security arrangements rather than relying on city or state police, Buchal said: “Yeah. And there are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.”

Asked if he was considering such groups as security providers, Buchal said: “Yeah. We’re thinking about that. Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis.”

I can't imagine why anyone would think that.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:22 PM on May 29, 2017 [73 favorites]

*If you, like me, want to refresh your memory of the line up here is the list of speakers. Oh look! Jeff Sessions, Sheriff Clarke, Michael Flynn, and Rudy Guiliani. I guess those people are what pass for his friends yet somehow I don't think they are bosom buddies with deep abidding love for Trump, more like sucker fish who have attached themselves.

And one of the few speakers who can be categorized as a friend of Trump, Thomas Barrack, is under investigation in Italy for an alleged €170m tax evasion scheme.
posted by zachlipton at 4:27 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh Zachlipton, good catch! I remember that one businessman but I didn't think to look him up. Wow. Next you'll be telling me the avocado farm lady is in jail for failure to pay her taxes.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:43 PM on May 29, 2017

Asked if this meant Republicans making their own security arrangements rather than relying on city or state police, Buchal said: “Yeah. And there are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.”

Asked if he was considering such groups as security providers, Buchal said: “Yeah. We’re thinking about that. Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis.”

Hiring anti-government militias to ensure the security of government officials is the kind of thinking outside the 'box' that characterizes the republican party these day.
posted by srboisvert at 4:44 PM on May 29, 2017 [15 favorites]

"People think we're like Nazis, so we're organising our own political paramilitary wings."
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:45 PM on May 29, 2017 [126 favorites]

Portland Republican says party should use militia groups after racial attack

By the time you see the jackbooted thugs in the streets it's too late to stop fascism.
posted by Talez at 4:46 PM on May 29, 2017 [17 favorites]

Texas Republican calls ICE on demonstrators, threatens to shoot Democratic lawmaker, then claims he was the one in danger.

They will use their own violence to justify further escalation by claiming to be victims. It's pathological.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:48 PM on May 29, 2017 [55 favorites]

Isn't Hope Hicks the one rumored to be working on being wife #4?
posted by Ber at 4:56 PM on May 29, 2017

Texas Republican calls ICE on demonstrators, threatens to shoot Democratic lawmaker, then claims he was the one in danger.

I feel like it's time for a remake of Casablanca with Latino leads and ICE standing in for the Nazis.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:58 PM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

Portland Republican says party should use militia groups after racial attack

By the time you see the jackbooted thugs in the streets it's too late to stop fascism.

I'll be honest, I did not see it starting in my beloved Portland. Growing up there and living there most of my life I can remember cycles of public racism and racist violence and the ebb and flow of hate groups (if there were flyers on the bus [54 or 56, fellow TriMet riders], things were probably not good). At the same time, those motherfuckers were always seemingly confined to the shadows, and I never thought any real numbers in the city would stand with them. Now? Who knows.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:58 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

I fear that some day soon one of these groups will start killing people in public and the police will either stand down or actively support them. And then all bets will be off.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:02 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

"... there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis." is far more honest than Republicans usually are about the people who vote for them.

Also, a Republican suggesting using a spate of Republican-inspired and -committed violence as evidence that the Republican party should do even MORE to prop up hate groups and encourage them to do violence against others is possibly the most Republican thing I've ever seen. They're real close to just throwing off the charade entirely here.
posted by IAmUnaware at 5:04 PM on May 29, 2017 [38 favorites]

(and if the word around one of Rupert's sons is true, the channel's going to be in for a genuine ideological shakeup in the next few months)

Wait, what? I am earnestly intrigued and would like more details.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:16 PM on May 29, 2017

Portland’s Mayor Is Pleading With Alt-Right Members To Cancel Planned Protests
Ted Wheelers is also asking the federal government to revoke permits for alt-right protests already issued.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:17 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Isn't Hope Hicks the one rumored to be working on being wife #4?

