there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions
June 24, 2018 4:14 PM Subscribe
Are you being served? Maybe not, if you're a fascist. This story and more coming up, as we review the latest dispatches from an America in crisis.
Lots of folks on Team Trump are having trouble enjoying their meals, as they discover that being an asshole is not actually a protected class:
Meanwhile, outraged citizens are taking to the streets to Occupy ICE. One week in, the Portland occupation is still going strong and is inspiring other direct actions throughout the country. Occupiers are now in place in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, with more cities joining the movement every day.
Other odds and ends:
Lots of folks on Team Trump are having trouble enjoying their meals, as they discover that being an asshole is not actually a protected class:
- Sarah Sanders is 86'd from a restaurant in VA, subsequently complains about it on Twitter in a move that itself seems to have been illegal
- DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who recently defended fascist immigration policies while standing in front of a literal fasces, was hounded out of a Mexican restaurant in DC. She's not sleeping so well these days, either.
- Senior WH adviser and National Forehead Reserve Stephen Miller "scurries away" when confronted in a (different) Mexican restaurant
- Florida AG Pam Bondi, who is doing her best to overturn the ACA, is chased out of a screening of the Mr. Rogers movie
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions may get kicked out of his church
Meanwhile, outraged citizens are taking to the streets to Occupy ICE. One week in, the Portland occupation is still going strong and is inspiring other direct actions throughout the country. Occupiers are now in place in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, with more cities joining the movement every day.
Other odds and ends:
- Scott 'Tactical Pants' Pruitt has spent close to $3000 on pants and polos, and more than $4 million on security, but seems to have produced only one email so far.
- Michael Cohen has resigned from his role with the RNC Finance Committee and his unwavering support for Trump appears to be wavering. Most recently, Cohen and Tom Arnold appear to be doing... whatever the fuck this is about.
- Trump autographs photos of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants in truly bizarre press event. "Tom Selleck. Except better looking. Right? Better looking."
- The United States has withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council (on Juneteenth no less).
- Jason Kessler, organizer of the "Unite the Right" Charlottesville rally, plans an encore in Washington DC on August 12. DC activists, you know what to do.
- Finally, as proof that life goes on and good things are still happening, national treasure and MeFi favorite Alexandra Petri got married yesterday.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup
Meanwhile, outside the country, the trade war tiff is still rippling outwards in some really odd directions:
Peter Navarro is considered to be the closest to President Trump when it comes to tariffs. He's the most hardline protectionist in the White House. But as we revealed, Navarro used to preach the views of globalists, advocating for free trade and warning against the economic and national security risks of protectionism. We asked Navarro why he changed his tune so dramatically given the underlying economics haven't changed. He wrote lengthy responses to our questions and below we quote him in full.
This is PETER NAVARRO on trade in a book he wrote: "The clear danger of this trend [protectionism] is an all-out global trade war; for when one country excludes others from its markets, the other countries inevitably retaliate."
China is slamming $34 billion worth of US goods with tariffs. Here are the states that will be hurt the most.
The opposite of populist nationalism is not globalist elitism; it is economic realism. And in the end, countries such as Britain, the United States, and now Italy will learn the hard way that reality always eventually wins.
posted by infini at 4:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [14 favorites]
Peter Navarro is considered to be the closest to President Trump when it comes to tariffs. He's the most hardline protectionist in the White House. But as we revealed, Navarro used to preach the views of globalists, advocating for free trade and warning against the economic and national security risks of protectionism. We asked Navarro why he changed his tune so dramatically given the underlying economics haven't changed. He wrote lengthy responses to our questions and below we quote him in full.
This is PETER NAVARRO on trade in a book he wrote: "The clear danger of this trend [protectionism] is an all-out global trade war; for when one country excludes others from its markets, the other countries inevitably retaliate."
China is slamming $34 billion worth of US goods with tariffs. Here are the states that will be hurt the most.
The opposite of populist nationalism is not globalist elitism; it is economic realism. And in the end, countries such as Britain, the United States, and now Italy will learn the hard way that reality always eventually wins.
posted by infini at 4:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [14 favorites]
You know as soon as he grabbed the first photo and signed it without asking all the other families realized they were just going to have to go along with this, like some weird political version of Cat Person
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:27 PM on June 24, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:27 PM on June 24, 2018 [33 favorites]
like some weirdo political Cat Person
I really hope you're not equating weird cat people in any way with Trump. Speaking as a weirdo cat person, we're generally harmless and do at least a little bit of good...
posted by jzb at 4:28 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
I really hope you're not equating weird cat people in any way with Trump. Speaking as a weirdo cat person, we're generally harmless and do at least a little bit of good...
posted by jzb at 4:28 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
(the story)
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
A headline to summarize an era. There'll be many more like it.
Newsweek: NRA Reporter Claims Immigrant Child Detention Facilities 'Too Nice'
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:31 PM on June 24, 2018 [53 favorites]
Newsweek: NRA Reporter Claims Immigrant Child Detention Facilities 'Too Nice'
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:31 PM on June 24, 2018 [53 favorites]
The thing to remember is that not all trade sanctions are created equally .... the US sanctions are unilateral and technically illegal under the WTO and various treaties. The countries that are responding tit-for-tat are legally doing what the WTO mandates in exactly this situation.
posted by mbo at 4:32 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by mbo at 4:32 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]
Lots of folks on Team Trump are having trouble enjoying their meals, as they discover that being an asshole is not actually a protected class
Good, they should have to develop their own fucking Green Book to figure out where it's safe for them to have dinner. Oh no, that's not the way they wanted a return to the jim crow era? Too bad, should've been more specific, bye felicia.
posted by poffin boffin at 4:36 PM on June 24, 2018 [193 favorites]
Good, they should have to develop their own fucking Green Book to figure out where it's safe for them to have dinner. Oh no, that's not the way they wanted a return to the jim crow era? Too bad, should've been more specific, bye felicia.
posted by poffin boffin at 4:36 PM on June 24, 2018 [193 favorites]
NYT, Trump Calls for Depriving Immigrants Who Illegally Cross Border of Due Process Rights
More worrying, here's a wonkish and frightening thread by David Leopold, an immigration lawyer, on the extent to which Trump can put his "no Judges or Court Cases" policy into practice using absurd authorities Congress has already granted. That's already just about the law, and expanding the use of expedited removal, which was normally only applied to recent entrants near the border, would be quite easy, since virtually nobody carries proof of two years continuous presence.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]
He has instead gone on the offensive, complaining to aides about why he could not just create an overarching executive order to solve the problem, according to two people familiar with the deliberations. Aides have had to explain to the president why a comprehensive immigration overhaul is beyond the reach of his executive powers.I'm concerned what happens if aides stop trying to explain to him what he can and cannot do.
And privately, the president has groused that he should not have signed the order undoing separations.
More worrying, here's a wonkish and frightening thread by David Leopold, an immigration lawyer, on the extent to which Trump can put his "no Judges or Court Cases" policy into practice using absurd authorities Congress has already granted. That's already just about the law, and expanding the use of expedited removal, which was normally only applied to recent entrants near the border, would be quite easy, since virtually nobody carries proof of two years continuous presence.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]
Bits and bobs from the WaPo:
McCaskill stays on the trail despite a broken rib — courtesy of Joe Manchin. Senate comity at its finest, Sen McCaskill was choking on food at a luncheon Thursday and Sen Manchin performed the Heimlich maneuver dislodging the blockage and accidentally injuring McCaskill. She is persisting.
Stormy Daniels to meet with prosecutors in Michael Cohen investigation. She's interviewing with SDNY Monday and preparing for a possible grand jury appearance.
posted by peeedro at 4:39 PM on June 24, 2018 [23 favorites]
McCaskill stays on the trail despite a broken rib — courtesy of Joe Manchin. Senate comity at its finest, Sen McCaskill was choking on food at a luncheon Thursday and Sen Manchin performed the Heimlich maneuver dislodging the blockage and accidentally injuring McCaskill. She is persisting.
Stormy Daniels to meet with prosecutors in Michael Cohen investigation. She's interviewing with SDNY Monday and preparing for a possible grand jury appearance.
posted by peeedro at 4:39 PM on June 24, 2018 [23 favorites]
from the "nice family you got there, pity if something happened to it" dept.
Texas Tribune: Kids in exchange for deportation: Detained migrants say they were told they could get kids back on way out of U.S.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:40 PM on June 24, 2018 [47 favorites]
Texas Tribune: Kids in exchange for deportation: Detained migrants say they were told they could get kids back on way out of U.S.
In a detention center near Houston, an asylum seeker from Honduras said he agreed to sign a voluntary removal order from the U.S. after federal officials promised to reunite him with his 6-year-old daughter.(emphasis mine)
posted by murphy slaw at 4:40 PM on June 24, 2018 [47 favorites]
Another avenue for activism -- push for divestment from private prisons. Do you have a pension? A mutual fund? Does your college have an endowment?
Shares in private prison operators CoreCivic Inc and Geo Group rose on Friday as investors bet on increasing demand for their services after U.S. authorities asked about available capacity for the detention of immigrant families. (Reuters, June 22, 2018)That said, divestment is not an end-all-be-all
There is one way in which divestment campaigns can have a positive impact. Campaigns can use divestment as a media hook to generate stigma around certain industries, such as fossil fuel. In the long run, such stigma might lead to fewer people wanting to work at fossil-fuel companies, driving up the cost of labor for those corporations, and perhaps to greater popular support for better climate policies.posted by spamandkimchi at 4:41 PM on June 24, 2018 [18 favorites]
This is a much better argument in favor of divestment than the assertion that you’re directly reducing companies’ share price. If divestment campaigns are run, it should be with the aim of stigmatization in mind. (New Yorker, 2015)
Texas Tribune: Kids in exchange for deportation: Detained migrants say they were told they could get kids back on way out of U.S.
A reminder that a single federal kidnapping charge, particularly one of a child for ransom, will get you twenty years in prison. Multiply by several thousand.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:46 PM on June 24, 2018 [75 favorites]
A reminder that a single federal kidnapping charge, particularly one of a child for ransom, will get you twenty years in prison. Multiply by several thousand.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:46 PM on June 24, 2018 [75 favorites]
Organized Communities Against Deportations, an undocumented-led organization that has been a first responder to wide-spread immigration raids and has been leading the fight against the Chicago Gang Database, an unsubstantiated list of people suspected by Chicago Police of being gang members that is shared with ICE and other federal agencies. (via Latino Rebels)
There's a teach-in on June 26th:
There's a teach-in on June 26th:
Chicago's Gang Database is an "Expansive and Focused" system of criminalization and surveillance.posted by spamandkimchi at 4:47 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]
Join a teach-in for the release of a new report. Register here: http://bit.ly/chiteachin #EraseTheDatabase
Prison Divestment site and @prisondivest twitter account.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:55 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:55 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]
Trump Calls for Depriving Immigrants Who Illegally Cross Border of Due Process Rights
When he took a job that says "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," that didn't mean to actually kill the laws.
The Due Process clauses in both the 5th and 14th Amendments both refer to "persons," not Americans or citizens.
5th Amendment:
When he took a job that says "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," that didn't mean to actually kill the laws.
The Due Process clauses in both the 5th and 14th Amendments both refer to "persons," not Americans or citizens.
5th Amendment:
No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ..14th Amendment:
[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ...Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Whatever his status under the immigration laws, an alien is surely a 'person' in any ordinary sense of that term. Aliens, even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful, have long been recognized as 'persons' guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.”Zadvydas v. Davis (2001)
...once an alien enters the country, the legal circumstance changes, for the Due Process Clause applies to all 'persons' within the United States, including aliens, whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.”).posted by kirkaracha at 5:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [103 favorites]
China is slamming $34 billion worth of US goods with tariffs. Here are the states that will be hurt the most.
Sad to see the solidly anti-Trump state of California on the list, but with half the damage of Texas (0.5% of its GDP), out of our 50% higher GDP, while Washington will be relatively hit much harder (over 1% of GDP) and Louisiana the hardest (over 2% of GDP); for the second tier, Illinois has about 4X the economy as the others so much less damage - but that's all in total; specific industries are going to get big hits.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:11 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
Sad to see the solidly anti-Trump state of California on the list, but with half the damage of Texas (0.5% of its GDP), out of our 50% higher GDP, while Washington will be relatively hit much harder (over 1% of GDP) and Louisiana the hardest (over 2% of GDP); for the second tier, Illinois has about 4X the economy as the others so much less damage - but that's all in total; specific industries are going to get big hits.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:11 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
Donald Trump is a racist leading our country toward disaster
“We are gathered today to hear directly from the AMERICAN VICTIMS of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.”posted by kirkaracha at 5:15 PM on June 24, 2018 [58 favorites]
That refers to a gathering of “angel families,” Trump’s term for those whose relatives were killed by undocumented immigrants — who do commit crimes, of course, though at a lower rate than natural-born Americans (when do the angel families of those killed by white, native-born shooters gather at the White House? Oh, right, that would never happen). The underlying truth that can’t be mentioned enough: Republicans do not fear immigrants because they commit crimes; Republicans fixate on the crimes committed by immigrants in an attempt to justify their fear.
...
It seems clear Republicans fear the idea of a semi-Hispanic United States. Which is crazy because a) we’re already there, 17 percent Latino, mostly citizens and b) by 2050, Hispanics will be a quarter of the population. Deal with it. But not like this.
...
Every day Trump is president the United States drifts away from its ideals, and our future — multi-cultural, with a 25 percent population of Hispanic heritage — becomes harder to achieve. We are not only poisoning our social landscape today but burying caches of poison that will plague us for years to come.
I wonder how this will affect the marketers behind the Trumpy Bear doll, which is "Made in China" (also "Not for children under 12 years").
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Most recently, Cohen and Tom Arnold appear to be doing... whatever the fuck this is about.
Cohen is denying it was anything more than an opportunistic selfie. Given Arnold's demeanor & behavior in interviews, it's suspected drugs are involved.
This is the one time I'm inclined to give Cohen the benefit of the doubt. In hindsight at least it looks like it was irresponsible of CNN to put Arnold on the air.
posted by scalefree at 5:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
Cohen is denying it was anything more than an opportunistic selfie. Given Arnold's demeanor & behavior in interviews, it's suspected drugs are involved.
This is the one time I'm inclined to give Cohen the benefit of the doubt. In hindsight at least it looks like it was irresponsible of CNN to put Arnold on the air.
posted by scalefree at 5:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump sends 1,000 immigrants to Mojave Desert prison, staff say it's unsafe & predict 'detainee deaths'
posted by Artw at 5:21 PM on June 24, 2018 [45 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:21 PM on June 24, 2018 [45 favorites]
I suspect the real news that will matter for a lot of republicans is when they look at their year-to-date returns on their retirement funds. Currently most are at zero percent.
posted by srboisvert at 5:24 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 5:24 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
the extent to which Trump can put his "no Judges or Court Cases" policy into practice using absurd authorities Congress has already granted
This sort of thing really exposes the weaknesses in the US' conception of separation of powers: politicians have passed too many controversial decisions off to the President or the judiciary. I know presidents can often get around legislative limits anyway, but the present system is ridiculously fragile. It's going to take a solid Democratic legislature and lots of wonkish legislative drafting to fix this.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:25 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
This sort of thing really exposes the weaknesses in the US' conception of separation of powers: politicians have passed too many controversial decisions off to the President or the judiciary. I know presidents can often get around legislative limits anyway, but the present system is ridiculously fragile. It's going to take a solid Democratic legislature and lots of wonkish legislative drafting to fix this.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:25 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump has returned to Twitter for the evening, ranting about Jimmy Fallon and his hair and now tagging the wrong Clay Higgins. I do feel bad for @ClayHiggins18's phone right now (he has locked his account).
And in CA-48 news, it looks like it's officially going to be Rouda with the Democratic nomination, by the slimmest of margins. He'll take on Rohrabacher.
posted by zachlipton at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]
And in CA-48 news, it looks like it's officially going to be Rouda with the Democratic nomination, by the slimmest of margins. He'll take on Rohrabacher.
posted by zachlipton at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [9 favorites]
amazon workers refuse to work for any project invovling US Immigration
posted by The Whelk at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [118 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [118 favorites]
Where Is Obama?
His reticence in the Trump era is only hurting his party (Atlantic).
On the other hand: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
posted by growabrain at 5:41 PM on June 24, 2018 [11 favorites]
His reticence in the Trump era is only hurting his party (Atlantic).
On the other hand: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
posted by growabrain at 5:41 PM on June 24, 2018 [11 favorites]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders guide to refusing service: Christian baker can, Red Hen can't
I’m sorry Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant — that is an embarrassing moment for anyone. But she (and all Republicans) must realize that her constant hypocrisy and her decision to use a government account to call out the “injustice” are the exact reasons why she was asked to leave in the first place. Those are two things she has control over, unlike two gay people who just want to get married.posted by kirkaracha at 5:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [58 favorites]
There are 11 Trump-branded hotel properties around the world. Cursory Googling reveals the 11 properties to have a combined 3,400+ rooms.
First Puerto Rico (well, still Puerto Rico) and now immigrant families in the continental United States. It astounds me that a hotel magnate is in charge of the country—in business to stack strategically placed bedrooms on top of each other—yet here we are putting kids in cages, housing families in federal prisons and military bases.
posted by emelenjr at 6:10 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
First Puerto Rico (well, still Puerto Rico) and now immigrant families in the continental United States. It astounds me that a hotel magnate is in charge of the country—in business to stack strategically placed bedrooms on top of each other—yet here we are putting kids in cages, housing families in federal prisons and military bases.
posted by emelenjr at 6:10 PM on June 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
Some Democrats fear that Obama reentering the picture would energize conservatives and move the party backwards in time—rather than encouraging new leaders to emerge with an eye toward 2020.
I think that's what he has in mind. No one can miss you if you don't go away. And Trump is unhinged enough to believe -- or encourage his followers to believe -- that Obama would amass some kind of secret army to make himself president for life. If Obama tried to act as Jimmy Carter does, taking stands and making visits to devastated people who genuinely love him, it would infuriate the deathcult so much that I would honestly fear for his life.
Although he does seem like a genuinely kind and decent man, Obama also has a certain opacity, so I don't know if he is bitter about what the country has done. But if he feels that the country has rejected what he stood for, that it has sown the wind and must reap the whirlwind, then I couldn't blame him. But then I'm also someone who woke up muttering Rev. 16:6 without knowing how I knew it, so perhaps I shouldn't ascribe my motivations to anyone else.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 PM on June 24, 2018 [32 favorites]
I think that's what he has in mind. No one can miss you if you don't go away. And Trump is unhinged enough to believe -- or encourage his followers to believe -- that Obama would amass some kind of secret army to make himself president for life. If Obama tried to act as Jimmy Carter does, taking stands and making visits to devastated people who genuinely love him, it would infuriate the deathcult so much that I would honestly fear for his life.
Although he does seem like a genuinely kind and decent man, Obama also has a certain opacity, so I don't know if he is bitter about what the country has done. But if he feels that the country has rejected what he stood for, that it has sown the wind and must reap the whirlwind, then I couldn't blame him. But then I'm also someone who woke up muttering Rev. 16:6 without knowing how I knew it, so perhaps I shouldn't ascribe my motivations to anyone else.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 PM on June 24, 2018 [32 favorites]
NY Mag has a brand new longform piece by Gabriel Debenedetti that tries to answer some of that question, Where Is Barack Obama?
posted by zachlipton at 6:29 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:29 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
Senator Warren is clearly shook by what she just saw in a processing center.
posted by prefpara at 6:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by prefpara at 6:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [27 favorites]
@MichaelAvenatti
Others have been unsuccessfully trying to gain access to facilities for children for weeks so they could provide images to the American people showing the truth. Because people know that we specialize in protecting whistleblowers and delivering info, we have succeeded...
@MichaelAvenatti
This is what Mr. Trump and Mr. Miller's immigration policy really looks like...
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:34 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
Others have been unsuccessfully trying to gain access to facilities for children for weeks so they could provide images to the American people showing the truth. Because people know that we specialize in protecting whistleblowers and delivering info, we have succeeded...
@MichaelAvenatti
This is what Mr. Trump and Mr. Miller's immigration policy really looks like...
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:34 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
David Roberts:
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:39 PM on June 24, 2018 [213 favorites]
Unsurprisingly, this bit of kneejerk onanism from the WaPo editorial board completely misses the significance of this whole episode. In fact, it gets it wrong in exactly the same way Very Serious People have been getting in wrong in DC for decades.It continues.
The salient fact about US politics is that the right has been going steadily more crazy for decades -- breaking the law, disregarding norms, sinking into a hermetically sealed media bubble filled with paranoid conspiracy theories, seeking to disenfranchise opponents, etc.
At every stage, it gets worse. Norms & values we thought inviolate are crapped on, lawlessness becomes more brazen, ugly prejudices we thought buried, or at least suppressed, roar back to the surface. And with every increment, the question re-presents itself:
What should the rest of us do? The ~25% of Americans who believe & want horrible, illiberal shit ("deplorables," you might call them) have taken over the GOP. They are driving it toward fascism as fast as the system will allow them. What's the right response?
For years, lefties have been warning about this devolution of the GOP, going back to Reagan. They have bene dismissed as crazy partisan hippies, condemned as "uncivil," told they are part of the problem, because being mad about illiberalism is just like illiberalism.
The question has always been, where do you draw the line? At what point in the GOP's devolution do we say: OK, that's too far. We're no longer in Normal Politics. We're in a crisis situation, on the verge of losing our democracy. Where is the line?
The most insidious thing about the descent into illiberalism is that it is incremental. There's no dramatic moment, no Rubicon. Every step seems bad, but only a little worse than the previous step. Smart autocrats are careful not to provide that moment.
As this slide into illiberalism has continued, the mainstream DC establishment, including the sorts of Very Serious People that write major newspaper editorials, have *helped prevent that moment*. They have normalized, normalized, normalized, greasing the skids.
When lefties have tried to draw a line, create a moment, force a reckoning, the establishment has united in a single voice to say: calm down. Let's be civil & work together. Let's not raise our voices or be shrill. Both sides do it. We're still in Normal Politics.
Now here we are with a president who very openly pines for tyranny, explicitly disregards laws & norms, is nakedly racist, lies as often as he breathes, and oh yeah, is now JAILING TODDLERS TO DETER LEGAL IMMIGRATION.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:39 PM on June 24, 2018 [213 favorites]
Earlier MSNBC managed to have an entire discussion about the protests targeting Trump officials without mentioning that this is kind of an American thing. Despite including at least one historian on the panel.
In February 1770 a crowd gathered outside the home of a British customs official to protest and the guy spent a few minutes loading his musket and fired into the crowd, killing a 12 year old. Possibly the crowd was provocative, or possibly it wasn't; in any case his killer received a royal pardon. Christopher Seider, the son of German immigrants, was historically counted as the first casualty of the Revolutionary War:
BEAR IN REMEMBRANCE
That on the 22nd Day of February, 1770:
The infamous
EBENEZER RICHARDSON, Informer,
And tool to Ministerial hirelings,
Most barbarously
MURDERED
CHRISTOPHER SEIDER,
An innocent youth!
Let THESE things be told to Posterity!
And handed down From Generation to Generation,
'Till Time shall be no more!
Forever may AMERICA be preserved,
From weak and wicked monarchs,
Tyrannical Ministers,
Abandoned Governors,
Their Underlings and Hirelings!
And may the Machinations of artful, designing wretches,
Who would ENSLAVE THIS People,
Come to an end,
Let their NAMES and MEMORIES
Be buried in eternal oblivion,
And the PRESS,
For a SCOURGE to Tyrannical Rulers,
Remain FREE.
posted by XMLicious at 6:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [94 favorites]
In February 1770 a crowd gathered outside the home of a British customs official to protest and the guy spent a few minutes loading his musket and fired into the crowd, killing a 12 year old. Possibly the crowd was provocative, or possibly it wasn't; in any case his killer received a royal pardon. Christopher Seider, the son of German immigrants, was historically counted as the first casualty of the Revolutionary War:
That on the 22nd Day of February, 1770:
The infamous
EBENEZER RICHARDSON, Informer,
And tool to Ministerial hirelings,
Most barbarously
MURDERED
CHRISTOPHER SEIDER,
An innocent youth!
Let THESE things be told to Posterity!
And handed down From Generation to Generation,
'Till Time shall be no more!
Forever may AMERICA be preserved,
From weak and wicked monarchs,
Tyrannical Ministers,
Abandoned Governors,
Their Underlings and Hirelings!
And may the Machinations of artful, designing wretches,
Who would ENSLAVE THIS People,
Come to an end,
Let their NAMES and MEMORIES
Be buried in eternal oblivion,
And the PRESS,
For a SCOURGE to Tyrannical Rulers,
Remain FREE.
posted by XMLicious at 6:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [94 favorites]
Thanks Johnny. That thread is fantastic and a must read.
posted by chris24 at 6:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chris24 at 6:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
A) White people lose their effing minds over Barack Obama's mere existence and B) Democrats aren't going to develop leadership any faster with Barack Obama looming over the party. I say Barack gets to keep jetskiing and attending PTA meetings now, but I expect to hear about him doing a bunch of campaign stops once the primaries are over.
posted by grandiloquiet at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by grandiloquiet at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2018 [16 favorites]
WaPo, Separated immigrant children are all over the U.S. now, far from parents who don’t know where they are
posted by zachlipton at 6:48 PM on June 24, 2018 [112 favorites]
The children have been through hell. They are babies who were carried across rivers and toddlers who rode for hours in trucks and buses and older kids who were told that a better place was just beyond the horizon.There are no words.
And now they live and wait in unfamiliar places: big American suburban houses where no one speaks their language; a locked shelter on a dusty road where they spend little time outside; a converted Walmart where each morning, they are required to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, in English, to the country that holds them apart from their parents.
Why must they say those words, some of the children ask at the shelter in Brownsville, on the Mexican border in Texas?
“We tell them, ‘It’s out of respect,’ ” said one employee of the facility, known as Casa Padre, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing their job.
U.S. authorities are compiling mug shots of the children in detention. Immigration lawyers who have seen the pictures say some of them show children in tears.
posted by zachlipton at 6:48 PM on June 24, 2018 [112 favorites]
BREAKING: ICE cancelled operations at their 201 Varick St. NYC location because of the ongoing #OccupyICEnyc““
posted by The Whelk at 6:49 PM on June 24, 2018 [147 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 6:49 PM on June 24, 2018 [147 favorites]
Occupy ICE is really giving me hope. For months I've been wondering why no one was physically doing anything. Rallies and marches and voter registration drives are not going to solve this. I'm not sure how this is going to play out, but anyone who puts their body on the line for a migrant - or any marginalized person - is a hero in my estimation.
When you're full of despair, look around for what people are doing to fight back. Everyone can do something. Tomorrow I'm going to learn how to teach English to refugees. In a week I've taught myself basic Spanish (thanks to Duolingo).Everyone can do something.
posted by AFABulous at 7:01 PM on June 24, 2018 [64 favorites]
When you're full of despair, look around for what people are doing to fight back. Everyone can do something. Tomorrow I'm going to learn how to teach English to refugees. In a week I've taught myself basic Spanish (thanks to Duolingo).Everyone can do something.
posted by AFABulous at 7:01 PM on June 24, 2018 [64 favorites]
They're stealing children and planning to build concentration camps on military bases. The time for "going high" is long gone (if it ever existed at all).
I keep meaning to build a bot that does nothing but respond to whinging from Sanders and the like with a picture of Roast Beef from Achewood going, "A bloo-bloo-bloo bloo bloo!" These poor dears. So hurt, they are.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [24 favorites]
I keep meaning to build a bot that does nothing but respond to whinging from Sanders and the like with a picture of Roast Beef from Achewood going, "A bloo-bloo-bloo bloo bloo!" These poor dears. So hurt, they are.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [24 favorites]
Given Arnold's demeanor & behavior in interviews, it's suspected drugs are involved.
I remember an interview with Tom Arnold that made it pretty clear he is one of those guys celebrities hang with when they want to have a wild night out on the town, full of regrets that will hopefully never be spoken of again. I don't think HBO would produce it if he had nothing, but I'm not expecting much beyond sleazy innuendo. However, remember that Trump's been accused of raping a 13 year old at a child sex party. If it's a lot of stories like that it may be more mobsters, hookers, drugs, and off color comments than America can handle.
Just like Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Stormy Daniels it sometimes takes a network that understands how to legally talk around these things, with a willingness to accept liability, for these kinds of stories to out. It would not be unfitting for Trump's ouster to come in the form of a mountain of his own sleaze.
posted by xammerboy at 7:33 PM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
I remember an interview with Tom Arnold that made it pretty clear he is one of those guys celebrities hang with when they want to have a wild night out on the town, full of regrets that will hopefully never be spoken of again. I don't think HBO would produce it if he had nothing, but I'm not expecting much beyond sleazy innuendo. However, remember that Trump's been accused of raping a 13 year old at a child sex party. If it's a lot of stories like that it may be more mobsters, hookers, drugs, and off color comments than America can handle.
Just like Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Stormy Daniels it sometimes takes a network that understands how to legally talk around these things, with a willingness to accept liability, for these kinds of stories to out. It would not be unfitting for Trump's ouster to come in the form of a mountain of his own sleaze.
posted by xammerboy at 7:33 PM on June 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
While excommunications for Catholic lawmakers have never been carried out,
From the Sessions article, this is a bizarre and incorrect statement. Have not been carried out in recent memory, maybe, but the Catholic Church has a long history of excommunication of law-makers and law-givers who have acted wrongly, and I’m really starting to believe it’s time for that and interdict to come back.
posted by corb at 7:35 PM on June 24, 2018 [20 favorites]
From the Sessions article, this is a bizarre and incorrect statement. Have not been carried out in recent memory, maybe, but the Catholic Church has a long history of excommunication of law-makers and law-givers who have acted wrongly, and I’m really starting to believe it’s time for that and interdict to come back.
posted by corb at 7:35 PM on June 24, 2018 [20 favorites]
Elizabeth McLaughlin, @Elizabeth_McLau: NEWS: On plane to Alaska, #SecDef Mattis says DHS has asked DoD "to build temporary camps on two of our bases" to house migrants. He would not say which bases. "We are in a logistics support response mode."
HHS officials have recently toured 4 US military bases in TX and AR.
So we can all stop with the Saint Mattis bullshit now, right?
Again, note where they're talking about setting up these internment camps. Like I said in the last thread, they aren't even trying to find places with supporting units that would make this easier on the prisoners. Mattis could work toward that, but he isn't. I'm not even seeing an attempt to mitigate harm here.
Mattis isn't here to save us.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:45 PM on June 24, 2018 [42 favorites]
HHS officials have recently toured 4 US military bases in TX and AR.
So we can all stop with the Saint Mattis bullshit now, right?
Again, note where they're talking about setting up these internment camps. Like I said in the last thread, they aren't even trying to find places with supporting units that would make this easier on the prisoners. Mattis could work toward that, but he isn't. I'm not even seeing an attempt to mitigate harm here.
Mattis isn't here to save us.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:45 PM on June 24, 2018 [42 favorites]
the Catholic Church has a long history of excommunication of law-makers and law-givers who have acted wrongly
In the U.S.? For their politics?
posted by orange ball at 7:51 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
In the U.S.? For their politics?
posted by orange ball at 7:51 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
Picking the most recent entry that seems relevant from Wikipedia's list of people excommunicated by the Catholic Church:
Plaquemines Parish President Leander Perez, Jackson G. Ricau (secretary of the Citizens Council of South Louisiana) and Mrs. B.J. Gaillot, Jr., president of Save Our Nation, Inc., on April 16, 1962 by Archbishop Joseph Rummel of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. They were excommunicated for aggressively opposing the racial integration of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese starting in the 1963-64 school year. Perez and Ricau were later reinstated into the Church following public retractions.[58]posted by XMLicious at 8:03 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
Mattis isn't here to save us
He's here to deliver moderate crimes against humanity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
He's here to deliver moderate crimes against humanity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
In the U.S.? For their politics?
He wasn't excommunicated, but the Vatican ordered Robert Drinan to step down as a congressman (in addition to serving in the House, he was also a Jesuit priest - and he was both anti-war and pro-choice).
posted by adamg at 8:06 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
He wasn't excommunicated, but the Vatican ordered Robert Drinan to step down as a congressman (in addition to serving in the House, he was also a Jesuit priest - and he was both anti-war and pro-choice).
posted by adamg at 8:06 PM on June 24, 2018 [4 favorites]
Where Is Barack Obama?
I assume Obama's looked into whether or not it's a good idea to speak out. One thing I learned from the election was that I seriously underestimated the amount of animus against Hillary. A word from Obama may well rally Trump's base. However, I was floored at the impact Laura Bush's Op Ed had. More Republican defections would be welcome. I think there are any number of conservative celebrities that could be successfully lobbied.
posted by xammerboy at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [26 favorites]
I assume Obama's looked into whether or not it's a good idea to speak out. One thing I learned from the election was that I seriously underestimated the amount of animus against Hillary. A word from Obama may well rally Trump's base. However, I was floored at the impact Laura Bush's Op Ed had. More Republican defections would be welcome. I think there are any number of conservative celebrities that could be successfully lobbied.
posted by xammerboy at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2018 [26 favorites]
While excommunications for Catholic lawmakers have never been carried out,
From the Sessions article, this is a bizarre and incorrect statement. Have not been carried out in recent memory, maybe, but the Catholic Church has a long history of excommunication of law-makers and law-givers who have acted wrongly, and I’m really starting to believe it’s time for that and interdict to come back.
That article is talking about excommunication in terms of American politics. It doesn't look like any American politician has ever been excommunicated by the Catholic church.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
From the Sessions article, this is a bizarre and incorrect statement. Have not been carried out in recent memory, maybe, but the Catholic Church has a long history of excommunication of law-makers and law-givers who have acted wrongly, and I’m really starting to believe it’s time for that and interdict to come back.
That article is talking about excommunication in terms of American politics. It doesn't look like any American politician has ever been excommunicated by the Catholic church.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Since we are in unprecedented times, it's time to set new precedents. I'm going to propose this:
Diseases are sometimes named after scientists who discovered them or helped our undertanding of them. Or sometimes named after famous people who suffered from them. Now it's time to name diseases after people whose actions cause significant numbers of people to be afflicted with them.
HHS just decided to stop tracking incidents of MRSA infections in hospitals. So it's time for MRSA to become called "Carson's disease.:
Some time in the next year, there will be a water pollution incident somewhere in the Midwest, because of the EPA no longer protecting rivers from pollution from feedlots. The resulting pollution will either cause blue baby syndrom (nitrate poisoning), or an outbreak of e. coli infections in customers of one or more municipal water systems.
So whichever of these is first, gets renamed "Pruitt Syndrome' in honor of Scott Pruitt.
Then there's the DSM 5 entry on traumatic separation in children. That's obviously Trump Syndrome.
Medical Mefits, what say ye?
posted by ocschwar at 8:18 PM on June 24, 2018 [81 favorites]
Diseases are sometimes named after scientists who discovered them or helped our undertanding of them. Or sometimes named after famous people who suffered from them. Now it's time to name diseases after people whose actions cause significant numbers of people to be afflicted with them.
HHS just decided to stop tracking incidents of MRSA infections in hospitals. So it's time for MRSA to become called "Carson's disease.:
Some time in the next year, there will be a water pollution incident somewhere in the Midwest, because of the EPA no longer protecting rivers from pollution from feedlots. The resulting pollution will either cause blue baby syndrom (nitrate poisoning), or an outbreak of e. coli infections in customers of one or more municipal water systems.
So whichever of these is first, gets renamed "Pruitt Syndrome' in honor of Scott Pruitt.
Then there's the DSM 5 entry on traumatic separation in children. That's obviously Trump Syndrome.
Medical Mefits, what say ye?
posted by ocschwar at 8:18 PM on June 24, 2018 [81 favorites]
Evangelical Historian Explains How Christians Came to Put Trump Ahead of Jesus
John Fea is an evangelical Christian and a historian. When Donald Trump was elected with 81 percent of the self-described white evangelical vote, Fea was both stunned and surprised. “As a historian studying religion and politics, I should have seen this coming,” he notes.posted by jgirl at 8:21 PM on June 24, 2018 [22 favorites]
He identifies and lucidly explores three fundamental flaws in evangelical thinking that have led them to embrace a leader who is wholly unfit by their own once-cherished moral standards, in pursuit of ends they cannot possibly achieve — restoring 1950s America via government action.
Barack and Michelle Obama set up the Obama foundation, focused on leadership and activist training on several different levels.
posted by Sublimity at 8:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Sublimity at 8:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]
It doesn't look like any American politician has ever been excommunicated by the Catholic church.
Per the entry I quoted above, in some parts of Louisiana a "Parish President" is an official of secular government.
posted by XMLicious at 8:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
Thank you for pointing that out to me, I saw the word "parish" and made a wrong assumption.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
“The @nycDSA Immigrant Justice WG voted to endorse #OccupyICENYC. DSA contingent will be across the street from 201 Varick, north side.
Goals:
🔴 Agitate ICE
🔺Inform the public about ICE’s actions
♦️Show solidarity with occupations across the country“
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [56 favorites]
Goals:
🔴 Agitate ICE
🔺Inform the public about ICE’s actions
♦️Show solidarity with occupations across the country“
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 PM on June 24, 2018 [56 favorites]
Sorry if this was near the end of the last thread, but it's good: Monique Truong on 'The Hypocrisy of Eating at Mexican Restuarants
In fact, Miller and Nielsen's choices reflect how Mexican fare is now a part of the proverbial "American table." For them, as for the rest of the nation, "Mexican-inspired" food is a known quantity, normalized, welcomed, even "elevated" in upscale settings, and far from foreign — unlike many of the people whose culinary traditions helped inspire it.
But no matter which restaurant Miller and Nielsen patronize, we should be appalled by the flagrant disconnect between their gustatory desires and the people who make it possible to satisfy those desires. It doesn't matter what the name out front is or what the menu purports to offer, chances are, every restaurant in the D.C. area has a back-of-the-house contingent (kitchen staff, dishwashers and bussers) full of people who came from Mexico or Central America, with or without documents. In that sense, every restaurant is a "Mexican" restaurant.
posted by TwoStride at 8:52 PM on June 24, 2018 [47 favorites]
In fact, Miller and Nielsen's choices reflect how Mexican fare is now a part of the proverbial "American table." For them, as for the rest of the nation, "Mexican-inspired" food is a known quantity, normalized, welcomed, even "elevated" in upscale settings, and far from foreign — unlike many of the people whose culinary traditions helped inspire it.
But no matter which restaurant Miller and Nielsen patronize, we should be appalled by the flagrant disconnect between their gustatory desires and the people who make it possible to satisfy those desires. It doesn't matter what the name out front is or what the menu purports to offer, chances are, every restaurant in the D.C. area has a back-of-the-house contingent (kitchen staff, dishwashers and bussers) full of people who came from Mexico or Central America, with or without documents. In that sense, every restaurant is a "Mexican" restaurant.
posted by TwoStride at 8:52 PM on June 24, 2018 [47 favorites]
If you object to immigration, you're not allowed to eat a taco, a pizza, a bagel or an egg roll ever again.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:01 PM on June 24, 2018 [70 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:01 PM on June 24, 2018 [70 favorites]
The thing is, of course they want to eat Mexican food - the only way they have of understanding society is the relationship between customer and server.
posted by The Whelk at 9:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:17 PM on June 24, 2018 [25 favorites]
the only way they have of understanding society is the relationship between customer and server.
And that's why there was such a furious freakout and harassment campaign from the base when Sarah Sanders wasn't served in a restaurant, and why it was so much more vicious than their response to Nielsen and Miller's dining being interrupted by the public. For a particular white suburban-to-exurban middle-to-upper-middle-class demographic, being served in a business is most of their direct interaction with other humans outside their family and is a hugely important part of their identity. Breaking the customer-staff hierarchy is to them as obscene as child concentration camps are to us.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:32 PM on June 24, 2018 [90 favorites]
And that's why there was such a furious freakout and harassment campaign from the base when Sarah Sanders wasn't served in a restaurant, and why it was so much more vicious than their response to Nielsen and Miller's dining being interrupted by the public. For a particular white suburban-to-exurban middle-to-upper-middle-class demographic, being served in a business is most of their direct interaction with other humans outside their family and is a hugely important part of their identity. Breaking the customer-staff hierarchy is to them as obscene as child concentration camps are to us.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:32 PM on June 24, 2018 [90 favorites]
Current Affairs presents The Aslyum Process, a flowchart
posted by The Whelk at 9:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:38 PM on June 24, 2018 [24 favorites]
I don't think HBO would produce it if he had nothing, but I'm not expecting much beyond sleazy innuendo. However, remember that Trump's been accused of raping a 13 year old at a child sex party. If it's a lot of stories like that it may be more mobsters, hookers, drugs, and off color comments than America can handle.
I've got no idea what else he can use his less-than-savory contacts to uncover. We'll know before long. I'm just saying he looked high as fuck in that CNN interview & weirdly sketched out when the interviewer tried to pin him down on details of any collaboration with Cohen, backed up by Cohen himself denying it. If there's a pee tape, elevator tape or any other tape to be had out of all this, it's not coming from Cohen.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've got no idea what else he can use his less-than-savory contacts to uncover. We'll know before long. I'm just saying he looked high as fuck in that CNN interview & weirdly sketched out when the interviewer tried to pin him down on details of any collaboration with Cohen, backed up by Cohen himself denying it. If there's a pee tape, elevator tape or any other tape to be had out of all this, it's not coming from Cohen.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 PM on June 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
Obama isn't Superman. It isn't 2008 - for better or worse he's a much more complicated figure now, and he doesn't have a coalition. What he does have is an incredible weight of history that holds him to a uniquely high standard. And it puts him in a tough position that very few people can truly understand. Point being, leave Britney alone. in my opinion.
Vox's podcast The Weeds had an episode about the roots of all the border shit on the 19th, and Dara Lind made an offhand comment that I thought was interesting. She said that when there was that wave of unaccompanied minors in 2014, one of the things the Obama administration did was to publicly say that these were economic refugees - not fleeing violence, and therefore not eligible for asylum. And they did so in partnership with the governments of Guatemala etc., who were obviously happy to make public statements saying that they didn't have a gang violence problem. So the administration was arguing against the wave of asylum claims in general, rhetorically delegitimizing them.
Dara's point was that Trump could actually worked with Central American countries if he wasn't, you know, trump. But I thought it was interesting because a lot of people don't fucking understand that people can seek asylum. The Republican party keeps conflating asylum with normal illegal immigration, deliberately twisting the issue; and at that time, according to Dara, the Obama administration was also obscuring the issue in that same way. And (at risk of derailing) I really don't know why.
(I remember it wasn't clear to me at all at the time, how many of them were refugees. I sort of assumed that a 14 year old wouldn't be making this kind of trip for funzies, but I didn't know for certain and I didn't have ground to argue with people.)
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:54 PM on June 24, 2018 [14 favorites]
Vox's podcast The Weeds had an episode about the roots of all the border shit on the 19th, and Dara Lind made an offhand comment that I thought was interesting. She said that when there was that wave of unaccompanied minors in 2014, one of the things the Obama administration did was to publicly say that these were economic refugees - not fleeing violence, and therefore not eligible for asylum. And they did so in partnership with the governments of Guatemala etc., who were obviously happy to make public statements saying that they didn't have a gang violence problem. So the administration was arguing against the wave of asylum claims in general, rhetorically delegitimizing them.
Dara's point was that Trump could actually worked with Central American countries if he wasn't, you know, trump. But I thought it was interesting because a lot of people don't fucking understand that people can seek asylum. The Republican party keeps conflating asylum with normal illegal immigration, deliberately twisting the issue; and at that time, according to Dara, the Obama administration was also obscuring the issue in that same way. And (at risk of derailing) I really don't know why.
(I remember it wasn't clear to me at all at the time, how many of them were refugees. I sort of assumed that a 14 year old wouldn't be making this kind of trip for funzies, but I didn't know for certain and I didn't have ground to argue with people.)
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:54 PM on June 24, 2018 [14 favorites]
Asian Americans need to wise up and end our blind loyalty to the Democratic Party
John Yoo strikes again with a tone deaf piece.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:00 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
John Yoo strikes again with a tone deaf piece.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:00 PM on June 24, 2018 [5 favorites]
BuzzFeed, The Federal Agent Behind A Mysterious Leak Investigation Railed Against “Hyphenated-Americans”
More on this from NYT, How an Affair Between a Reporter and a Security Aide Has Rattled Washington Media. This bit jumps out as particularly odd: "The Times is also reviewing her decision, on advice of her personal lawyer, not to immediately tell her editors about a letter she received in February informing her that her records had been seized."
Politico, Emily Holden, Pruitt faces another probe for employee retaliation allegations
NYT, John Schwartz, A Leading Climate Agency May Lose Its Climate Focus , in which NOAA's mission appears to be losing all references to climate.
American Political Science Review, Broockman and Skovron, Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites. This is a fascinating study about the extent to which the Republican outrage machine has been radically successful at causing politicians of both parties to think that conservative opinions are dramatically more popular than they really are. In particular, they conclude that Republican politicians hear from Republican constituents very disproportionately, so keep calling. The abstract (from a preprint, though I believe it's the same, because Cambridge University Press are a bunch of assholes who disabled copy/paste):
This is how we win elections.
posted by zachlipton at 10:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [96 favorites]
The Customs and Border Protection officer who reportedly tried to pressure a former BuzzFeed News journalist into talking about her sources, and appeared to have collected private information about her and her travels, maintained a website in which he expressed his frustration with his own life and the direction of the government under former president Obama.The legal geniuses over at WSJ seem to think that any sign of bias at the FBI means the entire Mueller investigation has to be shut down; I'm sure they'll agree the same applies here and in every other case involving racist cops. The story goes into more detail on Rambo, and I still can't believe that's his name, and the weirdness of what the hell a CBP officer was doing questioning a reporter.
The officer, Jeffrey Rambo, also teamed up with an FBI agent in 2014 to try to launch a craft beer business in San Diego, a venture that failed.