She better be able to bring something to the table R2D2 can't
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:18 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

The Merkel and Macron reaction to Trump has me thinking about the long term ramifications of the Trump era. It'll be really bad for Americans but possibly end up good for the world as a whole.

Obama and Clinton might have managed to continue American power dominance into the 21st century, probably not to the extent that we all enjoyed for the last 70 years but something approaching it. It would have taken some deft diplomacy and a balancing act of interventions and retrenchment, but I think it could have been done.

Trump has, in 4 months, blown all of that up. You can look at this totally pessimistically and assume the worst: that Russia and China will assume leadership of the world and a century of totalitarianism will follow. It's totally possible. But maybe it could go another direction. Maybe the US just falls down. Continental Europe could get its act together and start to lead and in 2020 the US might have to follow Europe. Especially since the Europeans won't trust the US to keep it's word past the next election.

Maybe instead of waiting for the US to do something about it, Europe cleans its own house and forces Hungary, Turkey, and eventually Russia to be real democracies. Maybe Europe starts competing with China for influence in Africa and S. America, and actually does a good job of it this time.

What we would end up with is a more dispersed power structure. Both economically and militarily. Like I said, Americans probably aren't gonna do too well. And anyone too dependent on the US is also gonna have a rough time. But maybe in 10-20 years the world as a whole won't be so dependent on the US for everything. And honestly I think we are seeing why that would be a good thing. One dumb election by ignorant Americans can really fuck up the world. That's not a good situation to be in.
posted by Glibpaxman at 5:28 PM on May 29, 2017 [16 favorites]

And Ted Wheeler took the post down. Twitter has exploded. Portland is fucked.
posted by Yowser at 5:29 PM on May 29, 2017

ugh, i understand why the ACLU is taking that position but i can't see this ending in anything short of the kind of street melee that happened in berkeley.

the nazis are going to try to get counter-protesters as riled as possible, arm themselves with deniable weapons and armor, and wait for someone to lose their cool and throw a punch or a bottle. and then shit's on, and there won't be enough police willing to intervene to put the lid back on.

fascists will always use their rights to try to deprive others of theirs and municipal governments need to get on top of this shit in some legally defensible way. maybe charge them for police protection and send them packing for the tiniest permit violations?

what a shitshow.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:43 PM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

Re: the Future of FoxNews: This is about a month old, but one of the first predictions (departure of Hannity) is about to come true.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:44 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'll be honest, I did not see it starting in my beloved Portland.

Wasn't Oregon a huge bastion of white supremacy when founded? Black people haven't even been allowed to live in Oregon for a full century AFAIK.
posted by Justinian at 5:48 PM on May 29, 2017 [22 favorites]

Yep. The Atlantic: The Racist History of Portland, The Whitest City in America.
posted by TwoStride at 5:56 PM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

This is why gun groups are up in arms over a hearing aid bill

How does a hearing aid bill turn into a fight about gun rights?

By having Elizabeth Warren as a lead legislative author, apparently.

Warren has teamed up with several Republicans on legislation creating an over-the-counter category of hearing aids, which proponents believe would lower prices, spur innovation, and help millions of people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss obtain devices and improve their lives. As few as one in seven of the estimated 30 million Americans with hearing loss gets aids, experts say, and a big reason is their high cost.

The hearing aid industry is against the bill, but in recent weeks, opposition has emerged from less expected places: gun owners and a slew of conservative groups. The backlash appears to be rooted less in the substance of the legislation and more in the fact that it’s Warren — a senator increasingly targeted by Republican groups — who is behind it.

Despite this bullshit, the bill actually seems to be moving forward, and with gathering R support. It's the battle between AARP and the NRA.

I often wonder if one small part of Trump's problems is due to unacknowledged hearing loss. Hearing loss would be totally normal at his age, but I remember when my mom's hearing was starting to go she'd often pretend to hear me and respond with non-sequiters because she didn't want to admit she didn't hear me. And she's wasn't a narcissistic megalomaniac, she just had a little too much pride.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:06 PM on May 29, 2017 [32 favorites]

Today feels like the first day in ages where we haven't had late breaking reports of treason.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 6:07 PM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

Oh, that Elizabeth Warren story is via Fark! These crazy times.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:07 PM on May 29, 2017

Metafilter: In this slow moment of a waning thread, can I just point out that the Kundera digression is Metafilter AF?
posted by biogeo at 6:18 PM on May 29, 2017 [9 favorites]

Mefites in Seattle, Olympia, Portland: come through on June 4th. Help us, please. A big enough peaceful gathering will shut them down.

I live in downtown Portland, and this is terrifying. I will go, and count on strength in numbers.
posted by juice boo at 6:19 PM on May 29, 2017 [14 favorites]

Long weekend's almost over. Pretty please can we have a new thread?
posted by orrnyereg at 6:21 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

If there was any protest worth sitting out, it's this one. Maybe there will just be a handful of them? I wouldn't risk it.
posted by Yowser at 6:27 PM on May 29, 2017

If there's not a lot going on and it's a quiet night, that's just what it is and there's no particular reason to have a new thread for basically hanging out and waiting for the next shoe to drop. There are other threads with interesting stuff to read, and if folks mainly want to chat, there's Chat and Metatalktails.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:29 PM on May 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

The Kundera Digression
New Ludlum book?
posted by kirkaracha at 6:30 PM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

NYT: Investigation Turns to Kushner’s Motives in Meeting With a Putin Ally

"Federal and congressional investigators are now examining what exactly Mr. Kushner and the Russian banker, Sergey N. Gorkov, wanted from each other. The banker is a close associate of Mr. Putin, but he has not been known to play a diplomatic role for the Russian leader. That has raised questions about why he was meeting with Mr. Kushner at a crucial moment in the presidential transition, according to current and former officials familiar with the investigations."
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:35 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

I feel like it's time for a remake of Casablanca with Latino leads and ICE standing in for the Nazis.

Play "Frijolero" by Molotov. PLAY IT *Ricardo nods in the background*
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:47 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

"Federal and congressional investigators are now examining what exactly Mr. Kushner and the Russian banker, Sergey N. Gorkov, wanted from each other."

I'm sure they were just chatting about the best way to achieve peace in Syria. (And the subjects of sanctions and loans somehow came up.)
posted by diogenes at 7:01 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Guys. Guys! McCain made his proudest, strongest stand yet, with the most powerful and damning words imaginable:

McCain on Kushner backchannel reports: 'I don't like it'

I believe his grand rhetoric takes inspiration from great orator Mr. Horse. Truly McCain stands on the shoulders of giants.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:08 PM on May 29, 2017 [38 favorites]

Trump administration plans to minimize civil rights efforts in agencies: The Trump administration is planning to disband the Labor Department division that has policed discrimination among federal contractors for four decades, according to the White House’s newly proposed budget, part of wider efforts to rein in government programs that promote civil rights.

The proposal to dismantle the compliance office comes at a time when the Trump administration is reducing the role of the federal government in fighting discrimination and protecting minorities by cutting budgets, dissolving programs and appointing officials unsympathetic to previous practices.

This is insane.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:13 PM on May 29, 2017 [56 favorites]

So Kushner wanted a secret direct line to Putin, and was directed to meet with the banker for unknown reasons. Unbelievable. Flynn resigned over much, much, much less than this.
posted by xammerboy at 7:15 PM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

Right as he's talking about how it's unacceptable to use violence and discrimination in his official Twitter account, too. I really wish I could feel like he's -ever- not lying. Not because I'd trust him, just because it'd be nice to have to think about it a little.
posted by Archelaus at 7:15 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I had genuinely forgotten that Kushner had (er, has) an actual job title. I thought he was just the son-in-law who hangs around while working on creating a lasting peach in the Middle East.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:24 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Play "Frijolero" by Molotov. PLAY IT *Ricardo nods in the background*