On cached pages of his website from 2011 he railed against US military intervention in foreign wars, against “hyphenated-Americans” failing to integrate, and against trying to help a “third world shit hole.”
Later he wrote about “sleepless nights spent in anguish wondering how you will rebound.”
Last week the Washington Post reported that in 2017 Rambo interviewed former BuzzFeed News reporter Ali Watkins, who was then working for Politico. In a highly unusual investigative tactic, Rambo questioned her about her sources, and confronted her with allegations about an affair with a senior staffer at the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to the Post.
More on this from NYT, How an Affair Between a Reporter and a Security Aide Has Rattled Washington Media. This bit jumps out as particularly odd: "The Times is also reviewing her decision, on advice of her personal lawyer, not to immediately tell her editors about a letter she received in February informing her that her records had been seized."
Politico, Emily Holden, Pruitt faces another probe for employee retaliation allegations
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is reviewing claims that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt retaliated against a handful of employees who pushed back against his spending and management, according to three people familiar with the process.There are so many inquiries into Pruitt's actions that Politico can only say this adds to the "the roughly dozen other inquiries."
At least six current and former agency officials were reportedly fired or reassigned to new jobs, allegedly for questioning Pruitt's need for a 24-hour security protection — which has now cost at least $4.6 million — as well as his other spending and practices. OSC is in the process of interviewing some of those employees, according to the sources, although an OSC spokesman said the agency cannot comment on or confirm any open investigations.
NYT, John Schwartz, A Leading Climate Agency May Lose Its Climate Focus , in which NOAA's mission appears to be losing all references to climate.
American Political Science Review, Broockman and Skovron, Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites. This is a fascinating study about the extent to which the Republican outrage machine has been radically successful at causing politicians of both parties to think that conservative opinions are dramatically more popular than they really are. In particular, they conclude that Republican politicians hear from Republican constituents very disproportionately, so keep calling. The abstract (from a preprint, though I believe it's the same, because Cambridge University Press are a bunch of assholes who disabled copy/paste):
The conservative asymmetry of elite polarization and the right-skewed “democratic deficit”—wherein policy is more conservative than majorities prefer on average—represent significant puzzles. We argue that such breakdowns in aggregate representation can arise because politicians systematically misperceive constituency opinion. We demonstrate this argument in US states, where conservative citizens are more active in the public spheres politicians monitor, which we hypothesized might distort politicians’ perceptions of public opinion. With original surveys of 3,765 politicians’ perceptions of constituency opinion on nine issues, we find politicians of both parties dramatically overestimate their constituents’ support for conservative policies. This pattern is robust across methods, years, issues, districts, and states. We also show Republicans overestimate constituency conservatism especially and that this partisan difference may arise from differences in politicians’ information environments. Our findings suggest a novel way democratic representation may fail: politicians can systematically misperceive what their constituents want.@jmannies: At Truman Dinner, @clairecmc asks everyone to stand up who has a preexisting condition. Notes GOP wants to eliminate insurance coverage for them. Most of ballroom stands up
This is how we win elections.
posted by zachlipton at 10:02 PM on June 24, 2018 [96 favorites]
For a particular white suburban-to-exurban middle-to-upper-middle-class demographic, being served in a business is most of their direct interaction with other humans outside their family and is a hugely important part of their identity. Breaking the customer-staff hierarchy is to them as obscene as child concentration camps are to us.
These Nazi fucks *expect* to be served unquestionably by the very people they're trying to scapegoat, deport, dehumanize. It's just another expression of white supremacy. Getting protested by white people, bad but bearable. Getting voted out of the restaurant by staff that is probably largely POC? An unimaginable insult.
posted by chris24 at 10:16 PM on June 24, 2018 [78 favorites]
These Nazi fucks *expect* to be served unquestionably by the very people they're trying to scapegoat, deport, dehumanize. It's just another expression of white supremacy. Getting protested by white people, bad but bearable. Getting voted out of the restaurant by staff that is probably largely POC? An unimaginable insult.
posted by chris24 at 10:16 PM on June 24, 2018 [78 favorites]
@TorEkelandPC
posted by triggerfinger at 10:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [171 favorites]
My dad was tortured by the Gestapo for 4 days and thrown in a concentration camp for being in the Norwegian Resistance. Growing up, he would tell me things he learned in the Resistance. I thought, I'm never going to need this stuff. Here's some things of those things #Thread(It goes on)
First, you're never going to win a head on battle with an adversary that's got you outgunned. That's not the point of the Resistance. The point is to create friction, make it hard for your adversary to operate, to increase transaction costs.
Second, resistance doesn't have to be a dramatic act. It can be a small act, like losing a sheet of paper, taking your time processing something, not serving someone in a restaurant. Small acts taken by thousands have big effects.
Third, use your privilege and access if you've got it. He and his buddies stole weapons from the Nazis by driving up with a truck to the weapons depot, speaking German, acting like it was a routine pick up, and driving away.
Fourth, and this is part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you're doing would be happening so blatantly. All good Social Engineers know this...
posted by triggerfinger at 10:26 PM on June 24, 2018 [171 favorites]
Asian Americans need to wise up and end our blind loyalty to the Democratic Party
John Yoo strikes again with a tone deaf piece
Well, at least this latest strike isn’t technically a war crime.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]
John Yoo strikes again with a tone deaf piece
Well, at least this latest strike isn’t technically a war crime.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:30 PM on June 24, 2018 [19 favorites]
Fourth, and this is part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you're doing would be happening so blatantly
See also: Trump asking Russia to hack Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr meeting with Russian intelligence at Trump Tower.
posted by Justinian at 11:06 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
See also: Trump asking Russia to hack Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr meeting with Russian intelligence at Trump Tower.
posted by Justinian at 11:06 PM on June 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
These Nazi fucks *expect* to be served unquestionably by the very people they're trying to scapegoat, deport, dehumanize. It's just another expression of white supremacy.
Don't forget the “Go fucking cook my burrito b—” guy who of course had a tattoo he had to explain away.
posted by XMLicious at 11:18 PM on June 24, 2018 [10 favorites]
G7 and the End of Days
Gorbachev dismantled his country’s empire. He was either visionary or crazy. Is Donald Trump now doing the same to America’s global hegemony? If so, why?
Gorbachev dismantled his country’s empire. He was either visionary or crazy. Is Donald Trump now doing the same to America’s global hegemony? If so, why?
...Trump is indeed dismantling the American-led international system. And he is doing so for Gorbachev’s reason precisely, which is lucid intellectual conviction. Only, Trump’s conviction is different from Gorbachev’s. Gorbachev thought the Soviet bloc was an offense to Communist ideals, properly understood. Trump thinks America’s ideals are an offense to the American national interest. Harry Truman and his colleagues wanted the post-war system to be business-friendly. But their intention was never to build a business empire. The Atlantic alliance was not supposed to be the Hanseatic League. Their idea was to establish and solidify a democratic civilization. The purpose was to guarantee that nothing like the Nazis of the past would ever again emerge, and to fend off the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union in the present. And the purpose was to promote the kinds of social principles that could be agreed upon by social democrats and progressive conservatives.The above is one of four possible scenarios considered by the author, the others being that Trump is in control but consciously using some sort of disruption strategy, that he's a Russian puppet, or that he's just incompetent and crazy. But...
But Trump takes a different view. He considers that America’s relations with the world should, in fact, be a matter of business interests, and nothing else. He considers that, from a business standpoint, the Atlantic alliance, which purports to be pro-American, has ended up being anti-American. The alliance is designed to hoodwink American workers and businessmen into acceding to their own exploitation. The ostensible hegemon is the actual underling. And it is obvious why he takes this view. Hegel believed in the movement of spirit through history. But Trump believes in neither spirit, nor history, nor ideals, nor in anything at all that is abstract, not laws, nor customs, nor even courtesy. He believes in what can be measured by dollars.
This is the source of his charisma. He regards the world as a giant lie, with himself as heroic truth-teller. Every time he puts his thumb in some high-minded person’s eye, he arouses a cheer from people who likewise regard the world and its ideals and principles as a system of deception. He is extremely radical in this respect, and the more extreme his radicalism becomes, the more excitement he arouses. Justin Trudeau said, in response to Trump, “Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable.” And that is why Trump despises Trudeau and the Canadians. Polite reasonableness seems to him the lie of all lies. He tears off the veil. He sees the face of reality. It is ugly. It is Canadian dairy tariffs. And his public cheers, not because they care about dairy farmers but because the elegant hypocrisies of pink-cheeked abominations like Justin Trudeau and the right-thinking Canadians make them retch.
The frightening thing about interpretations 1), 2), 3), and 4) of Trump is that it hardly matters which of them is true. Nor does it matter what is actually happening within Trump’s brain. The America that elected him plainly has no objection to the notion of dismantling the American not-really-an-empire. The Republicans are in favor, and the Democrats are not interested. Nor does anyone outside of the United States appear to be particularly upset.posted by XMLicious at 2:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
Untrue. Many of us outside of the United States are actually pretty upset. And a lot gets written about that in newspapers and magazines. Of course, one would have to read them to know...
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
The more I think about Trump and Co's behavior the more convinced I am they have no empathy nor plans that go past the present day. Every day is a reality TV show played to their base. You can't understand the real world implications of your actions if you go to a Mexican restaurant after defending barbarous immigration policy, or wear a dress reading "I really don't care" to a children's detention center, or ask photographers to make you look beautiful at a meeting with a genocidal dictator. You must be fundamentally disconnected from the real world.
posted by xammerboy at 2:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 2:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
Oh, and I think all 4 interpretations are correct. Trump is shaking things up just to shake things up, he is something of a Russian agent (more compromised than straight up), he believes the U.S. is a business and he's acting in its interests (but he's a bad business man), and he's crazy (with more than a touch of narcissism and dementia).
posted by xammerboy at 3:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 3:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [29 favorites]
5) his handlers and enablers have realized that american and international corporatism is inconsistent with the kind of evangelical, white supremacist, crony capitalist regime they want for the usa
the game will be truly over when the corporatists fully realize what the trump administration is trying and that it will be very bad for business - at that point they'll do what they have to do to stop him
posted by pyramid termite at 3:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
the game will be truly over when the corporatists fully realize what the trump administration is trying and that it will be very bad for business - at that point they'll do what they have to do to stop him
posted by pyramid termite at 3:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
John Yoo’s got some balls talking about “our” blind loyalty to the Dems. A Republican political appointee to the GW Bush administration? That op ed reads more like a personal vendetta against Obama for undoing all his damage.
posted by emelenjr at 3:32 AM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 3:32 AM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
(many, many) people down here (NZ) are upset, very concerned, and no-one knows what is going to happen. From here it looks like 1931; but things move fast nowadays. I simply don't know why everyone's not in the streets there, soon it may not be possible (yes I know, permits for protests but this, this looks most urgent) - words fail me when I think about all this.
posted by unearthed at 3:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by unearthed at 3:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
In contrast, there seems to be a lot less solidarity here in Australia, probably because our own hands are so dirty. We haven't been deliberately splitting up families, but we've been shipping irregular migrants off to detention camps in smaller Pacific countries in an attempt to discourage other entrants. They're out of sight, out of mind for most Australians, and I suspect what's happening in the US is an unwelcome reminder that we are deliberately immiserating people for no very good reason other than a desire to protect our standard of living from people who would like to share it.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:16 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:16 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
Capitalism in general: an unwelcome reminder that we are deliberately immiserating people for no very good reason other than a desire to protect our standard of living from people who would like to share it.
posted by jaduncan at 4:33 AM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by jaduncan at 4:33 AM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
Oh, we can do dirty, don't you worry about that (lots of dirty under the carpets), just I think we're like a big village and things you say out loud tend to find their way back home rather quickly.
posted by unearthed at 4:51 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by unearthed at 4:51 AM on June 25, 2018
Another avenue for activism -- push for divestment from private prisons.
And, once the Democrats are back in control of government, for a law abolishing them and any private organization, even a non-profit, from detaining people.
posted by Gelatin at 5:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
And, once the Democrats are back in control of government, for a law abolishing them and any private organization, even a non-profit, from detaining people.
posted by Gelatin at 5:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
The most powerful old man in the world has taken to the twitters with a shrieked review-bomb of The Red Hen.
Warner warns:
Probably not going to be a good quarter to quit (drinking|huffing glue|etc.).
posted by Buntix at 5:08 AM on June 25, 2018 [63 favorites]
The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!---
Warner warns:
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) hosted a dinner Friday night for more than 100 guests at his house on Martha’s Vineyard as part of the DSCC’S annual Majority Trust retreat. OVERHEARD: Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joking to the crowd: “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff only Bob Mueller and I know. If you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up. It’s going to be a wild couple of months.”[Politico]
Probably not going to be a good quarter to quit (drinking|huffing glue|etc.).
posted by Buntix at 5:08 AM on June 25, 2018 [63 favorites]
Nor does anyone outside of the United States appear to be particularly upset.
I can assure you that when the largest economy in the world goes off its rocker, people are plenty upset. When said country spends more on "defence" than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, United Kingdom, and Japan combined, you try to figure out how to do something about it somewhat quietly, or at least try not to be shrill.
Also, the writer either doesn't read anything non-US, or is utterly culturally blind to how other countries express themselves.
posted by Bovine Love at 5:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
I can assure you that when the largest economy in the world goes off its rocker, people are plenty upset. When said country spends more on "defence" than China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, United Kingdom, and Japan combined, you try to figure out how to do something about it somewhat quietly, or at least try not to be shrill.
Also, the writer either doesn't read anything non-US, or is utterly culturally blind to how other countries express themselves.
posted by Bovine Love at 5:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
/doesn't even both with comment about McDonald's cleanliness...
Meanwhile, the local news in Boston had reported a few days ago that the BPS school superintendant had abruptly resigned from the position. There's been no further local news about it, but the NY Daily News claims that he was allegedly turning student information over to ICE.
posted by TwoStride at 5:33 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
Meanwhile, the local news in Boston had reported a few days ago that the BPS school superintendant had abruptly resigned from the position. There's been no further local news about it, but the NY Daily News claims that he was allegedly turning student information over to ICE.
posted by TwoStride at 5:33 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
I assume Obama's looked into whether or not it's a good idea to speak out. One thing I learned from the election was that I seriously underestimated the amount of animus against Hillary. A word from Obama may well rally Trump's base. However, I was floored at the impact Laura Bush's Op Ed had. More Republican defections would be welcome. I think there are any number of conservative celebrities that could be successfully lobbied.
I think rallying Trump's base is irrelevant. Trump's base are pizza-gaters. They see George Soros paying protestors. They already think that Obama's deep state army is thwarting Trump. They don't need real life Obama to rally. Imaginary Obama is far more powerful for them.
I think the real concern about Obama being more active is that he can't get elected and he would suck up all the media oxygen available for other Democratic Party leaders who could.
posted by srboisvert at 5:41 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
I think rallying Trump's base is irrelevant. Trump's base are pizza-gaters. They see George Soros paying protestors. They already think that Obama's deep state army is thwarting Trump. They don't need real life Obama to rally. Imaginary Obama is far more powerful for them.
I think the real concern about Obama being more active is that he can't get elected and he would suck up all the media oxygen available for other Democratic Party leaders who could.
posted by srboisvert at 5:41 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
In California election news, it looks like Harley Rouda will be the Democratic challenger to Kremlin, er I mean Republican, incumbent Dana Rohrabacher in CA-48 (coastal Orange County). I know where I'm going to kick down some cash this summer! #DefeatRohrabacher #TurnCaliforniaAllBlue
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
But you want Trump’s base to be confused, disappointed, depressed, not angry and energized. The more whiplash we can give them, like wanting child jails and then having Dear Leader have to come out against child jails, and then the base has to remember which thing they have to pretend to be against, the better. If
Trump has to give up his trade war and do a rhetorical 180 before the midterms, I think that’s another win. Because while his base will follow him wherever he goes and pretend they always believed the things he’s saying today, no matter what he said yesterday, it’s demoralizing to have to change positions all the time, and if some of them don’t bother to vote instead of being fired up and angry, that’s a win. Obama’s chance to fix this was in 2016 and he blew it. He’s better off staying out of it now.
posted by rikschell at 5:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Trump has to give up his trade war and do a rhetorical 180 before the midterms, I think that’s another win. Because while his base will follow him wherever he goes and pretend they always believed the things he’s saying today, no matter what he said yesterday, it’s demoralizing to have to change positions all the time, and if some of them don’t bother to vote instead of being fired up and angry, that’s a win. Obama’s chance to fix this was in 2016 and he blew it. He’s better off staying out of it now.
posted by rikschell at 5:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Beta O'Rourke is within 5 points of Cruz in a new UT/Teas Tribune poll. (MOE 2.8)
Cruz - 41%
O'Rourke - 36%
Undecided - 17%
Other - 5%
The old saw that an incumbent not over 50% is in danger is not always true – if they have a big lead, it isn't so meaningful – but Cruz is neither over 50 nor leading big.
posted by chris24 at 5:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [54 favorites]
Cruz - 41%
O'Rourke - 36%
Undecided - 17%
Other - 5%
The old saw that an incumbent not over 50% is in danger is not always true – if they have a big lead, it isn't so meaningful – but Cruz is neither over 50 nor leading big.
posted by chris24 at 5:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [54 favorites]
Mattis isn't here to save us
Meanwhile, the knives are out for Mattis, and John Bolton's behind it.
NBC: Mattis Is Out Of The Loop And Trump Doesn't Listen To Him, Say Officials—On Iran, North Korea And Other Major Issues, The Defense Secretary Has Been Out Of The Loop
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
Meanwhile, the knives are out for Mattis, and John Bolton's behind it.
NBC: Mattis Is Out Of The Loop And Trump Doesn't Listen To Him, Say Officials—On Iran, North Korea And Other Major Issues, The Defense Secretary Has Been Out Of The Loop
In recent months, however, the president has cooled on Mattis, in part because he's come to believe his defense secretary looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives, according to current and former administration officials. The dynamic was exacerbated with Trump's announcement in March that he had chosen John Bolton as national security adviser, a move Mattis opposed, and Mike Pompeo's confirmation as secretary of state soon after. The president is now more inclined to rely on his own instincts or the advice of Pompeo and Bolton, three people familiar with the matter said.[...]Meanwhile, Russia hopes to discuss Syria with Bolton in Moscow (Reuters)—another conversation from which Mattis is being excluded.
"He's never been one of the go-tos in the gang that's very close to the president," a senior White House official said. "But the president has a lot of respect for him."
In recent months, however, the president has cooled on Mattis, in part because he's come to believe his defense secretary looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives, according to current and former administration officials. The dynamic was exacerbated with Trump's announcement in March that he had chosen John Bolton as national security adviser, a move Mattis opposed, and Mike Pompeo's confirmation as secretary of state soon after. The president is now more inclined to rely on his own instincts or the advice of Pompeo and Bolton, three people familiar with the matter said.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
From a tweet thread cited eariler: For years, lefties have been warning about this devolution of the GOP, going back to Reagan. They have bene dismissed as crazy partisan hippies, condemned as "uncivil," told they are part of the problem, because being mad about illiberalism is just like illiberalism.
Make no mistake, the complaints about "civility" -- when there are no such complaints about arguing in obvious bad faith, to say nothing of lying -- is a deliberate attempt to move the goalposts and constrain the discourse. It's a major failing of the so-called "centrists" and the media, and gives far too much aid and comfort to dishonest conservative framing.
posted by Gelatin at 6:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
Make no mistake, the complaints about "civility" -- when there are no such complaints about arguing in obvious bad faith, to say nothing of lying -- is a deliberate attempt to move the goalposts and constrain the discourse. It's a major failing of the so-called "centrists" and the media, and gives far too much aid and comfort to dishonest conservative framing.
posted by Gelatin at 6:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
Mattis still wants internment/concentration camps set up for tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people, so he doesn't get a pass for Trump only liking some of his racist and fascist tendencies.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 6:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
If
The United States of America saw what
The United States of America is doing
The United States of America would invade
The United States of America.
– shared with permission from anonymous, who served in the U.S. Armed Forces for 14 years
Generations from now will mark this week as the moment Americans realized we were losing our country as we have known it.
Amy Siskind adds to the documentation of the illiberality.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:18 AM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
The United States of America saw what
The United States of America is doing
The United States of America would invade
The United States of America.
– shared with permission from anonymous, who served in the U.S. Armed Forces for 14 years
Generations from now will mark this week as the moment Americans realized we were losing our country as we have known it.
Amy Siskind adds to the documentation of the illiberality.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:18 AM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
In actual vast right wing conspiracy news from this side of the pond,
Brexit’s Big Short: How Pollsters Helped Hedge Funds Beat the Crash - Private polls—and a timely ‘concession’ from the face of Leave—allowed the funds to make millions off the pound’s collapse.
Shortly before the Brexit poll closed Farage (" a former commodities broker who also went to work for a London currency trading company after he moved into politics") conceded defeat, even though he and the Leave campaign had recent, large scale, poll analysis indicating that they would almost certainly win.
Brexit’s Big Short: How Pollsters Helped Hedge Funds Beat the Crash - Private polls—and a timely ‘concession’ from the face of Leave—allowed the funds to make millions off the pound’s collapse.
Shortly before the Brexit poll closed Farage (" a former commodities broker who also went to work for a London currency trading company after he moved into politics") conceded defeat, even though he and the Leave campaign had recent, large scale, poll analysis indicating that they would almost certainly win.
The news pushed the U.K.’s currency up—herding investors toward a cliff hours ahead of one of the largest crashes for any major currency since the birth of the modern global financial system. Trillions of dollars in asset values would be wiped off the books, but not just yet.posted by Buntix at 6:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
At 10:52 p.m., the pound rose above $1.50 and reached its highest mark in six months. A few minutes later, Ed Conway, the Sky News economics editor, appeared before a giant screen showing the spike. The pound had been tracking polls for months, Conway explained. Whether they were on couches in London or at trading desks in Chicago, people watching Sky or reading headlines sparked by its coverage had every reason to think Remain would prevail. But not quite everyone.
Behind the scenes, a small group of people had a secret—and billions of dollars were at stake.
I can't recommend that story posted by Buntix highly enough. The words 'Farage' and 'sewer' (and of courseTrump and Putin) are yet again in very close proximity
posted by Myeral at 6:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Myeral at 6:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's been no further local news about it, but the NY Daily News claims that he was allegedly turning student information over to ICE.
Probably because the local press was all over it before he quit, see, for example, this Globe story: Chang, BPS sued over secrecy surrounding student information sharing with ICE (and the story in fact had surfaced months earlier).
The ICE thing was, possibly, one of many, many things that got the mayor who hired him to hating him, and if Chang, himself an immigrant, didn't quit over an investigation by the US Attorney's office into racial bias at the city's top exam school, I'm not sure the lawsuit by itself would have been enough to make him quit.
posted by adamg at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Probably because the local press was all over it before he quit, see, for example, this Globe story: Chang, BPS sued over secrecy surrounding student information sharing with ICE (and the story in fact had surfaced months earlier).
The ICE thing was, possibly, one of many, many things that got the mayor who hired him to hating him, and if Chang, himself an immigrant, didn't quit over an investigation by the US Attorney's office into racial bias at the city's top exam school, I'm not sure the lawsuit by itself would have been enough to make him quit.
posted by adamg at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
So, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a government official statement (as determined in Knight v. Trump) defaming a private business and specifically a competing private business in a sector (restaurants) where the predisent has a highly publicized ownership stake? I know that in the flurry of technically legal straight-up evil going around this sort of corruption seems pretty small potatoes, and IANAL, but I'd think there's a very winnable case alleging improper use of governmental authority here, and a plaintiff with undeniable standing to attest to damages.
posted by jackbishop at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [128 favorites]
So, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a government official statement (as determined in Knight v. Trump) defaming a private business and specifically a competing private business in a sector (restaurants) where the predisent has a highly publicized ownership stake? I know that in the flurry of technically legal straight-up evil going around this sort of corruption seems pretty small potatoes, and IANAL, but I'd think there's a very winnable case alleging improper use of governmental authority here, and a plaintiff with undeniable standing to attest to damages.
posted by jackbishop at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [128 favorites]
(many, many) people down here (NZ) are upset, very concerned, and no-one knows what is going to happen. From here it looks like 1931; but things move fast nowadays. I simply don't know why everyone's not in the streets there, soon it may not be possible (yes I know, permits for protests but this, this looks most urgent) - words fail me when I think about all this.
Because it is largely the American way to fail to get excited unless something smacks you squarely across the eyes and personally and negatively affects you, or your money, or your family, or your job, or your close friends and neighbors in descending order of priority. And, frankly, we're too busy trying to keep our own heads above water in large part than to go out looking for other drowning victims.
Arguably part of the human condition, not just Americanism, in a tragedy-of-the-commons kind of way. But we Americans are SO good at it, collectively.
Make no mistake, the complaints about "civility" -- when there are no such complaints about arguing in obvious bad faith, to say nothing of lying -- is a deliberate attempt to move the goalposts and constrain the discourse. It's a major failing of the so-called "centrists" and the media, and gives far too much aid and comfort to dishonest conservative framing.
110% true. "Civility" is to be applied to conservatives, but not granted to centrists or liberals precisely because the desired framing is that conservative ideals are the only ones that 30-40% of our population deem worthy of being acceptable to even debate, much less practice.
posted by delfin at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
Because it is largely the American way to fail to get excited unless something smacks you squarely across the eyes and personally and negatively affects you, or your money, or your family, or your job, or your close friends and neighbors in descending order of priority. And, frankly, we're too busy trying to keep our own heads above water in large part than to go out looking for other drowning victims.
Arguably part of the human condition, not just Americanism, in a tragedy-of-the-commons kind of way. But we Americans are SO good at it, collectively.
Make no mistake, the complaints about "civility" -- when there are no such complaints about arguing in obvious bad faith, to say nothing of lying -- is a deliberate attempt to move the goalposts and constrain the discourse. It's a major failing of the so-called "centrists" and the media, and gives far too much aid and comfort to dishonest conservative framing.
110% true. "Civility" is to be applied to conservatives, but not granted to centrists or liberals precisely because the desired framing is that conservative ideals are the only ones that 30-40% of our population deem worthy of being acceptable to even debate, much less practice.
posted by delfin at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
OVERHEARD: Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joking to the crowd: “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff only Bob Mueller and I know. If you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up. It’s going to be a wild couple of months.”
Honestly - really, deeply honestly - it is past time for all of this trolling to be over. It is time for Mueller et al. to act. The illegitimate, blatantly lawbreaking and wildly immoral administration is kidnapping and torturing (and likely killing) CHILDREN. Mueller needs to go to war with the army he has. He is the only hope of stopping all of this, as any normal political or bureaucratic brakes are utterly broken.
The citizenry is powerless ... all I can do is call, donate, match, and I have but it is futile when the administrating has been kidnapping and torturing children since MAY.
Mueller needs to act now. The wild months of national reckoning have to start sometime, and kidnapping and torturing children is a clear line. We are well past normal scope of influence. Someone has got to stop this charade, and it's got to be by indictment.
posted by Dashy at 6:30 AM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
Honestly - really, deeply honestly - it is past time for all of this trolling to be over. It is time for Mueller et al. to act. The illegitimate, blatantly lawbreaking and wildly immoral administration is kidnapping and torturing (and likely killing) CHILDREN. Mueller needs to go to war with the army he has. He is the only hope of stopping all of this, as any normal political or bureaucratic brakes are utterly broken.
The citizenry is powerless ... all I can do is call, donate, match, and I have but it is futile when the administrating has been kidnapping and torturing children since MAY.
Mueller needs to act now. The wild months of national reckoning have to start sometime, and kidnapping and torturing children is a clear line. We are well past normal scope of influence. Someone has got to stop this charade, and it's got to be by indictment.
posted by Dashy at 6:30 AM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
The lack of seriousness from Warner is intensely galling. Revealing human rights abuses isn't meant to be the province of a slightly cheap gameshow huckster.
posted by jaduncan at 6:41 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by jaduncan at 6:41 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
At least two things are stopping Mueller:
Mueller's findings are of dire national importance. He is only going to get one shot at this. It is imperative that he takes the time to dot every i and cross every t, make his findings as undeniable and inarguable as possible and backed by fact, and balance that against the inevitability of having some of his findings supported by evidence that cannot become general public knowledge. (Which will, in and of itself, be seized upon as proof that the whole thing is a railroading because OBVIOUSLY he's lying for partisan purposes or he'd release everything!)
The other thing is that while he may certainly have arrows in his quiver aimed at Trump, he may not have enough to personally involve Trump to the point where he could be potentially brought down. If Trump is unscarred enough to say "Oh well, the indicted people are no longer part of my administration, back to work" with a new batch of corrupt underlings, the country is no better off.
If you come at the king, you best not miss.
posted by delfin at 6:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [122 favorites]
Mueller's findings are of dire national importance. He is only going to get one shot at this. It is imperative that he takes the time to dot every i and cross every t, make his findings as undeniable and inarguable as possible and backed by fact, and balance that against the inevitability of having some of his findings supported by evidence that cannot become general public knowledge. (Which will, in and of itself, be seized upon as proof that the whole thing is a railroading because OBVIOUSLY he's lying for partisan purposes or he'd release everything!)
The other thing is that while he may certainly have arrows in his quiver aimed at Trump, he may not have enough to personally involve Trump to the point where he could be potentially brought down. If Trump is unscarred enough to say "Oh well, the indicted people are no longer part of my administration, back to work" with a new batch of corrupt underlings, the country is no better off.
If you come at the king, you best not miss.
posted by delfin at 6:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [122 favorites]
Josh Marshall of TPM with a timely piece entitled Against Civility:
[Civility] is a mealy-mouthed word that has no clear meaning beyond social delicacy and the importance of not speaking up too aggressively. As a society the line we should guard is opposition to violence, physical intimidation and menace as tools of civic life. [...]posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 6:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [74 favorites]
When it comes to protests, mean words, civil disobedience, boycotts, public shunning, we may disagree when one of other is wise or called for. But these are entirely legitimate tools of political action, civic action. Many calls for civility are simply calls for unilateral disarmament from those protesting injustices and abuses of power. [...]
Most of the civility talk isn’t about any real red line, any boundary that is critical to the kind of free society we want to preserve and build. It’s more a wet blanket meant to tsk tsk legitimate protest and legitimate resistance to corrupt government, misrule and injustice.
FINALLY a brave Republican senator has made a real threat to Trump-- stalling his judicial nominees-- until the administration stops kidnapping little chi--
what? what's that you say? It's over tariffs? Nothing about the kids in cages?
FML
posted by gwint at 6:46 AM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
what? what's that you say? It's over tariffs? Nothing about the kids in cages?
FML
posted by gwint at 6:46 AM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
I'm very concerned about the midterms at this point. Trump is choosing the battleground, and it's one that he has an advantage on.
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it. Fundamentally, conservatives don't think the government should be humane, it should just be fair to all. "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids American citizens and immigrant kids from crossing the border illegally." This isn't a viewpoint I agree with, but a large fraction of Americans (including many sort-of-liberal people) are in that philosophical camp.
Meanwhile, by choosing immigration as the battleground, Trump is distracting voters from his nonexistent health care and economic policies, tax cuts for the super-rich, and his own blatant corruption and absurd personal behavior. Don't get me wrong, the treatment of these kids is horrifying. But it's also a carefully calculated distraction.
I don't think Democrats have fully appreciated this political jujitsu that's going on, or how bad it is for us.
posted by miyabo at 6:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it. Fundamentally, conservatives don't think the government should be humane, it should just be fair to all. "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids American citizens and immigrant kids from crossing the border illegally." This isn't a viewpoint I agree with, but a large fraction of Americans (including many sort-of-liberal people) are in that philosophical camp.
Meanwhile, by choosing immigration as the battleground, Trump is distracting voters from his nonexistent health care and economic policies, tax cuts for the super-rich, and his own blatant corruption and absurd personal behavior. Don't get me wrong, the treatment of these kids is horrifying. But it's also a carefully calculated distraction.
I don't think Democrats have fully appreciated this political jujitsu that's going on, or how bad it is for us.
posted by miyabo at 6:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
There's nothing authentic about the visits to Mexican restaurants - they seem intended to draw protest and outrage and enforce stereotypes. Red Hen feels like something else.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:50 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:50 AM on June 25, 2018
Fundamentally, conservatives don't think the government should be humane, it should just be fair to all
Kidnapping kids and putting them in cages. I have to believe at least 51% of voters believe this is wrong enough to vote those who support this policy out. I just have to.
posted by gwint at 6:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Kidnapping kids and putting them in cages. I have to believe at least 51% of voters believe this is wrong enough to vote those who support this policy out. I just have to.
posted by gwint at 6:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Its my hope that members of this admin get refused at so many places that it just becomes commonplace and we stop talking about it since its as everyday as... ( checks notes ) child imprisonment.
posted by localhuman at 6:53 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by localhuman at 6:53 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Re: Civility.
Josh Marshall
Mike Kinsley once wisely noted that half of politics is Republicans getting vapors when Democrats try out tactics Republicans pioneered two cycles earlier.
---
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it.
Sorry but no. There has been a huge uproar specifically against this. McConnell even came out and said every senator was against it. 21 R senators signed letter to Trump asking for it to be ended. Trump had to reverse himself. It is a good issue for motivating his racist base, but even there support was down around 55-60%, not the usual 90%. Franklin Graham and other Trump supporting evangelicals came out against it. No doubt it will get his hardcore racists out, but they were probably coming out regardless. It doesn't convince many others.
posted by chris24 at 6:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
Josh Marshall
Mike Kinsley once wisely noted that half of politics is Republicans getting vapors when Democrats try out tactics Republicans pioneered two cycles earlier.
---
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it.
Sorry but no. There has been a huge uproar specifically against this. McConnell even came out and said every senator was against it. 21 R senators signed letter to Trump asking for it to be ended. Trump had to reverse himself. It is a good issue for motivating his racist base, but even there support was down around 55-60%, not the usual 90%. Franklin Graham and other Trump supporting evangelicals came out against it. No doubt it will get his hardcore racists out, but they were probably coming out regardless. It doesn't convince many others.
posted by chris24 at 6:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's a bad issue for Ds. It's the right thing to do morally to fight concentration camps and fascist dehumanization and torture of an ethnic group.
posted by chris24 at 6:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [94 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 6:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [94 favorites]
I'm very concerned about the midterms at this point. Trump is choosing the battleground, and it's one that he has an advantage on.
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it. Fundamentally, conservatives don't think the government should be humane, it should just be fair to all. "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids American citizens and immigrant kids from crossing the border illegally." This isn't a viewpoint I agree with, but a large fraction of Americans (including many sort-of-liberal people) are in that philosophical camp.
I think it's fine to be concerned about midterms - if despair is a sin, then so is complacency. But I believe that getting out the vote, not kissing "swing voter" butt, is what will save us. Repeat after me: There. Are. No. Swing. Voters. Swing voters are relics of the past. So, forget the nonexistent "swing" voter and get the souls to the polls and the butts in the booths. That is the Democrats' Achilles heel.
And take "Democrats In Disarray!" with a heaping helping of salt. The media loves the horse race, OMG DISARRAY narrative, and that drives down turnout. When we vote, we win.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [59 favorites]
As awful as the treatment of immigrant children is, virtually all Republicans and many swing voters agree with it. Fundamentally, conservatives don't think the government should be humane, it should just be fair to all. "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids American citizens and immigrant kids from crossing the border illegally." This isn't a viewpoint I agree with, but a large fraction of Americans (including many sort-of-liberal people) are in that philosophical camp.
I think it's fine to be concerned about midterms - if despair is a sin, then so is complacency. But I believe that getting out the vote, not kissing "swing voter" butt, is what will save us. Repeat after me: There. Are. No. Swing. Voters. Swing voters are relics of the past. So, forget the nonexistent "swing" voter and get the souls to the polls and the butts in the booths. That is the Democrats' Achilles heel.
And take "Democrats In Disarray!" with a heaping helping of salt. The media loves the horse race, OMG DISARRAY narrative, and that drives down turnout. When we vote, we win.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [59 favorites]
If you come at the king, you best not miss.
We are well past conventional wisdom. We are kidnapping and torturing children.
Even what's on the public domain is enough, as most of us know. It will take years, maybe a decade or more, to come to a full accounting of the president* 's evils and wrongs. Children are being intentionally traumatized NOW. It's go time.
posted by Dashy at 7:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
We are well past conventional wisdom. We are kidnapping and torturing children.
Even what's on the public domain is enough, as most of us know. It will take years, maybe a decade or more, to come to a full accounting of the president* 's evils and wrongs. Children are being intentionally traumatized NOW. It's go time.
posted by Dashy at 7:00 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
It's a sign of the times that an issue denounced by both the left and the right isn't strong enough to let them come together in taking action to defeat it.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:03 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:03 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
(This may not be at home in this thread, mods feel free to delete, but migration flows have acquired a global prominence and are affecting political developments everywhere, so . . .)
WaPo: Algeria abandons 13,000 migrants in the Sahara in waves
posted by stonepharisee at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [40 favorites]
WaPo: Algeria abandons 13,000 migrants in the Sahara in waves
Here in the desert, Algeria has abandoned more than 13,000 people in the past 14 months, including pregnant women and children, stranding them without food or water and forcing them to walk, sometimes at gunpoint, under temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).Humanity stands in need of definition and consolidation as never before.
posted by stonepharisee at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [40 favorites]
I think it's fine to be concerned about midterms - if despair is a sin, then so is complacency. But I believe that getting out the vote, not kissing "swing voter" butt, is what will save us.
QFT.
As I mentioned in the previous thread, this cycle is all about turn out.
posted by gwint at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
QFT.
As I mentioned in the previous thread, this cycle is all about turn out.
posted by gwint at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
SCOTUS just said Texas' blatantly racist redistricting wasn't actually racist, 5-4 decision.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
They also punted on NC's blatantly racist redistricting and voter suppression, so Roberts' personal vendetta to kill off the VRA entirely after gutting it in Shelby v Holder is still going strong.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 7:06 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
triggerfinger I flagged that Tor Ekland comment as fantastic. Here's one more for his great feed:
@TorEkelandPCposted by yoga at 7:09 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
The ones calling for civility are often the most uncivil among us. #Thread
9:56 AM - 25 Jun 2018
Gorsuch strikes again. Abbott v. Perez opinion pdf. Sotomayor's dissent is longer than the majority opinion. Only one district held to be a racial gerrymander (though it's not really possible to just redraw one district).
posted by melissasaurus at 7:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 7:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Civil uproar and shouting down the opposition in a public house was once famously celebrated in film. A little restorative from Casablanca.
posted by klarck at 7:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by klarck at 7:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
FYI - the Court is done issuing opinions for the day, so we aren't getting the muslim ban case today.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:13 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by melissasaurus at 7:13 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Most of the civility talk isn’t about any real red line, ... It’s more a wet blanket meant to tsk tsk legitimate protest and legitimate resistance to ... injustice. [from TPM]
If people throw this c-word (civility) at you, push back and be clear that you know "civility" means "deference" and "due deference" to the very hierarchical Republican conservative POV. Absolutely don't apologize for yelling truth to power.
posted by puddledork at 7:19 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
If people throw this c-word (civility) at you, push back and be clear that you know "civility" means "deference" and "due deference" to the very hierarchical Republican conservative POV. Absolutely don't apologize for yelling truth to power.
posted by puddledork at 7:19 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
Trump's Mirror never fails!
CNN: Trump's Mar-a-Lago kitchen slapped with 13 health violations (h/t @ddale8)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [70 favorites]
Trump's Mirror never fails!
CNN: Trump's Mar-a-Lago kitchen slapped with 13 health violations (h/t @ddale8)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [70 favorites]
Meanwhile, by choosing immigration as the battleground, Trump is distracting voters from his nonexistent health care and economic policies, tax cuts for the super-rich, and his own blatant corruption and absurd personal behavior. Don't get me wrong, the treatment of these kids is horrifying. But it's also a carefully calculated distraction.
I don't think Democrats have fully appreciated this political jujitsu that's going on, or how bad it is for us.
I know you're getting strong pushback on this, but it is sort of the thesis of a New Yorker article I read last week and can't find now. It honestly scares the fuck out of me to think how Trump would use a health or terrorism crisis at this juncture. I think that we have to realize that people are tribal, and we're going to have appeal to people's sense of universal values to override tribal impulses. Which are unfortunately very strong.
posted by angrycat at 7:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't think Democrats have fully appreciated this political jujitsu that's going on, or how bad it is for us.
I know you're getting strong pushback on this, but it is sort of the thesis of a New Yorker article I read last week and can't find now. It honestly scares the fuck out of me to think how Trump would use a health or terrorism crisis at this juncture. I think that we have to realize that people are tribal, and we're going to have appeal to people's sense of universal values to override tribal impulses. Which are unfortunately very strong.
posted by angrycat at 7:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Do the people working for the Trump Administration not realize that a relatively high percentage of restaurant workers are immigrants?
They should probably all just stop eating out if they know what's best for them. For every one that gets kicked or chased out, there's probably a dozen more who were quietly served food with sputum (or worse!) in it.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
They should probably all just stop eating out if they know what's best for them. For every one that gets kicked or chased out, there's probably a dozen more who were quietly served food with sputum (or worse!) in it.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
Mod note: Y'all are doing fine right now, but I might start putting these reminders in more regularly just to keep 'em visible over the long course of each of these threads, so:
Please try and keep the focus in here on substantial "what's happening" links and info, to keep this usefully readable for people trying to keep up; keep riffing reasonable contained (a good joke here and there is fine, a long run of 'em or a joke about each thing that comes along is likely to bloat the thread) and avoid spinning up into side-arguments and/or rehashes of past arguments and known sticking points. Keeping these threads manageable is a collaborative effort; it can't just be the mods pruning, it needs to be y'all filtering on the way in. More info in this post from last year. Thanks for your help on this.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:25 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
Please try and keep the focus in here on substantial "what's happening" links and info, to keep this usefully readable for people trying to keep up; keep riffing reasonable contained (a good joke here and there is fine, a long run of 'em or a joke about each thing that comes along is likely to bloat the thread) and avoid spinning up into side-arguments and/or rehashes of past arguments and known sticking points. Keeping these threads manageable is a collaborative effort; it can't just be the mods pruning, it needs to be y'all filtering on the way in. More info in this post from last year. Thanks for your help on this.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:25 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
Harley-Davidson to Move Some Production From U.S. Because of E.U. Tariffs
Harley-Davidson, the American motorcycle manufacturer, said on Monday that it was shifting some of the production of its bikes outside the United States to avoid European Union tariffs imposed as part of a widening trade dispute.posted by kirkaracha at 7:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
It honestly scares the fuck out of me to think how Trump would use a health or terrorism crisis at this juncture.
After his tweets last year talking about a big surprise or whatever before the midterms, my nightmares have involved many variations of the Reichstag Fire
posted by schadenfrau at 7:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
After his tweets last year talking about a big surprise or whatever before the midterms, my nightmares have involved many variations of the Reichstag Fire
posted by schadenfrau at 7:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Are you being served? Maybe not, if you're a fascist.
I've been thinking it's time for Jeff Foxworthy to make a comeback, but to remind people to not be racist, misogynist assholes.
"You might be a Nazi if ... you say 'Hitler had some good ideas.' "
"You might be an asshole if ... you can only defend your words by shouting 'Free speech! Free speech!' "
Back to current politics more specifically: Do Trump's Endorsements Move Voters? Tuesday Will Test His Electoral Mojo (NPR, June 25, 2018)
I've been thinking it's time for Jeff Foxworthy to make a comeback, but to remind people to not be racist, misogynist assholes.
"You might be a Nazi if ... you say 'Hitler had some good ideas.' "
"You might be an asshole if ... you can only defend your words by shouting 'Free speech! Free speech!' "
Back to current politics more specifically: Do Trump's Endorsements Move Voters? Tuesday Will Test His Electoral Mojo (NPR, June 25, 2018)
This Tuesday offers two tests of how much Trump's influence can truly boost a candidate after he endorsed South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and New York Rep. Dan Donovan in their primary fights.Pentagon Will Build 2 More Temporary Camps To House Migrants, Mattis Says (NPR, June 25, 2018)
In South Carolina, Trump is going all in for McMaster, who was the first statewide-elected official to endorse his 2016 presidential bid back when Trump was largely a political pariah among Republican officeholders. McMaster was promoted from lieutenant governor when Trump selected then-Gov. Nikki Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations, and now McMaster finds himself in a runoff against wealthy businessman John Warren.
Trump is appearing at a rally in Columbia for McMaster on Monday, and Vice President Pence also campaigned for him over the weekend. Trump has also frequently tweeted in support of McMaster, writing on Friday that he's a "truly fine man." In past tweets, he's praised him as someone who's "strong on Crime and Borders, great for our Military and our Vets."
...
His rival, Warren, has been arguing he's the candidate more closely aligned to Trump — an outsider businessman who would shake up the political system, as opposed to McMaster, who's held elective office in the state for much of the past 15 years.
...
In comparison to McMaster, the president has taken a more hands-off approach with Donovan ahead of Tuesday. The incumbent is facing a vigorous primary challenge from former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, who is attempting to mount a comeback after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges and serving seven months in federal prison. Part of Grimm's case against Donovan has been that the incumbent isn't supportive enough of Trump.
Of the military's plan to build camps, Mattis said, "providing shelter for people without shelter — we consider that to be a logistics function that is quite appropriate."posted by filthy light thief at 7:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
The secretary described the plan to reporters on board his plane as he traveled to Asia to visit his counterparts in China, South Korea, and Japan.
Mattis compared the temporary camps to the military's response during a humanitarian crisis.
"This is something that we can do. Again, whether it be refugee boat people from Vietnam, people who've been knocked out of their homes by a hurricane – absolutely, it's appropriate the military provide logistic support however it's needed."
My sign for the June 30th protest is going to say "No Camps!"
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:35 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:35 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Of the military's plan to build camps, Mattis said, "providing shelter for people without shelter — we consider that to be a logistics function that is quite appropriate." [...] "This is something that we can do. Again, whether it be refugee boat people from Vietnam, people who've been knocked out of their homes by a hurricane – absolutely, it's appropriate the military provide logistic support however it's needed."
"Moderate" is a misinterpretation of banal.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
"Moderate" is a misinterpretation of banal.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
You know what's civil? Taking a knee during a moment that is supposed to be for somber, quiet reflection. And yet, it's not good enough. Go figure.
posted by Etrigan at 7:38 AM on June 25, 2018 [91 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 7:38 AM on June 25, 2018 [91 favorites]
I went kayaking yesterday afternoon. Loaded up the boat and headed south the the biggest lake in the area (most of you from other parts of the country would laugh at it being called a “lake” and not a “pond” or “puddle.” But I digress.) From the hills along the way to the lake, I can see Mexico - I could have been at the border crossing at Nogales in just a few minutes. This all brings up one reason why I seldom go south anymore. Border Patrol. EVERYWHERE. No matter which route you take, you will end up going through a BP checkpoint, with menacing lights, drug dogs, signs, etc. Driving around, their trucks are all over the place. I’m about as white as you can be, I’ve never done drugs, I’m one of those people that just gets waved through, usually without even a cursory “US citizen?” The definition of privilege. Still, that doesn’t mean that one of these days I’m not going to run into a BP officer who gets a wild hair and decides to run me through the wringer before finally letting me through. While I get through easily, I’ll see vehicles that have Latinos in them where everyone is ordered to show ID. I was hoping this all would start to subside. Instead these guys are getting a blank check with Trump in the White House. I don’t know what everyone’s definition of “freedom” is but mine involves not having to go through checkpoints 25 miles inside the border.
posted by azpenguin at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
Trey Radel (fmr R congressman)
How long until we have Republican or Democrat only restaurants? So fucking stupid. All of it. The owner. Sanders tweeting it. All of it. Just dumb. America, do yourself a favor, befriend a person who has opposite political views and learn from them.
Julian Sanchez
Retweeted Trey Radel
In any other year I’d agree with this. But decent people have nothing to learn from Trump supporters but which direction to spit in. I say this as a libertarian with no particular affection for the Democratic Party. It’s an insult to serious thought on the right to pretend a toxic soup of racism, hero worship, and ressentiment against the educated represents some interesting body of thought worth engaging. By all means, befriend someone with a different political philosophy. But Trumpism finally is what Lionel Trilling once claimed all conservatism was: A set of irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas. Anyone who engages with that poisonous farrago and imagines they’ve confronted a serious opposing ideology is kidding themselves. Engaging with the best political thought you disagree with is an excellent principle. You make a mockery of it if you pretend any old trashheap of inchoate impulses with an electoral coalition behind it counts as “political thought.” If the idea of learning from disagreement is completely detatched from whether the “other side” has anything intelligent or interesting to say, it’s as vacuous a reflex as mechanical partisanship.
Also, my god, can we finally be rid of this lame and cowardly notion that it’s somehow unseemly or narrow minded to judge people personally for their political commitments? Because of course it’s not, and nobody seriously believes that for ANY political commitment. People just get squeamish about admitting that it might be true about a political commitment *with a lot of current adherents.* It’s fundamentally a form of cowardice and denial; pretending we’re still in the realm of normal politics where disagreements are reasonable. People ask rhetorical questions like: “so you think millions of your fellow Americans believe something vile and evil?” And this is, again, cowardice: It is tactitly the refusal to call evil by its name if enough people believe in it. Millions have often believed evil things. I would dearly love to be in the world of reasonable disagreement. I get the impulse to pretend that’s still our political environment. But there’s a point at which denial becomes shameful.
posted by chris24 at 7:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [158 favorites]
How long until we have Republican or Democrat only restaurants? So fucking stupid. All of it. The owner. Sanders tweeting it. All of it. Just dumb. America, do yourself a favor, befriend a person who has opposite political views and learn from them.
Julian Sanchez
Retweeted Trey Radel
In any other year I’d agree with this. But decent people have nothing to learn from Trump supporters but which direction to spit in. I say this as a libertarian with no particular affection for the Democratic Party. It’s an insult to serious thought on the right to pretend a toxic soup of racism, hero worship, and ressentiment against the educated represents some interesting body of thought worth engaging. By all means, befriend someone with a different political philosophy. But Trumpism finally is what Lionel Trilling once claimed all conservatism was: A set of irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas. Anyone who engages with that poisonous farrago and imagines they’ve confronted a serious opposing ideology is kidding themselves. Engaging with the best political thought you disagree with is an excellent principle. You make a mockery of it if you pretend any old trashheap of inchoate impulses with an electoral coalition behind it counts as “political thought.” If the idea of learning from disagreement is completely detatched from whether the “other side” has anything intelligent or interesting to say, it’s as vacuous a reflex as mechanical partisanship.
Also, my god, can we finally be rid of this lame and cowardly notion that it’s somehow unseemly or narrow minded to judge people personally for their political commitments? Because of course it’s not, and nobody seriously believes that for ANY political commitment. People just get squeamish about admitting that it might be true about a political commitment *with a lot of current adherents.* It’s fundamentally a form of cowardice and denial; pretending we’re still in the realm of normal politics where disagreements are reasonable. People ask rhetorical questions like: “so you think millions of your fellow Americans believe something vile and evil?” And this is, again, cowardice: It is tactitly the refusal to call evil by its name if enough people believe in it. Millions have often believed evil things. I would dearly love to be in the world of reasonable disagreement. I get the impulse to pretend that’s still our political environment. But there’s a point at which denial becomes shameful.
posted by chris24 at 7:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [158 favorites]
Oh hey Betsy DeVos's Bethany Christian Services won the contract to provide foster homes for a bunch of the kids taken from their parents at the border. I think I see where this is going:
Step 1: Separate kids from parents at the border, declare the kids to now be "unaccompanied minors."
Step 2: Deport the parents without their kids, declare the kids to now be "abandoned."
Step 3: Adopt out the kids at $50,000 each. PROFIT!
Every thousand kids they can process like this are worth $50 million. There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies. Now they don't even have to leave the country to acquire them!
posted by Jacqueline at 7:46 AM on June 25, 2018 [73 favorites]
Step 1: Separate kids from parents at the border, declare the kids to now be "unaccompanied minors."
Step 2: Deport the parents without their kids, declare the kids to now be "abandoned."
Step 3: Adopt out the kids at $50,000 each. PROFIT!
Every thousand kids they can process like this are worth $50 million. There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies. Now they don't even have to leave the country to acquire them!
posted by Jacqueline at 7:46 AM on June 25, 2018 [73 favorites]
I think the general team of Republican supporters waking up to "actions have consequences" is really interesting. These people used to mingle among themselves, never exposed to a differing opinion, all safe in the knowledge that certain unspoken values were shared.
As soon as they are taken out of their bubble and confronted with the fact, that, no, not everyone thinks other ethnic groups are basically subhuman, and that there are people who actually do have higher ideals than the accumulation of wealth they cannot cope with it, and they cannot refrain from running their mouths - saying all the things out loud in public that got chuckles and knowing nods in private.
And they have lived in this community of their own for so long, they don't even know how to convincingly fake basic human decency anymore.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
As soon as they are taken out of their bubble and confronted with the fact, that, no, not everyone thinks other ethnic groups are basically subhuman, and that there are people who actually do have higher ideals than the accumulation of wealth they cannot cope with it, and they cannot refrain from running their mouths - saying all the things out loud in public that got chuckles and knowing nods in private.
And they have lived in this community of their own for so long, they don't even know how to convincingly fake basic human decency anymore.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
Mattis still wants internment/concentration camps set up for tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people
I don’t believe he does - it seems more like some of his previous attempts to take as much under his umbrella while not seeming to publicly criticize Trump. If it’s run by the military, there can be oversight, is probably what he’s thinking. I think he’s wrong - especially if, as the article upthread suggests, Trump is getting wise that Mattis “looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives”.
But I also may be underestimating the damage to American democracy if the military, led by the SecDef, started refusing civilian authority. I think we can withstand it and it’s time to do it, but it’s possible the consequences would be far graver than I can see. We’ve never had a coup here - it’s possible the destabilization that it would cause would tear everything down. I just think it’s getting to that place if not there.
posted by corb at 8:02 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don’t believe he does - it seems more like some of his previous attempts to take as much under his umbrella while not seeming to publicly criticize Trump. If it’s run by the military, there can be oversight, is probably what he’s thinking. I think he’s wrong - especially if, as the article upthread suggests, Trump is getting wise that Mattis “looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives”.
But I also may be underestimating the damage to American democracy if the military, led by the SecDef, started refusing civilian authority. I think we can withstand it and it’s time to do it, but it’s possible the consequences would be far graver than I can see. We’ve never had a coup here - it’s possible the destabilization that it would cause would tear everything down. I just think it’s getting to that place if not there.
posted by corb at 8:02 AM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
The military is full of deplorables.
Remember that ICE guy with the iron cross tattoo, and it was “actually” a marine tattoo? It probably is, but it’s also totally an Iron Cross tattoo. That’s normal there.
posted by Artw at 8:09 AM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Remember that ICE guy with the iron cross tattoo, and it was “actually” a marine tattoo? It probably is, but it’s also totally an Iron Cross tattoo. That’s normal there.
posted by Artw at 8:09 AM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
At this point, the 'civility' debate regarding Republicans comes down to determining which camp they're truly in -- the ones who really and fervently believe that those not in their tribe are subhuman and of a lower caste and unworthy of citizenship, much less eligibility to govern, versus the ones who are simply self-absorbed, ignorant of the existence of / need to seek out better information sources, and/or uncomprehending of the true impact of their candidates' actions.
Which is where our screaming comes in. It is no longer acceptable to allow so-called moderate conservatives to remain willfully ignorant of what that enables. You're in, or you're out.
posted by delfin at 8:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Which is where our screaming comes in. It is no longer acceptable to allow so-called moderate conservatives to remain willfully ignorant of what that enables. You're in, or you're out.
posted by delfin at 8:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Racial and ethnic minority groups made up 40% of Defense Department active-duty military in 2015, up from 25% in 1990.
posted by pyramid termite at 8:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 8:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Racial and ethnic minority groups made up 40% of Defense Department active-duty military in 2015, up from 25% in 1990.
pyramid termite, can I ask what you mean to show by this?
posted by Krazor at 8:15 AM on June 25, 2018
pyramid termite, can I ask what you mean to show by this?
posted by Krazor at 8:15 AM on June 25, 2018
Not to put words into their mouth but I think the idea is that not everyone in the military is white or a white supremacist and that many who serve are are minorities because they do not have many other options.
posted by Tevin at 8:20 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Tevin at 8:20 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
that the armed forces are not "full of deplorables" but are actually fairly diverse
posted by pyramid termite at 8:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 8:21 AM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
There’s not gonna be a coup. The military is full of deplorables.
And again, only 44% of the military support Trump. Basically the same as the general population. And only 30% of officers support him.
posted by chris24 at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
And again, only 44% of the military support Trump. Basically the same as the general population. And only 30% of officers support him.
posted by chris24 at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies.
Russian 'adoptions' don't suffice, apparently.
posted by Stoneshop at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Russian 'adoptions' don't suffice, apparently.
posted by Stoneshop at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Both "The military is full of deplorables" and "The military is very diverse, in both opinion and race / ethnicity" can be true simultaneously.
And neither of those statements is particularly germane to whether there's a coup, because coups don't happen because the whole Army comes together to vote on whether to throw the president out a window.
posted by Etrigan at 8:38 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
And neither of those statements is particularly germane to whether there's a coup, because coups don't happen because the whole Army comes together to vote on whether to throw the president out a window.
posted by Etrigan at 8:38 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
ABC: Special counsel obtains Trump ally Erik Prince's phones, computer
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [87 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [87 favorites]
The thing about Trump campaigning in SC is interesting because before I read that I saw this and thought "guess the President is gonna be in SC for some reason today:
@AMA: TFR has been issued for Columbia, SC & area for Mon, June 25 from 6:15 pm EDT through 8:45 pm EDT. Outdoor radio control model aircraft operations are prohibited within a 30 nm radius for the specific times listed. https://rlm.ag/21QMsW https://twitter.com/modelaircraft/status/1011251447885950976/photo/1
This isn't really political in a partisan way, but the subject of the impact of Trump's vacationing and the like have come up in the past and I thought some of you might find this to be interesting. A TFR is a temporary flight restriction established by the FAA for some reason. Possibly safety of folks in the air, possibly for safety of folks on the ground. The word 'temporary' in there is sometimes sort of comic; the one centered on DC with a 30 nautical mile radius (yes, radius) has been in place since 2011 and that one immediately superseded the one before it. It's mostly human-readable if you know that VFR means visual flight rules as opposed to IFR, instrument flight rules.
If you want to look at all the TFRs in the US right now there's a zoomable map provided by the FAA. When they are mucked with, like this one for the Cheeto in Chief's appearance, they show up in the NOTAMs - notices to airmen. If you look at this map you'll see there's a lot of them out in the west which to my very amateur experience is typical - they appear when folks need to be kept away from fires.
My memory is failing me right now but sometime in the last year there was an incident where it was unclear whether some details about restrictions had been properly listed in the NOTAMs. Keeping up on this stuff isn't entirely trivial and pilots are expected to check these things before they head off. If you're interested in seeing the FAA-provided way you can go over to PilotWeb and look at the tools provided. I put in the lat/long that chris24 has in hir profile and got it to barf out the 20nm around that location. Here's my favorite in there:
posted by phearlez at 8:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
@AMA: TFR has been issued for Columbia, SC & area for Mon, June 25 from 6:15 pm EDT through 8:45 pm EDT. Outdoor radio control model aircraft operations are prohibited within a 30 nm radius for the specific times listed. https://rlm.ag/21QMsW https://twitter.com/modelaircraft/status/1011251447885950976/photo/1
This isn't really political in a partisan way, but the subject of the impact of Trump's vacationing and the like have come up in the past and I thought some of you might find this to be interesting. A TFR is a temporary flight restriction established by the FAA for some reason. Possibly safety of folks in the air, possibly for safety of folks on the ground. The word 'temporary' in there is sometimes sort of comic; the one centered on DC with a 30 nautical mile radius (yes, radius) has been in place since 2011 and that one immediately superseded the one before it. It's mostly human-readable if you know that VFR means visual flight rules as opposed to IFR, instrument flight rules.
If you want to look at all the TFRs in the US right now there's a zoomable map provided by the FAA. When they are mucked with, like this one for the Cheeto in Chief's appearance, they show up in the NOTAMs - notices to airmen. If you look at this map you'll see there's a lot of them out in the west which to my very amateur experience is typical - they appear when folks need to be kept away from fires.
My memory is failing me right now but sometime in the last year there was an incident where it was unclear whether some details about restrictions had been properly listed in the NOTAMs. Keeping up on this stuff isn't entirely trivial and pilots are expected to check these things before they head off. If you're interested in seeing the FAA-provided way you can go over to PilotWeb and look at the tools provided. I put in the lat/long that chris24 has in hir profile and got it to barf out the 20nm around that location. Here's my favorite in there:
!FDC 8/6194 ZBW MA..AIRSPACE HANOVER, MA..TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTION WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 1 NM RADIUS OF 420521N0705216W (BOS178016.9) SFC-2499FT FOR EXPLOSIVE DEVICE CLEAN-UP. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(1) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT. ONLY RELIEF ACFT OPS UNDER DIRECTION OF HANOVER FIRE DEPT ARE AUTH IN THE AIRSPACE. HANOVER FIRE DEPT TELEPHONE 781-826-2335X0 IS IN CHARGE OF ON SCENE EMERG RESPONSE ACTIVITY. BOSTON /A90/ APCH TELEPHONE 603-594-5551 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. MON-FRI EXC HOLIDAY 1030-2200 1807021030-1808312200If you need this to be more topical, the admin is hot to muck about with air traffic control and privatize it. Which when you look at stuff like the above is unsurprising; imagine how profitable schemes to control this information could be if you put it totally in private hands and mandated the use of those systems, rather than the current scheme where the government provides the necessary safety and control and various entrepreneurial companies expand and finesse that data to provide solutions to folks as they desire.
posted by phearlez at 8:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies. Now they don't even have to leave the country to acquire them!
DeVos is complicit in creating Baby Scoop Era 2.0. The birth rate is down. The stigma of unmarried parenthood is all but gone. So where are we gonna get babies to feed the adoption machine? From the disenfranchised, stateless refugees. Many echoes of what happened in the US and other English-speaking countries in the 1940s-1970s.
Disgusting. Morally repugnant. And so transparent.
(I'm a Baby Scoop Era baby, stolen from my birth mother and adopted out to "more deserving" infertile adoptive parents. Even though we are reunited, her devastation became PTSD, because of course it did. And she and the rest who lose their children will never get over it.)
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 8:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [90 favorites]
DeVos is complicit in creating Baby Scoop Era 2.0. The birth rate is down. The stigma of unmarried parenthood is all but gone. So where are we gonna get babies to feed the adoption machine? From the disenfranchised, stateless refugees. Many echoes of what happened in the US and other English-speaking countries in the 1940s-1970s.
Disgusting. Morally repugnant. And so transparent.
(I'm a Baby Scoop Era baby, stolen from my birth mother and adopted out to "more deserving" infertile adoptive parents. Even though we are reunited, her devastation became PTSD, because of course it did. And she and the rest who lose their children will never get over it.)
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 8:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [90 favorites]
Just a quick reminder that the shitheels in the House are trying to end-run a toxic budget while everyone is distracted by immigration issues. Not to say attention should be shifted - two things can be important at once. Keep both eyes open, the current outrage is providing the perfect cover for what would otherwise be too politically damaging to support.
posted by FakeFreyja at 8:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by FakeFreyja at 8:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Tweeted in response to Maxine Waters:
@NancyPelosi
In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea.
(vomits)
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
@NancyPelosi
In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea.
(vomits)
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies.
Oh God, these poor kids. Early attachment trauma is developmental trauma. Even if (and man I would like to see this miracle) they are reunited with their families and somehow compensated for the fucking torture, they are going to need help.
And if they’re “adopted”* out to moneyed white evangelicals, they are not going to get the kind of help they need.
Fuck. These fucking kids. The heart breaks over and over again.
*when can we say “sold”?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
Oh God, these poor kids. Early attachment trauma is developmental trauma. Even if (and man I would like to see this miracle) they are reunited with their families and somehow compensated for the fucking torture, they are going to need help.
And if they’re “adopted”* out to moneyed white evangelicals, they are not going to get the kind of help they need.
Fuck. These fucking kids. The heart breaks over and over again.
*when can we say “sold”?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
Special counsel obtains Trump ally Erik Prince's phones, computer
The novocaine from this morning's dental appointment is wearing off, so it hurts to smile, and I still can't stop myself.
posted by Etrigan at 8:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
The novocaine from this morning's dental appointment is wearing off, so it hurts to smile, and I still can't stop myself.
posted by Etrigan at 8:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
no, nancy pelosi, your generation of democratic leadership has become so used to having to compromise with republicans to get anything that you've forgotten how to fight
you can't compromise on concentration camps for children
you can't have unity in a country that puts children in concentration camps
wake up or go
posted by pyramid termite at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [126 favorites]
you can't compromise on concentration camps for children
you can't have unity in a country that puts children in concentration camps
wake up or go
posted by pyramid termite at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [126 favorites]
If this was discussed in the previous thread, my apologizes. I've not seen much response to the White House plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government (PDF), though it was only slipped out late Friday afternoon. With all the Baby Jail crisis, the midterms, and Red Hen Hot Takes, I'm afraid it's going to be lost in the larger administration's dumpster-fires.
posted by jazon at 8:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by jazon at 8:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
Thanks for the point of clarification, termite! Promise I'm not trying to call you out or anything, I was just hoping I might be able to springboard to a personal anecdote on this theme. While I think it's pointless for me and unfair to speculate about the views and opinions held by individual service members, I feel that this specific statistic, by itself, doesn't signify much to me.
I see why people would infer that would mean that the military isn't full of deplorables. It makes sense logically. But if there's anything this election and its aftermath have taught me, it's that people will actively and even zealously act in ways that are contrary to their own self-interest and the interests of their respective communities.
My grandmother, who is, herself, a Latinx Spanish speaking immigrant is full blown MAGA, attends the rallies, and chants BUILD THE WALL vigorously on Facebook and in real life to "defend law-abiding American citizens from the evil foreign hordes." (I exaggerate the exact wording, but I'm still only paraphrasing by a depressingly thin margin.)
Some of the most casual (I suppose internalized) racism I ever heard growing up came unironically from a first-generation Mexican-American that I want to school with in Texas. He claimed he was "different," but those "other people" shouldn't be let in. Not paraphrasing: "We already have enough lazy, poor people here."
My cousin by marriage is a Latinx Marine who I KNOW faced discrimination for his heritage in school (he was an underclassman, but I knew him from band) is also a proud Trump supporter. For him, it's a rule-of law thing. "If you don't want to be imprisoned, don't break the law."
I know a few other people who went into the armed forces after high school, and of the ~6 who went in, I know four of them are hardcore conservatives.
So while I can't, in good conscience, say that the military is full of deplorables, I also can't comfortably agree that it doesn't contain them to a significant and, frankly, still worrying degree. I guess what I'm saying is don't count on ANYONE in the military to be on your side when it comes to immigration policy.
posted by Krazor at 8:57 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
I see why people would infer that would mean that the military isn't full of deplorables. It makes sense logically. But if there's anything this election and its aftermath have taught me, it's that people will actively and even zealously act in ways that are contrary to their own self-interest and the interests of their respective communities.
My grandmother, who is, herself, a Latinx Spanish speaking immigrant is full blown MAGA, attends the rallies, and chants BUILD THE WALL vigorously on Facebook and in real life to "defend law-abiding American citizens from the evil foreign hordes." (I exaggerate the exact wording, but I'm still only paraphrasing by a depressingly thin margin.)
Some of the most casual (I suppose internalized) racism I ever heard growing up came unironically from a first-generation Mexican-American that I want to school with in Texas. He claimed he was "different," but those "other people" shouldn't be let in. Not paraphrasing: "We already have enough lazy, poor people here."
My cousin by marriage is a Latinx Marine who I KNOW faced discrimination for his heritage in school (he was an underclassman, but I knew him from band) is also a proud Trump supporter. For him, it's a rule-of law thing. "If you don't want to be imprisoned, don't break the law."
I know a few other people who went into the armed forces after high school, and of the ~6 who went in, I know four of them are hardcore conservatives.
So while I can't, in good conscience, say that the military is full of deplorables, I also can't comfortably agree that it doesn't contain them to a significant and, frankly, still worrying degree. I guess what I'm saying is don't count on ANYONE in the military to be on your side when it comes to immigration policy.
posted by Krazor at 8:57 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
I made a MetaTalk post about this weekend's Families Belong Together rally, for sign and organizing ideas and experience reports.
posted by achrise at 8:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by achrise at 8:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
>coups don't happen because the whole Army comes together to vote on whether to throw the president out a window.
Quoted for rare comic relief in these times, still giggling about this one. Oh man.
"OK, everyone, don't forget, this Tuesday is the Defenestration Vote! Tossers are leading in the latest poll, but turnout still matters!"
posted by LooseFilter at 9:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
Quoted for rare comic relief in these times, still giggling about this one. Oh man.
"OK, everyone, don't forget, this Tuesday is the Defenestration Vote! Tossers are leading in the latest poll, but turnout still matters!"
posted by LooseFilter at 9:12 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
There's bad takes, there's worse-than-bad takes, and then there's Cillizza takes.
Why Maxine Waters' low-road strategy on Donald Trump is a very bad idea
Let's start here: There is nothing -- and I mean nothing -- that can be said of Trump and those who work for him that would be a bridge too far for many Democratic activists. They hate Donald Trump. They believe he is a racist. A xenophobe. Someone who is using the presidency to enrich himself. The worst President ever. And so on and so forth.
It felt like gutter politics was everywhere this weekend. [...] Taken together, the past three days felt like a new tear in our collective culture -- the latest in a series of reminders that what separates us may not be all that large, but man oh man is it powerful.
CNN gives him money to do this.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:14 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
Why Maxine Waters' low-road strategy on Donald Trump is a very bad idea
Let's start here: There is nothing -- and I mean nothing -- that can be said of Trump and those who work for him that would be a bridge too far for many Democratic activists. They hate Donald Trump. They believe he is a racist. A xenophobe. Someone who is using the presidency to enrich himself. The worst President ever. And so on and so forth.
It felt like gutter politics was everywhere this weekend. [...] Taken together, the past three days felt like a new tear in our collective culture -- the latest in a series of reminders that what separates us may not be all that large, but man oh man is it powerful.
CNN gives him money to do this.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:14 AM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
News You May Have Missed (FB page) for 6/24/2018: some small bits of good news, reorganizing government, Koch brothers undermining public transit, sex cult, commerce corruption, methane emissions, and lots on detained children. I sourced the sex cult and corruption stories from Metafilter - thanks for those and for these threads which are keeping me sane.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:17 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 9:17 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
jackbishop: IANAL, but I'd think there's a very winnable case alleging improper use of governmental authority here, and a plaintiff with undeniable standing to attest to damages.
On one hand, this is an obvious, awful abuse of power, and I would love for Trump to go bankrupt again, this time defending himself from lawsuits from his abuse of power, but I could also see Red Hen doing better because of Trump's abuse of power, and how polarizing Trump is now, which could possibly undermine claims of damages, but IA(also)NAL.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:18 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
On one hand, this is an obvious, awful abuse of power, and I would love for Trump to go bankrupt again, this time defending himself from lawsuits from his abuse of power, but I could also see Red Hen doing better because of Trump's abuse of power, and how polarizing Trump is now, which could possibly undermine claims of damages, but IA(also)NAL.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:18 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
achrise: My grandmother, who is, herself, a Latinx Spanish speaking immigrant is full blown MAGA, attends the rallies, and chants BUILD THE WALL vigorously on Facebook and in real life to "defend law-abiding American citizens from the evil foreign hordes." (I exaggerate the exact wording, but I'm still only paraphrasing by a depressingly thin margin.)
When I'm confused by how someone can be like that, it helps to remember that Trump displays constant open contempt for even his own base and their ostensible values, too. "How stupid are the people of Iowa", fulfilling zero notions of conservative Christianity, dry-humping the flag like an alien in a human suit attempting to mimic patriotism, etc.
It's been pointed out from several corners that we can now safely dismiss as unrealistic almost any movie where the heroes win merely by "exposing" the villain's secret scheme or evil motivations, assuming said villain was a powerful/beloved figure in the first place. One such scene from a film I've never seen, A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith as a hustling politician: he's caught in a condescending monologue after he thinks the camera is off. A variety of Americans watch their TVs aghast that he would call the public "stupid" and worse.
But in real life, what would happen is that all of his supporters would feel in on the joke. "He's right, the public is stupid! He's got my vote." Well, a complicated mix of that and "All politicians are this contemptuous so at least he's honest." (Even though it's not an honest moment, it was a hot mic, but that's still what they'd say, just as Don Blankenship was called "honest" in some corners because his guilt in the deaths of those miners was so hard to deny.)
Rust Moranis: CNN gives him money to do this.
They probably get their money's worth in can-you-believe-this-guy clicks alone, with actual agreement putting them over the top.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
When I'm confused by how someone can be like that, it helps to remember that Trump displays constant open contempt for even his own base and their ostensible values, too. "How stupid are the people of Iowa", fulfilling zero notions of conservative Christianity, dry-humping the flag like an alien in a human suit attempting to mimic patriotism, etc.
It's been pointed out from several corners that we can now safely dismiss as unrealistic almost any movie where the heroes win merely by "exposing" the villain's secret scheme or evil motivations, assuming said villain was a powerful/beloved figure in the first place. One such scene from a film I've never seen, A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith as a hustling politician: he's caught in a condescending monologue after he thinks the camera is off. A variety of Americans watch their TVs aghast that he would call the public "stupid" and worse.
But in real life, what would happen is that all of his supporters would feel in on the joke. "He's right, the public is stupid! He's got my vote." Well, a complicated mix of that and "All politicians are this contemptuous so at least he's honest." (Even though it's not an honest moment, it was a hot mic, but that's still what they'd say, just as Don Blankenship was called "honest" in some corners because his guilt in the deaths of those miners was so hard to deny.)
Rust Moranis: CNN gives him money to do this.
They probably get their money's worth in can-you-believe-this-guy clicks alone, with actual agreement putting them over the top.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Mattis still wants internment/concentration camps set up for tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people
I don’t believe he does - it seems more like some of his previous attempts to take as much under his umbrella while not seeming to publicly criticize Trump. If it’s run by the military, there can be oversight, is probably what he’s thinking. I think he’s wrong - especially if, as the article upthread suggests, Trump is getting wise that Mattis “looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives”.
Corb, again: look at where they're talking about setting up these camps. They're talking about the Mojave. The plan floated by the Navy specifically referred to them as "austere."
Even if Mattis truly had his hands tied, even if resigning in protest meant leaving no one in the way of Bolton and the rest, Mattis has it in his power to at least put in as much support and care for these camps to mitigate harm. He's not doing that. We're not seeing that.
And there's been a giant parade of lapses in the military judicial system over the last couple of years. Hell, they want to put JAG officers to work on these asylum claims. Do you think they're giving those guys orders to give every claim a fair read and to advocate for the asylum seekers? At the rate they're spending (unappropriated) money on this internment shit, they could certainly hire civilian lawyers for the job. They aren't doing that. Can't imagine why.
No good comes from getting DoD involved in this mess. None. And Mattis is not even close to a hero. He's slightly better than the rest at polishing his image, but he's as complicit as the rest. If he was out to save the day, this is the time to show it, and that's exactly what he's not doing.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [47 favorites]
I don’t believe he does - it seems more like some of his previous attempts to take as much under his umbrella while not seeming to publicly criticize Trump. If it’s run by the military, there can be oversight, is probably what he’s thinking. I think he’s wrong - especially if, as the article upthread suggests, Trump is getting wise that Mattis “looks down on him and slow-walks his policy directives”.
Corb, again: look at where they're talking about setting up these camps. They're talking about the Mojave. The plan floated by the Navy specifically referred to them as "austere."
Even if Mattis truly had his hands tied, even if resigning in protest meant leaving no one in the way of Bolton and the rest, Mattis has it in his power to at least put in as much support and care for these camps to mitigate harm. He's not doing that. We're not seeing that.
And there's been a giant parade of lapses in the military judicial system over the last couple of years. Hell, they want to put JAG officers to work on these asylum claims. Do you think they're giving those guys orders to give every claim a fair read and to advocate for the asylum seekers? At the rate they're spending (unappropriated) money on this internment shit, they could certainly hire civilian lawyers for the job. They aren't doing that. Can't imagine why.
No good comes from getting DoD involved in this mess. None. And Mattis is not even close to a hero. He's slightly better than the rest at polishing his image, but he's as complicit as the rest. If he was out to save the day, this is the time to show it, and that's exactly what he's not doing.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [47 favorites]
Tech workers organize around refusing to work for ICE, continued.
posted by The Whelk at 9:25 AM on June 25, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:25 AM on June 25, 2018 [62 favorites]
Nothing like watching a bunch of white upper class folk telling a black woman that she's being uppity for thinking maybe the nazis in power who are responsible for a new era of concentration camps should be made to feel uncomfortable in public.
posted by MysticMCJ at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [96 favorites]
posted by MysticMCJ at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [96 favorites]
but I could also see Red Hen doing better because of Trump's abuse of power
Someone on FB posted last night about trying to get a table there and finding out they're now booked up for the next three weeks straight.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
Someone on FB posted last night about trying to get a table there and finding out they're now booked up for the next three weeks straight.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
A little ways up-thread were some comments about the extinction of the swing voter. I was curious if so-called undecideds actually ever vote. Came across an interesting article from a few years ago How the Swing Voter Went Extinct.
posted by misterpatrick at 9:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by misterpatrick at 9:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
filthy light thief: I could also see Red Hen doing better because of Trump's abuse of power, and how polarizing Trump is now, which could possibly undermine claims of damages, but IA(also)NAL.
I'd love to see Donald's lawyers make this argument. It would strike at his ego on two fronts. First by emphasizing his unpopularity, and second his impotence -- he wants his word alone to topple businesses, and he'd be angry at anyone suggesting that's beyond his will or power.
If this thing stays on his radar, look for a tweet about Red Hen "not fooling anyone" because the increased patronage is just liberal out-of-towners who "don't count" or something.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:34 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'd love to see Donald's lawyers make this argument. It would strike at his ego on two fronts. First by emphasizing his unpopularity, and second his impotence -- he wants his word alone to topple businesses, and he'd be angry at anyone suggesting that's beyond his will or power.
If this thing stays on his radar, look for a tweet about Red Hen "not fooling anyone" because the increased patronage is just liberal out-of-towners who "don't count" or something.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:34 AM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
If this was discussed in the previous thread, my apologizes. I've not seen much response to the White House plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government
It came up before, and it doesn't really matter except as yet more evidence of what fuckers they are. It's almost entirely a wish list except to get the prezzie he needs 60 Senators to sign on.
So while I can't, in good conscience, say that the military is full of deplorables, I also can't comfortably agree that it doesn't contain them to a significant and, frankly, still worrying degree.
The US military is an organization that consists mostly of 18-25 year old men from vaguely working-class backgrounds. You could expect large chunks of even a random sample from that group to hold attitudes many of us would regard as reprehensible, because even at their best young men tend to be pinheads.
The US military is also one of the very few segments of American society in which it is absolutely commonplace for black people to boss around a gaggle of whiteboys. While of course any organization that large, that is mostly young men, that draws disproportionately from the south and from working-class backgrounds, and that necessarily excludes extra-woke people who refuse to work for the miltiary, is going to have a lot of grade-a doofus deplorables, I would be reluctant to paint it as actively racist.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
It came up before, and it doesn't really matter except as yet more evidence of what fuckers they are. It's almost entirely a wish list except to get the prezzie he needs 60 Senators to sign on.
So while I can't, in good conscience, say that the military is full of deplorables, I also can't comfortably agree that it doesn't contain them to a significant and, frankly, still worrying degree.
The US military is an organization that consists mostly of 18-25 year old men from vaguely working-class backgrounds. You could expect large chunks of even a random sample from that group to hold attitudes many of us would regard as reprehensible, because even at their best young men tend to be pinheads.
The US military is also one of the very few segments of American society in which it is absolutely commonplace for black people to boss around a gaggle of whiteboys. While of course any organization that large, that is mostly young men, that draws disproportionately from the south and from working-class backgrounds, and that necessarily excludes extra-woke people who refuse to work for the miltiary, is going to have a lot of grade-a doofus deplorables, I would be reluctant to paint it as actively racist.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
because even at their best young men tend to be pinheads
Was once a young man. Can confirm.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [43 favorites]
Was once a young man. Can confirm.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:39 AM on June 25, 2018 [43 favorites]
FFS...
CNN anchor: "I just did an entire segment about civility here, I don't know if you want to call Stephen Miller a white nationalist"
Just in case we weren't clear on civility being a call to stick your head in the sand and pretend the Nazis aren't happening.
posted by Artw at 9:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [88 favorites]
CNN anchor: "I just did an entire segment about civility here, I don't know if you want to call Stephen Miller a white nationalist"
Just in case we weren't clear on civility being a call to stick your head in the sand and pretend the Nazis aren't happening.
posted by Artw at 9:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [88 favorites]
If this was discussed in the previous thread, my apologizes. I've not seen much response to the White House plan for complete reorganization of the entire federal government (PDF), though it was only slipped out late Friday afternoon. With all the Baby Jail crisis, the midterms, and Red Hen Hot Takes, I'm afraid it's going to be lost in the larger administration's dumpster-fires.
On the one hand this is extremely scary, a blueprint for authoritarianism & stripmining America like the aftermath of a leveraged takeover. On the other hand it's about as silly as Michael Scott declaring "Bankruptcy!" to discharge all his bills. You would need to rewrite or nullify thousands of laws & large portions of the Constitution itself. This would require unprecedented coordination with Congress at a time when much of it has never had any experience writing or passing laws at all. They can barely pass laws on things they've been desperate for for years now without tripping over their own feet. This? Preposterous.
Again, not to say it's not a frightening indicator of where they want to go, it is. But even with a Reichstag Fire event giving them an opportunity to swap out the Executive Branch with this new malicious replacement model all at once, the scale of it makes it too unwieldy for even a hyper-competent administration to attempt without grinding down the gears of government until they're stripped & spinning in place. Which these guys very clearly aren't.
posted by scalefree at 9:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the one hand this is extremely scary, a blueprint for authoritarianism & stripmining America like the aftermath of a leveraged takeover. On the other hand it's about as silly as Michael Scott declaring "Bankruptcy!" to discharge all his bills. You would need to rewrite or nullify thousands of laws & large portions of the Constitution itself. This would require unprecedented coordination with Congress at a time when much of it has never had any experience writing or passing laws at all. They can barely pass laws on things they've been desperate for for years now without tripping over their own feet. This? Preposterous.
Again, not to say it's not a frightening indicator of where they want to go, it is. But even with a Reichstag Fire event giving them an opportunity to swap out the Executive Branch with this new malicious replacement model all at once, the scale of it makes it too unwieldy for even a hyper-competent administration to attempt without grinding down the gears of government until they're stripped & spinning in place. Which these guys very clearly aren't.
posted by scalefree at 9:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Rust Moranis: Tweeted in response to Maxine Waters:
Rust Moranis: There's bad takes, there's worse-than-bad takes, and then there's Cillizza takes.
For context, also from Rust Moranis, but in the prior thread:
Maxine Waters calls on supporters to confront Trump officials in public spaces
"For these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him: they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president 'no I can't hang with you, this is wrong this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children.'"
Reported by Julia Manchester for The Hill, June 24, 2018
My thought: it's not just the separation and imprisonment of immigrant children who are fleeing from other countries, it's the imprisonment of all other asylum seekers, it's Betsy DeVos, private prison companies, and all others profiting off of this fabricated immigration crisis.
And it's Pruitt profiting from his position in power while opening the floodgates for companies to pollute the country, with Trump trying to eliminate a rule that defined which small bodies of water are subject to federal authority under the Clean Water Act, to allow more pollution (but in the meantime, causing chaos and uncertainty for everyone involved, so no one is certain what is permissible).
This is for the Muslim ban, and Russian collusion. This is for trying to continually kill ACA and giving away taxes to the wealthy and fucking over the country.
This is for spreading lies, then decrying "Fake News" every time someone catches them doing something illegal or immoral. This is for everything from Trump's corrupt, illegal administration.
And it's definitely for children torn away from their families, housed out of sight and away from human comforts.
Yes, there's some pendulum swings from Republicans to Democrats and back again, like the Ronald Reagan-era initiated order, also known as the Mexico City policy, which blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counselling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion or expand abortion services, so you could ask "why this harsh push-back now?"
Because under Trump, it's always worse, always amplified, and the Mexico City policy is no different.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [38 favorites]
Rust Moranis: There's bad takes, there's worse-than-bad takes, and then there's Cillizza takes.
For context, also from Rust Moranis, but in the prior thread:
Maxine Waters calls on supporters to confront Trump officials in public spaces
"For these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him: they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president 'no I can't hang with you, this is wrong this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children.'"
Reported by Julia Manchester for The Hill, June 24, 2018
My thought: it's not just the separation and imprisonment of immigrant children who are fleeing from other countries, it's the imprisonment of all other asylum seekers, it's Betsy DeVos, private prison companies, and all others profiting off of this fabricated immigration crisis.
And it's Pruitt profiting from his position in power while opening the floodgates for companies to pollute the country, with Trump trying to eliminate a rule that defined which small bodies of water are subject to federal authority under the Clean Water Act, to allow more pollution (but in the meantime, causing chaos and uncertainty for everyone involved, so no one is certain what is permissible).
This is for the Muslim ban, and Russian collusion. This is for trying to continually kill ACA and giving away taxes to the wealthy and fucking over the country.
This is for spreading lies, then decrying "Fake News" every time someone catches them doing something illegal or immoral. This is for everything from Trump's corrupt, illegal administration.
And it's definitely for children torn away from their families, housed out of sight and away from human comforts.
Yes, there's some pendulum swings from Republicans to Democrats and back again, like the Ronald Reagan-era initiated order, also known as the Mexico City policy, which blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counselling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion or expand abortion services, so you could ask "why this harsh push-back now?"
Because under Trump, it's always worse, always amplified, and the Mexico City policy is no different.
Previously, only federally funded family planning organizations were affected. Now the restrictions apply to any nongovernmental group receiving funds provided by the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense. So the plan would apply to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which funds HIV prevention and treatment in nearly 60 countries, and the President's Malaria Initiative.THIS is why we push back now. THIS is why we should attack all of Trump's political supporters. THIS is why it's not Politics As Usual, and to pretend that it is only normalizes Trump's abnormal activities and actions.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:52 AM on June 25, 2018 [38 favorites]
> There's already a history of kids being kidnapped from Guatemala and other poor countries to feed American demand for adoptable babies.
Russian 'adoptions' don't suffice, apparently.
Heard something interesting about international adoptions this morning, actually. They've gone down quite a bit in recent years - partly because they were some kind of an artificial spike in the first place.
The notion of international adoptions gained a foothold as a kind of finally-get-a-kid-and-save-someone-underprivileged-to-boot move, during the 20th century. A lot of it was promoted in the 50s after the Korean War, with a lot of South Korean orphans heading to the US. Then it was Vietnamese oprhans in the 70s and 80s, followed by Russian and Romanian and Chinese; basically, anywhere were shit was going south and people could feel good about themselves for saving them.
But in the past decade or so, nations that offered their kids for adoption have been holding back - partly because the initial crisis that lead to orphaning children has passed, and partly because there were some countries where the kids weren't really orphans to begin with, like with Guatemala. Or, the kids in question had special needs that outdid their adoptive parents' abiility to cope - there was an incident in 2010 when an American couple adopted a Russian boy who had severe emotional problems, and they couldn't handle it so they simply brought him to the airport and sent him back to Russia, unaccompanied. Russia called for banning all international adoptions outright, and has had tighter control on things since then.
Of course, the whole time this was going on, there were also plenty of American children who needed homes. But the desire to also "do good" with one's adoption was strong, and the demand for international adoptions is strong as well.
I grant there are plenty of other reasons to make this choice that have nothing to do with "do-gooderism" - the radio piece I heard discussed a couple sets of parents who were themselves adopted from another country, and sought to adopt a child from the same country. A childhood friend also had an adoptive brother who was from Korea, and felt positively about that kind of upbringing and thus adopted one child and concieved and delivered her other child. The reasons to choose international adoption are nuanced.
But all of those reasons still lead to a lucrative market for adoption brokers - and their market is drying up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
Russian 'adoptions' don't suffice, apparently.
Heard something interesting about international adoptions this morning, actually. They've gone down quite a bit in recent years - partly because they were some kind of an artificial spike in the first place.
The notion of international adoptions gained a foothold as a kind of finally-get-a-kid-and-save-someone-underprivileged-to-boot move, during the 20th century. A lot of it was promoted in the 50s after the Korean War, with a lot of South Korean orphans heading to the US. Then it was Vietnamese oprhans in the 70s and 80s, followed by Russian and Romanian and Chinese; basically, anywhere were shit was going south and people could feel good about themselves for saving them.
But in the past decade or so, nations that offered their kids for adoption have been holding back - partly because the initial crisis that lead to orphaning children has passed, and partly because there were some countries where the kids weren't really orphans to begin with, like with Guatemala. Or, the kids in question had special needs that outdid their adoptive parents' abiility to cope - there was an incident in 2010 when an American couple adopted a Russian boy who had severe emotional problems, and they couldn't handle it so they simply brought him to the airport and sent him back to Russia, unaccompanied. Russia called for banning all international adoptions outright, and has had tighter control on things since then.
Of course, the whole time this was going on, there were also plenty of American children who needed homes. But the desire to also "do good" with one's adoption was strong, and the demand for international adoptions is strong as well.
I grant there are plenty of other reasons to make this choice that have nothing to do with "do-gooderism" - the radio piece I heard discussed a couple sets of parents who were themselves adopted from another country, and sought to adopt a child from the same country. A childhood friend also had an adoptive brother who was from Korea, and felt positively about that kind of upbringing and thus adopted one child and concieved and delivered her other child. The reasons to choose international adoption are nuanced.
But all of those reasons still lead to a lucrative market for adoption brokers - and their market is drying up.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
being served in a business
While seaching for names like Carson Disease history has things like Hoovervilles. But be careful what you ask for.
What happened in addition to a spontanous labor action was a showing how one's money can be seen as not able to be a method for exchange. A possible end result in this time will be the removal of the US Dollar as the world standard for exchange. The visible fear here is a group of people decide en mass the US Dollar has no power to obtain goods/services in the world.
And what control does the rest of the world have beyond saying "your money is no good here"? How does the past go...'The history of the present is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of the policy of your money is no good here. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.' The near instant communication that allows MeToo also allows for the shunning of the US currency as a means of exchange.
Tying the Trump name forever to an economic failure would be a blow to his ego. And that can be attractive in today's political lose-win world. The act of pointing out how the Dollar can become non-acceptible can become the Dollar becomming non-acceptible. So be careful what you wish for and the path chosen.
posted by rough ashlar at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
While seaching for names like Carson Disease history has things like Hoovervilles. But be careful what you ask for.
What happened in addition to a spontanous labor action was a showing how one's money can be seen as not able to be a method for exchange. A possible end result in this time will be the removal of the US Dollar as the world standard for exchange. The visible fear here is a group of people decide en mass the US Dollar has no power to obtain goods/services in the world.
And what control does the rest of the world have beyond saying "your money is no good here"? How does the past go...'The history of the present is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of the policy of your money is no good here. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.' The near instant communication that allows MeToo also allows for the shunning of the US currency as a means of exchange.