I got a better one to play.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:31 PM on May 29, 2017 [8 favorites]

Man, that song hits me right in the Patriotism every time I hear it or see the video. My. Fellow. Americans.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:36 PM on May 29, 2017

Guys. Guys! McCain made his proudest, strongest stand yet, with the most powerful and damning words imaginable:

The sad thing is that it's still the proudest, strongest stand a Republican senator has taken over the whole fucking ordeal.
posted by Talez at 7:40 PM on May 29, 2017 [23 favorites]

WaPo: How President Trump consumes — or does not consume — top-secret intelligence. There's a lot of puffery in here, amid the bits about Trump preferring pictures over words, but this detail stands out:

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, often observes quietly; he receives his own intelligence briefing earlier in the morning, according to two White House officials. Some Democrats are now calling for Kushner’s security clearance to be reviewed after The Washington Post reported Friday that he attempted to set up back-channel communications with the Russian government during the presidential transition.

Jared receiving his own intelligence briefings is rather concerning.
posted by zachlipton at 8:11 PM on May 29, 2017 [31 favorites]

@onlxn killing it with Twitter collation:
Tweet 1
Tweet 2

Put them together and you have a clear picture of someone desperately trying to manage a news story. Also, it's probably time to stop affording anonymity to any members of the Family.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:23 PM on May 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

I had genuinely forgotten that Kushner had (er, has) an actual job title.

It wasn't until January 9 that Kushner was named Senior Advisor to the President. Before then he didn't have a title beyond son-in-law and "confidant". He was given credit for the campaign's digital media strategy and was part of preparing for the transition team before the election, then after the election helped purge Christie and his people from the team. But before Jan 9, he was without a title or formal role.

It was Nov 15 when Trump requested that Kushner be given the security clearance needed to attend the Presidential Daily Briefings. Many were surprised because of the lack of title or role, plus it was assumed anti-nepotism laws would exclude him from working in the White House. Elijah Cummings even sent a letter to the transition team to ask WTF is Kushner even doing there?

Then, after Kushner has the clearance, he has his meetings with Gorkov and Kislyak and pitches the secret Kremlin-line idea in mid-December. He forgets these meetings by the time he submits his SF 86 on Jan 18.
posted by peeedro at 8:32 PM on May 29, 2017 [33 favorites]

Nobody knew treason could be so complicated.
posted by ryanrs at 8:47 PM on May 29, 2017 [47 favorites]

This is insane.

"What do you have to lose?"

Apparently protection against discrimination in the workplace.
posted by Talez at 8:53 PM on May 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

It just baffles my brain. I grew up around military and I remember being told growing up to be careful about what petitions I signed in general just in case I wanted security clearance as they might be related to some bad organization and not to mess with my chances over something stupid.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:54 PM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

We started with 14 possible paths for Trump's presidency. Which are most likely now? I vote for 2 and 8.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:00 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Lexington Herald-Leader in Ky was vandalized after windows were shot out. It is unclear how/if it is related to current political events. No one was hurt.
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:01 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

I study the psychology of adolescent bullies. Trump makes perfect sense to me.

Our research on middle-schoolers also shows that the popularity of bullies wears off after the transition period. That is, after the first year in middle school, bullies’ popularity gradually decreases. According to the latest polls, Trump is still supported by most who voted for him — although some are changing their minds. The question is whether his popularity will hold when and whether voters begin to feel that their circumstances are more stable and less transitional.

Assuming that Trump knew how to capitalize on the uncertainties facing Americans to get elected, does that make him a strategic genius? His other behaviors cast doubt on such a conclusion — but they do fit the data on immature and aggressive children.
posted by moody cow at 9:11 PM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

Thanks for that, peeedro. I didn't realize how compressed the Kushner timeline was.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:14 PM on May 29, 2017

Mefites in Seattle, Olympia, Portland: come through on June 4th. Help us, please. A big enough peaceful gathering will shut them down.