Tying the Trump name forever to an economic failure would be a blow to his ego. And that can be attractive in today's political lose-win world. The act of pointing out how the Dollar can become non-acceptible can become the Dollar becomming non-acceptible. So be careful what you wish for and the path chosen.
posted by rough ashlar at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
And a reminder that there's still good in the world -- last year, in response to Trump's expanded Mexico City policy, a Dutch-led fund raised $300 million to replace U.S. funding for sexual health (NPR, July 28, 2017).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [48 favorites]
The Dutch government revealed the new figure on Friday. The "She Decides" initiative — the brainchild of one Dutch official — kicked off earlier this year, and announced $190 million in funding as of early March.On 8 March 2018, "She Decides Day," the figures were even better, exceeding what Trump's administration had cut (PDF)
Thanks to "ongoing enthusiasm," donations from nations, organizations and individuals have since continued to flow in. Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which also supports NPR) have all pledged new funding, the Dutch statement says, while Rwanda, Chad, South Africa, South Korea, Senegal, Nigeria and Mozambique have signed on as "friends" of the initiative.
In its first year, SheDecides received the backing of over 40,000 individuals, more than 50The goodness in the world is pushing against the wickedness of Trump's administration.
governments, 220 organisations and 36 major champions – one third of them Ministers from across the world. Some $450 million was raised. “We look forward to looking back on our achievements again on 1 March 2019,” says [Robin Gorna, co-Lead of the global SheDecides Support Unit.].
posted by filthy light thief at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2018 [48 favorites]
This morning I rode my bike to work right through East Somerville, where the MS-13 gang was a terrifying presence a few years ago, and where past and present members of the gang still live.
Not a hair fell off my head.
posted by ocschwar at 10:01 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
Not a hair fell off my head.
posted by ocschwar at 10:01 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
But all of those reasons still lead to a lucrative market for adoption brokers - and their market is drying up.
EmpressCallipygos, you forgot one driving motivation for international adoption: So that the pesky birth parents can never be in the picture.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 10:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
EmpressCallipygos, you forgot one driving motivation for international adoption: So that the pesky birth parents can never be in the picture.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 10:04 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
Gallup: Trump scores high on intelligence, strength; low on honesty, likability
Fifty-eight percent said Trump is "intelligent," 51 percent called Trump a "strong and decisive leader" and 50 percent said he's able to "bring about the changes the country needs."
Americans score low on both likability and intelligence.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:10 AM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
Fifty-eight percent said Trump is "intelligent," 51 percent called Trump a "strong and decisive leader" and 50 percent said he's able to "bring about the changes the country needs."
Americans score low on both likability and intelligence.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:10 AM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
Gallup: Trump scores high on intelligence, strength; low on honesty, likability
What's his saving throw on charisma?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:19 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
What's his saving throw on charisma?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:19 AM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
58% of what? of whom? 58% of human beings? how can it possibly be that i have somehow UNDERESTIMATED the stupidity of the average american? trump doesn't score high on intelligence in tests that measure sea cucumbers. oh my god im having a fucking stroke
posted by poffin boffin at 10:22 AM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 10:22 AM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
58% of random people spoken to by phone, 70% mobile, 30% landline. I don't understand this at all. Oops didn't paste in the methodology: https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/235916/180625TrumpCharacter.pdf
posted by turkeybrain at 10:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by turkeybrain at 10:24 AM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, 58% of people who answer calls from unknown numbers.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 10:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [86 favorites]
posted by paper chromatographologist at 10:27 AM on June 25, 2018 [86 favorites]
Quick reminder that in the US, 58% is an F. Trump’s perceived intelligence score is “high” only relative to his awful ratings on everything else.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 10:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
What's his saving throw on charisma?
$130,000, same as in town.
posted by azpenguin at 10:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [39 favorites]
$130,000, same as in town.
posted by azpenguin at 10:28 AM on June 25, 2018 [39 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!
I'm going to go have a lie-down now and when I wake up everything will be good
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2018 [31 favorites]
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!
I'm going to go have a lie-down now and when I wake up everything will be good
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:30 AM on June 25, 2018 [31 favorites]
I reported that as targeted harassment and hope everyone else will too. I mean, he just threatened a member of Congress with bodily harm, JFC
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:31 AM on June 25, 2018 [74 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:31 AM on June 25, 2018 [74 favorites]
Reported that tweet as threat of harm to Maxine Waters.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 10:36 AM on June 25, 2018 [43 favorites]
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 10:36 AM on June 25, 2018 [43 favorites]
If something terrible were to happen to Waters because of that tweet, CNN would blame her for having inflamed incivility. Fox would probably put up a "Womp Womp" chyron.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:40 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
The official Twitter policy is that Trump tweets are not delectable because they are “newsworthy” and they are likewise not going to block him, no matter what he does. Worth reporting anyway though.
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM on June 25, 2018
What did I miss? What is Trump referring to w/r/t what Maxine Walters 'called for harm'?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:42 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:42 AM on June 25, 2018
CNN would blame her for having inflamed incivility
And they'd find some photo where she's doing some sketchy looking thing like wearing a hoodie that would imply that because she's black she's gangsta.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
And they'd find some photo where she's doing some sketchy looking thing like wearing a hoodie that would imply that because she's black she's gangsta.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:42 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
What is Trump referring to w/r/t what Maxine Walters 'called for harm'?
"If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere," Waters, who has called for President Donald Trump to be impeached, told supporters over the weekend.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
"If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere," Waters, who has called for President Donald Trump to be impeached, told supporters over the weekend.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
The descriptors "intelligent/strong/decisive" can be applied to someone you basically oppose. A lot of people (mistakenly) figure Trump must be extra-crafty just because he hasn't lost either his office or his base by now. And "strong" might be applied to any sort of authoritarian/bully (although of course in other senses, those people are quite weak). So the only figure concerning me is the 50% saying he'll "bring about the changes the country needs", and it also confuses me because it's well above his approval in other polls, so I'll just assume it's an outlier.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:48 AM on June 25, 2018
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:48 AM on June 25, 2018
So basically, DJT is a big liar again. Representative Waters called for pushing back against his Cabinet, not his MAGA supporters.
(Although ultimately we should be pushing back against anyone who has anything positive or even neutral to say about the Trump administration.)
posted by elsietheeel at 10:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
(Although ultimately we should be pushing back against anyone who has anything positive or even neutral to say about the Trump administration.)
posted by elsietheeel at 10:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Remeber kids: Trump is threatening a black person who was born in the '30s that they might not be not welcome at certain places.
58% said he was intelligent. 58 fucking percent.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:50 AM on June 25, 2018 [57 favorites]
58% said he was intelligent. 58 fucking percent.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:50 AM on June 25, 2018 [57 favorites]
The President of course conflates "Cabinet member" with "supporters" and "push back" with "harm" and we're off to another week of life in Trumpville.
posted by notyou at 10:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by notyou at 10:51 AM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
58% said he was intelligent. 58 fucking percent.
I've been having nightmares straight out of Black Mirror over this .
posted by ocschwar at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
I've been having nightmares straight out of Black Mirror over this .
posted by ocschwar at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Citing Trump, woman in video calls Latino man 'rapist, animal, drug dealer'
Civility.
posted by Artw at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2018 [42 favorites]
Civility.
posted by Artw at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2018 [42 favorites]
If I thought he was capable of it I'd suspect he had "an extraordinarily low IQ person" set up as an auto-replace for the six-letter word he knows he's not allowed to say, no matter how much he wants to. Perhaps the wisdom to know he needs to code it like that is the reason some perceive him as intelligent.
It's somewhat comic that he is saying that be careful or the MAGA folks will start making folks feel unwelcome.
posted by phearlez at 10:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
It's somewhat comic that he is saying that be careful or the MAGA folks will start making folks feel unwelcome.
posted by phearlez at 10:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
I am reading Three Tough Chinamen by Scott Seligman. Here (from page 123) is Moy Jin Kee arguing in 1905 for the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
My people are honest. They come to help build up the farms and cities. In the far west they follow agricultural pursuits. There are millions of acres of untilled land in this country. The Chinese can make these deserts bloom. ... In the arts and sciences, the Chinese acknowledge no superiors. ... I claim for my race high-mindedness, honesty and industriousness.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
My people are honest. They come to help build up the farms and cities. In the far west they follow agricultural pursuits. There are millions of acres of untilled land in this country. The Chinese can make these deserts bloom. ... In the arts and sciences, the Chinese acknowledge no superiors. ... I claim for my race high-mindedness, honesty and industriousness.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:56 AM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Obama should make commercials about the dangers of eating laundry detergent pods and strongly encourage people not to eat them "for the good of the country" and many of our nation's problems will solve themselves.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
Citing Trump, woman in video calls Latino man 'rapist, animal, drug dealer'
That story gets even better. The video was removed from Facebook for "violating community standards".
posted by elsietheeel at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
That story gets even better. The video was removed from Facebook for "violating community standards".
posted by elsietheeel at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Harley Davidson, Citing Tariffs, to Shift Production Overseas
This kind of thing is happening all over. I hope it continues to get press. Enjoy your new job in the coal mine! You won!
posted by xammerboy at 11:01 AM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
This kind of thing is happening all over. I hope it continues to get press. Enjoy your new job in the coal mine! You won!
posted by xammerboy at 11:01 AM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
AP: Migrant detainees to be housed at 2 bases in Texas
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about a pending announcement that shelter would be provided at Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base. [...]
The number of detained migrants who might be held at Bliss and Goodfellow has not been announced, but the Pentagon had said last week that it had been asked to be prepared to shelter as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children. One official said unaccompanied children detained after crossing the U.S. border would be sheltered at one of the bases and the other base would house families of migrant detainees. Under the arrangement, the Defense Department would provide the land but the operations would be run by other agencies.
Here comes your legacy, Mad Dog. Think you'll be remembered for anything better?
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about a pending announcement that shelter would be provided at Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base. [...]
The number of detained migrants who might be held at Bliss and Goodfellow has not been announced, but the Pentagon had said last week that it had been asked to be prepared to shelter as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children. One official said unaccompanied children detained after crossing the U.S. border would be sheltered at one of the bases and the other base would house families of migrant detainees. Under the arrangement, the Defense Department would provide the land but the operations would be run by other agencies.
Here comes your legacy, Mad Dog. Think you'll be remembered for anything better?
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Re: Trump intelligence
Was chatting a lot this last weekend with my father in law, who is a retired nuclear engineer, genuinely a smart and insightful guy if getting on a bit, and if not a lifelong liberal has at least leaned on the liberal side of things for all his life. We talked about Trump and the border a lot, amongst other things, but one thing that we kept coming back to was his belief that smart and hard working people would do well, and I guess by extension anyone who has done well must be smart and hard working. The idea that you could try hard and be smart and have circumstance crush you anyway, or that by birth and dumb luck you could fail your way to the top is anathema to him.
I suspect that link between intelligence and success is a very strong belief for all his generation, and has basically been drummed into the America public consciousness as a truism even though it’s drmonstrably false and the evidence is right in front of us.
Here’s hoping later generations at least learn the lesson that it is bullshit.
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [76 favorites]
Was chatting a lot this last weekend with my father in law, who is a retired nuclear engineer, genuinely a smart and insightful guy if getting on a bit, and if not a lifelong liberal has at least leaned on the liberal side of things for all his life. We talked about Trump and the border a lot, amongst other things, but one thing that we kept coming back to was his belief that smart and hard working people would do well, and I guess by extension anyone who has done well must be smart and hard working. The idea that you could try hard and be smart and have circumstance crush you anyway, or that by birth and dumb luck you could fail your way to the top is anathema to him.
I suspect that link between intelligence and success is a very strong belief for all his generation, and has basically been drummed into the America public consciousness as a truism even though it’s drmonstrably false and the evidence is right in front of us.
Here’s hoping later generations at least learn the lesson that it is bullshit.
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on June 25, 2018 [76 favorites]
The military is full of deplorables.
I still remember this delightful little episode from shortly after the inauguration.
posted by non canadian guy at 11:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
I still remember this delightful little episode from shortly after the inauguration.
posted by non canadian guy at 11:11 AM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
NY Attorney General Candidate Calls for an End to ICE
Guardian Op-Ed by Zephyr Teachout: Ice is a tool of illegality. It must be abolished
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:13 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
Guardian Op-Ed by Zephyr Teachout: Ice is a tool of illegality. It must be abolished
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:13 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
> his belief that smart and hard working people would do well, and I guess by extension anyone who has done well must be smart and hard working
So he made it to his age without being exposed to any evidence to the contrary? What a lucky guy.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:15 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
So he made it to his age without being exposed to any evidence to the contrary? What a lucky guy.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:15 AM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
Here's to hoping the future generations CAN learn from this bullshit ArtW.
I cheered at the link about Erik Prince. That man is a monster that has escaped justice multiple times, and I hope that he gets charged under state crimes in multiple states (I doubt the feds will prosecute him under Sessions) so he spends the rest of his life behind bars and in courtrooms being forced to answer to the public. Here's to hoping that opens up a day that's full of bad news for Mango Moussolini.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 11:16 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
I cheered at the link about Erik Prince. That man is a monster that has escaped justice multiple times, and I hope that he gets charged under state crimes in multiple states (I doubt the feds will prosecute him under Sessions) so he spends the rest of his life behind bars and in courtrooms being forced to answer to the public. Here's to hoping that opens up a day that's full of bad news for Mango Moussolini.
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 11:16 AM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump as a Russian Target - Trump would have been an active target of Russian intelligence since the moment they laid eyes on him for two reasons that come straight from the classical espionage textbook: He has influence; and he is potentially vulnerable to various forms of compromise. Playing by the book, the Russians would have attempted to initiate multi-layered operations to develop varied means of access to him in an effort to establish and ultimately exploit mechanisms of control over Trump and his associates. This is not calling out our president, but rather is a reflection of the reality of how Russian intelligence operates. Indeed, it could even benefit the president to know how this stratagem works. To be fair, I have no information that suggests that our president has been compromised by the Russians. Rather, my intent is to offer to the reader an explanation of the classical vulnerabilities that intelligence officers seek to identify and exploit including sexual indiscretions, greed, corruption, revenge, and most of all, ego. In essence, the pursuit of selfish interests over the common good.
posted by growabrain at 11:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 11:23 AM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
It May Be Impossible for Our Side to Win a Civility War
When this happens to Democrats, our political culture doesn't regard it as a civility crisis. But when we cast civility aside, even in a non-violent, non-threatening way, it's deemed a national emergency.posted by tonycpsu at 11:30 AM on June 25, 2018 [66 favorites]
Why? In part it's because Republicans have a far superior messaging operation, and far greater discipline. It's also because the right's top media outlets are nakedly partisan, while the "liberal" media becomes a collection of easily worked refs when liberals and Democrats breach decorum.
But I think it's more than that. In our political culture's (warped) view, incivility by the left is regarded as the work of the superior, dominant elite class, while rough treatment of Democrats by the right is the underdogs' revenge against the dominant class. Even the "liberal" media seems to agree on this. And this true even though, at this moment, conservative "underdogs" are defending the party that runs all three branches of government and represents the interests of corporate plutocrats.
Once again we've simply been Out-Framed by the right. Intellectuals are deemed "elite" and condescending; while the moneyed/landed class are simply the virtuous beneficiaries of that good ol' hard work ethic and not "elite" at all.
Wall Street Elite, Country Club Elite, Tax Haven Elite should be monikers applied to them all to change this narrative.
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
Wall Street Elite, Country Club Elite, Tax Haven Elite should be monikers applied to them all to change this narrative.
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
Artw: We talked about Trump and the border a lot, amongst other things, but one thing that we kept coming back to was his belief that smart and hard working people would do well, and I guess by extension anyone who has done well must be smart and hard working. The idea that you could try hard and be smart and have circumstance crush you anyway, or that by birth and dumb luck you could fail your way to the top is anathema to him.
I suspect that link between intelligence and success is a very strong belief for all his generation, and has basically been drummed into the America public consciousness as a truism even though it’s drmonstrably false and the evidence is right in front of us.
Nail, hit, head. I believe that's why people might think Trump is "smart." He's rich! He had his own TV show! He's famous! Now he's President! He has to be smart to accomplish all that!
As the late Ann Richards said about George Bush, He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. It's the cousin to "if you're so smart, why aren't you more successful?" A very naive and sheltered view of what constitutes smarts, and what leads to success.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [39 favorites]
I suspect that link between intelligence and success is a very strong belief for all his generation, and has basically been drummed into the America public consciousness as a truism even though it’s drmonstrably false and the evidence is right in front of us.
Nail, hit, head. I believe that's why people might think Trump is "smart." He's rich! He had his own TV show! He's famous! Now he's President! He has to be smart to accomplish all that!
As the late Ann Richards said about George Bush, He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. It's the cousin to "if you're so smart, why aren't you more successful?" A very naive and sheltered view of what constitutes smarts, and what leads to success.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2018 [39 favorites]
It's the cousin to "if you're so smart, why aren't you more successful?"
Take it from Kurt:
“The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register."
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:43 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
Take it from Kurt:
“The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register."
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:43 AM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
Jay Rosen (of the "send the interns" call) thinks the press should suspend normal relations with the Trump Administration.
By which he means: stop quoting him, don't air his speeches live, if you must quote him do it in the middle of a truth sandwich (truth, lie, truth) to give it proper context.
If only the press would do so. But they won't, because ACCESSSSSSS.
posted by suelac at 11:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [91 favorites]
By which he means: stop quoting him, don't air his speeches live, if you must quote him do it in the middle of a truth sandwich (truth, lie, truth) to give it proper context.
If only the press would do so. But they won't, because ACCESSSSSSS.
posted by suelac at 11:44 AM on June 25, 2018 [91 favorites]
Hell, they want to put JAG officers to work on these asylum claims. Do you think they're giving those guys orders to give every claim a fair read and to advocate for the asylum seekers?
I think in a lot of ways this is like Schroedinger’s Decisions. I have been persecuted by overzealous commanders in conjunction with people from the JAG corps - but the military free speech expert that saved my bacon was a JAG reservist. I can see both good and evil and neutral reasons why you might want to do this, and it’s really hard for me to distinguish which is which from public statements that they know are going straight to the enemy. On the one hand, JAGs have an insane conviction rate - on the other hand, it’s because they choose not to prosecute cases they think they can’t or shouldn’t win.
I trust Mattis because people I trust, who served under him and dealt with him personally, trust in his integrity. So I view his actions through the good-faith interpretation lens. But I can easily see why someone who doesn’t have that personal connection might view it through a totally different lens - and the really hard thing is without insider information it’s hard to know which of us is right.
And I could be wrong! But when so many other people in this administration are clearly and flagrantly evil, I don’t think it’s the worst thing to hold to hope.
posted by corb at 11:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
I think in a lot of ways this is like Schroedinger’s Decisions. I have been persecuted by overzealous commanders in conjunction with people from the JAG corps - but the military free speech expert that saved my bacon was a JAG reservist. I can see both good and evil and neutral reasons why you might want to do this, and it’s really hard for me to distinguish which is which from public statements that they know are going straight to the enemy. On the one hand, JAGs have an insane conviction rate - on the other hand, it’s because they choose not to prosecute cases they think they can’t or shouldn’t win.
I trust Mattis because people I trust, who served under him and dealt with him personally, trust in his integrity. So I view his actions through the good-faith interpretation lens. But I can easily see why someone who doesn’t have that personal connection might view it through a totally different lens - and the really hard thing is without insider information it’s hard to know which of us is right.
And I could be wrong! But when so many other people in this administration are clearly and flagrantly evil, I don’t think it’s the worst thing to hold to hope.
posted by corb at 11:45 AM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
Trump as a Russian Target - Trump would have been an active target of Russian intelligence since the moment they laid eyes on him for two reasons that come straight from the classical espionage textbook: He has influence; and he is potentially vulnerable to various forms of compromise. Playing by the book, the Russians would have attempted to initiate multi-layered operations to develop varied means of access to him in an effort to establish and ultimately exploit mechanisms of control over Trump and his associates.
Also Trump is part of a vulnerability chain. He has compromised a number of political actors himself. There are a couple of AGs who dropped charges against him in open and shut cases who also happened to get campaign donations from him. Was Schneiderman sitting on Trump cases because he was compromised and/or blackmailed? Are other state AGs? Things get really murky and ugly when you are talking about the political donor class.
posted by srboisvert at 11:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Also Trump is part of a vulnerability chain. He has compromised a number of political actors himself. There are a couple of AGs who dropped charges against him in open and shut cases who also happened to get campaign donations from him. Was Schneiderman sitting on Trump cases because he was compromised and/or blackmailed? Are other state AGs? Things get really murky and ugly when you are talking about the political donor class.
posted by srboisvert at 11:47 AM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
I suspect that link between intelligence and success is a very strong belief for all his generation.
It's not just his generation. This trope has been heavily promoted by Fox News. Megyn Kelly used to do whole segments on how Trump's wealth alone meant he would make a great president. It's been a central tenet of conservative thought since Ayn Rand, and is so deeply imbedded in its ethos I doubt it can ever be eradicated. What's new and helps compound the problem is that experience governing is now considered a bad thing. Any kind of previous service or voting record is trotted out as evidence of the candidate being a shill or compromised.
posted by xammerboy at 11:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
It's not just his generation. This trope has been heavily promoted by Fox News. Megyn Kelly used to do whole segments on how Trump's wealth alone meant he would make a great president. It's been a central tenet of conservative thought since Ayn Rand, and is so deeply imbedded in its ethos I doubt it can ever be eradicated. What's new and helps compound the problem is that experience governing is now considered a bad thing. Any kind of previous service or voting record is trotted out as evidence of the candidate being a shill or compromised.
posted by xammerboy at 11:48 AM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
I saw this a moment ago: @Profepps: "It’s striking how quickly an elite society can transform the question of inhumanity to the powerless into that of civility to the powerful."
Right?
Listen, if you're having a conversation with someone about politicians getting kicked out of restaurants and you don't, at least 3 times, utter the phrase "They kidnapped children and put them in cages" you are doing it wrong.
posted by gwint at 11:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [97 favorites]
Right?
Listen, if you're having a conversation with someone about politicians getting kicked out of restaurants and you don't, at least 3 times, utter the phrase "They kidnapped children and put them in cages" you are doing it wrong.
posted by gwint at 11:49 AM on June 25, 2018 [97 favorites]
I trust Mattis because
I mean this seriously and with all respect: what would make you no longer trust Mattis? If you don't already have a list prepared for yourself of things Mattis could do or allow that would make you lose faith in him, I think you should make one now. Because I think if you had done so a year or two ago, that list would be pretty well crossed out by now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:50 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
I mean this seriously and with all respect: what would make you no longer trust Mattis? If you don't already have a list prepared for yourself of things Mattis could do or allow that would make you lose faith in him, I think you should make one now. Because I think if you had done so a year or two ago, that list would be pretty well crossed out by now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:50 AM on June 25, 2018 [50 favorites]
Also this, from @NoTotally:
Short history lesson about civility, and this was really, really recent, so let's marvel at how quickly some forget. After Ferguson, BLM/M4BL protests were deemed uncivil by moderates who were far more concerned with appearances than change. Colin Kaepernick wanted to use his platform and visibility to help. He began by sitting during the national anthem, which is a relatively quiet but powerful and visible statement that is "civil," by moderate definition, and has historical precedent. Worried about whether his actions could be misconstrued as disrespectful- in other words, "uncivil," he consulted with a friend in the military, and they decided that kneeling- typically a sign of respect- might mitigate bad-faith perception. Take a look at the news, or run a Google search. Did civility prevent Kap's message from being obscured? Did it protect him from the rabid, nationalist, racists who willfully misconstrue any resistance as indecent? You don't have to crack open a history book to see the moving target of "civility" or to understand that bullies on one side and cowards on the other are complicit in acts of inhumanity.posted by gwint at 11:53 AM on June 25, 2018 [113 favorites]
look as long as Mattis is still employed at the WH there's still time for him to throw Trump down a ventilation shaft at a dramatically opportune moment
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:55 AM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
Remember that ICE guy with the iron cross tattoo, and it was “actually” a marine tattoo? It probably is, but it’s also totally an Iron Cross tattoo. That’s normal there.
This jogged my memory, and I wanted to circle back to this while we're talking about civility and how we treat each other. Talia Lavin was a fact checker for the New Yorker until last week. She has a Village Voice column, and a pretty loud and intense Twitter presence. She's also the person who got Alex Trebeck to say Turd Ferguson a couple years back.
So when she saw the ICE agent photo, she did the exact same thing we did in this thread and tweeted about the tattoo. Other people did the same thing we also did in this thread and provided more information about the symbol. She deleted the tweet within 15 minutes, saying she didn't want to spread misinformation. ICE then proceeded to attack her by name (almost, they spelled her name wrong twice), blaming her for starting the story (she didn't), which caused the conservative outrage machine to do it's thing, resulting in articles in the New York Post, Washington Times, a Michelle Malkin nastygram, etc... The New Yorker put out a statement apologizing, followed soon thereafter by her "resigning" from her job. She's apologized again. And then conservative media ran a round of articles to celebrate her unemployment, along with a vitriolic and threatening article from the Daily Stormer. Now she gets harassed on Twitter and Tucker Carlson has her in his sights.
The extent to which government resources are being used to single out and attack private citizens for slights or quickly corrected errors (see also Dave Weigel's "packed to the rafters" mistake) is deeply disturbing, with very real personal consequences for the lives on the other end of this.
If Sarah Sanders' lies received one hundredth of the consequences Lavin got for a promptly deleted and corrected tweet, I might give a damn about talking about civility.
posted by zachlipton at 11:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [175 favorites]
This jogged my memory, and I wanted to circle back to this while we're talking about civility and how we treat each other. Talia Lavin was a fact checker for the New Yorker until last week. She has a Village Voice column, and a pretty loud and intense Twitter presence. She's also the person who got Alex Trebeck to say Turd Ferguson a couple years back.
So when she saw the ICE agent photo, she did the exact same thing we did in this thread and tweeted about the tattoo. Other people did the same thing we also did in this thread and provided more information about the symbol. She deleted the tweet within 15 minutes, saying she didn't want to spread misinformation. ICE then proceeded to attack her by name (almost, they spelled her name wrong twice), blaming her for starting the story (she didn't), which caused the conservative outrage machine to do it's thing, resulting in articles in the New York Post, Washington Times, a Michelle Malkin nastygram, etc... The New Yorker put out a statement apologizing, followed soon thereafter by her "resigning" from her job. She's apologized again. And then conservative media ran a round of articles to celebrate her unemployment, along with a vitriolic and threatening article from the Daily Stormer. Now she gets harassed on Twitter and Tucker Carlson has her in his sights.
The extent to which government resources are being used to single out and attack private citizens for slights or quickly corrected errors (see also Dave Weigel's "packed to the rafters" mistake) is deeply disturbing, with very real personal consequences for the lives on the other end of this.
If Sarah Sanders' lies received one hundredth of the consequences Lavin got for a promptly deleted and corrected tweet, I might give a damn about talking about civility.
posted by zachlipton at 11:58 AM on June 25, 2018 [175 favorites]
I trust Mattis because people I trust, who served under him and dealt with him personally, trust in his integrity.
You know who else is friends with Mattis? I mean, who is personally friends with Mattis? My aunt--my grandmother's successor on the Hill, who picked up her legacy with glee. My father's younger sister. You remember my grandmother, right? She's the one who was a massive McCain partisan--remember, my grandfather went to school with John McCain and my family bound theirs up with him in politics?
My aunt is a worse human being, and I would have said that before the election. I don't think I know a person who I trust less on a level of integrity. And she could not shut up about how excited she was for Mattis and all the opportunities this had for him. She's DoD too, I think--or at least, glancing at her current LinkedIn, military-adjacent without being personally in the service.
I don't trust Mattis because a person I would not trust as far as I could throw her loves him; because he is beloved by the same people I thought were more honorable than they turned out to be the moment they thought they or their allies stood to gain by Trump and his faction. I don't personally know Mattis' character, of course. But I am wary of leaning on honor, these days.
posted by sciatrix at 12:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [38 favorites]
You know who else is friends with Mattis? I mean, who is personally friends with Mattis? My aunt--my grandmother's successor on the Hill, who picked up her legacy with glee. My father's younger sister. You remember my grandmother, right? She's the one who was a massive McCain partisan--remember, my grandfather went to school with John McCain and my family bound theirs up with him in politics?
My aunt is a worse human being, and I would have said that before the election. I don't think I know a person who I trust less on a level of integrity. And she could not shut up about how excited she was for Mattis and all the opportunities this had for him. She's DoD too, I think--or at least, glancing at her current LinkedIn, military-adjacent without being personally in the service.
I don't trust Mattis because a person I would not trust as far as I could throw her loves him; because he is beloved by the same people I thought were more honorable than they turned out to be the moment they thought they or their allies stood to gain by Trump and his faction. I don't personally know Mattis' character, of course. But I am wary of leaning on honor, these days.
posted by sciatrix at 12:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [38 favorites]
Nail, hit, head. I believe that's why people might think Trump is "smart." He's rich! He had his own TV show! He's famous! Now he's President! He has to be smart to accomplish all that!
The funny thing is if you look at how people live north of Boston, in Cambridge or Somerville, you'd think they were all morons. The high student debt load and housing prices, along with Yankee culture discouraging displays of wealth, all add up to having nothing to wave around to prove ones smarts.
posted by ocschwar at 12:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
The funny thing is if you look at how people live north of Boston, in Cambridge or Somerville, you'd think they were all morons. The high student debt load and housing prices, along with Yankee culture discouraging displays of wealth, all add up to having nothing to wave around to prove ones smarts.
posted by ocschwar at 12:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Toying with the idea of funding a "Maxine Waters Commemorative Playing Card Set" a'la the "Iraqi Most-Wanted cards" with pictures of Trump and his cabinet/cronies past & present so folks can recognize the people who don't deserve service.
posted by achrise at 12:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by achrise at 12:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
The entire civility debate is a non-starter. It's not a real fight and you cannot win it.
The right does not recognize hypocrisy. It means nothing to them. There is no such a thing as a standard they would allow to be used against them as well as for them. There is only their side, who are to be the beneficiaries of every evaluation of every situation, and the other side, who are to be find wanting, however the scales have to be tipped or moved. They give zero fucks whether they argue for an ironclad standard on Monday then violate it flagrantly and argue for its abolition on Tuesday. They are likewise comfortable to switch again on Wednesday. And again on Thursday.
The only constant they stick with is, "FUCK YOU, YOU'RE WRONG."
Why make yourself tired trying to talk your way past this? They don't give a fuck. There's no sense wearing yourself out trying to find just the right words to get them to see their hypocrisy. They don't give a fuck and never will.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [89 favorites]
The right does not recognize hypocrisy. It means nothing to them. There is no such a thing as a standard they would allow to be used against them as well as for them. There is only their side, who are to be the beneficiaries of every evaluation of every situation, and the other side, who are to be find wanting, however the scales have to be tipped or moved. They give zero fucks whether they argue for an ironclad standard on Monday then violate it flagrantly and argue for its abolition on Tuesday. They are likewise comfortable to switch again on Wednesday. And again on Thursday.
The only constant they stick with is, "FUCK YOU, YOU'RE WRONG."
Why make yourself tired trying to talk your way past this? They don't give a fuck. There's no sense wearing yourself out trying to find just the right words to get them to see their hypocrisy. They don't give a fuck and never will.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [89 favorites]
But I can easily see why someone who doesn’t have that personal connection might view it through a totally different lens - and the really hard thing is without insider information it’s hard to know which of us is right.
Except that I don’t think it matters what kind of person Mattis is, or what his intentions are, even if he were one of the angels. He’s not going to be overseeing these camps personally. Policies like this take on their own weight and momentum. The sheer existence of the camps normalizes putting people in camps, out of sight, out of mind, no longer really human. The separation of children will continue to constitute torture and severe trauma, resulting in grievous injuries from which these children might never recover. (seriously, complex PTSD first came to light as a way of explaining the unique trauma of having survived a concentration camp or a hostage situation, which obviously applies to many abusive relationships and families, and severe attachment trauma is ANOTHER terrible trauma on top of that; these children are being tortured just by being separated from their families and put in camps.) And the DOD providing facilities hidden from public sight and accountability while abdicating responsibility for running those facilities to contractors without proper training or oversight and in an emergency rush is how you get Abu Ghraib. Only with added women and children.
When people — guards — have to see this every day, they deal with the cognitive dissonance of being the person helping to hurt others by finding ways to feel contempt for the people they’re hurting. The usual ways that oppressed people try to rebel and salvage some sense of agency and dignity — through disobedience, sabotage, theft, etc — become justifications for further oppression. They find ways to dehumanize them in order to stay sane, and then they validate these feelings with their peers by abusing the shit out of their prisoners. And it only gets worse from there.
There is no way for this to be not torture, and not concentration camps. It doesn’t matter what Mattis intends, or what he thinks, or whether he’s trying to make the concentration camps slightly less worse. They are still inherently evil, and no amount of intentions can change that. And Mattis is smart enough to know that.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [72 favorites]
Except that I don’t think it matters what kind of person Mattis is, or what his intentions are, even if he were one of the angels. He’s not going to be overseeing these camps personally. Policies like this take on their own weight and momentum. The sheer existence of the camps normalizes putting people in camps, out of sight, out of mind, no longer really human. The separation of children will continue to constitute torture and severe trauma, resulting in grievous injuries from which these children might never recover. (seriously, complex PTSD first came to light as a way of explaining the unique trauma of having survived a concentration camp or a hostage situation, which obviously applies to many abusive relationships and families, and severe attachment trauma is ANOTHER terrible trauma on top of that; these children are being tortured just by being separated from their families and put in camps.) And the DOD providing facilities hidden from public sight and accountability while abdicating responsibility for running those facilities to contractors without proper training or oversight and in an emergency rush is how you get Abu Ghraib. Only with added women and children.
When people — guards — have to see this every day, they deal with the cognitive dissonance of being the person helping to hurt others by finding ways to feel contempt for the people they’re hurting. The usual ways that oppressed people try to rebel and salvage some sense of agency and dignity — through disobedience, sabotage, theft, etc — become justifications for further oppression. They find ways to dehumanize them in order to stay sane, and then they validate these feelings with their peers by abusing the shit out of their prisoners. And it only gets worse from there.
There is no way for this to be not torture, and not concentration camps. It doesn’t matter what Mattis intends, or what he thinks, or whether he’s trying to make the concentration camps slightly less worse. They are still inherently evil, and no amount of intentions can change that. And Mattis is smart enough to know that.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [72 favorites]
Because rules are rules, even if you made those trips as a diplomat engaged in (what was then seen as) an American triumph: Ex-Nato chief refused visa waiver to US because of Iran trips
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
I don't think it would matter much to me personally who I knew that trusted or did not trust someone who was responsible for the construction and oversight of concentration camps for children, as I feel confident of my own choice to not trust that person without the need for anyone else's opinion on things not related to the construction and oversight of concentration camps for children.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:08 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:08 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
The point of the Two Minutes Hate wasn't that Goldstein had actually insulted party members, yet somehow it was useful to have him on the screen. The rest is left as an exercise for the reader*, although I also recall something about the future looking like a boot eternally stamping on a face. Just saying it might be the act of an idiot to assume that there will ever be an assumption that the other side is of equal value. Because there will not, and normal rules don't apply to fascists, even though they will of course claim that they are being unfairly repressed and must be brave to save the country from the Other.
*See also:
posted by jaduncan at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
*See also:
+ Pol Pot and non-KR supporters
+ Stalin and non-Communists
+ Stalin and random Communists
+ Erdogan and Gulen
+ Erdogan and the Kurds
+ Assad and pretty much everyone
+ etc etc.
posted by jaduncan at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Also Trump is part of a vulnerability chain. He has compromised a number of political actors himself. There are a couple of AGs who dropped charges against him in open and shut cases who also happened to get campaign donations from him.
This line of thinking only increases my anxiety when I consider the occasional praise of Trump by Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in conjunction with how many thousands of dollars Trump and his family have donated to him over the years (almost $20,000). One would think that a politician from New York would know exactly what Trump is about, but instead, I now wonder what Trump secretly knows about him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
This line of thinking only increases my anxiety when I consider the occasional praise of Trump by Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in conjunction with how many thousands of dollars Trump and his family have donated to him over the years (almost $20,000). One would think that a politician from New York would know exactly what Trump is about, but instead, I now wonder what Trump secretly knows about him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
I think it’s the local politicians, the ones in a position to matter to a real estate developer / money launderer who commits a lot of crimes who likely have something to worry about there.
Cy Vance, I’m looking at you.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Cy Vance, I’m looking at you.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
NYT, Vogel, At a Toast to Trump, the North Korean Anthem Has a Starring Role
Washingtonian, Jessica Sidman, Read the Messages and Threats Sent to the Wrong Red Hen. The Red Hen in Washington DC has taken to posting "#NOTTHATREDHEN" on their windows. The messages they've received are something else.
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
The North Korean national anthem got plenty of fanfare at the Virginia Women for Trump’s birthday party for the president on Sunday. Corey Stewart, the Republican Senate candidate from Virginia, got the hook.I know this game is well past its prime, but can you even imagine what would be happening if some people threw a birthday party for Obama at his property where his supporters modeled Iranian attire and played the Iranian national anthem?
The Tea for Trump toast to an absent President Trump drew hundreds of women in hats, tats and floral finery to the Trump International Hotel for an afternoon of what Alice Butler-Short, the organization’s president, called “God, fashion and politics or God, politics and fashion, whichever.”
...
Female pro-Trump organizers and donors modeled some 50 gowns, which, like a fireworks display, grew shinier and more elaborate toward the finales. At one key moment, a woman in a flowing, black and white, Asian-style costume appeared. As martial-sounding music played, she walked the runway with arms outstretched, carrying what looked like a red velvet and gilded Valentine’s Day candy box. The women cheered as she paused, lifting the box to the heavens.
Ms. Butler-Short took the stage, her substantial, bejeweled gold lamé millinery bobbing. “That signified our great president and the negotiations he is having with North Korea,” she said. The music, she explained, was the North Korean national anthem.
Some time after that, the Deplorable Choir from Houston, three women in red dresses and fringed red cowboy boots, took the stage, saying, “We’ve been called every name in the book and we know that’s not true.” Their anthem for the women went like this:
“We love God and family, we support our troops through everything.
“We got Trump 2020 on the back of our pickup truck.”
Washingtonian, Jessica Sidman, Read the Messages and Threats Sent to the Wrong Red Hen. The Red Hen in Washington DC has taken to posting "#NOTTHATREDHEN" on their windows. The messages they've received are something else.
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
The new AG for New York State, Barbara Underwood, has been moving full steam ahead with the lawsuit against the Trump foundation (I found it delicious that Ivanka and her brothers were named as well). So maybe there was something to the speculation that Schneiderman was compromised; Underwood does not appear to be.
I agree that any politicians "compromised" in some way and vulnerable to Trumpian blackmail would be ones in a position to give him trouble over his real estate deals, specifically in New York State.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
I agree that any politicians "compromised" in some way and vulnerable to Trumpian blackmail would be ones in a position to give him trouble over his real estate deals, specifically in New York State.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
The messages they've received are something else.
And with the blessing (and encouragement) of the White House. Via official communique. Barf.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:29 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
And with the blessing (and encouragement) of the White House. Via official communique. Barf.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:29 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
But I can easily see why someone who doesn’t have that personal connection might view it through a totally different lens - and the really hard thing is without insider information it’s hard to know which of us is right.
So far every "adult in the room" that has been vouchsafed by those who know them and have personally worked for them has slowly shown themselves to be morally bankrupt. It's second nature for a lot of government employees keep their private and policy opinions to themselves. Many go so far as to not vote. Personal or working relationships with these guys have not been a great indicator of how they'll act once in power so far.
Bush and Co were supposed to be conservatism's dream team, but they managed to start a war based on a lie with no plan whatsoever for day two of that war. They were the worst stewards of the economy, maybe ever. They were not as ideologically as bad as Trump, but all of them had stellar insider reputations as the brightest, most capable, upright members of their party, and all of them turned out to be incapable dirt bags.
posted by xammerboy at 12:35 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
So far every "adult in the room" that has been vouchsafed by those who know them and have personally worked for them has slowly shown themselves to be morally bankrupt. It's second nature for a lot of government employees keep their private and policy opinions to themselves. Many go so far as to not vote. Personal or working relationships with these guys have not been a great indicator of how they'll act once in power so far.
Bush and Co were supposed to be conservatism's dream team, but they managed to start a war based on a lie with no plan whatsoever for day two of that war. They were the worst stewards of the economy, maybe ever. They were not as ideologically as bad as Trump, but all of them had stellar insider reputations as the brightest, most capable, upright members of their party, and all of them turned out to be incapable dirt bags.
posted by xammerboy at 12:35 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
New Yorker, Jane Mayer, A Parlor Game at Rebekah Mercer’s Has No Get Out of Jail Free Card, in which the Mercer family invites guests over to play a strange game, which seems to even acknowledge Russian meddling? I don't even.
Robert Mercer, the New York hedge-fund magnate whose huge donations to pro-Trump groups in 2016 have been credited with putting Donald Trump in the White House, has kept a low profile since the election. But his daughter Rebekah, who runs the family’s foundation, now has a way to relive the thrill of the campaign with friends around her dinner table. In March, on a ski vacation at a rented house near Vail, Colorado, she brought a batch of copies of the “Rules of Play” for an elaborate parlor game called the Machine Learning President. Essentially, it is a race to the Oval Office in three fifteen-minute rounds. It’s a role-playing game, more like Assassin than like Monopoly, although players of this game do start out with an allotment of “cash” to spend on pushing their agendas, which can include “algorithmic policing” and “mass deportation.”posted by zachlipton at 12:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
“Tonight, the name of the game is POWER,” reads the first page of the “Rules of Play.” Each player, it goes on, “will assume a new political identity.” Instead of becoming Colonel Mustard or Mrs. Peacock, as in the board game Clue, each player takes on the role of a political candidate or a “faction,” in the game’s parlance. Among the possible roles are Mike Pence, Elizabeth Warren, Black Lives Matter, Russia, Y Combinator, Tom Steyer, Wall Street, Evangelicals, the Koch Network, and Robert Mercer himself. (Through a lawyer, Rebekah Mercer acknowledged possessing the game’s “Rules of Play” but denied any role in the creation of the game or that the game reflects her family’s views.)
Update on the Occupy ICE situation in Portland: as of 10:30 this morning, Portland Protesters Who Have Shut Down the ICE Building Ordered to Leave Federal Property or Face Arrest
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:39 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:39 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
I suspect that the majority of political pundits, operators and reporters who are calling for civility are people who regularly dine with Republicans.
posted by srboisvert at 12:41 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 12:41 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
Rebekah Mercer, of the “it’s unfair to call me a Nazi” op-ed. These fuckers are more toxic to democracy than Trump and Putin combined.
Meanwhile, possibly unrelatedly but let’s face it not unrelated: Why Older People Are Using the Blood of Teenagers to Live Longer
posted by Artw at 12:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
Meanwhile, possibly unrelatedly but let’s face it not unrelated: Why Older People Are Using the Blood of Teenagers to Live Longer
posted by Artw at 12:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
NYT, John Schwartz, A Leading Climate Agency May Lose Its Climate Focus , in which NOAA's mission appears to be losing all references to climate.
The wildest thing about this to me (and I'm not re-linking the NYT, because fuck them) is that, if I recall correctly, the President's budget eliminated NASA's upcoming climate satellite missions because, the argument goes, NASA's job is space and climate is NOAA's job. Now we see of course that this administration wants climate to be no one's job. (That whole argument is bullshit to start because NASA does satellites and space-based sensors and so NOAA would have to get NASA to help them put up the satellites anyhow).
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
The wildest thing about this to me (and I'm not re-linking the NYT, because fuck them) is that, if I recall correctly, the President's budget eliminated NASA's upcoming climate satellite missions because, the argument goes, NASA's job is space and climate is NOAA's job. Now we see of course that this administration wants climate to be no one's job. (That whole argument is bullshit to start because NASA does satellites and space-based sensors and so NOAA would have to get NASA to help them put up the satellites anyhow).
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Rebekah Mercer, of the “it’s unfair to call me a Nazi” op-ed. These fuckers are more toxic to democracy than Trump and Putin combined.
I agree with you. No one family should have this much money, and nobody should be able to buy and pay for politicians, like the Mercers. Even "benevolent" rich donors who are on our side can threaten to throw their weight around: George Soros says he will take his toys and go home if Kirsten Gillibrand is nominated.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:47 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
I agree with you. No one family should have this much money, and nobody should be able to buy and pay for politicians, like the Mercers. Even "benevolent" rich donors who are on our side can threaten to throw their weight around: George Soros says he will take his toys and go home if Kirsten Gillibrand is nominated.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:47 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
“Tonight, the name of the game is POWER,”
I see the writers still don’t trust their audience
“How can we make them really get that these billionaires only see them as pawns?”
“Fuck I don’t know. Literal parlor game.”
Annnnnd most of us still don’t get it
posted by schadenfrau at 12:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
I see the writers still don’t trust their audience
“How can we make them really get that these billionaires only see them as pawns?”
“Fuck I don’t know. Literal parlor game.”
Annnnnd most of us still don’t get it
posted by schadenfrau at 12:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
Mod note: Reminder that there's enough idiocy going around in e.g. the highest eschelons of government that we don't need to go search for more just to beef up the thread.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:57 PM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:57 PM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
When it comes to the civility debate it is worth remembering that not only is there a double standard at work (incivility from Republicans is normative and never criticized) but most important that **ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING** the Democrats or anyone to the left of Newt Gingrich does will be presented as incivility run rampant.
Look at the football players who take a knee during the anthem. A quieter, more respectful, less disruptive, form of protest cannot be imagined. Yet it was presented as rampant incivility.
The definition of incivility is flexible and is continually extended to cover absolutely any behavior from the left.
There are no circumstances under which the media will abandon the lie that the left is uncivil and insufficiently polite to the Republicans, and nothing any Republican can ever do that will cause the press to hector them about civility.
Anyone claiming that there's a lack of civility on the Democratic side is, whether they intend to or not, simply calling for Democrats to STFU and let the Republicans do whatever they want with no criticism at all.
The only rational course of action is to dismiss any and all calls for Democratic civility as enemy action.
posted by sotonohito at 1:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [65 favorites]
Look at the football players who take a knee during the anthem. A quieter, more respectful, less disruptive, form of protest cannot be imagined. Yet it was presented as rampant incivility.
The definition of incivility is flexible and is continually extended to cover absolutely any behavior from the left.
There are no circumstances under which the media will abandon the lie that the left is uncivil and insufficiently polite to the Republicans, and nothing any Republican can ever do that will cause the press to hector them about civility.
Anyone claiming that there's a lack of civility on the Democratic side is, whether they intend to or not, simply calling for Democrats to STFU and let the Republicans do whatever they want with no criticism at all.
The only rational course of action is to dismiss any and all calls for Democratic civility as enemy action.
posted by sotonohito at 1:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [65 favorites]
I forget who was this hero commenter in the last thread, but someone called Cruz's office and asked the staffer to imagine how the senator would feel if separated from his glistening egg sacks. In this life, you take joy wherever you can find it, and in all this sadness, that anecdote is a balm. Thank you, internet friend.
posted by angrycat at 1:08 PM on June 25, 2018 [71 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 1:08 PM on June 25, 2018 [71 favorites]
Meanwhile, possibly unrelatedly but let’s face it not unrelated: Why Older People Are Using the Blood of Teenagers to Live Longer
If this were 2015 or before, I would have assumed that was an Onion link.
But now? It would not surprise me if it turns out the blood was taken from immigrant children personally by Betsy DeVos, and that Scott Pruitt appropriated EPA funds to get the treatment for himself.
posted by Foosnark at 1:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
If this were 2015 or before, I would have assumed that was an Onion link.
But now? It would not surprise me if it turns out the blood was taken from immigrant children personally by Betsy DeVos, and that Scott Pruitt appropriated EPA funds to get the treatment for himself.
posted by Foosnark at 1:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Increasing threats to Homeland Security include burned animal carcass left on staffer’s porch
In one example, a senior DHS official living in the Washington. D.C. area found a burnt and decapitated animal on his front porch, according to an official with knowledge of the incident.
The anonymity and vagueness of the story (what kind of animal? bird? beast? immigrant?), the lack of a lib-terror-threat press conference with photos broadcast on Fox, and the fact that Trump isn't (yet) tweeting BURN ALL DEMOCRATS AND LEAVE THEIR CARCASSES ON PHONY MEDIA PORCHES are all good indicators that this 100% did not happen and that they're lying to garner sympathy.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:10 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
In one example, a senior DHS official living in the Washington. D.C. area found a burnt and decapitated animal on his front porch, according to an official with knowledge of the incident.
The anonymity and vagueness of the story (what kind of animal? bird? beast? immigrant?), the lack of a lib-terror-threat press conference with photos broadcast on Fox, and the fact that Trump isn't (yet) tweeting BURN ALL DEMOCRATS AND LEAVE THEIR CARCASSES ON PHONY MEDIA PORCHES are all good indicators that this 100% did not happen and that they're lying to garner sympathy.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:10 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
Toying with the idea of funding a "Maxine Waters Commemorative Playing Card Set" a'la the "Iraqi Most-Wanted cards" with pictures of Trump and his cabinet/cronies past & present so folks can recognize the people who don't deserve service.
Done & done. KNOW YOUR DEPLORABLES! Playing Cards.
posted by scalefree at 1:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
Done & done. KNOW YOUR DEPLORABLES! Playing Cards.
posted by scalefree at 1:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
Wow, so I guess the child prisons are out of the news cycle now? That was fast.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wow, so I guess the child prisons are out of the news cycle now? That was fast.
They're still in the cycle, but in the context of whether it's OK to be rude about them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [33 favorites]
They're still in the cycle, but in the context of whether it's OK to be rude about them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [33 favorites]
the fact that Trump isn't (yet) tweeting BURN ALL DEMOCRATS AND LEAVE THEIR CARCASSES ON PHONY MEDIA PORCHES are all good indicators that this 100% did not happen and that they're lying to garner sympathy.
or it was just a rotisserie chicken from grubhub
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
or it was just a rotisserie chicken from grubhub
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
I do think the right does honestly believe that they are being civil all the time. After all, a large percentage of them want a large percentage of us to be tortured for all eternity, and yet they don't spit in our faces every time they see us. That presumably does take a certain amount of effort. A large percentage want to call us n*s, f*s, b*s, etc, and yet in daily face-to-face interactions they don't. And they don't scream at us constantly for being uppity, or elite, or whatever. When you strongly hate a large number of people, it is a real effort not to show it. That's why they revile "political correctness" so much -- it's the icon of that sense of self-control they have to exercise all the time they are around us.
Up until moments of crisis such as now, they have seen peaceful interaction on the street as being the product of symmetric civility: they hate us yet (mostly) resist spitting on us, and we hate them yet mostly resist doing the same. But that symmetry, like all such symmetries, has largely been misprojection: they think we are biting our tongues effortfully like they are in order to avoid social discomfort, whereas on our side our "civility" is due either to a mistaken benefit of the doubt (they don't *literally* want to torture us for eternity and/or are woefully ignorant/misinformed about policy) or because we actively fear for our lives if were are "uncivil." Two very asymmetric sides. But it shows that "civility" is I think not so much a concept of the center as it is a concept of the right, particularly a right that sees itself as outcast and confined, constantly working not to spit, hit, curse, and hurt.
And that effort is real; it's the best we could achieve with them absent actual persuasion. And now they see it may all be for naught: even all that effort -- condescending to go to a Mexican restaurant without calling all the servers w*s -- is not enough for us. And it never should have been enough, except that we (correctly) were fearful of the repercussions. But sometimes things are even worse than those repercussions, and here we are. Why aren't we being "civil" any more? Not because we are no longer making the social effort -- that was always their misprojection onto us -- but because we now fear the alternatives even more than the usual repercussions, and because (some of) those who mistakenly granted the benefit of the doubt are finally realizing their error. But for their side, it really was always a matter of civility, and as they drop that effort (to their relief), the mealymouthed center is right about one thing: it will get -- or at least, look -- worse. But that's a good thing.* They'll call us n*s and lock us up, we'll call them Nazis and protest in the streets, and the confused center will be forced to think whether those two things are truly symmetrical.
[* Well, better would have been to keep it all bottled up until they died off, but we seem to have missed that boat...]
posted by chortly at 1:22 PM on June 25, 2018 [51 favorites]
Up until moments of crisis such as now, they have seen peaceful interaction on the street as being the product of symmetric civility: they hate us yet (mostly) resist spitting on us, and we hate them yet mostly resist doing the same. But that symmetry, like all such symmetries, has largely been misprojection: they think we are biting our tongues effortfully like they are in order to avoid social discomfort, whereas on our side our "civility" is due either to a mistaken benefit of the doubt (they don't *literally* want to torture us for eternity and/or are woefully ignorant/misinformed about policy) or because we actively fear for our lives if were are "uncivil." Two very asymmetric sides. But it shows that "civility" is I think not so much a concept of the center as it is a concept of the right, particularly a right that sees itself as outcast and confined, constantly working not to spit, hit, curse, and hurt.
And that effort is real; it's the best we could achieve with them absent actual persuasion. And now they see it may all be for naught: even all that effort -- condescending to go to a Mexican restaurant without calling all the servers w*s -- is not enough for us. And it never should have been enough, except that we (correctly) were fearful of the repercussions. But sometimes things are even worse than those repercussions, and here we are. Why aren't we being "civil" any more? Not because we are no longer making the social effort -- that was always their misprojection onto us -- but because we now fear the alternatives even more than the usual repercussions, and because (some of) those who mistakenly granted the benefit of the doubt are finally realizing their error. But for their side, it really was always a matter of civility, and as they drop that effort (to their relief), the mealymouthed center is right about one thing: it will get -- or at least, look -- worse. But that's a good thing.* They'll call us n*s and lock us up, we'll call them Nazis and protest in the streets, and the confused center will be forced to think whether those two things are truly symmetrical.
[* Well, better would have been to keep it all bottled up until they died off, but we seem to have missed that boat...]
posted by chortly at 1:22 PM on June 25, 2018 [51 favorites]
Did anyone just hear the segment on NPR? Some reporter reporting on divisions in the Democratic Party. Likened Maxine Waters to Trump in terms of tactics and confrontation vs the more conciliatory Pelosi. What the actual fuck.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
Mattis' integrity is not really the question. The question is what, precisely, he is going to fucking DO. -- And same question for the people he assigns down the chain. Where specifically are all those morals going to guide them? I have no trouble believing that he has served his country faithfully and with integrity - I don't have direct evidence of that, but I don't find it hard to believe either. It's easy to believe that he, and lots of Republicans, are people of faith and conviction who sincerely believe they are doing what the country needs them to do. That's not incompatible with committing human rights abuses. It's just not. We've seen people have a lot of different takes on morality. Mattis specifically has said a lot of shit about illegal immigration, and IIRC he's repeated the spin of "they're fake asylum claims and fake families". Maybe "oversight" just means "commit human rights abuses but more organized and without using racist slurs".
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
So, can a DC restaurant owner say "Good evening. Before I show you to your table, I should inform you that I and my staff will only be serving you because the law requires it, otherwise we would be asking you to leave"?
posted by ocschwar at 1:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 1:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Did anyone just hear the segment on NPR? Some reporter reporting on divisions in the Democratic Party. Likened Maxine Waters to Trump in terms of tactics and confrontation vs the more conciliatory Pelosi. What the actual fuck.
NPR is not your friend.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
NPR is not your friend.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
When a guy you like and respect says he's ok with child or family internment camps, you don't start approving of the camps you stop liking and respecting the guy. Some things are wrong because they are just wrong. Internment camps are one of these things. Even if they were going to be overseen by the ghost of Mr. Rogers himself. Some things are just wrong and they should poison the entire past and future of the people who support them.
posted by melissasaurus at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [81 favorites]
I suspect that the majority of political pundits, operators and reporters who are calling for civility are people who regularly dine with Republicans.
Amanda Marcotte (Salon)
My guess is the real reason Beltway editors flipped out on the Red Hen owner is her noble action makes them look bad. Their willingness to rub elbows with baby jailers at D.C. parties is looking even more complicit.
---
Jonathan Ladd (Brookings Fellow)
Recent events provide a great illustration that, while it is a social norm in polite society to support nonviolent protest, in the face of actual nonviolent protests, most political and social elites really want no protest at all.
- When people imagine nonviolent protest, elite only think of hopefully ineffective strategies like scheduled, fully permitted marches or rallies. Or strongly but politely worded opinion columns.
- Actual effective nonviolent protests involve making life more difficult/uncomfortable/embarrassing for the targets of the protest. That's why it sometimes works.
- Why are they boycotting and driving the bus system out of business? Do they want to live in a society without viable bus companies! How can we live like that? What a confrontational and hostile strategy! Can't we wait and do this in a more civil way? Why do the suffragettes keep pestering politicians in their free time?
- I could go in like this, but you should just read Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which addresses precisely this point.
posted by chris24 at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [108 favorites]
Amanda Marcotte (Salon)
My guess is the real reason Beltway editors flipped out on the Red Hen owner is her noble action makes them look bad. Their willingness to rub elbows with baby jailers at D.C. parties is looking even more complicit.
---
Jonathan Ladd (Brookings Fellow)
Recent events provide a great illustration that, while it is a social norm in polite society to support nonviolent protest, in the face of actual nonviolent protests, most political and social elites really want no protest at all.
- When people imagine nonviolent protest, elite only think of hopefully ineffective strategies like scheduled, fully permitted marches or rallies. Or strongly but politely worded opinion columns.
- Actual effective nonviolent protests involve making life more difficult/uncomfortable/embarrassing for the targets of the protest. That's why it sometimes works.
- Why are they boycotting and driving the bus system out of business? Do they want to live in a society without viable bus companies! How can we live like that? What a confrontational and hostile strategy! Can't we wait and do this in a more civil way? Why do the suffragettes keep pestering politicians in their free time?
- I could go in like this, but you should just read Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which addresses precisely this point.
posted by chris24 at 1:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [108 favorites]
Even if they were going to be overseen by the ghost of Mr. Rogers himself.
It's worth noting that Mr Rogers would find a very Mr Rogers way to refuse the job, probably whilst saying that every child deserves a parent and he knows that America is better than that. It's more kind than telling people to go fuck themselves, but it's the same amount of principle and the same outcome. I can't imagine a Mr Rogers concentration camp, and there's a reason for that.
posted by jaduncan at 1:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's worth noting that Mr Rogers would find a very Mr Rogers way to refuse the job, probably whilst saying that every child deserves a parent and he knows that America is better than that. It's more kind than telling people to go fuck themselves, but it's the same amount of principle and the same outcome. I can't imagine a Mr Rogers concentration camp, and there's a reason for that.
posted by jaduncan at 1:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
- I could go in like this, but you should just read Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which addresses precisely this point.
I paraphrased the most relevant part in the last thread and I hope everyone does read it. And I wish every single person on TV in defense of the direct action against Trump officials would quote or reference it. I have seen none. The only person who came close was, I believe, Symone Sanders who at least pointed out that people talking bullshit about how MLK wouldn't do things like this and instead displayed civility through example etc were, indeed, talking bullshit and putting forward a milquetoast version of MLK that wasn't real. Which I was glad to see, but I really need someone to point out that the people calling for "civility" are the very model of the "white moderate" that is the real stumbling block to justice.
posted by Justinian at 1:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
I paraphrased the most relevant part in the last thread and I hope everyone does read it. And I wish every single person on TV in defense of the direct action against Trump officials would quote or reference it. I have seen none. The only person who came close was, I believe, Symone Sanders who at least pointed out that people talking bullshit about how MLK wouldn't do things like this and instead displayed civility through example etc were, indeed, talking bullshit and putting forward a milquetoast version of MLK that wasn't real. Which I was glad to see, but I really need someone to point out that the people calling for "civility" are the very model of the "white moderate" that is the real stumbling block to justice.
posted by Justinian at 1:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
(but I'm sure they would see that, too, as uncivil. How dare you uncivilly point out the terribleness of my position!)
posted by Justinian at 1:45 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:45 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Congratulations to the Trumps: You Played Yourselves
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm starting to think that the Trump family doesn't quite have our best interests in mind. Maybe I'm reaching here, but it seems like there's a hidden code in the bellicose messaging coming from the White House and its inhabitants this week.posted by kirkaracha at 1:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
After a news cycle filled to the brim with sinister stunts at the expense of the health, liberty, and safety of thousands, President The Joker and first lady Harley Quinn turned to the nation and proudly announced, "We are The Joker and Harley Quinn," to which the entire nation wearily replied, "No duh."
...
Between Trump's whole "Richard III as a Twitter bot" persona, the first lady's fashion trolling, and Ivanka Trump's vacillation between deafening silence and combative subtweets, the First Family ends this week looking like the bumbling hyena henchmen from The Lion King. The problem: there's no Scar, unless you count the jagged gash across the soul of the country.
...
The thing that's so annoying about this point in the narrative is that we don't even have smart bad guys. That's probably better for us, for our well-being, even—as wild as it may seem—for our mental health. But that, too, is the coldest of comforts. The Trumps are not disguising their values or their intentions. They are playing the roles of themselves. And by playing themselves—you see where I'm going with this right?—they played themselves.
28-Year-Old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Might Just Be the Future of the Democratic Party (Vogue) the primary is tomorrow New Yorkers.
posted by The Whelk at 1:49 PM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:49 PM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
I'm really bothered by seeing how much play the civility nonsense is getting out there today in contrast to the attention on the gross abuse of asylum seekers and how it specifically targets their children for extended trauma.
I get that both of these things are worth talking about but the one involving child abuse and human rights violations is the one that actually matters.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:52 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
I get that both of these things are worth talking about but the one involving child abuse and human rights violations is the one that actually matters.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:52 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Leaked ICE Manual Shows Gov't Allowing Informants To Engage In Illegal Behavior, Impersonate Lawyers, Journalists, And Doctors
posted by M-x shell at 1:58 PM on June 25, 2018 [60 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 1:58 PM on June 25, 2018 [60 favorites]
Leaked ICE Manual Shows Gov't Allowing Informants To Engage In Illegal Behavior, Impersonate Lawyers, Journalists, And Doctors
These are state crimes, and liberal states should prosecute federal agents that commit state crimes while in that state. It's time to relitigate when a federal agent is acting within the scope of his federal duties.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [69 favorites]
These are state crimes, and liberal states should prosecute federal agents that commit state crimes while in that state. It's time to relitigate when a federal agent is acting within the scope of his federal duties.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [69 favorites]
chortly: Up until moments of crisis such as now, they have seen peaceful interaction on the street as being the product of symmetric civility: they hate us yet (mostly) resist spitting on us, and we hate them yet mostly resist doing the same.
Yes. This reality of a certain kind of "symmetry" is something that gets overlooked. There is a conservative equivalent to the liberal sense that we've been giving and giving while the other side keeps taking and taking... and it's simply the bare fact of civil rights, and the more-or-less progressive path those have followed (with setbacks, to be sure). It's women rising in the workplace, it's pressing 1 for English, it's "Women can marry women now?" The very first word deplorables use to describe kneeling African-American football players is "ungrateful", because they believe that under a neutral state of affairs the athletes to earn far less money, and hence the owners are already going above and beyond; they see an Overton window skewed leftward by millions of dollars. (Urrrgh.)
Most of the decorum-espousing centrists realize on some level that this is what's going on! It's precisely why, unlike so many media topics where "both sides" is the order of the day, the calls simply can't be evenhanded. You might talk about liberals needing to be polite (or rude). But you can't continue the conversation by turning to the right and saying "You, too, need to practice civility" because that's a cringe-worthy understatement when the problem isn't right-wing incivility but hatefulness. The usual "balance" approach would, in this domain, topple over with the acknowledgement of the actual moral stakes involved. The fetishized Balance is momentarily sacrificed for the sake of its own long-term preservation.
(This is awful, but it's not the worst possible world -- if they allowed Balance to override everything, then they'd have to treat the conservative conception of demographic issues as legitimate in itself -- not just the people espousing them, as with all the Nazi-humanizing columns, but the ideas. They don't quite cross that bridge, generally speaking, though they veer close a lot. Instead, they just kind of push that part outside their peripheral vision, resulting in stories with missing pieces, giving the impression that liberals keep being intolerant of Nothing In Particular, I Guess.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Yes. This reality of a certain kind of "symmetry" is something that gets overlooked. There is a conservative equivalent to the liberal sense that we've been giving and giving while the other side keeps taking and taking... and it's simply the bare fact of civil rights, and the more-or-less progressive path those have followed (with setbacks, to be sure). It's women rising in the workplace, it's pressing 1 for English, it's "Women can marry women now?" The very first word deplorables use to describe kneeling African-American football players is "ungrateful", because they believe that under a neutral state of affairs the athletes to earn far less money, and hence the owners are already going above and beyond; they see an Overton window skewed leftward by millions of dollars. (Urrrgh.)
Most of the decorum-espousing centrists realize on some level that this is what's going on! It's precisely why, unlike so many media topics where "both sides" is the order of the day, the calls simply can't be evenhanded. You might talk about liberals needing to be polite (or rude). But you can't continue the conversation by turning to the right and saying "You, too, need to practice civility" because that's a cringe-worthy understatement when the problem isn't right-wing incivility but hatefulness. The usual "balance" approach would, in this domain, topple over with the acknowledgement of the actual moral stakes involved. The fetishized Balance is momentarily sacrificed for the sake of its own long-term preservation.
(This is awful, but it's not the worst possible world -- if they allowed Balance to override everything, then they'd have to treat the conservative conception of demographic issues as legitimate in itself -- not just the people espousing them, as with all the Nazi-humanizing columns, but the ideas. They don't quite cross that bridge, generally speaking, though they veer close a lot. Instead, they just kind of push that part outside their peripheral vision, resulting in stories with missing pieces, giving the impression that liberals keep being intolerant of Nothing In Particular, I Guess.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
Leaked ICE Manual Shows Gov't Allowing Informants To Engage In Illegal Behavior, Impersonate Lawyers, Journalists, And Doctors
And it's from 2008. They've had another ten years to rot in the dark.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
And it's from 2008. They've had another ten years to rot in the dark.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm going to side with corb regarding Mattis. I'm sure he is as disgusted as the rest of us with the baby jailers. But my best guess is he feels he has one job right now, to be there in case of an "emergency". Even, if necessary, to throw his body on that grenade. A good strategist knows to keep his powder dry and not to fight every front at once. There are enough people fighting ICE and his resignation wouldn't affect that issue one iota.
posted by M-x shell at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 2:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
Re civility: I make the point again beautifully enumerated by bile and syntax that “Many of us, myself included, are socialized to be more outraged at breaches of etiquette than breaches of justice. Etiquette is largely about maintaining an unjust social order, where it's worse for you to tell your racist relatives to shut the fuck up at Thanksgiving than it is for them to spew their nonsense where your little cousins can hear.”
Also,
“I have some difficult news for everyone: Progressives aren’t interested in diversity. We aren’t interested in inclusion. We aren’t interested in tolerance. The progressives I know give exactly zero shits about those things.
We have no interest in everyone getting treated the same. We have no interest in giving all ideas equal airtime. We have no interest in “tolerating” all beliefs. I don’t know where this fairy tale comes from, but it’s completely disconnected from every experience I’ve had with progressive liberal folks in my lifetime.
When conservatives cross their arms and glare and shout “It’s not fair! You’re supposed to welcome everyone but you aren’t being nice to me!” it stings about as much as if they shouted, “It’s not fair, you’re supposed to be wearing tutus and juggling flaming donuts!”
The progressive liberal agenda isn’t about being nice. It’s about confronting evil, violence, trauma, and death. It’s about acknowledging the ways systemic power, systemic oppression, systemic evil, work in our world around us. I’m not fighting for diversity. I’m not fighting for tolerance. I’m fighting to overturn horrific systems of dehumanizing oppression.“
And right now we are fighting to keep kids with their families and kids and their families out of cages. Fuck civility.
posted by supercrayon at 2:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [125 favorites]
Also,
“I have some difficult news for everyone: Progressives aren’t interested in diversity. We aren’t interested in inclusion. We aren’t interested in tolerance. The progressives I know give exactly zero shits about those things.
We have no interest in everyone getting treated the same. We have no interest in giving all ideas equal airtime. We have no interest in “tolerating” all beliefs. I don’t know where this fairy tale comes from, but it’s completely disconnected from every experience I’ve had with progressive liberal folks in my lifetime.
When conservatives cross their arms and glare and shout “It’s not fair! You’re supposed to welcome everyone but you aren’t being nice to me!” it stings about as much as if they shouted, “It’s not fair, you’re supposed to be wearing tutus and juggling flaming donuts!”
The progressive liberal agenda isn’t about being nice. It’s about confronting evil, violence, trauma, and death. It’s about acknowledging the ways systemic power, systemic oppression, systemic evil, work in our world around us. I’m not fighting for diversity. I’m not fighting for tolerance. I’m fighting to overturn horrific systems of dehumanizing oppression.“
And right now we are fighting to keep kids with their families and kids and their families out of cages. Fuck civility.
posted by supercrayon at 2:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [125 favorites]
Let's just stop assuming conservatives actually have anyone really worth supporting or even really defending anymore. We warned them about Ryan and Romney's soulless rapacity in 2012 and all we got were lectures about how mean we were being. We provided plentiful evidence that the GOP Justices want to gut voting and civil rights and were told we were overreacting. We tried pointing out that Rubio and Cruz were evil motherfuckers who are proud to do stuff like hang around with anti-LGBTQ terrorists and demand that Muslims be stripped of their right to practice their faith unmolested, and it was brushed off. We tried showing how McCain and Flake and Sasse are paper tigers who occasionally make noise but almost never follow through when they think they can get away with it, and were never acknowledged. We talked about how McMullin is an extreme right-wing nutjob and Mattis is a war criminal and a fascist collaborator and were ignored.
And let's not forget that all of this both-sidesism and one-sided calls for "civility" was already their MO for years before Trump ever descended that escalator. Their lack of any sort of introspection into how much responsibility they have for where we are now is a large part of what enables the evil to spread. The fact is that modern conservatism is a cult, and I think that trying to deprogram anybody who's still willing to stick with it out of some combination of bigotry, hatred of taxes, desire to curtail the public safety net, or just plain old mindless devotion is a fool's errand. There is no such thing as a good-faith conservative to vote for anymore. Hell, there's is no such thing as a conservative worth a damn at all, at least not in the GOP. If conservative voters really wanted to support any sort of fellow conservative that has even a modicum of moral and ethical value, they'd be voting for centrist Democrats and letting the left move the Overton window until there's a right with at least a tiny bit of value in keeping around--in the unlikely event it ever happens. Until it does, though, it's best to just focus on helping those they won't.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [36 favorites]
And let's not forget that all of this both-sidesism and one-sided calls for "civility" was already their MO for years before Trump ever descended that escalator. Their lack of any sort of introspection into how much responsibility they have for where we are now is a large part of what enables the evil to spread. The fact is that modern conservatism is a cult, and I think that trying to deprogram anybody who's still willing to stick with it out of some combination of bigotry, hatred of taxes, desire to curtail the public safety net, or just plain old mindless devotion is a fool's errand. There is no such thing as a good-faith conservative to vote for anymore. Hell, there's is no such thing as a conservative worth a damn at all, at least not in the GOP. If conservative voters really wanted to support any sort of fellow conservative that has even a modicum of moral and ethical value, they'd be voting for centrist Democrats and letting the left move the Overton window until there's a right with at least a tiny bit of value in keeping around--in the unlikely event it ever happens. Until it does, though, it's best to just focus on helping those they won't.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [36 favorites]
The civility debate is stupid and pointless because it reinforces the false assertion, that somehow people still believe, that maybe if we were just nicer about how we talk about human rights violations, maybe if we just hugged the nazis instead of hating them, then maybe bad things would stop happening, and we could win over trump's voters to the side of sanity and normal human behavior. Which is, of course, ridiculous, as they're a total loss at this point and any time spent on them is time wasted. So are the undecideds/people who have never voted before going to be won over by one side saying "imprisoning babies is morally good and correct, actually" and the other saying "we need to be nice to the baby jailers because they have feelings too"? I guess we'll find out.
anyway direct action
posted by poffin boffin at 2:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [44 favorites]
anyway direct action
posted by poffin boffin at 2:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [44 favorites]
I really hate the likening of Sarah Sanders being refused service to anything cakeshop related. She wasn’t asked to leave because she’s a woman, or because she’s white, or because she’s straight or a mother or anything else that she doesn’t control. She was asked to leave because her actions made the waitstaff uncomfortable serving her. Actions have consequences, and to compare having to accept those consequences to being discriminated against really pisses me off. (Something something party of personal responsibility?)
posted by Weeping_angel at 2:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [89 favorites]
posted by Weeping_angel at 2:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [89 favorites]
M-x shell Obviously we can't know what's going on in Mattis' mind, but I think it's giving him far too much benefit of the doubt to simply assume that he's sticking around to intervene if Trump starts trying to nuke someone or whatever.
I recall, several news cycles ago, the prevailing theory was that Mattis was in a sort of mutual defense pact with a couple of the other military types so that if one of them got canned the others would quit in protest to bring America's attention to the evils of Trump. Didn't happen.
One possibility that needs serious consideration is that Mattis is doing exactly what he wants, for a President he's comfortable serving.
I understand why we'd like to think that some of the people surrounding Trump are secretly on the side of good (for definitions of "good" that are limited to "survival of the human species"), but I don't see any real evidence to support that conclusion.
Like the perennial Melania whisperers who insist that the pretty white lady must really be nice, I find it odd that the Mattis whisperers seem to totally ignore the "he's fine with all this evil" possibility.
I'll agree that it's possible Mattis is at least on the side of not letting Trump nuke Beijing because he was feeling a bit pissy that morning. But I don't see why that possibility should be accorded a higher likelihood than the possibility that Mattis is just in favor of what Trump is doing (if not the crudeness with which he goes about it).
Most of the Never Trump Republicans turned out to be basically objecting to Trump on tone, not policy content. Why should Mattis be different?
posted by sotonohito at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
I recall, several news cycles ago, the prevailing theory was that Mattis was in a sort of mutual defense pact with a couple of the other military types so that if one of them got canned the others would quit in protest to bring America's attention to the evils of Trump. Didn't happen.
One possibility that needs serious consideration is that Mattis is doing exactly what he wants, for a President he's comfortable serving.
I understand why we'd like to think that some of the people surrounding Trump are secretly on the side of good (for definitions of "good" that are limited to "survival of the human species"), but I don't see any real evidence to support that conclusion.
Like the perennial Melania whisperers who insist that the pretty white lady must really be nice, I find it odd that the Mattis whisperers seem to totally ignore the "he's fine with all this evil" possibility.
I'll agree that it's possible Mattis is at least on the side of not letting Trump nuke Beijing because he was feeling a bit pissy that morning. But I don't see why that possibility should be accorded a higher likelihood than the possibility that Mattis is just in favor of what Trump is doing (if not the crudeness with which he goes about it).
Most of the Never Trump Republicans turned out to be basically objecting to Trump on tone, not policy content. Why should Mattis be different?
posted by sotonohito at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
I'm sure he is as disgusted as the rest of us with the baby jailers. But my best guess is he feels he has one job right now, to be there in case of an "emergency". Even, if necessary, to throw his body on that grenade.
If purposely creating lifelong trauma for innocent children and their families fleeing violence doesn't make you think "emergency", our conception of morality is so far apart we can have no useful conversation about it. There is no evidence to indicate that those of us opposing ICE have this handled. He has power he is choosing not to use. No cookies; no pats on the back. This is complicity.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [41 favorites]
If purposely creating lifelong trauma for innocent children and their families fleeing violence doesn't make you think "emergency", our conception of morality is so far apart we can have no useful conversation about it. There is no evidence to indicate that those of us opposing ICE have this handled. He has power he is choosing not to use. No cookies; no pats on the back. This is complicity.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [41 favorites]
When conservatives cross their arms and glare and shout “It’s not fair! You’re supposed to welcome everyone but you aren’t being nice to me!” it stings about as much as if they shouted, “It’s not fair, you’re supposed to be wearing tutus and juggling flaming donuts!”
It isn’t nice, it isn’t nice;
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice.
Well, if that’s freedom’s price,
We don’t mind.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
It isn’t nice, it isn’t nice;
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice.
Well, if that’s freedom’s price,
We don’t mind.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:20 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
Civility is just the way they turn the debate from the persecution of the powerless to the comfort of the powerful.
And if these were white kids in the cages sleeping on mats with foil for cover, they'd be breaking down doors AR-15s in hand. Civility in the face of torture is just white supremacy, because these are brown kids, not *their* kids.
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on June 25, 2018 [72 favorites]
And if these were white kids in the cages sleeping on mats with foil for cover, they'd be breaking down doors AR-15s in hand. Civility in the face of torture is just white supremacy, because these are brown kids, not *their* kids.
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on June 25, 2018 [72 favorites]
The thing about the Mercers' game is that it winds up revealing way too much. Policy choices radically altering the lives of millions and millions of lives like "Minimum Wage Increase" and "Mass Deportation of Undocumented Immigrants" are literally just a game to these people, because nothing they can conceive of government doing could materially change their lives. Any tax changes that could meaningfully impact their lifestyles are unthinkable, so all that's left is a game they can play with poor people's lives.
And I think that circles back to the damn civility discussion. Politics isn't a game; it's the means by which we decide who gets what. If you're a lawmaker or a high-ranking government official, I can see how it's tempting to want to distance yourself from that, how draining it would be to have to constantly face the consequences of these decisions. And so there's a tendency to view politics as a team sport rather than life-changing decisions about resource allocation. You get your shots in for your team, the other side takes theirs, and everyone goes home to a nice dinner before they do it again. And you'd have to do that to some extent; you would destroy yourself if you approached every political debate as passionately and personally as it deserves, nor could society function if every decision was treated as the last straw.
But government matters so little to these people's lives, despite the fact that they've invested enormous time and money into bending it to their will, that they react to people taking it seriously the same way you'd look on in horror at someone who gets way, way too into a game of Monopoly. "It's just a game," you plead, as they plot revenge against three generations of your family after you create a housing shortage. But we've taken it so far away from decisions that matter that actual unelected billionaires sit around and play a parlor game about how hilarious it is that they run the country.
On the other hand, the Dow is now down 2,500 points since late January. That still won't change the Mercer lifestyle one bit, but trashing the economy is the one thing that might get through to some of these people.
posted by zachlipton at 2:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [45 favorites]
And I think that circles back to the damn civility discussion. Politics isn't a game; it's the means by which we decide who gets what. If you're a lawmaker or a high-ranking government official, I can see how it's tempting to want to distance yourself from that, how draining it would be to have to constantly face the consequences of these decisions. And so there's a tendency to view politics as a team sport rather than life-changing decisions about resource allocation. You get your shots in for your team, the other side takes theirs, and everyone goes home to a nice dinner before they do it again. And you'd have to do that to some extent; you would destroy yourself if you approached every political debate as passionately and personally as it deserves, nor could society function if every decision was treated as the last straw.
But government matters so little to these people's lives, despite the fact that they've invested enormous time and money into bending it to their will, that they react to people taking it seriously the same way you'd look on in horror at someone who gets way, way too into a game of Monopoly. "It's just a game," you plead, as they plot revenge against three generations of your family after you create a housing shortage. But we've taken it so far away from decisions that matter that actual unelected billionaires sit around and play a parlor game about how hilarious it is that they run the country.
On the other hand, the Dow is now down 2,500 points since late January. That still won't change the Mercer lifestyle one bit, but trashing the economy is the one thing that might get through to some of these people.
posted by zachlipton at 2:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [45 favorites]
Any tax changes that could meaningfully impact their lifestyles are unthinkable
Oh I’m thinking of it plenty
But idk if it’s a tax at that point so much as just plain old seizure
posted by schadenfrau at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Oh I’m thinking of it plenty
But idk if it’s a tax at that point so much as just plain old seizure
posted by schadenfrau at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
re: The Mercer's game, see the Alex Harrowell's Eccentric Billionaire Theory of Politics, mentioned in the new Brexit thread (ditto Ike's "The Millionaire Oil Men of Dallas Are Stupid").
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well.. I mean... The Dow’s still pretty fucking high, dude. It’s just stopped surging exponentially for the time being. Once Trump abolishes some more regulations it’ll start right up again.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
You were always on track for at least two more economy meltdowns, separate from Trump's administration, before retirement anyway, so start moving to bonds and you'll probably be fine.
posted by sideshow at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by sideshow at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
So now gutless fucking piece of shit Chuck Schumer is calling Maxine Waters un-American.
@NoahCRothman : Waters now repudiated by both Democratic House minority and Senate minority leaders.
@darth: just like the republican house majority and senate majority leaders reprimanded steve king ...*checks notes* wait never mind
It's almost as if they want to lose elections and suck up to even Trump more.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [87 favorites]
@NoahCRothman : Waters now repudiated by both Democratic House minority and Senate minority leaders.
@darth: just like the republican house majority and senate majority leaders reprimanded steve king ...*checks notes* wait never mind
It's almost as if they want to lose elections and suck up to even Trump more.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [87 favorites]
I think we've got another entry for the MeFi potus45 megathread lexicon.
"National Treasure Alexandra Petri"
"Stopped Clock Jennifer Rubin"
"Gutless Fucking Piece of Shit Chuck Schumer"
posted by tonycpsu at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
"National Treasure Alexandra Petri"
"Stopped Clock Jennifer Rubin"
"Gutless Fucking Piece of Shit Chuck Schumer"
posted by tonycpsu at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
Like the perennial Melania whisperers who insist that the pretty white lady must really be nice
So, you were like, brainwashed, right?
posted by benzenedream at 2:56 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
So, you were like, brainwashed, right?
posted by benzenedream at 2:56 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
He has power he is choosing not to use. No cookies; no pats on the back. This is complicity.
No, I'd say that being the designer and commander of concentration camps whilst defending them to the press is more active participation and support.
posted by jaduncan at 2:57 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
No, I'd say that being the designer and commander of concentration camps whilst defending them to the press is more active participation and support.
posted by jaduncan at 2:57 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
"Gutless Fucking Piece of Shit Chuck Schumer"
He was JUST re-elected too, so we can’t even sic Cynthia Nixon on him
Fuck you Chuck
FUCK YOU
posted by schadenfrau at 2:58 PM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
He was JUST re-elected too, so we can’t even sic Cynthia Nixon on him
Fuck you Chuck
FUCK YOU
posted by schadenfrau at 2:58 PM on June 25, 2018 [34 favorites]
I think it was Reverend Stowe in the run up to Civil War who was like, 'send Bibles AND rifles to bleeding Kansas. Jesus is fucking pissed at this shit' to paraphrase. And did stunts like auction off a slave during church service to illustrate the evils of slavery. There's a long glorious history of rude honorable opposition.
posted by angrycat at 3:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 3:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
How is harassing political opponents NOT American?????????
posted by gucci mane at 3:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 3:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Brian Buetler: Shame the Trumpers
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
There are only so many official channels for enforcing moral standards in American public life. One is elections, which happen pretty rarely, and, thanks to gerrymanders and the electoral college, frequently reward popular vote losers. Another is the law, where courts are increasingly stacked against the majority. Under those circumstances, shame is a potent weapon, and it’s little surprise that people invested in the status quo want those who can wield it to unilaterally disarm.Ultimately Chuck Schumer and the entire media establishment are far more concerned about whether their Sunday tee time or happy hour mixer with their good Republican friends will be pleasant than babies in cages. When concentration camps came to America, Chuck Schumer had *concerns*, for the camp guards.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [46 favorites]
It's almost as if they want to lose elections and suck up to even Trump more.
If national Democrats wanted to take the enthusiasm of the base and shit on it, this would be the best way to do it
Losing: Easier than winning
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
If national Democrats wanted to take the enthusiasm of the base and shit on it, this would be the best way to do it
Losing: Easier than winning
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
You were always on track for at least two more economy meltdowns, separate from Trump's administration, before retirement anyway, so start moving to bonds and you'll probably be fine.
The four week T-bill this week is earning almost as much as S&P 500 dividends (in aggregate), joining the rest of the Government's short term debt in beating the measure. Expect more of that as the government piles in more debt to pay for Trump's tax cuts.
posted by notyou at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
The four week T-bill this week is earning almost as much as S&P 500 dividends (in aggregate), joining the rest of the Government's short term debt in beating the measure. Expect more of that as the government piles in more debt to pay for Trump's tax cuts.
posted by notyou at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
'ICE Is Everywhere': Using Library Science to Map the Separation Crisis (Emily Dreyfuss for Wired, June 25, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
On Father’s Day, Alex Gil decided he had to do something about children being separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border.The article includes a screencap of the map, which depicts Private juvenile detention facilities (blue dots), ICE facilities in use since 2014 (large orange dots), and ICE facilities not in use (small orange dots). In the interactive website, you can click on a blue or large orange dot and get the facility name, a larger Google Maps aerial pic, and for detention facilities, a graph of average daily population.
Since May, the US government had taken more than 2,300 kids away from their families as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which calls for criminally prosecuting all people entering the country illegally. Reports started surfacing of the ensuing chaos at the border; in one especially horrible case, a child was reportedly ripped from her mother's breast. As outrage grew, the question came up over and over again: Where were the children? Between the ad-hoc implementation of "zero tolerance" and the opaque bureaucracy of the immigration system in general, migrant advocates, journalists, and even politicians struggled to find clear answers.
Gil, a father of two, knew he could be useful. As the digital scholarship librarian at Columbia University, Gil's job is to use technology to help people find information—skills he had put to use in times of crisis before.
Along with his colleague at Columbia, historian Manan Ahmed, Gil assembled a team of what he calls “digital ninjas” for a “crisis researchathon.” These volunteers were professors, graduate students, researchers, and fellows from across the country with varied academic focus, but they all had two things in common: an interest in the history of colonialism, empire, and borders; and the belief that classical research methods can be used not just to understand the past but to reveal the present.
They set up a Telegram chat and a master Google spreadsheet, and then they began looking for any publicly available data—government immigration records, tax forms, job listings, Facebook pages—they could use to isolate and locate the detention centers that could be holding these children.
The result of their week of frantic research is Torn Apart / Separados, an interactive web site that visualizes the vast apparatus of immigration enforcement in the US, and broadly maps the shelters where children can be housed. The name is meant to evoke not only the families who have been separated, but the way in which this sundering rips the social fabric of our country.
“It shows that ICE is everywhere,” Gil says. “We ourselves were shocked even though we study this. A lot of America thinks this phenomenon is happening in this limited geographical space along the border. This map is telling a different story: the border is everywhere.”
posted by filthy light thief at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2018 [79 favorites]
I don't link to Twitter, but Zoe Quinn used it to declare a corrected motto for democrats: "when they go low, we go fucking nowhere". And got a favorited reply "lemme just add, after over a decade in competitive grappling: "when they go low, we go high" is a strategy that almost always puts you flat on your own back".
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [26 favorites]
Yeah, this is really pissing me off. My retirement accounts have just stagnated. I'm 42. I really wanted to give working the finger the second I hit my 62nd birthday but now idk.
If you're 42, you benefit from a low Dow because you are buying shares cheaper. You can buy more shares now than you would if the Dow was high. They have 20 years to go up, you are in good shape.
Not so great for the people 20 years older than you, though.
posted by Quonab at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
If you're 42, you benefit from a low Dow because you are buying shares cheaper. You can buy more shares now than you would if the Dow was high. They have 20 years to go up, you are in good shape.
Not so great for the people 20 years older than you, though.
posted by Quonab at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
The President of the United States called a Congresswoman "low IQ" but she's the one who is "un-American." jfc
posted by gwint at 3:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
posted by gwint at 3:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [56 favorites]
@tomwatson:
I'll expand. Since Trump was elected, this is the worst day politically for @SenSchumer and @NancyPelosi - by far. A truly awful day. A deep self inflicted wound that may not heal. Worse: they don't yet know it. (And you won't find a stauncher Pelosi backer than me).posted by non canadian guy at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2018 [74 favorites]
It is the absolute height of clueless entitled privilege to insist that you should suffer no social discomfort just because you are putting children into concentration camps. Maxine Waters, who remains a godamn boss and my forever fave, was suggesting that the bare minimum consequence for child concentration camps should be social discomfort. Top Democrats responded by saying whoa bridge too far though, what if someone is mean to you about the child concentration camps you support while you’re eating dinner? You might feel bad about the child concentration camps you support! You might not be served at a restaurant and then have to eat at fucking chick fil a or wherever shitty white people eat. And that just cannot happen, it is unAmerican for people who support child concentration camps to be made to feel bad or refused service. They should be allowed to do what they please and say whatever perverse wickedness comes into their minds with zero pushback.
So, here’s the thing though. Get fucked. If the worst thing that happens to you is that you get yelled at while trying to buy gas well guess what your kids weren’t stolen from you and then lost in an uncaring, cruel, racist labyrinth where you may never find them. That some stupid white people are equating getting yelled at to having your child stolen is obscene.
posted by supercrayon at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [139 favorites]
So, here’s the thing though. Get fucked. If the worst thing that happens to you is that you get yelled at while trying to buy gas well guess what your kids weren’t stolen from you and then lost in an uncaring, cruel, racist labyrinth where you may never find them. That some stupid white people are equating getting yelled at to having your child stolen is obscene.
posted by supercrayon at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [139 favorites]
The President straight up unambiguously threatened her with physical violence, but she's the un-American one, along with anyone else who doesn't say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"
posted by dirigibleman at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by dirigibleman at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
He also called her an "extraordinarily low IQ person" and Schumer can't wait but jump over himself to insult her even further. Way to go, guys.
posted by gucci mane at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 3:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
Cynthia Nixon and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorse each other
I don’t care if they win*, no matter what, whatever is blossoming here (12 minute video of their press conference, via twitter) is heartwarming and inspiring and beautiful.
*I do hope they win that would be magical
posted by robotdevil at 3:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [29 favorites]
I don’t care if they win*, no matter what, whatever is blossoming here (12 minute video of their press conference, via twitter) is heartwarming and inspiring and beautiful.
*I do hope they win that would be magical
posted by robotdevil at 3:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [29 favorites]
If you're 42, you benefit from a low Dow because you are buying shares cheaper. You can buy more shares now than you would if the Dow was high. They have 20 years to go up, you are in good shape.
Not so great for the people 20 years older than you, though.
You are assuming that the United States gets competent leadership in the future and can restore economic growth and confidence. Given that the past is a good predictor of what is possible in the future the specter of a possible "Trump" even once this particular Trump is gone will dampen investor confidence for at least a generation if not more.
I'd say at this point the big hope for the United States regaining investment is if other countries implode so badly that the United States seems stable by comparison. Great Britain seems to be onboard with the program but the EU, Canada and China are not making the appropriate catastrophic decisions.
posted by srboisvert at 3:22 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Not so great for the people 20 years older than you, though.
You are assuming that the United States gets competent leadership in the future and can restore economic growth and confidence. Given that the past is a good predictor of what is possible in the future the specter of a possible "Trump" even once this particular Trump is gone will dampen investor confidence for at least a generation if not more.
I'd say at this point the big hope for the United States regaining investment is if other countries implode so badly that the United States seems stable by comparison. Great Britain seems to be onboard with the program but the EU, Canada and China are not making the appropriate catastrophic decisions.
posted by srboisvert at 3:22 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Sarah Sanders: 'Just because you don’t see a judge doesn’t mean you aren't receiving receive due process'
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:23 PM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:23 PM on June 25, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm with Tom Watson. I've been a firm supporter of Pelosi but it's now clear she's aged out of relevancy. I don't mean simply that she's old, which would be rude and not on point, but that she came up in a different political era and her instincts no longer serve us well.
This in no way means I won't vote for any and every Democratic candidate, nor will my support waver if Pelosi gets re-elected House Minority leader or Speaker and I hope nobody else's will either.