Throw up an event?
posted by corb at 9:22 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

The 538 piece is interesting and about where I am at.

natesilver: It’s still awfully early, and so far, Trump’s presidency has been an amalgam of at least half of these scenarios. But the ones that end poorly for him have become more likely, generally, and the ones that end well for him have become less so.

Essentially we can't say yet that Trump won't finish out his term. Hell, we can't say that he won't win a second term. But the trendlines are getting worse for him and not better.

Right now the best case for Trump I see is: The Obama economy keeps on truckin' and wins Trump an electoral college victory with an even worse popular vote deficit than in 2016. This prompts massive unrest as more and more people start viewing the entire electoral system not as seriously flawed yet ultimately legitimate but as fundamentally illegitimate in much the way apartheid was viewed as illegitimate.

Most likely, to me, is that Trump finishes out his term but is enmeshed in massive scandal and declines to run in 2020 declaring some combination of Mission Accomplished and The System is Rigged.

About equal with case #1 is Trump doesn't finish out his term either through impeachment, resignation, or death (dude couldn't even walk with the other leaders in Europe).

Lastly, and I can't believe I have to list this as an actual possibility, is that the country descends into low-level internecine violence before the 2020 election. Probably less than 10% chance but that's still higher than the 0% chance I would have pegged it during Obama's years.

Right now I'd bet on #2 and put it at like a 50/50 chance.
posted by Justinian at 9:37 PM on May 29, 2017 [13 favorites]

Hey, remember that whole "Rachel Maddow spoke up for Roger Ailes" thing? What the shit is this, then? He wanted to pay her to stay OFF the air?!? And she wasn't....bothered by this?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:28 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

A few deleted; cut out the squabbling.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:20 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

>: Jared receiving his own intelligence briefings is rather concerning.

Jared receiving his own intelligence briefings before the president of the United States is rather concerning.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:30 PM on May 29, 2017 [10 favorites]

Special programming note: Spicey Time returns at 2pm Eastern.

Will he belittle a reporter for doing their job? Will he say the President's tweets speak for themselves? Will he punt to Goyal or a Skype question from a right-wing talk radio host? Will we ever see him again after this briefing? Tune in to find out.
posted by zachlipton at 11:32 PM on May 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

Is there a post for the Portland incident that I'm missing? I live here and take the MAX nearly everyday, with the Hollywood TC stop being the next stop on my route from home (I jump on at 60th Ave) and it is heartbreaking and terrifying to see that that has happened, and now there's going to be a June 4th rally that will most likely become Berkeley-esque. I've cried over the victims of this situation and am simply left paralyzed over all this. I don't know if I can take the MAX anymore because I am so scared. I could have been one of those men, and I honestly really look up to them for their bravery and I've been left wondering if I'd have to stand up for some people on the MAX or the bus ever since the election took place. This all seems so overwhelming anymore.

A lot of times people here and elsewhere talk about there being a civil war, and other people chime in and talk about who would die in such a war. There's already a war, these people are all dying, and the neo-Nazis and Republicans get to hold public hate rallies right afterward and get away with it.
posted by gucci mane at 11:32 PM on May 29, 2017 [17 favorites]

I live here and take the MAX nearly everyday, with the Hollywood TC stop being the next stop on my route from home (I jump on at 60th Ave) and it is heartbreaking and terrifying to see that that has happened, and now there's going to be a June 4th rally that will most likely become Berkeley-esque.

I totally feel for you. I took the MAX from the Hollywood Transit Center every day for many years, to school and to work. Having that lived experience of the city, not just cursory knowledge of a part of its history, makes it hard to believe that some could glibly dismiss the pain and shock that current and former residents are feeling, anger and confusion that this could in fact be happening here, now, in this city that they think they know (and yes, knowing the complexities of its history).
posted by OverlappingElvis at 11:38 PM on May 29, 2017 [7 favorites]

Throw up an event?