Ditto for Chuck "I have no idea what I'm doing" Schumer.
posted by Justinian at 3:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [40 favorites]
This in no way means I won't vote for any and every Democratic candidate, nor will my support waver if Pelosi gets re-elected House Minority leader or Speaker and I hope nobody else's will either.
Ditto for Chuck "I have no idea what I'm doing" Schumer.
posted by Justinian at 3:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [40 favorites]
"Gutless Fucking Piece of Shit Chuck Schumer"
That's not a new part of the lexicon. He caved so hard on the shutdown there would have been hundreds of deaths if miners were involved.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
That's not a new part of the lexicon. He caved so hard on the shutdown there would have been hundreds of deaths if miners were involved.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
I'm starting to axegrind with this issue, so this is the last time I'll say it: I don't care if you are Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, or an outraged progressive at the checkout grocery line. If you are talking about restaurants and "civility" instead of forced separation of families, you have played into the hands of your enemies.
If you need another framing to help you along, try this one, courtesy of @IjeomaOluo:
If you need another framing to help you along, try this one, courtesy of @IjeomaOluo:
If somebody helped rip your child out of your arms and kept that child locked away from you for weeks & months...posted by gwint at 3:33 PM on June 25, 2018 [116 favorites]
Would you serve them a hamburger?
No? Ok what if it was your neighbor's child locked away?
Still no?
Trying to find the line here where children stop mattering...
The rage against incivility is obviously a callback to the days when "those people" could be treated properly for being "uppity". If you let the servants/proles get away with disrespect, soon they might figure out they can take over in an instant from their "betters".
posted by benzenedream at 3:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 3:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
No? Ok what if it was your neighbor's child locked away?
Still no?
What color's the neighbor?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Still no?
What color's the neighbor?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm definitely not a politician and I've been burned more than once second guessing Nancy Pelosi, but it seems like the simplest, thread the needle course would have been to: politely demure from commenting on a colleague's impassioned speech and refocus on the ongoing catastrophe. There's a bit of that there in Pelosi's tweet, but it leans too heavily on correcting Waters.
As for Senator Schumer. He needn't have noted anything about this: Waters is not a member of the Senate minority.
Now they've split the energy into three strands: rescuing kidnapped kids; a debate over whether or not lying apparatchiks deserve civility; the willingness of Democratic leaders to defuse GOP timebombs.
posted by notyou at 3:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
As for Senator Schumer. He needn't have noted anything about this: Waters is not a member of the Senate minority.
Now they've split the energy into three strands: rescuing kidnapped kids; a debate over whether or not lying apparatchiks deserve civility; the willingness of Democratic leaders to defuse GOP timebombs.
posted by notyou at 3:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
The President straight up unambiguously threatened her with physical violence, but she's the un-American one, along with anyone else who doesn't say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"
I just resistbotted my Congressional delegation, demanding they stand up for Waters. No one of worth will value Schumer more (or vote with him) because he caved to the GOP's abuse. They lose the confidence of a popular ally (an African-American legislator with decades of experience fighting the good fight!) and they gain nothing.
posted by suelac at 3:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
I just resistbotted my Congressional delegation, demanding they stand up for Waters. No one of worth will value Schumer more (or vote with him) because he caved to the GOP's abuse. They lose the confidence of a popular ally (an African-American legislator with decades of experience fighting the good fight!) and they gain nothing.
posted by suelac at 3:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
jesus I wish some news would drop today so we could quit playing 'yes, and'
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:38 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:38 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
Mod note: One deleted, let's reel this back in a bit; less "omg these fuckers", more actual updates. Also ok to just take a brief break from the thread and do something else, we're all children of light with a lot to give the world.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
I simply don't know why everyone's not in the streets there
Some theories:
Some theories:
- Almost half of American households can't afford basics like rent or food.
- A quarter of Americans have no social network. [PDF, 2006, couldn't find a more recent study but I can't imagine things have improved]
- Americans have no time off from work.
- Only a tenth of American workers are unionized.
- Almost half of Americans are in favor of the Trump administration's actions.
Justinian: I've been a firm supporter of Pelosi but it's now clear she's aged out of relevancy. I don't mean simply that she's old, which would be rude and not on point, but that she came up in a different political era and her instincts no longer serve us well.
I've felt the same way, and always defended Pelosi, because so much of the criticism flung at her boiled down to: She's 1) a woman 2) in her 70's 3) from San Francisco. Which is bullshit criticism. Replacing her always amounted to "let's get a centrist white male not from the coasts who can appeal to the much-vaunted White Working Class and stop the Republicans from being meanies." For those people, I have some news...
But yes, I think Pelosi, and Schumer, did come of age in a different political era and haven't changed with the times in that regard. So if Nancy Pelosi is replaced, let it be with Barbara Lee or Maxine Waters or Ted Lieu or (some other progressive willing to take the gloves off).
And I also agree that the scapegoating of the Democrats for not being "nice" to people who want to imprison little kids is because Dems are now the party of women/POC/LGBT people. How very dare they not defer to their betters. And the NYT reporters and columnists, even if they are nominally Democrats, think of themselves as Not Like All Those Other Democrats, plus most are white and have Ivy League degrees and family money.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [31 favorites]
I've felt the same way, and always defended Pelosi, because so much of the criticism flung at her boiled down to: She's 1) a woman 2) in her 70's 3) from San Francisco. Which is bullshit criticism. Replacing her always amounted to "let's get a centrist white male not from the coasts who can appeal to the much-vaunted White Working Class and stop the Republicans from being meanies." For those people, I have some news...
But yes, I think Pelosi, and Schumer, did come of age in a different political era and haven't changed with the times in that regard. So if Nancy Pelosi is replaced, let it be with Barbara Lee or Maxine Waters or Ted Lieu or (some other progressive willing to take the gloves off).
And I also agree that the scapegoating of the Democrats for not being "nice" to people who want to imprison little kids is because Dems are now the party of women/POC/LGBT people. How very dare they not defer to their betters. And the NYT reporters and columnists, even if they are nominally Democrats, think of themselves as Not Like All Those Other Democrats, plus most are white and have Ivy League degrees and family money.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [31 favorites]
On the other hand, the Dow is now down 2,500 points since late January.
Bloomberg: Navarro Seeks to Calm Investor Concern on Trump Trade Policy
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bloomberg: Navarro Seeks to Calm Investor Concern on Trump Trade Policy
“There’s no plans to impose investment restrictions on any countries that are interfering in any way with our country. This is not the plan,” he said in an interview on CNBC Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 400 points. “The whole idea that we’re putting investment restrictions on the world -- please discount that.”[...]LeslieNielsenNothingToSeeHere.gif.
Stocks pared losses after Navarro’s softening of the Trump administration’s trade rhetoric. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 1.3 percent, the ninth drop in the past 10 trading days.[...]
The Treasury Department is due to announce restrictions on Chinese investment in the U.S. by Friday. The action is part of the Trump administration’s responses to China’s alleged intellectual-property theft, as laid out in a report that followed an eight-month investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.[...]
Navarro said markets should “let the process work” and President Donald Trump is “going to get good information this week on where the chess board stands and make decisions accordingly.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
In Illinois governor's race news, it's looking great for Bruce Rauner that he's maintaining a minuscule lead over "the abstract concept of electing any random person who's not a billionaire". I mean, he's not past the margin of error there, so all we can really say at this point is that it would be close.
posted by Copronymus at 4:07 PM on June 25, 2018
posted by Copronymus at 4:07 PM on June 25, 2018
I know how we all feel about Maddow exclusives, but:
@maddow: MSNBC has obtained the first non-government video footage from inside a facility that serves children who have been taken from their parents by the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. Shot surreptitiously inside a facility late last week by a worker who has since quit her job there, the footage includes a distraught young girl who pleads to speak with her mother. The Rachel Maddow Show will broadcast the footage at 9PM ET, MSNBC.
posted by zachlipton at 4:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
@maddow: MSNBC has obtained the first non-government video footage from inside a facility that serves children who have been taken from their parents by the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. Shot surreptitiously inside a facility late last week by a worker who has since quit her job there, the footage includes a distraught young girl who pleads to speak with her mother. The Rachel Maddow Show will broadcast the footage at 9PM ET, MSNBC.
posted by zachlipton at 4:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
I believe she may have gotten that footage from one of Michael Avenatti's whistleblower clients, which should make it more worthwhile:
Looking forward to joining @maddow tonight at 9 ET to discuss the disclosure of new evidence relating to the draconian border policy. We will continue to bring evidence to the American public and speak truth to power. #Bastaposted by FelliniBlank at 4:15 PM on June 25, 2018 [8 favorites]
James LaPorta and Spencer Ackerman, Daily Beast: Detention Camps on Military Bases ‘Smacks of Totalitarianism,’ Troops Say
“The infrastructure of these bases aren’t all that great and it ensures almost complete anonymity for the program safely tucked behind gate and guard,” the intelligence officer said on condition of anonymity. “Not anyone in particular, but commanders can barely handle sexual assault, retirement ceremonies gone wrong, command overreach, and operational tempos. Are they going to be in charge of this? Goodfellow in particular was kicking students off base due to space concerns. [Goodfellow Air Force Base] also has water issues where everyone carries around jugs of water because the faucet tastes like you are drinking a spoon.”
The officer continued: “In short, having Manzanar [one of the sites of America’s World War II-era internment camps] 2018 on Goodfellow, or any other base, is a disaster that stands against everything the military value system is supposed to be. Seems to me the president and his administration are trying to use [Thank You For Your Service] equity here to cover up the black eye they got from bungling this.”
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [54 favorites]
“The infrastructure of these bases aren’t all that great and it ensures almost complete anonymity for the program safely tucked behind gate and guard,” the intelligence officer said on condition of anonymity. “Not anyone in particular, but commanders can barely handle sexual assault, retirement ceremonies gone wrong, command overreach, and operational tempos. Are they going to be in charge of this? Goodfellow in particular was kicking students off base due to space concerns. [Goodfellow Air Force Base] also has water issues where everyone carries around jugs of water because the faucet tastes like you are drinking a spoon.”
The officer continued: “In short, having Manzanar [one of the sites of America’s World War II-era internment camps] 2018 on Goodfellow, or any other base, is a disaster that stands against everything the military value system is supposed to be. Seems to me the president and his administration are trying to use [Thank You For Your Service] equity here to cover up the black eye they got from bungling this.”
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [54 favorites]
Also relevant, from that article:
Yingling said that the dilemma facing servicemembers is that what he called a policy of “hostage-taking”—effectively, families seeking reunification of their children will have to renounce any asylum claims that brought them to the United States—was not unambiguously illegal. Without straightforward illegality, a soldier on Bliss or airman on Goodfellow cannot refuse to execute an order to aid with the detention, and Yingling expected that any noncompliance would promptly result in military discipline, if not prosecution. He predicted that “not a single flag officer would resign or otherwise raise a syllable of protest” if lower-ranking servicemembers face discipline for failing to support the camps.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Yingling said that the dilemma facing servicemembers is that what he called a policy of “hostage-taking”—effectively, families seeking reunification of their children will have to renounce any asylum claims that brought them to the United States—was not unambiguously illegal. Without straightforward illegality, a soldier on Bliss or airman on Goodfellow cannot refuse to execute an order to aid with the detention, and Yingling expected that any noncompliance would promptly result in military discipline, if not prosecution. He predicted that “not a single flag officer would resign or otherwise raise a syllable of protest” if lower-ranking servicemembers face discipline for failing to support the camps.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
I...I...I...wait. No, listen. I was over there and then I opened Twitter. After that I'm not really sure, it all gets blurry. No I don't need any...look. I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine. It's the world that doesn't make sense. Do you get that? The world. It doesn't make sense. All of it, any of it. I was opening Twitter. And then...OK then, YOU try to explain it. Go on, I DARE you.
@realDonaldTrump "@catpenis: @realDonaldTrump I respect your integrity sir. Rock on."
posted by scalefree at 4:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump "@catpenis: @realDonaldTrump I respect your integrity sir. Rock on."
posted by scalefree at 4:24 PM on June 25, 2018 [17 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: Why is Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), perhaps in a near drunken state, claiming he has information that only he and Bob Mueller, the leader of the 13 Angry Democrats on a Witch Hunt, knows? Isn’t this highly illegal. Is it being investigated?
@jdawsey1: His plane has been circling the Columbia airport due to storms for more than 30 minutes -- as a packed crowd waits inside a gym here.
Love to see how civil he is when he's bored.
posted by zachlipton at 4:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
@jdawsey1: His plane has been circling the Columbia airport due to storms for more than 30 minutes -- as a packed crowd waits inside a gym here.
Love to see how civil he is when he's bored.
posted by zachlipton at 4:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Who’s Really Crossing the U.S. Border, and Why They’re Coming
posted by jgirl at 4:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jgirl at 4:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
For any of y'all who are pissed off at the mainstream media for doing what they do, check out the Chapo Trap House and Citations Needed podcasts.
posted by bookman117 at 4:29 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bookman117 at 4:29 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also be sure to attend your local Democratic Socialists of America meetings.
posted by bookman117 at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by bookman117 at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
The civility thing: I can't tell you how often I see the Magahatters being all, "well if the 'illegals' just FOLLOWED THE RULES" or "Well why was that black teen RUNNING AWAY FROM THE COPS" in response to the news and it's enraging as essentially they are saying that what they see as uncivil behaviour is what invites force. So I absolutely think that we need to do more to not abandon the civility discussion but rather link it to the sustained and pernicious way that civility is a tool of white supremacy.
posted by TwoStride at 4:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 4:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
(You can now listen to me talk about the movement for postal and public banking here, also socialist musical theatre)
posted by The Whelk at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Mod note: A few deleted; let's just totally shortcut the "it's not worth derailing about David Lynch" derail.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:55 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:55 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
https://boingboing.net/2018/06/23/victorville.html
God Damn this. I am a Californian born and bred and this humiliates me. Another interment camp? God Damn this.
posted by SPrintF at 4:56 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
God Damn this. I am a Californian born and bred and this humiliates me. Another interment camp? God Damn this.
posted by SPrintF at 4:56 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
Alan He (CBS)
Maxine Waters is not sorry. "First of all I am very, very upset and concerned. I’ve had sleepless nights. Because I believe in peaceful, very peaceful protest. I have not called for the harm of anybody this President has lied again...This Don the Con man will say anything."
posted by chris24 at 5:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [75 favorites]
Maxine Waters is not sorry. "First of all I am very, very upset and concerned. I’ve had sleepless nights. Because I believe in peaceful, very peaceful protest. I have not called for the harm of anybody this President has lied again...This Don the Con man will say anything."
posted by chris24 at 5:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [75 favorites]
Portlanders demonstrating how you do civility:
@NinaMehlhaf
Homeland Security Police just came back to deliver more fliers warning of arrest if protesters don’t allow access to ICE holding center driveway and doors. Protesters “walked” them out of the camp with recordings of the crying children separated at the border playing on speaker
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [68 favorites]
@NinaMehlhaf
Homeland Security Police just came back to deliver more fliers warning of arrest if protesters don’t allow access to ICE holding center driveway and doors. Protesters “walked” them out of the camp with recordings of the crying children separated at the border playing on speaker
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:05 PM on June 25, 2018 [68 favorites]
Guardian opinion: Ice is a tool of illegality. It must be abolished.
According to documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s office of inspector general, which reviews complaints against Ice and Border Patrol, there were 1,124 allegations of sexual abuse and assault from 2010 to 2017, primarily from detainees in Ice custody. In fact, Department of Homeland Security OIG officials earlier indicated that they had received some 33,000 abuse complaints from 2010 to 2016.
posted by adamvasco at 5:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [37 favorites]
According to documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s office of inspector general, which reviews complaints against Ice and Border Patrol, there were 1,124 allegations of sexual abuse and assault from 2010 to 2017, primarily from detainees in Ice custody. In fact, Department of Homeland Security OIG officials earlier indicated that they had received some 33,000 abuse complaints from 2010 to 2016.
posted by adamvasco at 5:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [37 favorites]
When I was a kid, my neighbors were the Takashsis. They were great. Gary, their son, was my best pal and Mrs. Takasahsi was super nice. Mrs. Takahashi told me about her familes' time in the camps. I still can't understand why my best friend, and good neighbor, had to be locked up. Because, before God, they were the best people I've ever known. So why!
posted by SPrintF at 5:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 5:11 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
Trump finally made it to South Carolina, and it's starting on a weird note:
@ddale8: Trump tries to make fun of Mark Sanford, who famously claimed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail while he was with his lover in Argentina, but Trump calls it "the Tallahassee Trail."
He's now discussing the states he won in the 2016 election. It is 2018.
Unlike most of his efforts to campaign for people, he's actually talking up the candidate and encouraging people to vote. He usually forgets that part. Of course, his argument for why people should vote is that the press will report it's embarrassing for Trump if they don't: "So please get your asses out tomorrow and vote."
After dispensing with the campaigning he came there for, he's returned to his usual ranting about the press and forgetting what he's talking about mid-sentence. He wants more credit for ticket sales at the Olympics.
posted by zachlipton at 5:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
@ddale8: Trump tries to make fun of Mark Sanford, who famously claimed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail while he was with his lover in Argentina, but Trump calls it "the Tallahassee Trail."
He's now discussing the states he won in the 2016 election. It is 2018.
Unlike most of his efforts to campaign for people, he's actually talking up the candidate and encouraging people to vote. He usually forgets that part. Of course, his argument for why people should vote is that the press will report it's embarrassing for Trump if they don't: "So please get your asses out tomorrow and vote."
After dispensing with the campaigning he came there for, he's returned to his usual ranting about the press and forgetting what he's talking about mid-sentence. He wants more credit for ticket sales at the Olympics.
posted by zachlipton at 5:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
Fox is running with Burnedanimalgate. No new evidence and, once again, no identification of said animal because DHS was too lazy to even fill out the lie properly. But it makes no difference: now sixty million meatheads think that every proud homeland security officer's porch is an antifa/MS-13 charnel house.
Fox News: Burned and decapitated animal left on Homeland Security staffer's porch, report says
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Fox News: Burned and decapitated animal left on Homeland Security staffer's porch, report says
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's never about who "has civility." It's always about who in the society has the power of manipulating symbols such as "civility" so as to alter behaviour and reinforce power.
When you opponent attempts to distract by a thing that's conspicuously not about power, it's usually about power.
posted by runcifex at 5:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
When you opponent attempts to distract by a thing that's conspicuously not about power, it's usually about power.
posted by runcifex at 5:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
Can someone explain what the whole @catpenis thing is about? Looking through her account it doesn't seem she is a Trump supporter. I mean, I'm used to being in a state of confusion these days but whaaaa?
posted by misterpatrick at 5:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by misterpatrick at 5:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'd summarize anything newsworthy from this speech, but it honestly resists all classification. As Daniel Dale puts it: "I don't say this lightly: this is one of the weirdest speeches I've ever seen Trump give."
In a few minutes, he read the David Lynch interview, discussed the realness of his hair, told weird Jimmy Fallon stories, complained about The Apprentice, discussed how good Melania looked next to the King of Jordan, ranted about press coverage of Melania's absence, and said that what Gallup does should be illegal because "it's called suppression." It's just weird as hell, even by his standards.
posted by zachlipton at 5:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
In a few minutes, he read the David Lynch interview, discussed the realness of his hair, told weird Jimmy Fallon stories, complained about The Apprentice, discussed how good Melania looked next to the King of Jordan, ranted about press coverage of Melania's absence, and said that what Gallup does should be illegal because "it's called suppression." It's just weird as hell, even by his standards.
posted by zachlipton at 5:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [28 favorites]
I didn't see Charles Pierce's op ed in Esquire posted in the thread, so sorry if it's a double. It just restates everything we've been saying the past day here. "The Civility Debate Has Reached Peak Stupidity"
posted by Catblack at 5:33 PM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 5:33 PM on June 25, 2018 [20 favorites]
I'm with Tom Watson. I've been a firm supporter of Pelosi but it's now clear she's aged out of relevancy. I don't mean simply that she's old, which would be rude and not on point, but that she came up in a different political era and her instincts no longer serve us well.
Same with Bill Nelson but unfortunately he's on his way to losing to Rick Scott.
posted by photoslob at 5:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Same with Bill Nelson but unfortunately he's on his way to losing to Rick Scott.
posted by photoslob at 5:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Well, this is carthartic. Michelle Goldberg, NYT Opinion: We Have a Crisis of Democracy, Not Manners -- Trump officials deserve public shaming.
There’s a moral and psychic cost to participating in the fiction that people who work for Trump are in any sense public servants. I don’t blame staff members at the Virginia restaurant, the Red Hen, for not wanting to help Sanders unwind after a hard week of lying to the public about mass child abuse. Particularly when Sanders’s own administration is fighting to let private businesses discriminate against gay people, who, unlike mendacious press secretaries, are a protected class under many civil rights laws.posted by FelliniBlank at 5:55 PM on June 25, 2018 [127 favorites]
***
Whether or not you think public shaming should be happening, it’s important to understand why it’s happening. It’s less a result of a breakdown in civility than a breakdown of democracy. Though it’s tiresome to repeat it, Donald Trump eked out his minority victory with help from a hostile foreign power. He has ruled exclusively for his vengeful supporters, who love the way he terrifies, outrages and humiliates their fellow citizens. Trump installed the right-wing Neil Gorsuch in the Supreme Court seat that Republicans stole from Barack Obama. Gorsuch, in turn, has been the fifth vote in decisions on voter roll purges and, on Monday, racial gerrymandering that will further entrench minority rule.
All over the country, Republican members of Congress have consistently refused to so much as meet with many of the scared, furious citizens they ostensibly represent. A great many of these citizens are working tirelessly to take at least one house of Congress in the midterms — which will require substantially more than 50 percent of total votes, given structural Republican advantages — so that the country’s anti-Trump majority will have some voice in the federal government.
But unless and until that happens, millions and millions of Americans watch helplessly as the president cages children, dehumanizes immigrants, spurns other democracies, guts health care protections, uses his office to enrich himself and turns public life into a deranged phantasmagoria with his incontinent flood of lies.
Can someone explain what the whole @catpenis thing is about? Looking through her account it doesn't seem she is a Trump supporter. I mean, I'm used to being in a state of confusion these days but whaaaa?
I think he was just bored. Air Force One had to circle over Charlottesville as it was raining & the 70 year old little boy wanted to say a naughty word to pass the time. Just a guess?
posted by scalefree at 6:03 PM on June 25, 2018
I think he was just bored. Air Force One had to circle over Charlottesville as it was raining & the 70 year old little boy wanted to say a naughty word to pass the time. Just a guess?
posted by scalefree at 6:03 PM on June 25, 2018
@DevlinBarrett: “What other country has judges?” — President Trump, not out of context
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:03 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
The catpenis tweet is from 2014. Trump liked to copy/paste random things people said about him back then. I wish no part of that made any sense whatsoever.
posted by zachlipton at 6:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:06 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
The @catpenis manual quote tweet is from 2014, a more innocent time, when we thought that Rob Ford was the most shameful and ridiculous person who could ever get elected.
posted by maudlin at 6:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by maudlin at 6:07 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Spicer developing a new talk show
The former White House spokesman would host “some of the most interesting and thoughtful public figures for a drink and some lite conversation at a local pub or cafe,” according to the pilot’s pitch sheet, obtained by The New York Times on Monday. No network has picked up the show yet but the pilot episode of “Sean Spicer’s Common Ground" is expected to be filmed in July.
“The relaxed atmosphere is an ideal setting for Sean to get to know his guests as they discuss everything from the media to marriage,” the pitch states. “They might even tangle over the merits of making your bed or the value of a great point guard.” The Times reported that Debar-Mercury, the syndicator of major daytime series like “The Wendy Williams” show and “Family Feud,” is co-producing the pilot with Pilgrim Media Group. “In this current environment, I think it’s important to have a platform where we can have civil, respectful, and informative discussions on the issues of the day,” Spicer told the Times on Monday.
First as farcical tragedy, then as tragic farce.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
The former White House spokesman would host “some of the most interesting and thoughtful public figures for a drink and some lite conversation at a local pub or cafe,” according to the pilot’s pitch sheet, obtained by The New York Times on Monday. No network has picked up the show yet but the pilot episode of “Sean Spicer’s Common Ground" is expected to be filmed in July.
“The relaxed atmosphere is an ideal setting for Sean to get to know his guests as they discuss everything from the media to marriage,” the pitch states. “They might even tangle over the merits of making your bed or the value of a great point guard.” The Times reported that Debar-Mercury, the syndicator of major daytime series like “The Wendy Williams” show and “Family Feud,” is co-producing the pilot with Pilgrim Media Group. “In this current environment, I think it’s important to have a platform where we can have civil, respectful, and informative discussions on the issues of the day,” Spicer told the Times on Monday.
First as farcical tragedy, then as tragic farce.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
Maddow is playing video from the Cayuga Center in East Harlem where kids separated from their parents have been brought for day programs (they sleep at foster homes at night). A young girl named Jessica is crying for her mom. The former employee who took the video (represented by Avenatti, naturally) said she's concerned about the low level of staffing at the center as more kids have been brought there. Maddow also has audio of an adult telling people at one of these facilities not to talk to reporters because that could mean they'll be there for a very long time.
(Take care of yourself. It's ok not to click.)
posted by zachlipton at 6:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
(Take care of yourself. It's ok not to click.)
posted by zachlipton at 6:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [35 favorites]
Paraphrasing from Twitter: Every time I go to Planned Parenthood for a routine checkup I am screamed at and accused of killing babies. Don't talk to me about civility.
Civility is just another tool of the white patriarchy. It's a tone argument in different clothes. Same shit, different day. It's a shiny distraction from the beat-up truth.
posted by Dashy at 6:32 PM on June 25, 2018 [96 favorites]
Civility is just another tool of the white patriarchy. It's a tone argument in different clothes. Same shit, different day. It's a shiny distraction from the beat-up truth.
posted by Dashy at 6:32 PM on June 25, 2018 [96 favorites]
I don’t blame staff members at the Virginia restaurant, the Red Hen, for not wanting to help Sanders unwind after a hard week of lying to the public about mass child abuse.
Point of order: she didn't spend the week lying to the public about mass child abuse, she spent part of the week being too chickenshit to do her job of lying to the faces of the American people and sent out Kirstjen Nielsen to do it.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
Point of order: she didn't spend the week lying to the public about mass child abuse, she spent part of the week being too chickenshit to do her job of lying to the faces of the American people and sent out Kirstjen Nielsen to do it.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:37 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
Bill de Blasio, who oversees a system where people spend weeks in illegal detention on Rikers because of paperwork (missing their kids' graduations), is on MSNBC explaining how traumatic it is for kids to be separated from their parents, and I am trying to avoid punching my screen out.
posted by zachlipton at 6:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
Need more Waterses.
Maxine Waters reads list of times Trump has called for violence
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:41 PM on June 25, 2018 [118 favorites]
Maxine Waters reads list of times Trump has called for violence
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:41 PM on June 25, 2018 [118 favorites]
White Nationalist Senate Candidate Corey Stewart Says the Civil War Wasn't About Slavery
White nationalist and Virginia GOP Senate nominee Corey Stewart has proclaimed himself to be a big fan of Confederate monuments, even though his lutefisk-loving ass was born in Minnesota.It's a shame he denies his native state. Minnesota fought nobly for the United States during the Civil War.
With that in mind, it’s a little bewildering that Stewart apparently doesn’t know the first thing about the Civil War or what his Confederate heroes were fighting for.
In an interview for The Hill, Krystal Ball asked Stewart if the Confederate flag represented some of the “uglier parts of American history.”
“I don’t at all,” Stewart responded. “If you look at the history, that’s not what it meant at all, and I don’t believe that the Civil War was ultimately fought over the issue of slavery.”
posted by kirkaracha at 7:01 PM on June 25, 2018 [55 favorites]
- Minnesota, barely three years old at the time of the Civil War, was the first State to respond to President Abraham Lincoln’s request for volunteer regiments.
- The first group of Minnesota soldiers sent into battle were known as The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
- During the four years of the Civil War (1861-1865), Minnesota sent 25,000 men into battle against the Confederate Army. This represented about half of the state’s eligible male population.
- More than 100 black men from Minnesota enlisted in the Union Army even though the state’s total black population was just 259 (including men, women and children).
- The First Minnesota regiment played an important role in winning the Battle of Gettysburg by making a heroic charge against Confederate soldiers on the evening of July 2, 1863. Some historians believe their actions turned the tide of this battle, and the war. The First Minnesota charged the Confederates in spite of five to one odds.
- The First Minnesota regiment took part in many important battles and campaigns including: Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam and Gettysburg.
Hamilton Nolan is one of the few writers helping me feel like I'm hanging on to a shred of sanity.
This Is Just The Beginning:
It is telling that many of those who make their living in the political industrial complex, whether Democrat or Republican or Washington Post editorial page, find the idea of socially shunning people because of their politics to be abhorrent. Their shudders are a symptom of the fact that DC is indeed a swamp—a friendly swamp, where all the gators and slugs and mudfish meet up at the end of the day for cocktails, because to them, politics is a job. To the rest of us, politics is the use of power in a way that has very real effects on our lives.
posted by mostly vowels at 7:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [70 favorites]
This Is Just The Beginning:
It is telling that many of those who make their living in the political industrial complex, whether Democrat or Republican or Washington Post editorial page, find the idea of socially shunning people because of their politics to be abhorrent. Their shudders are a symptom of the fact that DC is indeed a swamp—a friendly swamp, where all the gators and slugs and mudfish meet up at the end of the day for cocktails, because to them, politics is a job. To the rest of us, politics is the use of power in a way that has very real effects on our lives.
posted by mostly vowels at 7:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [70 favorites]
Fox News: Burned and decapitated animal left on Homeland Security staffer's porch, report says
I bet it is a squirrel that chewed on an electrical wire. 2018 is just that stupid.
posted by srboisvert at 7:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
I bet it is a squirrel that chewed on an electrical wire. 2018 is just that stupid.
posted by srboisvert at 7:26 PM on June 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
NYT, Jim Tankersley, The New Tax Form Is Postcard-Size, but More Complicated Than Ever.
This really seems like they made it a whole lot worse. The form is smaller, but there are six schedules you might complete to know what to put on it. And the article says this replaces not just the Form 1040, but the 1040A and the 1040EZ, thus making things more complicated for people who have simple tax situations (this looks much worse than the one-page 1040EZ). And you still have to stick it in an envelope, because nobody actually wants to do their taxes on a literal postcard and have the entire Postal Service looking at their Social Security Number.
This seems like a phenomenal waste of IRS resources.
posted by zachlipton at 7:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
This really seems like they made it a whole lot worse. The form is smaller, but there are six schedules you might complete to know what to put on it. And the article says this replaces not just the Form 1040, but the 1040A and the 1040EZ, thus making things more complicated for people who have simple tax situations (this looks much worse than the one-page 1040EZ). And you still have to stick it in an envelope, because nobody actually wants to do their taxes on a literal postcard and have the entire Postal Service looking at their Social Security Number.
This seems like a phenomenal waste of IRS resources.
posted by zachlipton at 7:34 PM on June 25, 2018 [32 favorites]
Interesting piece about the pro democracy origins of Machine Learning President from Cambridge Analytica critics Scout.ai*.
* Be warned Chrome doesn't think its encryption certificate is valid.
posted by abulafa at 7:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
* Be warned Chrome doesn't think its encryption certificate is valid.
posted by abulafa at 7:44 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is this that "working toward the fuhrer" I've heard so much about or did someone in the Trump administration demand a postcard sized tax form?
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:45 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:45 PM on June 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Someone in the White House probably ordered the IRS to make the tax forms smaller and whoever fielded the request slow rolled them by taking it extremely literally because obviously they can't just arbitrarily rewrite the tax codes so they made it smaller physically.
posted by feloniousmonk at 7:49 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by feloniousmonk at 7:49 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
Rust Moranis: "ABC: Special counsel obtains Trump ally Erik Prince's phones, computer"
Oh please, please let this asshole be taken down in the Cheeto crime ring prosecutions.
posted by Mitheral at 7:51 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Oh please, please let this asshole be taken down in the Cheeto crime ring prosecutions.
posted by Mitheral at 7:51 PM on June 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Just catching up - calling Maxine Waters "an extraordinarily low IQ person" seems like textbook libel - he's saying provably false things about her in order to damage her reputation. We allow a lot of leeway in talks about celebrities and politicians, but this wasn't a vague claim like "she's stupid" or "she's incompetent and should never have been elected."
IQ scores are measurable. (Exactly what they measure is hotly debated, but we do have tests for them anyway.) We know what a "low IQ score" is, and I'm willing to bet that Rep. Waters doesn't have one.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 8:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
IQ scores are measurable. (Exactly what they measure is hotly debated, but we do have tests for them anyway.) We know what a "low IQ score" is, and I'm willing to bet that Rep. Waters doesn't have one.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 8:16 PM on June 25, 2018 [25 favorites]
Oh, if there were to be a case where both Waters and Trump have to take IQ tests with public results for both... Trump would not fare well. He'd have measurable proof of his inferiority in that regard to her. I'm smart (hopefully?) enough to know that IQs are kinda a bullshit measure too, but I'd still love to see him humilated.
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
My niece made this video today, this campaign has been my life for 2 years
posted by The Whelk at 8:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
We know what a "low IQ score" is, and I'm willing to bet that Rep. Waters doesn't have one.
The fact that not a single reporter in the press room has been goading Trump into taking an IQ test so we can compare it with Waters tells me every single one of them is complicit.
posted by mmoncur at 8:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
The fact that not a single reporter in the press room has been goading Trump into taking an IQ test so we can compare it with Waters tells me every single one of them is complicit.
posted by mmoncur at 8:43 PM on June 25, 2018 [9 favorites]
The fact that not a single reporter in the press room has been goading Trump into taking an IQ test so we can compare it with Waters tells me every single one of them is complicit.
Or it never occurred to them because there's no point stooping to Trump's idiocy and giving his trolling more airtime?
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
Or it never occurred to them because there's no point stooping to Trump's idiocy and giving his trolling more airtime?
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:48 PM on June 25, 2018 [16 favorites]
Here's a letter for your Democratic Representatives and Senators. Congressional Leaders should be supporting Representative Waters, or at least staying out of her way, instead of this feckless hand-wringing bullshit about decorum.
I am a constituent in [zip code], and I am contacting you to voice my support for Representative Maxine Waters. She rightly encouraged people to publicly shame Trump's Cabinet Members by driving them from public spaces. Representative Waters was encouraging people to peacefully hold ostensible civil servants, who are actively separating children from their parents, accountable for their actions, which have already traumatize thousands of children forever.posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:00 PM on June 25, 2018 [73 favorites]
I agree with Representative Waters that the public should be shaming them wherever they go. I am not bothered if Sarah Sanders, Stephen Miller, Kjersten Nielsen, or any other cabinet member can't go out to eat without having to be held accountable for separating children from their parents.
I expect you, as my [Representative/Senator], to take two actions. First, I expect you to issue a statement of support for Maxine Waters. Second, I expect you to convey my extreme displeasure to the Minority Leader's statement regarding the words of Representative Waters. Why is advocacy and human rights for the vulnerable subordinate to "civility" to the powerful?
The Minority Leader's response is the shameful one, not Representative Waters' resistance to human rights abuses.
Sincerely,
[your name]
calling Maxine Waters "an extraordinarily low IQ person" seems like textbook libel - he's saying provably false things about her in order to damage her reputation. We allow a lot of leeway in talks about celebrities and politicians, but this wasn't a vague claim like "she's stupid" or "she's incompetent and should never have been elected."
It sounds like it would end up being more trouble than it would be worth to Waters. She is well liked by her constituents, plus she's a political figure, so standing might be tricky. I can't imagine that Waters taking an *IQ test* as a plaintiff suing Trump for libel would be welcomed by many Black scholars and activists. She gets a lot of flack for being unfiltered, but she knows her district and how to be heard when the men talk over her and underestimate her conviction. Her cause is not served well by proving her intelligence using a metric that isn't considered a standard, especially not on its own.
But I do think the Red Hen restaurant might want to talk to someone who knows the law. Trump's comments about their cleanliness were obviously made up and were intended to cause financial harm to their business. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd sure want to talk with one if I were in their position.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:12 PM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
It sounds like it would end up being more trouble than it would be worth to Waters. She is well liked by her constituents, plus she's a political figure, so standing might be tricky. I can't imagine that Waters taking an *IQ test* as a plaintiff suing Trump for libel would be welcomed by many Black scholars and activists. She gets a lot of flack for being unfiltered, but she knows her district and how to be heard when the men talk over her and underestimate her conviction. Her cause is not served well by proving her intelligence using a metric that isn't considered a standard, especially not on its own.
But I do think the Red Hen restaurant might want to talk to someone who knows the law. Trump's comments about their cleanliness were obviously made up and were intended to cause financial harm to their business. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd sure want to talk with one if I were in their position.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:12 PM on June 25, 2018 [27 favorites]
Boston Globe, Yvonne Abraham, DA candidates address an unusual constituency, in which six DA candidates will appear at a debate inside the city jail, where they'll take questions from inmates and service providers who work with them.
More of this please.
posted by zachlipton at 9:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [44 favorites]
More of this please.
posted by zachlipton at 9:21 PM on June 25, 2018 [44 favorites]
The fact that not a single reporter in the press room has been goading Trump into taking an IQ test so we can compare it with Waters tells me every single one of them is complicit.
I too enjoy meaningless burns but it's ok for journalists to be journalists
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:25 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
I too enjoy meaningless burns but it's ok for journalists to be journalists
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:25 PM on June 25, 2018 [15 favorites]
I am not someone that would normally support kicking someone out of a restaurant for their opinions, but these are no longer normal times. I have gone from thinking Trump is unpredictable and wrongheaded to believing he is actively leading this country toward some noxious evil. Trump is now talking about getting rid of our inalienable right to a trial, one of the bedrock rights of the constitution. You shouldn't be civil when civilization is threatened.
posted by xammerboy at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Not mentioning the long history of Black people being accused of having lower IQs is leaving a story on the table and failing to inform readers.
A cynic might suggest that that form of incivility seems to matter less. Who can say what the dividing line is?
posted by jaduncan at 9:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
A cynic might suggest that that form of incivility seems to matter less. Who can say what the dividing line is?
posted by jaduncan at 9:28 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
I too enjoy meaningless burns but it's ok for journalists to be journalists
I totally get "Professionalism", but someone makes a claim, and I call "Bullshit!", it's THEIR responsibility to support the claim THEY made.
I, for one, would welcome our press asking better follow up questions. If only, "Since you mention IQ, for the record, when was your IQ tested and what was the score?"
posted by mikelieman at 9:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I totally get "Professionalism", but someone makes a claim, and I call "Bullshit!", it's THEIR responsibility to support the claim THEY made.
I, for one, would welcome our press asking better follow up questions. If only, "Since you mention IQ, for the record, when was your IQ tested and what was the score?"
posted by mikelieman at 9:36 PM on June 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
They aren’t being kicked out of restaurants for their opinions. They’re being kicked out of restaurants for being fucking collaborators in carrying out the desires of white supremacists.
posted by azpenguin at 9:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [99 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 9:40 PM on June 25, 2018 [99 favorites]
scalefree: “You would need to rewrite or nullify thousands of laws & large portions of the Constitution itself. This would require unprecedented coordination with Congress at a time when much of it has never had any experience writing or passing laws at all. They can barely pass laws on things they've been desperate for for years now without tripping over their own feet. ”I've been thinking about this since yesterday. No they won't have to pass any laws or amend the Constitution. Just like separating families seeking asylum and dozens of other things that have happened over the last 18 months, they'll just start doing it and who will stop them?
posted by ob1quixote at 9:41 PM on June 25, 2018 [48 favorites]
Is the media ignoring the biggest scandal in presidential history? Writer behind Broidy-Trump Theory explains
posted by growabrain at 9:51 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 9:51 PM on June 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
President Trump, Deal Maker? Not So Fast
His 17 months in office have in fact been an exercise in futility for the art-of-the-deal president. No deal on immigration. No deal on health care. No deal on gun control. No deal on spending cuts. No deal on Nafta. No deal on China trade. No deal on steel and aluminum imports. No deal on Middle East peace. No deal on the Qatar blockade. No deal on Syria. No deal on Russia. No deal on Iran. No deal on climate change. No deal on Pacific trade.posted by kirkaracha at 10:09 PM on June 25, 2018 [12 favorites]
Even routine deals sometimes elude Mr. Trump, or he chooses to blow them up. After a Group of 7 summit meeting this month with the world’s leading economic powers, Mr. Trump, expressing pique at Canada’s prime minister, refused to sign the carefully negotiated communiqué that his own team had agreed to. It was the sort of boilerplate agreement that every previous president had made over four decades.
...
Mr. O’Donnell, the former casino president, said Mr. Trump has always oversold his deal-making skills. The casino he managed, Mr. O’Donnell noted, brought in $100 million a year yet still went bankrupt. “The fact is, Trump casinos should have been one of the greatest success stories in the history of casino gambling, but bad deal making caused him to lose all three properties,” he said.
Now the consequences are much higher. “Deal making as president,” Ms. Sherman said, “is a multidimensional proposition where the stakes are war and peace, prosperity and depression.”
Is the media ignoring the biggest scandal in presidential history?
Lying about yet another affair isn't "the biggest scandal" this week. And he committed treason to steal the election, so, no.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
Lying about yet another affair isn't "the biggest scandal" this week. And he committed treason to steal the election, so, no.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:13 PM on June 25, 2018 [23 favorites]
Not to derail but it's been bugging me all day why the current clown administration would choose Fort Bliss as a site for child concentration camps. I lived on Bliss for 7 years when I was an Army spouse so I know the base really well. Where in the hell would put a camp for 1000+ children without shutting the main post down?! It's not a good idea: Bliss is not *near* El Paso nor is El Paso "just outside the gate" of Bliss (there is no "the" gate of Fort Bliss, there's several), as the soldier in the article that the estimable scaryblackdeath linked above, said. El Paso EVELOPES the main post and housing areas of Fort Bliss. I live just 2 blocks from the south fence of Fort Bliss: I can hear reveille and retreat inside my house. I work at a school that literally shares a fence with Bliss: 40% of our students are military. Main post is packed with housing and shopping centers... East Bliss is mostly Biggs Airfield and medical clinics so where would they put an internment camp?!
So I did my Googles and remembered this.
I used to work for an archaeological contractor on historic site mitigation on the Dońa Ana Range: the infrastructure there is beyond basic. It was all built during WW2 and lacks the most basic things like electricity, indoor plumbing or hard lines for phones or Wi-Fi.
I'll leave you with this El Paso Times Op-Ed from a guy who Does Not Get It.
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:14 PM on June 25, 2018 [42 favorites]
So I did my Googles and remembered this.
I used to work for an archaeological contractor on historic site mitigation on the Dońa Ana Range: the infrastructure there is beyond basic. It was all built during WW2 and lacks the most basic things like electricity, indoor plumbing or hard lines for phones or Wi-Fi.
I'll leave you with this El Paso Times Op-Ed from a guy who Does Not Get It.
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:14 PM on June 25, 2018 [42 favorites]
I've been thinking about this since yesterday. No they won't have to pass any laws or amend the Constitution. Just like separating families seeking asylum and dozens of other things that have happened over the last 18 months, they'll just start doing it and who will stop them?
There's things Trump cares about & things he doesn't. If he cares, he'll put at least a half-assed, slapdash effort into it. He may change his mind completely & give opposite orders 3 days in a row but at least he'll try, at least until he gets bored. If he doesn't care it may as well not exist. Who in the administration has both the clout & competency to see this through? They burned through the last of those people months ago.
I get that it's Trump's ultimate vision. There's just no vehicle to get him from here to there. With ICE there's a preexisting organization & a network of companies to outsource to. What's the equivalent for a grand reorg? Where's the blueprint, the framework, the ideology to breathe life into the new government? Who implements it & brings some actual expertise into the room? Halliburton? Jennings & Rall?
posted by scalefree at 10:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's things Trump cares about & things he doesn't. If he cares, he'll put at least a half-assed, slapdash effort into it. He may change his mind completely & give opposite orders 3 days in a row but at least he'll try, at least until he gets bored. If he doesn't care it may as well not exist. Who in the administration has both the clout & competency to see this through? They burned through the last of those people months ago.
I get that it's Trump's ultimate vision. There's just no vehicle to get him from here to there. With ICE there's a preexisting organization & a network of companies to outsource to. What's the equivalent for a grand reorg? Where's the blueprint, the framework, the ideology to breathe life into the new government? Who implements it & brings some actual expertise into the room? Halliburton? Jennings & Rall?
posted by scalefree at 10:17 PM on June 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Here is another article, from CNBC, with details about the Broidy/Berchard/Qatar/Cohen/Trump affair that I hadn't seen before. It appears that Broidy is suing Qatar et al because he believes they infiltrated his email server & stole many thousands of messages that incriminated him on the Berchard cover-up as well as a bunch of other things. Maybe they tipped off the FBI or something? Because it also seems records were discovered when the FBI searched Cohen's stuff as part of its ongoing mega-investigation into his various nefarious activities.
At any rate, Broidy's lawsuit does link the Qatar & Berchard affairs together in a possibly believable way that makes me think twice about any Trump connection. If Broidy is trying to cover up his payments to cover up a Trump/Berchard affair, bringing up a lawsuit to have a lawyers, a judge, and a jury carefully sift through the relevant evidence seems like a poor way to go about it.
On the other hand, it hadn't quite penetrated my thick skull that Broidy and Cohen were BOTH "deputy finance chairs" at the Republican National Committee until just recently. So, two little peas in a pod. Broidy resigned that position soon after these allegations came to light; Cohen has resigned more recently.
posted by flug at 10:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
At any rate, Broidy's lawsuit does link the Qatar & Berchard affairs together in a possibly believable way that makes me think twice about any Trump connection. If Broidy is trying to cover up his payments to cover up a Trump/Berchard affair, bringing up a lawsuit to have a lawyers, a judge, and a jury carefully sift through the relevant evidence seems like a poor way to go about it.
On the other hand, it hadn't quite penetrated my thick skull that Broidy and Cohen were BOTH "deputy finance chairs" at the Republican National Committee until just recently. So, two little peas in a pod. Broidy resigned that position soon after these allegations came to light; Cohen has resigned more recently.
posted by flug at 10:18 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
If Broidy is trying to cover up his payments to cover up a Trump/Berchard affair, bringing up a lawsuit to have a lawyers, a judge, and a jury carefully sift through the relevant evidence seems like a poor way to go about it.
It appears, once again, that "Truth is, these guys are not very bright" applies.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:54 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
It appears, once again, that "Truth is, these guys are not very bright" applies.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:54 PM on June 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Rachel Maddow showing horrific, heart breaking, NSFL video smuggled from inside one of the Trump concentration camps by Michael Avenatti’s new client
posted by growabrain at 11:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 11:19 PM on June 25, 2018 [21 favorites]
The Government Had No Intention of Reuniting Separated Families
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [66 favorites]
There is no comprehensive database, and the administration has clearly stated that reunification may not be in the cards. Even parents released on bond may try fruitlessly to find children who have been sent across the country. In New York, where the children are entitled to immigration hearings, lawyers are finding it hard to get them onto any docket. More and more they appear to be in some kind of procedural and legal limbo, with counselors and lawyers trying to craft systems to protect them as the policies shift on the ground. On Saturday night, DHS put out a fact sheet about reunification plans, but the toll-free numbers apparently still do not work, and many children have not yet spoken to a family member. On Monday, Vox reported that the government would only promise to attempt to reunite families who gave up their asylum requests and voluntarily agreed to be deported.I don't suppose the administration has any plan to kill these prisoners, but that hardly absolves them: keeping people alive (let alone healthy, and sane) takes active preparation. They really don't care about them at all. People are going to have medical crises, be assaulted, and suffer from psychological ailments. Ultimately, I presume they're going to be deported - what preparations have been made for that? Will they just be dumped at a border station? People are absolutely going to die.
What has become quite clear is that the Trump administration is not prioritizing reunification, or seemingly even terribly concerned about it. More terrifying is that it is clear that a rollout that was months in the making seemingly didn’t include provisions for properly identifying and coordinating which children were removed from their families and how to reconnect them. It pains me to write these words, but it certainly seems that the administration truly had no intention of reunifying these families.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:31 PM on June 25, 2018 [66 favorites]
I, for one, would welcome our press asking better follow up questions. If only, "Since you mention IQ, for the record, when was your IQ tested and what was the score?"
This legit feels like a topic that will always end badly in this setting. Trump will say something horrifying, revealing once again that he has no shame, and political journalists are mostly poorly informed when it comes to science, especially the kind of 'science' employed by crypto racists who are using it to advocate for white supremacy, or just that they are personally the smartest, which tbh seems to be a long held belief by Trump. It's like debating the total number of people killed in the Holocaust, and whether they were Jews- It's important to get the facts on the record, but this isn't a game where being morally convinced is going to inform a difficult subject, like a brain-measuring contest started by POTUS to stir up heinous shit and ridicule anyone who is acting in good faith. The IQ test has some important baggage, and it can't be easily explained in sound bytes to people who haven't done any research and might still think lie detector tests are reliable.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
This legit feels like a topic that will always end badly in this setting. Trump will say something horrifying, revealing once again that he has no shame, and political journalists are mostly poorly informed when it comes to science, especially the kind of 'science' employed by crypto racists who are using it to advocate for white supremacy, or just that they are personally the smartest, which tbh seems to be a long held belief by Trump. It's like debating the total number of people killed in the Holocaust, and whether they were Jews- It's important to get the facts on the record, but this isn't a game where being morally convinced is going to inform a difficult subject, like a brain-measuring contest started by POTUS to stir up heinous shit and ridicule anyone who is acting in good faith. The IQ test has some important baggage, and it can't be easily explained in sound bytes to people who haven't done any research and might still think lie detector tests are reliable.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
The Government Had No Intention of Reuniting Separated Families
They said they would be separating families. As cynical as I am, I did not take them at their word and assumed there was an implied "temporary"; but no, there is no bottom to this racist black hole.
posted by benzenedream at 1:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
They said they would be separating families. As cynical as I am, I did not take them at their word and assumed there was an implied "temporary"; but no, there is no bottom to this racist black hole.
posted by benzenedream at 1:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
So now gutless fucking piece of shit Chuck Schumer is calling Maxine Waters un-American.
That is a really astoundingly pathetic and sniveling absence of backbone, on top of not being true.
The conventional American reaction would be to tar and feather all C-level Trumpists and run them out of town on rails just for the fucking trade war tariff shit raising the prices of imported comfort goods. If Waters could be accused of in any way being un-American it would be for a mild response in proposing that we merely yell at the grafter child-thieving sycophantic government servants of Benedict-Arnold-times-a-million who are cheerfully helping him slouch his way into a dozen Abu Ghraibs for refugee kids.
posted by XMLicious at 1:23 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
More terrifying is that it is clear that a rollout that was months in the making seemingly didn’t include provisions for properly identifying and coordinating which children were removed from their families and how to reconnect them.
And yet I can track my fucking Amazon packages from Kentucky to Auckland. Vulnerable terrified children are clearly of less priority than my books and movies though right?
posted by supercrayon at 1:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
And yet I can track my fucking Amazon packages from Kentucky to Auckland. Vulnerable terrified children are clearly of less priority than my books and movies though right?
posted by supercrayon at 1:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Supercrayon, the difference is that Amazon regards you as a customer.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Maddow is playing video from the Cayuga Center in East Harlem where kids separated from their parents have been brought for day programs (they sleep at foster homes at night).
A friend forwarded a call for Spanish speaking families in NYC to foster these kids. Information sessions are every other Wednesday at 1767 Park ave 2nd Fl, Orange doors. I can send more info via memail.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
A friend forwarded a call for Spanish speaking families in NYC to foster these kids. Information sessions are every other Wednesday at 1767 Park ave 2nd Fl, Orange doors. I can send more info via memail.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
this civility conversation is a fascinating aspect of this nightmare
their definition of 'civility' conflates two different things: acting in a non-vulgar way so as to not bother other people and then the general not bothering people
'white nationalism' is not a vulgar epithet but telling white people that they're racist bothers them so much.
politely refusing service (I assume it was polite) to Sarah Sanders on the grounds that she promotes bad behavior that hurts people is not vulgar. But it bothered her very much. Or she pretended it did because the whole victimhood thing is working for them.
But it is not uncivil to disturb people. That's just ridiculous. You can argue for civility and still (with civility) deny Sanders service at the Little Red Hen. What they're doing is taking the effect (being bothered) and saying any instances of that must be caused by incivility
Thus insulting Maxine Waters's IQ becomes equivalent to denying service to Sanders
Ugh. Let the killer robots take over already.
posted by angrycat at 4:21 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
their definition of 'civility' conflates two different things: acting in a non-vulgar way so as to not bother other people and then the general not bothering people
'white nationalism' is not a vulgar epithet but telling white people that they're racist bothers them so much.
politely refusing service (I assume it was polite) to Sarah Sanders on the grounds that she promotes bad behavior that hurts people is not vulgar. But it bothered her very much. Or she pretended it did because the whole victimhood thing is working for them.
But it is not uncivil to disturb people. That's just ridiculous. You can argue for civility and still (with civility) deny Sanders service at the Little Red Hen. What they're doing is taking the effect (being bothered) and saying any instances of that must be caused by incivility
Thus insulting Maxine Waters's IQ becomes equivalent to denying service to Sanders
Ugh. Let the killer robots take over already.
posted by angrycat at 4:21 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
I really hate the likening of Sarah Sanders being refused service to anything cakeshop related. She wasn’t asked to leave because she’s a woman, or because she’s white, or because she’s straight or a mother or anything else that she doesn’t control. She was asked to leave because her actions made the waitstaff uncomfortable serving her. Actions have consequences, and to compare having to accept those consequences to being discriminated against really pisses me off.
Your complaint lies with Sarah Sanders, then, because she is the person who equated her own treatment with that of the cakeshop case.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Your complaint lies with Sarah Sanders, then, because she is the person who equated her own treatment with that of the cakeshop case.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
It sounds like what happened to Sanders was perfectly civil (although what that means in this case is just that the usual suspects on the right are weaponising anything and everything to their purpose, so it really means nothing at all). I suspect what will happen to them in the future isn't that sort of direct protest, or even that all their food smells faintly of urine, but they might find that the service is indefinably but noticeably worse than the people around them, the waiters polite but cold and unhelpful; that the food will take a long time to arrive and when it does, it's cold. Nothing that can be caught and punished, just a general, low key unpleasantness. They could make a scene, but that would just be embarrassing themselves (particularly as all the people looking on have had wonderful service and warm food). Of course they can refuse to leave a tip, but that will just tell the waiting staff that their mission has been accomplished.
*Sigh.* Just fanfic, of course, but I suspect that that's what everyday resistance will look like.
posted by Grangousier at 4:32 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
*Sigh.* Just fanfic, of course, but I suspect that that's what everyday resistance will look like.
posted by Grangousier at 4:32 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Harley-Davidson to Move Some Production From U.S. Because of E.U. Tariffs
I didn't see posting on Trump's train-wreck the follow-up to this.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
15h15 hours ago
posted by mikelieman at 5:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [30 favorites]
I didn't see posting on Trump's train-wreck the follow-up to this.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
15h15 hours ago
Surprised that Harley-Davidson, of all companies, would be the first to wave the White Flag. I fought hard for them and ultimately they will not pay tariffs selling into the E.U., which has hurt us badly on trade, down $151 Billion. Taxes just a Harley excuse - be patient!Bold strategy Cotton, calling HD cowards.
posted by mikelieman at 5:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [30 favorites]
Foreign Policy: America’s Uncivil Protests Are Straight Out of Latin America
Donald Trump's domestic critics are following South America's successful anti-strongman playbook
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:13 AM on June 26, 2018 [46 favorites]
Donald Trump's domestic critics are following South America's successful anti-strongman playbook
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:13 AM on June 26, 2018 [46 favorites]
More HD tweets, from an hour ago:
Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse. Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it.....And about twenty minutes ago:
....When I had Harley-Davidson officials over to the White House, I chided them about tariffs in other countries, like India, being too high. Companies are now coming back to America. Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!
A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end - they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!posted by box at 5:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump values jobs in proportion to how likely they are to appear in an ED pill commercial so it makes sense that he’s already tweeted about the Harley thing five times this morning
posted by theodolite at 5:40 AM on June 26, 2018 [68 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 5:40 AM on June 26, 2018 [68 favorites]
Theodolite, your comment needs to go into some archeological data archive for future historians to truly understand what life on the “most ridiculous” timeline was like for us.
posted by nikaspark at 5:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 5:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
China drops import tariffs on feed ingredients from Asian neighbours as US dispute mounts
China on Tuesday said it would remove import tariffs on animal feed ingredients including soybeans from five Asian neighbours, in a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies of the commodities as a trade dispute with the United States escalates.
The Ministry of Finance said it would drop tariffs on soybeans, soybean cake and fishmeal originating in Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka from July 1.
America First!
posted by PenDevil at 5:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [18 favorites]
China on Tuesday said it would remove import tariffs on animal feed ingredients including soybeans from five Asian neighbours, in a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies of the commodities as a trade dispute with the United States escalates.
The Ministry of Finance said it would drop tariffs on soybeans, soybean cake and fishmeal originating in Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka from July 1.
America First!
posted by PenDevil at 5:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [18 favorites]
Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced.
It was another genius move by this administration that caused that, pulling out of the TPP.
posted by peeedro at 5:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
It was another genius move by this administration that caused that, pulling out of the TPP.
posted by peeedro at 5:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
The Trump versus Harley dissonance must be causing some serious Acid Reflux amongst the mid-life crisis actors!
posted by srboisvert at 6:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [65 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 6:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [65 favorites]
Trevor Noah had a great bit on SHS and restaurant protests last night, and I would actually love for a restaurant to try his protest idea of just not serving her food but insisting that she had a full plate because the chef said so.
posted by TwoStride at 6:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 6:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
I really hate the likening of Sarah Sanders being refused service to anything cakeshop related. She wasn’t asked to leave because she’s a woman, or because she’s white, or because she’s straight or a mother or anything else that she doesn’t control. She was asked to leave because her actions made the waitstaff uncomfortable serving her.
She was judged not by the color of her skin, but by the content of her character. And I am a-okay with that.
posted by chris24 at 6:04 AM on June 26, 2018 [102 favorites]
She was judged not by the color of her skin, but by the content of her character. And I am a-okay with that.
posted by chris24 at 6:04 AM on June 26, 2018 [102 favorites]
Looks like Trump’s going to ruin Canada’s economy.* Once that happens it’ll be easier for Canada’s conservatives to plead poverty when it comes to funding health care, social programs and everything else they’d like to cut, privatize or do away with together. I would also expect an uptick in racism and xenophobia as standards of living drop. Here in Toronto the only money most people have is tied up in their property values, so if housing prices drop significantly they will flock to anyone who promises to halt that slide by any means, no matter how unworkable or unrealistic, or at least finds a scapegoat. Anyway, this is my gloomy Canadian prediction for the morning. It’s a beautiful day, at least.
* someone I know is having a house built and just found out it’s going to cost them an extra $25,000 because of Trump’s tarriffs.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
* someone I know is having a house built and just found out it’s going to cost them an extra $25,000 because of Trump’s tarriffs.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
It’s a beautiful day, at least.
PSA: Self-care. You don't have to click. Your dog wants to go for a walk. Breath. (( hugs ))
posted by mikelieman at 6:17 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
PSA: Self-care. You don't have to click. Your dog wants to go for a walk. Breath. (( hugs ))
posted by mikelieman at 6:17 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
For those who are geo-blocked from the Daily Show clip. Here's the same Trevor Noah clip, but from Comedy Central UK's channel.
posted by papercrane at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by papercrane at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Vis-a-vis the trade war: This is what you get when you elect demagogues in a climate of world-historic inequality. Trump isn't beholden to the conventional Republican circuit since he didn't come up through the party; instead, they're beholden to him, so there are no rich people to go behind the scenes and put the arm on him. And the various big Trump funders - Mercers, Kochs, etc - are so rich that the only thing global economic collapse is going to do is make them richer, so while they have enough power to put the arm on Trump, they don't want to.
posted by Frowner at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
The Trump versus Harley dissonance must be causing some serious Acid Reflux amongst the mid-life crisis actors!
Fairly easily resolved or deflected by blaming the foreigners in the equation, as usual. Considering the current level of xenophobic hostility in the US, it's scarifying to contemplate how these trade wars and their likely effect on the economy will impact immigrants and visitors.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Fairly easily resolved or deflected by blaming the foreigners in the equation, as usual. Considering the current level of xenophobic hostility in the US, it's scarifying to contemplate how these trade wars and their likely effect on the economy will impact immigrants and visitors.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
I love how the media salivate over “Dems in Disarray!!11!!1” but the Harley president (not a compliment) is openly warring with Harley fucking Davidson this morning. It’d be glorious if it weren’t for the trade war and all.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
The alleged advantages of free market capitalism really don’t come to much if they just devolve to “whoever is richest wrecks everything then buys the wreckage at fire sale prices”.
posted by Artw at 6:40 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:40 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
So I had no idea there was an election today until I saw stickers on Facebook. It took me 20 freaking minutes of googling before I confirmed that 1. the election is ONLY a federal primary and nothing else and 2. both my federal Dem incumbents are running uncontested.
Yay, but also IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS COMPLICATED.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:46 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yay, but also IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS COMPLICATED.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:46 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
NYT, Jim Tankersley, The New Tax Form Is Postcard-Size, but More Complicated Than Ever.
This is so dumb. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Changing line numbers on tax forms messes up SO many things - every single tax prep software program will need to be updated, instructions and guides will need to be updated, and new worksheets will need to be created - and most states piggyback on the federal forms to some extent, so those things need to happen at the state level too. Most people file electronically anyway, so the size of the form doesn't matter, and no one is going to be mailing an actual postcard with their SSN and income listed on it. You can print your tax owed/refund amount on a grain of rice and say "see attached schedules" - it doesn't make the tax preparation process any easier.
Some fun responses from taxtwitter: 1, 2
Some actual responses from taxtwitter: 1, 2
posted by melissasaurus at 6:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [36 favorites]
This is so dumb. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Changing line numbers on tax forms messes up SO many things - every single tax prep software program will need to be updated, instructions and guides will need to be updated, and new worksheets will need to be created - and most states piggyback on the federal forms to some extent, so those things need to happen at the state level too. Most people file electronically anyway, so the size of the form doesn't matter, and no one is going to be mailing an actual postcard with their SSN and income listed on it. You can print your tax owed/refund amount on a grain of rice and say "see attached schedules" - it doesn't make the tax preparation process any easier.
Some fun responses from taxtwitter: 1, 2
Some actual responses from taxtwitter: 1, 2
posted by melissasaurus at 6:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [36 favorites]
The Red Hen restaurant would make a killing in tshirts right now. But alas, only gift certs.
posted by ian1977 at 6:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ian1977 at 6:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Trump versus Harley dissonance must be causing some serious Acid Reflux amongst the mid-life crisis actors!
This morning's Financial Times (link, but paywall), included a short item featuring H-D plant workers on break commenting about the potential for layoffs and how they'd vote in 2020 as a result of the effect the President's policies is having on their livelihoods.
posted by notyou at 6:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [31 favorites]
This morning's Financial Times (link, but paywall), included a short item featuring H-D plant workers on break commenting about the potential for layoffs and how they'd vote in 2020 as a result of the effect the President's policies is having on their livelihoods.
“He’s making changes, trying to get the country back where it needs to be,” said one Harley worker, grinding a cigarette butt into the pavement before returning to work.(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by notyou at 6:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [31 favorites]
Rest assured, when that dude loses his job, it's going to be the fault of someone else. Immigrants, liberals, Obama, Hillary, take your pick.
Meanwhile, try to contain your surprise:
Trump’s VA pick, a longtime aide to polarizing politicians, has defended extreme views
(WaPo, Paul Sonne and Lisa Rein)
Meanwhile, try to contain your surprise:
Trump’s VA pick, a longtime aide to polarizing politicians, has defended extreme views
(WaPo, Paul Sonne and Lisa Rein)
Throughout, Wilkie showed a willingness to fight on the front lines of his bosses’ culture wars. Earlier this year he led efforts to justify Trump’s near wholesale ban on transgender troops. In 1997, he rebutted a Democratic proposal to ensure equal pay for working women. And in 1993, he publicly defended a failed push by Helms to support an organization whose logo included the Confederate flag.posted by soren_lorensen at 7:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
The hits from McConnell's Supreme Court just keep on coming.
@chrisgeidner: First decision is NIFLA v. Becerra. Thomas has the 5-4 decision split along ideological lines, finding that the California law's licensed notice "likely violates" the First Amendment and the unlicensed notice "unduly burdens speech." Breyer wrote the dissent. #SCOTUS
Here's the opinion there. That's an attack on California's law targeting "crisis pregnancy centers"; the law requires all pregnancy clinics to provide accurate information about their license status, what health care services they provide (i.e. whether they provide abortion). The case will go back for further proceedings.
posted by zachlipton at 7:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
@chrisgeidner: First decision is NIFLA v. Becerra. Thomas has the 5-4 decision split along ideological lines, finding that the California law's licensed notice "likely violates" the First Amendment and the unlicensed notice "unduly burdens speech." Breyer wrote the dissent. #SCOTUS
Here's the opinion there. That's an attack on California's law targeting "crisis pregnancy centers"; the law requires all pregnancy clinics to provide accurate information about their license status, what health care services they provide (i.e. whether they provide abortion). The case will go back for further proceedings.
posted by zachlipton at 7:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
It got worse.
@ReutersLegal: Breaking: #SCOTUS rules for President Trump over challenge to administration's travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries.
Here's that opinion, live blog at SCOTUSblog.
Ah. Fuck you Mitch.
posted by zachlipton at 7:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [61 favorites]
@ReutersLegal: Breaking: #SCOTUS rules for President Trump over challenge to administration's travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries.
Here's that opinion, live blog at SCOTUSblog.
Ah. Fuck you Mitch.
posted by zachlipton at 7:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [61 favorites]
My story is simple. So just shut up, all of you.
I like burritos. It's that simple, guys. I like beef and bean and chicken and bean. And I like the people that serve me. That's my baseline.
So when I was younger, me and my coworkers went every Friday to a "berto" for carne asada burritos. We did not care that the dudes in the back were Iranian. They just made the best burritos in town, damn.
Yeah, we were chowing down on Mexican food made by dudes from Iran, because that is America! America is the strength of immigrants putting food on the table because that is what they do.
I believe in America. E PLURIBUS UNUM! Godammit! How long until you get the idea!
posted by SPrintF at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
I like burritos. It's that simple, guys. I like beef and bean and chicken and bean. And I like the people that serve me. That's my baseline.
So when I was younger, me and my coworkers went every Friday to a "berto" for carne asada burritos. We did not care that the dudes in the back were Iranian. They just made the best burritos in town, damn.
Yeah, we were chowing down on Mexican food made by dudes from Iran, because that is America! America is the strength of immigrants putting food on the table because that is what they do.
I believe in America. E PLURIBUS UNUM! Godammit! How long until you get the idea!
posted by SPrintF at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Hey all, just checking in briefly. Two things to relate:
1) Another big primary night tonight, with New York federal, among others. Previews in the usual places.
2) Based on signs and graffiti, the Communists here in Bergen, Norway are not having any of this civility stuff.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
1) Another big primary night tonight, with New York federal, among others. Previews in the usual places.
2) Based on signs and graffiti, the Communists here in Bergen, Norway are not having any of this civility stuff.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
If President Obama had responded to Mitch McConnell's flouting of the spirit of the Constitution by appointing Merrick Garland during the Congressional recess, these 5-4 rulings would be going the other way. It's a tragedy. I hope the next Democratic president understands that if only one side skirts the rules, the other side loses, and innocent people suffer. Results are more important than decorum.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:29 AM on June 26, 2018 [97 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:29 AM on June 26, 2018 [97 favorites]
Kennedy's concurrence in the travel ban case is full clown. Here's the TLDR: gosh I hope the executive branch voluntarily decides not to violate our most basic Constitutional directives, since I am choosing not to restrain it!
posted by prefpara at 7:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by prefpara at 7:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
If the chambers flip in November, could a reversal of 1182(f), the law they’re leaning on that gives the President such broad powers, reverse the ban as well?
posted by corb at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2018
posted by corb at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2018
The judicial situation is going to get worse and probably means the effective end of rule of law and democracy if unaddressed. Really hope the Democrats can manage an actual response at some point.
posted by Artw at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by Artw at 7:32 AM on June 26, 2018 [26 favorites]
If President Obama had responded to Mitch McConnell's flouting of the spirit of the Constitution by appointing Merrick Garland during the Congressional recess, these 5-4 rulings would be going the other way
Personally, I wish every asshat here in Michigan who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton atones for every 5-4 decision for the rest of my life, but hey. What’re ya gonna do?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:33 AM on June 26, 2018 [34 favorites]
Personally, I wish every asshat here in Michigan who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton atones for every 5-4 decision for the rest of my life, but hey. What’re ya gonna do?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:33 AM on June 26, 2018 [34 favorites]
If the chambers flip in November, could a reversal of 1182(f), the law they’re leaning on that gives the President such broad powers, reverse the ban as well?
In this case I wouldn't count on the Democrats being able to overcome a filibuster.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:34 AM on June 26, 2018
In this case I wouldn't count on the Democrats being able to overcome a filibuster.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:34 AM on June 26, 2018
Majority: The law doesn't say the president can't be an asshole, so we'll let it stand.
Sotomayor: All evidence indicates it's a Muslim ban and therefore unconstitutional. Simply stating it in the language of national security dues not make it anything other than a Muslim ban.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:35 AM on June 26, 2018 [80 favorites]
Sotomayor: All evidence indicates it's a Muslim ban and therefore unconstitutional. Simply stating it in the language of national security dues not make it anything other than a Muslim ban.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:35 AM on June 26, 2018 [80 favorites]
Justice Roberts:
Roberts then goes on to explicitly overturn and denounce Korematsu, which is an interesting twist.
could a reversal of 1182(f), the law they’re leaning on that gives the President such broad powers, reverse the ban as well?
Why would Trump sign such a bill?
posted by zachlipton at 7:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
The President of the United States possesses an extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf. Our Presidents have frequently used that power to espouse the principles of religious freedom and tolerance on which this Nation was founded. In 1790 George Washington reassured the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island that “happily the Government of the United States . . . gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance [and] requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.” 6 Papers of George Washington 285 (D.Twohig ed. 1996). President Eisenhower, at the opening of the Islamic Center of Washington, similarly pledged to a Muslim audience that “America would fight with herwhole strength for your right to have here your own church,” declaring that “[t]his concept is indeed a part of America.” Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 28, 1957, p. 509 (1957). And just days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush returned to the same Islamic Center to implore his fellow Americans—Muslims and non-Muslims alike— to remember during their time of grief that “[t]he face of terror is not the true faith of Islam,” and that America is “a great country because we share the same values of respect and dignity and human worth.” Public Papers of the Presidents, George W. Bush, Vol. 2, Sept. 17, 2001, p. 1121 (2001). Yet it cannot be denied that the Federal Government and the Presidents who have carried its laws into effect have—from the Nation’s earliest days—performed unevenly in living up to those inspiring words.As I read that: "Presidents have said a lot of things about religious tolerance, but they've long been crap at doing it, so what does it matter that this one has said bigoted stuff?"
Plaintiffs argue that this President’s words strike at fundamental standards of respect and tolerance, in violation of our constitutional tradition. But the issue before us is not whether to denounce the statements. It is instead the significance of those statements in reviewing a Presidential directive, neutral on its face, addressing a matter within the core of executive responsibility. In doing so, we must consider not only the statements of a particular President, but also the authority of the Presidency itself.
Roberts then goes on to explicitly overturn and denounce Korematsu, which is an interesting twist.
could a reversal of 1182(f), the law they’re leaning on that gives the President such broad powers, reverse the ban as well?
Why would Trump sign such a bill?
posted by zachlipton at 7:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Roberts then goes on to explicitly overturn and denounce Korematsu, which is an interesting twist.
I'd call this a fig-leaf, but of course it is an important and excellent decision. Similarly, yesterday's decision to condemn Texas House District 90 (and only Texas House District 90) as unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered is an important and excellent decision.
It is almost as if the court is adding small good elements to its opinion to render the many bad elements more palatable. Perhaps it makes Justice Kennedy feel more comfortable voting in favor.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'd call this a fig-leaf, but of course it is an important and excellent decision. Similarly, yesterday's decision to condemn Texas House District 90 (and only Texas House District 90) as unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered is an important and excellent decision.
It is almost as if the court is adding small good elements to its opinion to render the many bad elements more palatable. Perhaps it makes Justice Kennedy feel more comfortable voting in favor.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
When concentration camps came to America, Chuck Schumer had *concerns*, for the camp guards.
That's part of the beauty of moving to military bases for detainment:
1) The people doing the work all willingly signed up for it.
2) The American culture of "Thank you for your service."
The only way to make the detainment worse would be finding an Indian tribe who'd use their land for a fat stack of cash or establishment of new tribal land for a tribe that has none.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
That's part of the beauty of moving to military bases for detainment:
1) The people doing the work all willingly signed up for it.
2) The American culture of "Thank you for your service."
The only way to make the detainment worse would be finding an Indian tribe who'd use their land for a fat stack of cash or establishment of new tribal land for a tribe that has none.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Meanwhile, on the election interference front, it doesn't sound like either Trump's DHS or the FBI is very willing to help prevent it. NYT: Top Tech Companies Met With Intelligence Officials to Discuss Midterms
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:48 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
The meeting, which took place May 23 at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., was also attended by representatives from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oath, Snap and Twitter, according to three attendees of the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because of its sensitive nature.[...]And on Twitter, @realDonaldTrump quotes a Fox talking head: '“The most profound question of our era: Was there a conspiracy in the Obama Department of Justice and the FBI to prevent Donald Trump from becoming President of the U.S., and was Strzok at the core of the conspiracy?” Judge Andrew Napolitano'
But the people who attended described a tense atmosphere in which the tech companies repeatedly pressed federal officials for information, only to be told — repeatedly — that no specific intelligence would be shared.
The tech companies shared details about disinformation campaigns they were witnessing on their platforms, but neither the F.B.I. nor the Department of Homeland Security was willing or able to share specific information about threats the tech companies should anticipate, the people said.[...]
One attendee of the meeting said the encounter led the tech companies to believe they would be on their own to counter election interference.[...]
Part of the problem, officials say, is that the White House has expressed little interest in the problem of Russian interference, and that the apathy has had a trickle-down effect. Without pressure from the top, it can be difficult to bring together all the different strands of intelligence collected across America’s spy agencies, and evaluate how to act on it.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:48 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
This is the line we draw in the sand now and forever: as long as he's campaigning, #45 gets NO MORE SUPREME COURT PICKS no matter what. no fucking ifs ands and buts. They set this precedent, there's no pussy-footing or "civility" or whatever around it. No more picks during a re-election campaign.
posted by andruwjones26 at 7:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [59 favorites]
posted by andruwjones26 at 7:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [59 favorites]
Yeah Kennedy's concurrence (page 45) is some weird shit. He's pretty much saying that there's a lot of stuff government officials can say or do that might violate the Constitution but aren't subject to judicial scrutiny, but it's very important those officials follow the Constitution anyway . What does he think his job is exactly? Why have a whole category of stuff where the Supreme Court only acts as cheerleaders instead of justices?
Meanwhile, Roberts writes, "As a result, we may consider plaintiffs’ extrinsic evidence, but will uphold the policy so long as it can reasonably be understood to result from a justification independent of unconstitutional grounds." This seems to be pretty much just giving Trump a template to enact whatever bigotry into law he wants as long as he can come up with a half-decent reason. And with racists, there's always some reason.
posted by zachlipton at 7:54 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
Meanwhile, Roberts writes, "As a result, we may consider plaintiffs’ extrinsic evidence, but will uphold the policy so long as it can reasonably be understood to result from a justification independent of unconstitutional grounds." This seems to be pretty much just giving Trump a template to enact whatever bigotry into law he wants as long as he can come up with a half-decent reason. And with racists, there's always some reason.
posted by zachlipton at 7:54 AM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
Reading through this is a slog, and it’s hard for me to copy/paste on my phone, but it looks like on page 19 of the opinion, Roberts is saying Congress broadened the President’s powers to exclude people post-WWII, in 1952, which makes me bleakly sure that the powers which were broadened to enable more exclusion of Nazis are now being used by proto-Nazis.
Also on page 31, Roberts cites an awful lot of Kennedy-written opinions - was he using Kennedy to argue with Kennedy?
Also the opinion seems like it’s overturning the preliminary injunction but remanding it back to the lower courts - does that mean non-injunctive challenges could proceed?
posted by corb at 7:54 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also on page 31, Roberts cites an awful lot of Kennedy-written opinions - was he using Kennedy to argue with Kennedy?
Also the opinion seems like it’s overturning the preliminary injunction but remanding it back to the lower courts - does that mean non-injunctive challenges could proceed?
posted by corb at 7:54 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ok who’s got the antidote to despair today? Whenever you’re ready, obviously, but now is a good time.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 7:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
Bloomberg has a whisperer, and a prediction.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Paul Manafort is still in jail...
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
From that Bloomberg link:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to accelerate his probe into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russians who sought to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a person familiar with the investigation.posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Mueller and his team of prosecutors and investigators have an eye toward producing conclusions -- and possible indictments -- related to collusion by fall, said the person, who asked not to be identified. He’ll be able to turn his full attention to the issue as he resolves other questions, including deciding soon whether to find that Trump sought to obstruct justice.
A few days ago Amanda Marcotte wrote an insightful piece about Trump and his alleged incompetence. Basically she argues that when it comes to trolling and cruelty, Trump is, if not brilliant, at least skillful and capable. And that a great many of his acts make perfet sense if viewed as efforts to produce maximum cruelty.
We've got Trump's Mirror, we've got Trump's Razor, I think we need a rule about that too.
Trump's Law maybe. Never attribute to incompetence what can be more adequately explained as deliberate cruelty.
The Trump administration's total lack of any way to reunite separated families isn't incompetence. It's deliberate, calculated, intentional, and well executed, cruelty. There was never any intent to reunited the families, the children are being taken away forever because that's what inflicts the most anguish on the victims.
Trump has said on many occasions that he is a vindictive, cruel, person. It's long past time that we believed him.
Like Marcotte, I've got no doubt that Trump is, at best, a bit dim. But when it comes to cruelty, malice, and vengeance on his foes (real or imagined) Trump is pretty darn good at it.
And that ties back into his trolling. He revels in his cruelty with just **BARELY** the tiniest fig leaf of denial that the media can cling to and pretend he's normal while his base laughs along with him at the suffering of the groups and individuals they hate.
When cruelty and incompetence are both possibilities to explain Trump's behavior, it's probably best to assume cruelty until evidence to the contrary is found. Assuming incompetence when Trump's acts can be explained by cruelty is, sadly, naive.
posted by sotonohito at 8:02 AM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
We've got Trump's Mirror, we've got Trump's Razor, I think we need a rule about that too.
Trump's Law maybe. Never attribute to incompetence what can be more adequately explained as deliberate cruelty.
The Trump administration's total lack of any way to reunite separated families isn't incompetence. It's deliberate, calculated, intentional, and well executed, cruelty. There was never any intent to reunited the families, the children are being taken away forever because that's what inflicts the most anguish on the victims.
Trump has said on many occasions that he is a vindictive, cruel, person. It's long past time that we believed him.
Like Marcotte, I've got no doubt that Trump is, at best, a bit dim. But when it comes to cruelty, malice, and vengeance on his foes (real or imagined) Trump is pretty darn good at it.
And that ties back into his trolling. He revels in his cruelty with just **BARELY** the tiniest fig leaf of denial that the media can cling to and pretend he's normal while his base laughs along with him at the suffering of the groups and individuals they hate.
When cruelty and incompetence are both possibilities to explain Trump's behavior, it's probably best to assume cruelty until evidence to the contrary is found. Assuming incompetence when Trump's acts can be explained by cruelty is, sadly, naive.
posted by sotonohito at 8:02 AM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
Resistance is working. Public shaming is working. We have truth, humanity, and stamina on our side. Together, we will win.
posted by erisfree at 8:03 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by erisfree at 8:03 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
Sotomayor's dissent is really brutal and excellent. She throws Masterpiece Cakeshop back in their faces (look at pdf page 89 on). Too bad it's a dissent and not the majority opinion.
posted by prefpara at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by prefpara at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
Thanks a lot for that Charles Peirce article.
Suckabee/Nielsen/Miller's Civility-gate is made all the more absurd because:
Also, Fuck Chuck Schumer.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
Suckabee/Nielsen/Miller's Civility-gate is made all the more absurd because:
- Their base is the exact crowd who loves the idea of "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone"
- Sarah Huckabee Sanders--along with her father, brother, and boss--has been impolite, rude, discourteous, disrespectful, unmannerly, bad-mannered, impertinent, impudent, ungracious, brusque, sharp, curt, offhand, gruff, churlish, snippy, boorish, and downright shitty, in public, more-or-less constantly, since we've known about any of them.
- They were at Haute "Mexican" restaurants in the DMV, where we all hate them
- Baby Concentration Camps
- This is the party that elected Donald Trump president
Also, Fuck Chuck Schumer.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
I feel like we've been told Mueller is "close" to announcing something/making the next move/preparing to do something for a very, very, very long time.
posted by agregoli at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by agregoli at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Rebecca Solnit: Not Caring is a Political Art Form
Sometimes it seems to me a better way to organize the political spectrum than along a continuum of right and left would be the ideology of disconnection versus the ideology of connection. In the short term we are working to protect the rights of immigrants and to prevent families from being torn apart at the border—and to address the relationship between our greenhouse gas emissions and the global climate, between our economic systems and poverty, between what we do and what happens beyond us, because the ideology of isolation is in part a denial of cause and effect relations, and a demand to be unburdened even from scientific fact and the historical and linguistic structures governing truth.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Sometimes it seems to me a better way to organize the political spectrum than along a continuum of right and left would be the ideology of disconnection versus the ideology of connection. In the short term we are working to protect the rights of immigrants and to prevent families from being torn apart at the border—and to address the relationship between our greenhouse gas emissions and the global climate, between our economic systems and poverty, between what we do and what happens beyond us, because the ideology of isolation is in part a denial of cause and effect relations, and a demand to be unburdened even from scientific fact and the historical and linguistic structures governing truth.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Mod note: Folks, going to ask that we leave it there on "should we be generally optimistic or pessimistic, is there any hope, does anything ever go right", because inevitably this descends into a bunch of people feeling they need to say even more about why there's no hope, and we don't need that. So - specific updates yes, general doomsaying no.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Also, JFC, Thomas uses his concurrence to argue against injunctions for affected classes - like, their /existing at all/. I just want to throw something at him.
posted by corb at 8:08 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by corb at 8:08 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
So, in the cake case, the Supreme Court ruled that the wrong decision was made because the officials said things that might indicate an anti-religious bias even though the ruling was made on non-religious grounds and did not reference any animosity to religion.
But in the Muslim ban case the Supreme Court ruled that even though the government explicitly said it was targeting Muslims it was OK because the rule doesn't say it's anti-Muslim and didn't reference any animosity to Islam.
Likewise I note that the Supreme Court rejected claims from doctors that state laws forcing them to read medically inaccurate information (that is, lies) to patients seeking abortion violated their free speech. But the Court has now ruled that laws prohibiting "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" from lying are unconstitutional impositions on their free speech.
Yet again we have the Democrats (in this case the Democratic Justices) falling for Lucy and the football. Surely **THIS** time, they tell themselves, the Republicans will be reasonable and they can kick that football into the stratosphere!
And this time, like every time in the past, the Republicans yank the football away at the last second and leave the Democrats baffled, confused, and hurt that those good and honorable Republicans would behave in such a way. No one could possibly have predicted this, they say to themselves.
Do you suppose Sotomayor and the other "liberal" justices who joined with the Republicans on the cake decision feeling even slightly remorseful and foolish? Or are they convincing themselves that by voting with the Republicans they were "taking the high ground" rather than being played for suckers?
posted by sotonohito at 8:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
But in the Muslim ban case the Supreme Court ruled that even though the government explicitly said it was targeting Muslims it was OK because the rule doesn't say it's anti-Muslim and didn't reference any animosity to Islam.
Likewise I note that the Supreme Court rejected claims from doctors that state laws forcing them to read medically inaccurate information (that is, lies) to patients seeking abortion violated their free speech. But the Court has now ruled that laws prohibiting "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" from lying are unconstitutional impositions on their free speech.
Yet again we have the Democrats (in this case the Democratic Justices) falling for Lucy and the football. Surely **THIS** time, they tell themselves, the Republicans will be reasonable and they can kick that football into the stratosphere!
And this time, like every time in the past, the Republicans yank the football away at the last second and leave the Democrats baffled, confused, and hurt that those good and honorable Republicans would behave in such a way. No one could possibly have predicted this, they say to themselves.
Do you suppose Sotomayor and the other "liberal" justices who joined with the Republicans on the cake decision feeling even slightly remorseful and foolish? Or are they convincing themselves that by voting with the Republicans they were "taking the high ground" rather than being played for suckers?
posted by sotonohito at 8:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
I just posted this on my Facebook but it bears repeating here:
When the right accuses the left of “incivility” for refusing service to someone for their political activity, immediately after the right legalizes refusing service to someone on the basis of their sexuality, and legalizes putting children in literal cages, this is a technique of emotional abuse commonly referred to as DARVO:
Deny
Accuse
Reverse Victim and Offender
It forces the accused off-balance and provokes them into a reaction commonly referred to as JADE:
Justify
Argue
Defend
Explain
Don’t fall for it. The purpose of these accusations is not to do anything but take the attention off what the right is ACTUALLY DOING in real life. It is an attempt to psych you out and make you unsure about the legitimacy of your own response.
Your response to inhumane practices and moral injustice is, rightfully, outrage and a call to eradicate it, and to depose the people who want to enact it and enforce it. Focus on that.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:10 AM on June 26, 2018 [101 favorites]
When the right accuses the left of “incivility” for refusing service to someone for their political activity, immediately after the right legalizes refusing service to someone on the basis of their sexuality, and legalizes putting children in literal cages, this is a technique of emotional abuse commonly referred to as DARVO:
Deny
Accuse
Reverse Victim and Offender
It forces the accused off-balance and provokes them into a reaction commonly referred to as JADE:
Justify
Argue
Defend
Explain
Don’t fall for it. The purpose of these accusations is not to do anything but take the attention off what the right is ACTUALLY DOING in real life. It is an attempt to psych you out and make you unsure about the legitimacy of your own response.
Your response to inhumane practices and moral injustice is, rightfully, outrage and a call to eradicate it, and to depose the people who want to enact it and enforce it. Focus on that.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:10 AM on June 26, 2018 [101 favorites]
Regarding Sarah Huckabee Sanders getting kicked out of The Red Hen -- "I really don't care" and wish we could talk about something else. Like the camps. And the fact that apparently it's now legal to discriminate against whole religious groups as long as you lie and say you're doing something else.
But I came across this Twitter thread which I think makes a very good point about the broader general issue of double standards for civility.
But I came across this Twitter thread which I think makes a very good point about the broader general issue of double standards for civility.
What we (political scientists) know is that self-identified conservatives tend to hold generally left-leaning policy positions. Self-identified liberals are also left-leaning. [...]posted by OnceUponATime at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2018 [53 favorites]
So there are very few, if any, liberals who hold positions from the right (greater than 0.5) end of the spectrum. There are a significant number of self-identified conservatives who hold attitudes on the left end of the issue spectrum.
What this means is that policy-centric campaigning will only work for Democrats. The GOP needs to use more identity- and threat-based appeals.
This is backed up by my research with @julie_wronski demonstrating that the GOP is more powerfully fueled by (white, Evangelical) identity politics than Democrats are fueled by their own groups’ identities.
So, there is empirical evidence that the GOP is better incentivized to use rhetoric based on identity threat. They are therefore more prone to using inflammatory language, and more threatened by challenges to their supremacy.
This puts Democrats in the position of needing to respect the feelings of their opponents, while those opponents are motivated largely by the power of outrage. It’s not an even fight. So it is important to avoid equalizing civility claims.
He revels in his cruelty with just **BARELY** the tiniest fig leaf of denial that the media can cling to and pretend he's normal while his base laughs along with him at the suffering of the groups and individuals they hate.
This is the hallmark of all narcissists. They are the greatest person to those that barely know them. To anyone who depends on them (children, employees), they are brutally cruel, but they always get away with it.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2018 [18 favorites]
This is the hallmark of all narcissists. They are the greatest person to those that barely know them. To anyone who depends on them (children, employees), they are brutally cruel, but they always get away with it.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2018 [18 favorites]
Hadn’t seen this posted yet:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Who Deserves a Place at the Table (Adam Gopnik | The New Yorker)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Who Deserves a Place at the Table (Adam Gopnik | The New Yorker)
Nothing is more fundamental to human relations than deciding who has a place at the table—and nothing is more essential to our idea of humanism than expanding that table, symbolically and actually, adding extra chairs and places and settings as we can. Jesus—at least as he is reported, or invented, by the author of the Gospel of Mark—was the Kropotkin of commensality, blowing up the long history of Jewish food rules, by feasting with publicans and tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners of all kinds. It was nearly the whole point of his ministry. The Homeric Greeks, as any reader of the Odyssey will recall, obsessed about sharing food and offering places at the feast: to fail to offer food to the well-worn traveller is an insult to the gods (one of whom may, after all, have disguised herself as the needy wanderer). The modern restaurant—invented in Paris, after the Revolution—is a little temple of commensality: all you need, as shown in so many early Chaplin shorts, is five cents to enter and then to share.posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [70 favorites]
All of this, of course, leads us to the less spectacular but still potent instance of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, who, over the weekend, was asked to leave a farm-to-table restaurant in Virginia called the Red Hen. It was not some fiery mob that drove her out, by the way, like protesters did to Kirstjen Nielsen at a D.C. Mexican restaurant last week; Sanders was asked to leave by the restaurant’s owner. “I’m not a huge fan of confrontation,” the Red Hen’s Stephanie Wilkinson said afterward. “I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. [But] this feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.”
... On the other hand, the Trump Administration is not a normal Presidential Administration. This is the essential and easily fudged fact of our historical moment. The Trump Administration is—in ways that are specific to incipient tyrannies—all about an assault on civility. To the degree that Trump has any ideology at all, it’s a hatred of civility—a belief that the normal decencies painfully evolved over centuries are signs of weakness which occlude the natural order of domination and submission. It’s why Trump admires dictators. Theirs are his values; that’s his feast. And, to end the normal discourse of democracy, the Trump Administration must make lies respectable—lying not tactically but all the time about everything, in a way that does not just degrade but destroys exactly the common table of democratic debate.
That’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s chosen role in life—to further those lies, treat lies as truth, and make lies acceptable. This is not just a question of protesting a particular policy; in the end there are no policies, only the infantile impulses of a man veering from one urge to another. The great threat to American democracy isn’t “policy” but the pretense of normalcy. That’s the danger, for with the lies come the appeasement of tyranny, the admiration of tyranny, and, as now seems increasingly likely, the secret alliance with tyranny. That’s what makes the Trump Administration intolerable, and, inasmuch as it is intolerable, public shaming and shunning of those who take part in it seems just. Never before in American politics has there been so plausible a reason for exclusion from the common meal as the act of working for Donald Trump.