Wait, what kind of event now?

He wanted to pay her to stay OFF the air?!? And she wasn't....bothered by this?

Sort of seems like a compliment to me.
posted by bongo_x at 11:53 PM on May 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Our research on middle-schoolers also shows that the popularity of bullies wears off after the transition period. That is, after the first year in middle school, bullies’ popularity gradually decreases.

So... in this timeline, we've somehow been turned into a nation of fresh junior high school students.

This almost makes sense, I suppose.
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:58 PM on May 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Has there been any word on Comey's public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee? All I ever heard was "after Memorial Day". Which is now! Googling isn't being helpful. I suppose that likely means it hasn't been scheduled yet? I need plenty of warning in order to get the popcorn ready.
posted by Justinian at 12:21 AM on May 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Trump administration published a database with the personal information of abuse victims.
posted by bongo_x at 12:21 AM on May 30, 2017 [15 favorites]

Wait, what kind of event now?

Er, sorry, a Portland mefite called for aid Sunday against the alt-right and I was suggesting throwing up an IRL event to coordinate and get other eyes on.
posted by corb at 12:43 AM on May 30, 2017

The next time I hear someone say that the government should run like a business, I'm going to have to make a point of asking them exactly what they mean by that. I kinda think people just mean "differently" and don't really understand how the government or businesses work.

Makes sense. I mean, government is a monopoly, and other local monopolies such as Comcast are renowned for their excellent service and responsiveness to the customer. If only government could be more that way.
posted by jaduncan at 1:10 AM on May 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's strange but from having read all the serious pundit and government employee tweets they're all "THIS IS BATSH*T CRAZY" and the news is all "Maybe this is normal?" It's sort of killing me.
posted by xammerboy at 1:32 AM on May 30, 2017 [8 favorites]

A few deleted. Sorry, but this thread doesn't have the bandwidth for an extended "is Portland racist or not" debate. Let's please stick to discussion of 45/current administration.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:01 AM on May 30, 2017 [6 favorites]

Hey, remember that whole "Rachel Maddow spoke up for Roger Ailes" thing? What the shit is this, then? He wanted to pay her to stay OFF the air?!? And she wasn't....bothered by this?

I realized what was bothering me about this. I would totally understand if she said, "Look, Ailes was a great mentor to me BUT...X, Y, Z." Instead she's saying, "Look, I know Ailes did X, Y, Z, BUT...." And rather than me just being a pedant about it, this second article confirms this in my mind. But to be clear, I still think this is "Maddow has a problematic friendship with Ailes BUT... she's still one of the best journalists we've got" and not "Maddow is one of the best journalists we've got BUT...her friendship with Ailes overrides that."
posted by Room 641-A at 6:54 AM on May 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

The next time I hear someone say that the government should run like a business, I'm going to have to make a point of asking them exactly what they mean by that.

I interpret it as, we should burn VC making a big splash and unprofitably increasing our user base until facebook/google/microsoft buys us out and we retire to Libertarian Island.
posted by dis_integration at 7:03 AM on May 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

Heck, I was surprised when Maddow had such effulgent praise for her pal Greta Van Susteren when she joined MSNBC.

For me, this was more like finding out that no matter how much you hate your team's biggest rival, Magic and Larry Bird are friends off the court.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:25 AM on May 30, 2017 [6 favorites]

Actually, dis_integration, that works for me. Develop enough to get the attention of the advanced, benevolent interstellar society and then let them take over.

Granted, I'm making baseless assumptions about the existence of said society, it's benevolence, or the correct method of getting their attention. We're going for, "humans finally get their shit together and it starts to look more like Star Trek so it's time we introduce ourselves" rather than "Humans nearly fuck shit up for everyone forcing us to step in".

It's at least a better ideal to strive for, certainly on the spectrum of ways to run the government like a business.
posted by VTX at 3:01 PM on May 30, 2017

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