And what about civility? Well, fundamental to, and governing the practice of, civility is the principle of reciprocity: your place at my table implies my place at yours. Conservatives and liberals, right-wingers and left-wingers, Jews and Muslims and Christians and Socialists and round- and flat-Earthers—all should have a place at any table and be welcome to sit where they like. On the other hand, someone who has decided to make it her public role to extend, with a blizzard of falsehoods, the words of a pathological liar, and to support, with pretended piety, the acts of a public person of unparalleled personal cruelty—well, that person has asked us in advance to exclude her from our common meal. You cannot spit in the plates and then demand your dinner. The best way to receive civility at night is to not assault it all day long. It’s the simple wisdom of the table.
So, in the cake case, the Supreme Court ruled that the wrong decision was made because the officials said things that might indicate an anti-religious bias even though the ruling was made on non-religious grounds and did not reference any animosity to religion.
Justice Sotomayor agrees with you: "Notably, the Court recently found less pervasive official expressions of hostility and the failure to disavow them to be constitutionally significant. Cf. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n...It should find the same here."
There's no coherent judicial philosophy here, just Calvinball.
posted by zachlipton at 8:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Justice Sotomayor agrees with you: "Notably, the Court recently found less pervasive official expressions of hostility and the failure to disavow them to be constitutionally significant. Cf. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n...It should find the same here."
There's no coherent judicial philosophy here, just Calvinball.
posted by zachlipton at 8:19 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Most of the time, Supreme Court dissents end, “I respectfully dissent.” This time, Sotomayor left off “respectfully.” That might not seem like a lot, but it’s a signal of how profoundly distasteful she finds the majority judgment.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [76 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [76 favorites]
> Do you suppose Sotomayor and the other "liberal" justices who joined with the Republicans on the cake decision feeling even slightly remorseful and foolish? Or are they convincing themselves that by voting with the Republicans they were "taking the high ground" rather than being played for suckers?
Sotomayor (and Ginsburg) dissented in Masterpiece Cakeshop. Kagan and Breyer joined the majority, which was likely a tactical move, not so much for the Court as currently comprised, but for a future time when we hopefully have 5 or more members that give a shit about intellectual honesty and consistency.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:22 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Sotomayor (and Ginsburg) dissented in Masterpiece Cakeshop. Kagan and Breyer joined the majority, which was likely a tactical move, not so much for the Court as currently comprised, but for a future time when we hopefully have 5 or more members that give a shit about intellectual honesty and consistency.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:22 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
One of my concerns about resistance is that we no longer have the strong support networks and social infrastructure that we did the last time a widespread resistance movement was successful. Divide and conquer is a real thing. The Civil Rights movement relied on strong social networks and mutual material support, and so they were able to weather decades of bullshit while they accomplished their legislative and judicial goals.
We don’t have those social networks or infrastructure anymore. Most people are isolated. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck. And we don’t have a friendly judiciary.
I think any resistance movement is going to have to reconcile these things if it has a hope of survival, let alone success. We have to be able to take care of each other. Mutual aid and support will need to be one of the main missions so that people do feel like they can throw their bodies on the gears. Food, shelter, childcare, legal aide, medical care. People won’t resist if they know they’ll lose everything for what might be an ineffectual gesture. (Unless they have nothing to lose, at which point we are fucked.)
And honest to God, I don’t know how to do that, and I don’t know anybody who does.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
We don’t have those social networks or infrastructure anymore. Most people are isolated. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck. And we don’t have a friendly judiciary.
I think any resistance movement is going to have to reconcile these things if it has a hope of survival, let alone success. We have to be able to take care of each other. Mutual aid and support will need to be one of the main missions so that people do feel like they can throw their bodies on the gears. Food, shelter, childcare, legal aide, medical care. People won’t resist if they know they’ll lose everything for what might be an ineffectual gesture. (Unless they have nothing to lose, at which point we are fucked.)
And honest to God, I don’t know how to do that, and I don’t know anybody who does.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:27 AM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted; again, please lay off the general broad predictions/ ruminations/ doom/ betrayal/ "what I'm afraid will happen" etc scenarios. We have gone over them a million times. In the name of keeping these threads more usable and less repetitious, please stick to actual events. If you need to vent emotions or just chitchat please go to the WTF thread or Chat or elsewhere on the site.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
To follow up: I think this is the thing we need to learn how to do. I think that is how we move forward.
Does anyone know how to do this? I guess this is community building?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Does anyone know how to do this? I guess this is community building?
posted by schadenfrau at 8:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
@nancyleong: This is an incredibly disingenuous statement by Roberts. It is bizarre to say that "Korematsu has nothing to do with this case," when Trump literally invoked Japanese internment on TV in 2015 to justify the legality of a Muslim ban. "What I'm doing is no different than FDR" Trump said that on Good Morning America. Korematsu has everything to do with this case.
posted by zachlipton at 8:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [70 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 8:30 AM on June 26, 2018 [70 favorites]
Divide and conquer is a real thing
Care for your comrades. Sometimes this is donating to a bail Fund, sometimes it’s showing uo to add yur body, sometimes it’s cooking food or giving someone a ride. We are all in this together.
If giving money doesn’t feel like *enough* then give until it hurts, and give directly.
posted by The Whelk at 8:31 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Care for your comrades. Sometimes this is donating to a bail Fund, sometimes it’s showing uo to add yur body, sometimes it’s cooking food or giving someone a ride. We are all in this together.
If giving money doesn’t feel like *enough* then give until it hurts, and give directly.
posted by The Whelk at 8:31 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Also Today is election day in New York's 14th Congressional District! All the solidarity in the world with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
posted by The Whelk at 8:33 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:33 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
Like Marcotte, I've got no doubt that Trump is, at best, a bit dim. But when it comes to cruelty, malice, and vengeance on his foes (real or imagined) Trump is pretty darn good at it.
I prefer this, Trump's Malice. Much more descriptive if a bit less grammatical. You know what you're getting, it describes itself.
posted by scalefree at 8:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
I prefer this, Trump's Malice. Much more descriptive if a bit less grammatical. You know what you're getting, it describes itself.
posted by scalefree at 8:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Does anyone know how to do this? I guess this is community building?
Community building's one way of putting it but more simply we just require more physical human proximity and direct nonmercantile human-to-human communication. People need to be doing literally anything around and with other human beings that doesn't involve screens or customer service interactions.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Community building's one way of putting it but more simply we just require more physical human proximity and direct nonmercantile human-to-human communication. People need to be doing literally anything around and with other human beings that doesn't involve screens or customer service interactions.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
I don’t know how to do that, and I don’t know anybody who does.
Allow me to direct you to your local IWW. An injury to one is an injury to all.
posted by corb at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
Allow me to direct you to your local IWW. An injury to one is an injury to all.
posted by corb at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
To follow up: I think this is the thing we need to learn how to do. I think that is how we move forward.
Does anyone know how to do this?
There's a Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA meeting this Thursday at 6:30pm in Washington Heights [tweet; FB link]. If anyone else is planning to attend, memail me!
posted by melissasaurus at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Does anyone know how to do this?
There's a Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA meeting this Thursday at 6:30pm in Washington Heights [tweet; FB link]. If anyone else is planning to attend, memail me!
posted by melissasaurus at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Trump Compares His Propaganda to North Korea’s at Bizarre South Carolina Rally
“They took down anti–United States signs all over North Korea,” he said. “They’re down. They took ‘em down. Anti-U.S. signs, like I put up anti-media signs all over the place.”posted by kirkaracha at 8:43 AM on June 26, 2018 [34 favorites]
Well, yes, Trump’s method for discrediting the news media is quite similar to North Korea’s method of discrediting the United States. How unusually insightful of Trump to recognize the parallels, which would normally discomfit a democratically elected official.
Trump and his supporters insisted that the original Muslim travel ban was only temporary and that they just needed 90 days to "figure out what is going on."
That was 514 days ago, so they've had plenty of time to figure out whatever it was they needed to figure out. Thus, despite today's Supreme Court decision, there shouldn't be any need to resurrect the ban, right?
Unless they were lying about it only being temporary...
posted by Jacqueline at 8:43 AM on June 26, 2018 [43 favorites]
That was 514 days ago, so they've had plenty of time to figure out whatever it was they needed to figure out. Thus, despite today's Supreme Court decision, there shouldn't be any need to resurrect the ban, right?
Unless they were lying about it only being temporary...
posted by Jacqueline at 8:43 AM on June 26, 2018 [43 favorites]
@nancyleong: This is an incredibly disingenuous statement by Roberts. It is bizarre to say that "Korematsu has nothing to do with this case," when Trump literally invoked Japanese internment on TV in 2015 to justify the legality of a Muslim ban. "What I'm doing is no different than FDR" Trump said that on Good Morning America. Korematsu has everything to do with this case.
It fits with the conceit of the opinion, which is to pretend that a hypothetical Reasonable Republican President™ (presumably the same one Pence keeps saying he works with) signed the order and then evaluate it completely divorced from the statements the actual president has made.
If there's a silver lining to this bullshit, it's that the conservatives' insistence on ruling for their team every time leads to contradictory logic that will all but require future justices (assuming as always that the current structure of American government and life on Earth continue into saner times) to ignore stare decisis and overturn some or all of these decisions because it's impossible to reconcile them in an objective analysis.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:45 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
It fits with the conceit of the opinion, which is to pretend that a hypothetical Reasonable Republican President™ (presumably the same one Pence keeps saying he works with) signed the order and then evaluate it completely divorced from the statements the actual president has made.
If there's a silver lining to this bullshit, it's that the conservatives' insistence on ruling for their team every time leads to contradictory logic that will all but require future justices (assuming as always that the current structure of American government and life on Earth continue into saner times) to ignore stare decisis and overturn some or all of these decisions because it's impossible to reconcile them in an objective analysis.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:45 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
TPM: McConnell Camp Gloats About Gorsuch After SCOTUS Upholds Trump Travel Ban
Content Warning: images of smiling McConnell.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Content Warning: images of smiling McConnell.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
We can debate civility until the cows come home but there's one stark fact that sticks out. If Democrats voted in mid terms like they did in presidential years the Republican party as it stands would cease to exist. It would be forced to change after being wiped out nationally and in many state houses. Racism and kowtowing to fascism would be completely unviable as a political strategy.
You want to stop this? Vote. Get everyone out there to vote. Help people out to vote. Democrats need to just run on policy, run on GOTV.
The people are there. The people are consistently there in years divisible by 4. We don't need swing voters or independents, just get our own people to the polls and we win. Republicans bring out 70-80% of their presidential voters in a mid term. Democrats? Somewhere around 60-70%. The sheer few number of people that vote in what could be easy wins are mind boggling.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
You want to stop this? Vote. Get everyone out there to vote. Help people out to vote. Democrats need to just run on policy, run on GOTV.
The people are there. The people are consistently there in years divisible by 4. We don't need swing voters or independents, just get our own people to the polls and we win. Republicans bring out 70-80% of their presidential voters in a mid term. Democrats? Somewhere around 60-70%. The sheer few number of people that vote in what could be easy wins are mind boggling.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
One very small consolation.
Quinta Jurecic (Lawfare)
the reason trump "won" this case is that they diluted the ban down TWICE
posted by chris24 at 8:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Quinta Jurecic (Lawfare)
the reason trump "won" this case is that they diluted the ban down TWICE
posted by chris24 at 8:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
They're going to run around doing a victory dance on this and the media will pull its usual breathless bullshit about the regime being "powerful" and "triumphant" and having "momentum."
Don't buy it. They're still completely incompetent. The policy is still bigoted, still bullshit, still entirely worthy of protest and contempt. They're still engaged in mass child abuse targeting legal asylum seekers, too.
Find your protest for this coming Saturday and show up.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
Don't buy it. They're still completely incompetent. The policy is still bigoted, still bullshit, still entirely worthy of protest and contempt. They're still engaged in mass child abuse targeting legal asylum seekers, too.
Find your protest for this coming Saturday and show up.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
#NoMuslimBan emergency protests today following the SCOTUS decision. About a couple dozen organized so far.
posted by AFABulous at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
CBS: Experts say U.S. among 10 most dangerous nations for women
posted by zombieflanders at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 8:52 AM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
note: scaryblackdeath's link and mine are two different protests
posted by AFABulous at 8:53 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 8:53 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oklahoma teachers went on strike. Nearly 100 of them are now running for office to unseat Republican lawmakers. - Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox
About two-dozen lawmakers in the state and house voted against a bill that gave teachers a $6,000 average pay raise by hiking taxes on cigarettes, gas drilling, and internet sales. The measure ultimately passed, but those who voted against it have faced teachers’ ire: “We will remember in November” teachers commented on Facebook as they passed around a list of lawmakers who voted against the measure or voted against attempts to open discussion on public education.posted by ZeusHumms at 9:04 AM on June 26, 2018 [38 favorites]
Their stance has made them the most vulnerable incumbents heading into Tuesday’s primary election. Ten of the 19 House Republicans in the state legislature who voted against the tax bill to give teachers a raise are now being challenged by at least one teacher or school administrator — in several races, three or four educators are challenging them.
TPM: McConnell Camp Gloats About Gorsuch After SCOTUS Upholds Trump Travel Ban
There is no daylight between Trump and the current Republican Party.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:04 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
There is no daylight between Trump and the current Republican Party.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 9:04 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
In case you were wondering: The Red Hen and the Weaponization of Yelp -- WIRED looks at how Yelp responds to surges of trolls and counter-trolls down- and up-voting establishments.
zachlipton: @chrisgeidner: First decision is NIFLA v. Becerra. Thomas has the 5-4 decision split along ideological lines, finding that the California law's licensed notice "likely violates" the First Amendment and the unlicensed notice "unduly burdens speech." Breyer wrote the dissent.
In other words: Supreme Court Sides With California Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers
Maybe it's time to picket these fake facilities with simple signs: This Is Not A Family Planning Center
posted by filthy light thief at 9:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [38 favorites]
zachlipton: @chrisgeidner: First decision is NIFLA v. Becerra. Thomas has the 5-4 decision split along ideological lines, finding that the California law's licensed notice "likely violates" the First Amendment and the unlicensed notice "unduly burdens speech." Breyer wrote the dissent.
In other words: Supreme Court Sides With California Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers
Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, said in a statement, "To be clear, this case was not about abortion. Malicious abortion politics definitely were the motivation behind it, but the case centered on the inappropriate mandate of the state compelling pro-life clinics to promote abortion in violation of their consciences. The case was about forced speech."Again and AGAIN, I am reminded there is no such thing as "conservative civility" when it comes to politicized topics. Abortion providers made to be quasi-hospitals? It's the only way! (Overturned, but the damage is lasting.) Anti-abortion "clinics" allowed to look like actual family planning centers, even with similar names and people wearing scrubs? Not a problem!
The case began in 2015 when California passed a law known as the Reproductive FACT Act. (It stands for Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency.)
The impetus was twofold — first, allegations that pregnancy centers opposed to abortion were using deceptive practices; and second, concern that lower-income women, in particular, weren't aware of the free pregnancy-related services California provides, from prenatal and delivery care to birth control and abortion.
The FACT Act requires unlicensed crisis pregnancy centers to post a sign or otherwise disclose to their clients in writing that the center is not a licensed medical facility and has no licensed medical provider who supervises the provision of services. The disclosure requirement extends to advertising, which anti-abortion pregnancy centers objected to as an attempt to "drown out" their message.
Maybe it's time to picket these fake facilities with simple signs: This Is Not A Family Planning Center
posted by filthy light thief at 9:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [38 favorites]
Jimmy Fallon leans into Trump feud: Melania, “I don’t think your anti-bullying campaign is working” - Rachel Leah, Salon.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
If Democrats voted in mid terms like they did in presidential years the Republican party as it stands would cease to exist.
The DNC should buy up a bunch of billboards all over the country in October that simply say:
(So, to whom should I send my tax info for that fat political strategist paycheck?)
posted by Jacqueline at 9:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
The DNC should buy up a bunch of billboards all over the country in October that simply say:
STOP TRUMPThat's it. That's all they need to say. Don't bother mentioning candidates or policies, you'll just confuse people.
VOTE DEMOCRAT
NOVEMBER 6
(So, to whom should I send my tax info for that fat political strategist paycheck?)
posted by Jacqueline at 9:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
Asking the FCC and DHS to, you know, do their jobs -- Senator to FCC: How much do police stingrays drain a cellphone battery? -- "If the Commission does not conduct or require testing, please explain why…" (Cyrus Farivar for Ars Technica, June 26, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Recently, as part of Sen. Wyden's ongoing efforts to shed more light on the shadowy technology, the Department of Homeland Security told the senator that there were foreign-controlled fake cell-tower surveillance devices in Washington, DC. DHS said that, not only did it not know how to find them, the agency could not determine whether stingrays interfere with 911 calls.Seems like this is more of a concern to national safety and security than so many other things DHS and FCC focus on.
Now, Wyden wants to know what the FCC knows about this type of disruption. Amongst his slew of new questions—which he has said the agency must answer by July 13—he wants to know about what level of testing it has done, and if it hasn’t, why not.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Quinta Jurecic (Lawfare)
the reason trump "won" this case is that they diluted the ban down TWICE
It is increasingly likely with this decision that they will now feel empowered to enact more draconian bans.
Both statements are true, and both of them are reason to keep fighting.
Unfortunately, this isn't a matter of "keep fighting." His power to discriminate against Muslims in this way now carries with it the imprimatur of the SCOTUS.
We have a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that is quite literally denying that cases of discrimination which are to all intents and purposes equivalent have anything to do with one another. For the court, that's an extremely dangerous precedent to set. Case law creates a foundation for future cases, and if that foundation were to become contradictory within itself, then that undermines the judicial system -- but it also works the other way: case laws reinforce one another.
So in 1944, SCOTUS sided with the government and said that the exclusion order in Korematsu was constitutional. A second, extremely similar ruling based on nearly equivalent circumstances removes much of the potential wiggle-room with regard to similar cases, and also strengthens Presidential power under similar circumstances.
That's why I say this isn't a matter of "keep fighting." The fight is now being defined in a particular way, and the end result is problematic. Whether or not Trump tries to invoke more draconian bans, we've now been told by the Judiciary that he has the power to create and enforce exclusionary policies that use religious and geographic discrimination as a metric. Electing a new President and a new Congress may not help. New executive orders and new legislation will need to work around the parameters set by this ruling, or be in danger of constitutional challenge.
posted by zarq at 9:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
the reason trump "won" this case is that they diluted the ban down TWICE
It is increasingly likely with this decision that they will now feel empowered to enact more draconian bans.
Both statements are true, and both of them are reason to keep fighting.
Unfortunately, this isn't a matter of "keep fighting." His power to discriminate against Muslims in this way now carries with it the imprimatur of the SCOTUS.
We have a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that is quite literally denying that cases of discrimination which are to all intents and purposes equivalent have anything to do with one another. For the court, that's an extremely dangerous precedent to set. Case law creates a foundation for future cases, and if that foundation were to become contradictory within itself, then that undermines the judicial system -- but it also works the other way: case laws reinforce one another.
So in 1944, SCOTUS sided with the government and said that the exclusion order in Korematsu was constitutional. A second, extremely similar ruling based on nearly equivalent circumstances removes much of the potential wiggle-room with regard to similar cases, and also strengthens Presidential power under similar circumstances.
That's why I say this isn't a matter of "keep fighting." The fight is now being defined in a particular way, and the end result is problematic. Whether or not Trump tries to invoke more draconian bans, we've now been told by the Judiciary that he has the power to create and enforce exclusionary policies that use religious and geographic discrimination as a metric. Electing a new President and a new Congress may not help. New executive orders and new legislation will need to work around the parameters set by this ruling, or be in danger of constitutional challenge.
posted by zarq at 9:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Definitely Not Sean Spicer: We can debate civility until the cows come home but there's one stark fact that sticks out. If Democrats voted in mid terms like they did in presidential years the Republican party as it stands would cease to exist. It would be forced to change after being wiped out nationally and in many state houses. Racism and kowtowing to fascism would be completely unviable as a political strategy.
You want to stop this? Vote. Get everyone out there to vote. Help people out to vote. Democrats need to just run on policy, run on GOTV.
The people are there. The people are consistently there in years divisible by 4. We don't need swing voters or independents, just get our own people to the polls and we win. Republicans bring out 70-80% of their presidential voters in a mid term. Democrats? Somewhere around 60-70%. The sheer few number of people that vote in what could be easy wins are mind boggling.
I flagged this comment as excellent. The Democratic voters who said "meh" at the midterms are part of why we are in this mess. "We elected our dream President! He'll make everything better all by his lonesome! Now we can just blow everything else off!" But that's water under the bridge. And I don't think MeFites, by and large, do this. At least not the ones reading this thread.
Postcards to Voters is a great low-stakes way to get involved, and can help those who live in blue states feel like we're doing something. (People in my area do have a good turnout, and they vote Democratic. I'm lucky.)
Dems seem also to have wised up and are running people in local elections. That's how you flip a state, in fact, that is how the R's flipped so many states. We can re-flip them starting at the bottom.
Schadenfrau makes a good point - things are harder because we don't have as many real-time social and political supports as we used to. The decline of unions and of liberal Catholic and mainline Protestant churches has depressed Democratic voting and solidarity, I think. If we could revive unions, that would help. I think Unitarian Universalist and Quaker congregations are now a big hub for social justice work and Democratic/DSA organization. I am going to start going to my local UU church again.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:23 AM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
You want to stop this? Vote. Get everyone out there to vote. Help people out to vote. Democrats need to just run on policy, run on GOTV.
The people are there. The people are consistently there in years divisible by 4. We don't need swing voters or independents, just get our own people to the polls and we win. Republicans bring out 70-80% of their presidential voters in a mid term. Democrats? Somewhere around 60-70%. The sheer few number of people that vote in what could be easy wins are mind boggling.
I flagged this comment as excellent. The Democratic voters who said "meh" at the midterms are part of why we are in this mess. "We elected our dream President! He'll make everything better all by his lonesome! Now we can just blow everything else off!" But that's water under the bridge. And I don't think MeFites, by and large, do this. At least not the ones reading this thread.
Postcards to Voters is a great low-stakes way to get involved, and can help those who live in blue states feel like we're doing something. (People in my area do have a good turnout, and they vote Democratic. I'm lucky.)
Dems seem also to have wised up and are running people in local elections. That's how you flip a state, in fact, that is how the R's flipped so many states. We can re-flip them starting at the bottom.
Schadenfrau makes a good point - things are harder because we don't have as many real-time social and political supports as we used to. The decline of unions and of liberal Catholic and mainline Protestant churches has depressed Democratic voting and solidarity, I think. If we could revive unions, that would help. I think Unitarian Universalist and Quaker congregations are now a big hub for social justice work and Democratic/DSA organization. I am going to start going to my local UU church again.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:23 AM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
I'm trying to ignore the parallels between China and President-For-Life Xi Jinping and the (as-of-yet) not backed-up rantings of Trump: Watch the John Oliver segment that got Oliver’s name banned in China -- Content about Oliver "violates relevant laws and regulations" in China. (Timothy B. Lee for Ars Technica, June 25, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:24 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
China has begun censoring mentions of HBO comedian John Oliver on social media and restricting access to the HBO website. The crackdown began late last week after Oliver ran a scathing 20-minute segment [YT] on his HBO show, Last Week Tonight, mocking Chinese president Xi Jinping.Mentioned previously in FanFare.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:24 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
We don’t have those social networks or infrastructure anymore. Most people are isolated.
I'm not sure if Cortex et al will delete this, but I do want to gently push back against this. Now, I don't know where you are, and I acknowledge that you personally may feel isolated. But my Facebook feed is a cavalcade of women (and men, but lots of mid-30s and older women) who are using social media to organize and fight. There are resistance organizations in 14 locations in my state that didn't exist 18 months ago. The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law put out a call for volunteer lawyers in a single post and got more than 1,000 volunteers overnight, from all over the country. The DSA is booming. Women are running for office in record numbers and each one of those campaigns is a tiny network of people who are meeting for the first time.
People are making connections and doing what they can. People who have the freedom to protest and physically put their bodies in the cogs are doing so. People who can't (I'm one of those) are giving money and time to support those who do.
I don't deny that many people are isolated, and may feel helpless. But it is much easier than it ever was for people to reach out to - and be reached by - the message that WE ARE NOT ALONE. WE STAND TOGETHER AND FIGHT.
posted by anastasiav at 9:25 AM on June 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
I'm not sure if Cortex et al will delete this, but I do want to gently push back against this. Now, I don't know where you are, and I acknowledge that you personally may feel isolated. But my Facebook feed is a cavalcade of women (and men, but lots of mid-30s and older women) who are using social media to organize and fight. There are resistance organizations in 14 locations in my state that didn't exist 18 months ago. The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law put out a call for volunteer lawyers in a single post and got more than 1,000 volunteers overnight, from all over the country. The DSA is booming. Women are running for office in record numbers and each one of those campaigns is a tiny network of people who are meeting for the first time.
People are making connections and doing what they can. People who have the freedom to protest and physically put their bodies in the cogs are doing so. People who can't (I'm one of those) are giving money and time to support those who do.
I don't deny that many people are isolated, and may feel helpless. But it is much easier than it ever was for people to reach out to - and be reached by - the message that WE ARE NOT ALONE. WE STAND TOGETHER AND FIGHT.
posted by anastasiav at 9:25 AM on June 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
I'm not joking in the slightest about keeping the message as simple as "Stop Trump; Vote Democrat."
As a ballot access petitioner for Libertarian candidates, I spend a lot of time talking face-to-face with registered voters. Sadly, the average voter is as dumb as a stump*. But they all know who Trump is.
I used to get asked questions about candidates' positions on pet issues like abortion, guns, taxes, etc. But for the past two petitioning cycles in Virginia, the #1 question is now "Is he against Trump?"
*As evidenced by their inability to follow short written directions and fill in four simple pieces of information correctly without someone looking over their shoulder the whole time.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:25 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
As a ballot access petitioner for Libertarian candidates, I spend a lot of time talking face-to-face with registered voters. Sadly, the average voter is as dumb as a stump*. But they all know who Trump is.
I used to get asked questions about candidates' positions on pet issues like abortion, guns, taxes, etc. But for the past two petitioning cycles in Virginia, the #1 question is now "Is he against Trump?"
*As evidenced by their inability to follow short written directions and fill in four simple pieces of information correctly without someone looking over their shoulder the whole time.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:25 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
supercrayon: "And yet I can track my fucking Amazon packages from Kentucky to Auckland. Vulnerable terrified children are clearly of less priority than my books and movies though right?"
To be fair your amazon packages get a bar code that generally lasts the duration of the delivery process. We probably should be glad the Cheeto's minions aren't tattooing bar codes on everyone they pickup.
The Card Cheat: "Looks like Trump’s going to ruin Canada’s economy.* "
melissasaurus: "no one is going to be mailing an actual postcard with their SSN and income listed on it. "
And like all things Cheeto the "Postcard" tax form, being the size of a letter sheet folded in half, isn't even a legal postcard.
posted by Mitheral at 9:28 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
To be fair your amazon packages get a bar code that generally lasts the duration of the delivery process. We probably should be glad the Cheeto's minions aren't tattooing bar codes on everyone they pickup.
The Card Cheat: "Looks like Trump’s going to ruin Canada’s economy.* "
Canada could announce its imminent suspension of U.S. drug patents on Canadian soil. There is precedent for that. Before NAFTA and its predecessor, the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Ottawa routinely granted Canadian drugmakers the right to produce U.S. drugs. Canada could leave the door open to extending that practice to other U.S. intellectual property rights, as well, from computer components to U.S. cultural products.Hey Justin, let's threaten a roll back of copyright terms on American IP to 10 years; everything else enters the public domain. And get everyone on the receiving end of this tradewar to set drug patents on American products to 1 year. An actual win for everyone in the world (well except Americans) from this stupid trade war.
melissasaurus: "no one is going to be mailing an actual postcard with their SSN and income listed on it. "
And like all things Cheeto the "Postcard" tax form, being the size of a letter sheet folded in half, isn't even a legal postcard.
posted by Mitheral at 9:28 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
23andMe is donating a bunch of DNA testing kits to help match kids to parents. Their software/service is already set up to match you with DNA relatives -- they found me a bunch of distant cousins -- so all they have to do is let the migrants' test kits skip the queue and they should be able to determine which kids go to which parents pretty quickly.
How to reunite these families is a political issue, not a logistical problem.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
How to reunite these families is a political issue, not a logistical problem.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
When you're organizing through Facebook, Twitter, and Google, you're already getting a limited view of matters because of self-selection, but also these companies have been rapidly working to ban, delist, and hide organizing activities that threaten state authority.
We're aware of this. However, in a rural state, Facebook is a great "first touch" for people who maybe don't have a group close by, but who can get connected to in person events because of something (even just a post by a friend about a meeting) on Facebook.
Organizing on Facebook isn't all about actual organizing. A lot of the time its just letting other people know that others in their community hold the same views they do. I can get more traction from updating my profile photo and seeing who likes it than I can from actually posting an event.
Middle aged women are the top users of FB now. Fear us.
posted by anastasiav at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
We're aware of this. However, in a rural state, Facebook is a great "first touch" for people who maybe don't have a group close by, but who can get connected to in person events because of something (even just a post by a friend about a meeting) on Facebook.
Organizing on Facebook isn't all about actual organizing. A lot of the time its just letting other people know that others in their community hold the same views they do. I can get more traction from updating my profile photo and seeing who likes it than I can from actually posting an event.
Middle aged women are the top users of FB now. Fear us.
posted by anastasiav at 9:36 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Comstock won 53-47 in 2016. A 16 point swing.
MonmouthPoll
VIRGINIA CD10 POLL: US House election
All potential voters:
@JenniferWexton (D) 49
@RepComstock (R) 39
Likely voters:
Standard model - Wexton 50 / Comstock 41
Dem-surge model - Wexton 51 / Comstock 40
---
Harry Enten (538)
Retweeted MonmouthPoll
I said yesterday if the Dems weren't leading here they were in big league trouble. They're up double-digits.
posted by chris24 at 9:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
MonmouthPoll
VIRGINIA CD10 POLL: US House election
All potential voters:
@JenniferWexton (D) 49
@RepComstock (R) 39
Likely voters:
Standard model - Wexton 50 / Comstock 41
Dem-surge model - Wexton 51 / Comstock 40
---
Harry Enten (538)
Retweeted MonmouthPoll
I said yesterday if the Dems weren't leading here they were in big league trouble. They're up double-digits.
posted by chris24 at 9:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
1903: Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson is founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It eventually becomes an iconic American brand and important employer.
1999: Harley-Davidson opens their first overseas factory, in Brazil. The Republican Party is known as the party of free trade, small government and open markets.
2016: Presidential candidate Donald Trump pledges to restore the American manufacturing industry through policies such as leaving the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements, and applying massive tariffs to imports, in addition to the traditional Republican policy of cutting taxes. He wins the Republican Party nomination, and subsequently the Presidency.
January 23, 2017: Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump withdraws from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
February 2, 2017: President Trump invites Harley-Davidson executives to the White House as a symbol of how American industry would thrive under his policies.
December 22, 2017: Trump signs H.R. 1, referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
January, 2018: Harley-Davidson reports reduced income, citing a $53.1 million income tax charge related to enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The company announces that they are cutting 260 jobs in Missouri, while opening a new plant in Thailand.
April 24, 2018: Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich acknowledges that the company’s decision to move jobs to Thailand was due to President Trump’s decision to leave the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
May 31, 2018: President Trump launches a trade war against the European Union by imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
June 22, 2018: The European Union responds by enacting tariffs on more than $3 billion worth of U.S. goods, including motorcycles.
June 25, 2018: Harley-Davidson announces that the reciprocal tariffs from the European Union will result in them partially moving production overseas.
June 26, 2018: President Trump demands that “A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!”, seemingly unaware that many have been built overseas for decades. He threatens to destroy the company through taxation. While largely declining to criticize their President, the Republican Party continues to claim to be the party of free trade, small government and open markets.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:44 AM on June 26, 2018 [83 favorites]
1999: Harley-Davidson opens their first overseas factory, in Brazil. The Republican Party is known as the party of free trade, small government and open markets.
2016: Presidential candidate Donald Trump pledges to restore the American manufacturing industry through policies such as leaving the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements, and applying massive tariffs to imports, in addition to the traditional Republican policy of cutting taxes. He wins the Republican Party nomination, and subsequently the Presidency.
January 23, 2017: Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump withdraws from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
February 2, 2017: President Trump invites Harley-Davidson executives to the White House as a symbol of how American industry would thrive under his policies.
December 22, 2017: Trump signs H.R. 1, referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
January, 2018: Harley-Davidson reports reduced income, citing a $53.1 million income tax charge related to enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The company announces that they are cutting 260 jobs in Missouri, while opening a new plant in Thailand.
April 24, 2018: Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich acknowledges that the company’s decision to move jobs to Thailand was due to President Trump’s decision to leave the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
May 31, 2018: President Trump launches a trade war against the European Union by imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
June 22, 2018: The European Union responds by enacting tariffs on more than $3 billion worth of U.S. goods, including motorcycles.
June 25, 2018: Harley-Davidson announces that the reciprocal tariffs from the European Union will result in them partially moving production overseas.
June 26, 2018: President Trump demands that “A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!”, seemingly unaware that many have been built overseas for decades. He threatens to destroy the company through taxation. While largely declining to criticize their President, the Republican Party continues to claim to be the party of free trade, small government and open markets.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:44 AM on June 26, 2018 [83 favorites]
The California law also required certain places to post a notice saying that abortion was legal, and available at low or no cost at nearby places. The npr story says that only applies to licensed facilities, not the crisis pregnancy centers ... That was sort of obscured in the earlier reporting I read. I thought it applied to both. Either way that's a clearer example of forced speech - I mean, it's a slightly stronger argument, although I still don't buy it.
(For a licensed facility that amounts to advertising your competitors; for a CPC it's forced speech that goes completely against all their convictions. And it's not the only or even the best possible method the state could use to inform people. At least that was the discussion on the podcast I listen to. But it's also just neutral factual information, with no value judgment - they're not required to say abortion is good. They could surround that notice with pictures of baby Jesus crying if they wanted.)
The other part of the law was just a truth in advertising requirement, that unlicensed facilities clearly disclose that they were unlicensed. Says nothing about abortion at all. There have been lots of fkn truth in advertisement laws, like the tag on political ads, "paid for by the committee of" whatever whatever.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:44 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
(For a licensed facility that amounts to advertising your competitors; for a CPC it's forced speech that goes completely against all their convictions. And it's not the only or even the best possible method the state could use to inform people. At least that was the discussion on the podcast I listen to. But it's also just neutral factual information, with no value judgment - they're not required to say abortion is good. They could surround that notice with pictures of baby Jesus crying if they wanted.)
The other part of the law was just a truth in advertising requirement, that unlicensed facilities clearly disclose that they were unlicensed. Says nothing about abortion at all. There have been lots of fkn truth in advertisement laws, like the tag on political ads, "paid for by the committee of" whatever whatever.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:44 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
@scottbix: The new video from the Russian pop star who helped arrange Don Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting, features: – Trump partying in a hotel room with bikini-clad pageant contestants – Emin slipping Ivanka a briefcase – Emin paying off Stormy Daniels in an elevator
I expected things to be bad, but I really wasn't prepared for them to be this damn weird.
posted by zachlipton at 9:46 AM on June 26, 2018 [33 favorites]
I expected things to be bad, but I really wasn't prepared for them to be this damn weird.
posted by zachlipton at 9:46 AM on June 26, 2018 [33 favorites]
CheesesOfBrazil posted a link upthread to the Foreign Policy story, America’s Uncivil Protests Are Straight Out of Latin America. It's really worth a read - I learnt a new term today.
A series of recent events suggests that Trump’s opponents are warming up to the escrache, a strategy straight out of the playbook of Latin American activists when confronting the human rights transgressions of their authoritarian regimes. It entails accosting and humiliating public officials outside of their domicile and workplace, or even in the streets and other public spaces.posted by RedOrGreen at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
[...]
Two central questions are raised by the arrival of the escrache on U.S. shores: Do they work, and are they any good for democracy? Based on the Latin American experience and that of Spain, where escraches became a massive political headache in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the answer to the first question is a resounding yes. The tactic can serve to raise societal awareness about moral wrongs; it can also promote solidarity across a variety of causes. Most important, however, it can lead to a change in policy and even transform politics. The answer to the second question is less clear: The escrache is an unambiguous assault on civility — but it’s also a telling sign that something is already very rotten in the body politic.
I said yesterday if the Dems weren't leading here they were in big league trouble. They're up double-digits.
Virginia US House races are going to be a bloodbath for the Republicans this year.
The GOP Senate nominee is so loathsome that a bunch of people will go to the polls to basically vote "fuck that guy" (Stewart) "and his little dog too" (downticket Republican).
I hang out with Republicans when I go to AFP events to eat the delicious Koch dollars, and ever since the primary they have been SUPER depressed. They know it's over for them in Virginia.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Virginia US House races are going to be a bloodbath for the Republicans this year.
The GOP Senate nominee is so loathsome that a bunch of people will go to the polls to basically vote "fuck that guy" (Stewart) "and his little dog too" (downticket Republican).
I hang out with Republicans when I go to AFP events to eat the delicious Koch dollars, and ever since the primary they have been SUPER depressed. They know it's over for them in Virginia.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Middle aged women are the top users of FB now. Fear us.
I have so much gratitude for you all, not a lot of fear (anymore). I wish I could send a hand written thank you card to each and every one of you.
posted by W Grant at 9:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
I have so much gratitude for you all, not a lot of fear (anymore). I wish I could send a hand written thank you card to each and every one of you.
posted by W Grant at 9:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Emin slipping Ivanka a briefcase – Emin paying off Stormy Daniels in an elevator
Hey I can't watch video right now and really need a [real] or [fake] tag for this.
posted by contraption at 9:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Hey I can't watch video right now and really need a [real] or [fake] tag for this.
posted by contraption at 9:49 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
To be fair your amazon packages get a bar code that generally lasts the duration of the delivery process. We probably should be glad the Cheeto's minions aren't tattooing bar codes on everyone they pickup.
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Jacqueline: "The DNC should buy up a bunch of billboards all over the country in October that simply say:
STOP TRUMP
VOTE DEMOCRAT
NOVEMBER 6"
Jacqueline: "I'm not joking in the slightest about keeping the message as simple as "Stop Trump; Vote Democrat.""
Trump has a 45% approval rating -- there are huge swaths of this country where being associated with Trump is a positive, not a negative. E.g. just yesterday Trump was campaigning for the incumbent South Carolina governor. These billboards would completely backfire and in fact hurt the Democrats.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
STOP TRUMP
VOTE DEMOCRAT
NOVEMBER 6"
Jacqueline: "I'm not joking in the slightest about keeping the message as simple as "Stop Trump; Vote Democrat.""
Trump has a 45% approval rating -- there are huge swaths of this country where being associated with Trump is a positive, not a negative. E.g. just yesterday Trump was campaigning for the incumbent South Carolina governor. These billboards would completely backfire and in fact hurt the Democrats.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
One thing that has become clear to me is that the forces of white supremacy have won the wider war. We're just fighting a rear guard action at this point to limit the fallout. I took this position a while ago and I got heat for it. However, within my black social network, more and more are starting to see what I see.
posted by RedShrek at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by RedShrek at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
Hey I can't watch video right now and really need a [real] or [fake] tag for this.
They're all impersonators, but it's a real music video. Hillary's there too!
posted by theodolite at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018
They're all impersonators, but it's a real music video. Hillary's there too!
posted by theodolite at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018
Emily Stewart, Vox: There are primaries in 5 states [New York, Utah, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Colorado] today. Here’s what time the polls close.
Brief overview of 6/26 primaries and issues at at stake.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Brief overview of 6/26 primaries and issues at at stake.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:51 AM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
There's a weird as hell bit (ok it's all weird as hell) at 1:19, where fake-Trump is watching models on the bed, we see it through the eyes of surveillance cameras, then someone is shown editing fake-Trump out of the video, and then the text "TRUE_FAKE" appears on screen, all in a couple seconds. Fake Keith Schiller even appears, waiting with his back turned outside.
I mean I know I'm being trolled, but what?
posted by zachlipton at 9:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
I mean I know I'm being trolled, but what?
posted by zachlipton at 9:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Speaking of primaries, MN's early voting starts this Friday. August 14 is the official Primary Day.
Edit: from Sec of State's website:
All Minnesota voters will have these races on their ballot:
U.S. Senator
U.S. Senator (special election)
U.S. Representative
Governor & Lt. Governor
Secretary of State
State Auditor
Attorney General
State Representative
Judicial offices
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Edit: from Sec of State's website:
All Minnesota voters will have these races on their ballot:
U.S. Senator
U.S. Senator (special election)
U.S. Representative
Governor & Lt. Governor
Secretary of State
State Auditor
Attorney General
State Representative
Judicial offices
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
23andMe is donating a bunch of DNA testing kits to help match kids to parents. Their software/service is already set up to match you with DNA relatives -- they found me a bunch of distant cousins -- so all they have to do is let the migrants' test kits skip the queue and they should be able to determine which kids go to which parents pretty quickly.
It's nice that they're donating their time and resources, but I'm worried about the privacy implications. Normally, 23andMe requires informed consent from either the person being tested or their legal guardian. I guess now they're OK with the government consenting on behalf of young children in custody? What about the parents -- are they being told that their DNA is going to be in a database forever? Can they really be said to have freely agreed to this, even though it's under threat of never being able to see their kids again?
In general, I'm not a huge fan of creating databases of people's DNA linked to their alleged immigration status.
posted by teraflop at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
It's nice that they're donating their time and resources, but I'm worried about the privacy implications. Normally, 23andMe requires informed consent from either the person being tested or their legal guardian. I guess now they're OK with the government consenting on behalf of young children in custody? What about the parents -- are they being told that their DNA is going to be in a database forever? Can they really be said to have freely agreed to this, even though it's under threat of never being able to see their kids again?
In general, I'm not a huge fan of creating databases of people's DNA linked to their alleged immigration status.
posted by teraflop at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
It's nice that they're donating their time and resources, but I'm worried about the privacy implications.
Indeed, and I believe I saw that RAICES has turned down the offer on that grounds.
posted by suelac at 10:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Indeed, and I believe I saw that RAICES has turned down the offer on that grounds.
posted by suelac at 10:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
To be fair your amazon packages get a bar code that generally lasts the duration of the delivery process. We probably should be glad the Cheeto's minions aren't tattooing bar codes on everyone they pickup.
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
They are.
That link is about parents wearing colored wrist bands. There was another link I saw elsewhere that I can't track down that showed immigrant children having wrist bands with numbers on them that were supposed to help with tracking. I don't remember if it would match the kids to their parents though.
And listen, I know we're all worried about tracking and government surveillance, and we should be but we need to do whatever it goddamn takes to get these kids back with their families and out of detention. If we then need to fight to stop tracking them afterward, we'll have that fight.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
They are.
That link is about parents wearing colored wrist bands. There was another link I saw elsewhere that I can't track down that showed immigrant children having wrist bands with numbers on them that were supposed to help with tracking. I don't remember if it would match the kids to their parents though.
And listen, I know we're all worried about tracking and government surveillance, and we should be but we need to do whatever it goddamn takes to get these kids back with their families and out of detention. If we then need to fight to stop tracking them afterward, we'll have that fight.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
While the 23and Me offer is a great program and DNA testing is probably the only avenue forward in a lot of cases is should be noted that it isn't a magic bullet. Even setting aside the problems of sample collection for parents who have been deported; there are a significant portion of kids who will be adopted or for other reasons may not match the DNA of their legal guardians.
scalefree: "Wristbands. They could have done wristbands."
Ya an obvious improvement; though apparently they are doing nothing now so a sharpie would be an obvious improvement. It has the problem that unlike in hospitals and events where wrist bands are used the person with the band may not value the band. Finger and or foot printing should have been done at time of retention too. And if you are doing finger printing anyways (which I think ICE does) minors and people accompanying minors should have copies of single cards with the minor's and the parent's print on them in their files.
But of course Trump Nazi's aren't even good at the things the Nazis did well; their record keeping sucks.
posted by Mitheral at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
scalefree: "Wristbands. They could have done wristbands."
Ya an obvious improvement; though apparently they are doing nothing now so a sharpie would be an obvious improvement. It has the problem that unlike in hospitals and events where wrist bands are used the person with the band may not value the band. Finger and or foot printing should have been done at time of retention too. And if you are doing finger printing anyways (which I think ICE does) minors and people accompanying minors should have copies of single cards with the minor's and the parent's print on them in their files.
But of course Trump Nazi's aren't even good at the things the Nazis did well; their record keeping sucks.
posted by Mitheral at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
If you are a registered voter in New York State, the board of elections has a handy "voter registration detail" site which will also tell you what your Election, County Legislative, Senate, Assembly and Congressional districts are, as well as what Ward you're in if applicable.
New Yorkers who need to find their local polling place can click here.
posted by zarq at 10:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
New Yorkers who need to find their local polling place can click here.
posted by zarq at 10:05 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
While the 23and Me offer is a great program and DNA testing is probably the only avenue forward in a lot of cases is should be noted that it isn't a magic bullet.
DNA testing parents and children is a good way to get some mothers killed.
posted by srboisvert at 10:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
DNA testing parents and children is a good way to get some mothers killed.
posted by srboisvert at 10:06 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted; please skip the "color me unsurprised that YOU think that bad thing" framing of stuff, just go ahead and make your positive points without needing to wrap it in personal criticism of other people in the thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Ohhh it's a music video from a Russian pop star. That was the clarification I needed.
posted by contraption at 10:10 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by contraption at 10:10 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I mean I know I'm being trolled, but what?
Good lord, this is a classic KGB black propaganda tactic, updated for the 21st century. Putin doesn't expect anyone to mistake it for real (apart from the very stupid and the fringe, who'll help boost it on their own). Instead, this tactic relies on introducing as much noise as possible into the system in order to drown out accurate information. This is signal-jamming by way of trolling.
Back in late 2016/early the IC predicted that the Russians would start releasing fake Trump videos in order to discredit genuine revelations, but I didn't expect this to include sub-MTV music videos.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:11 AM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
Good lord, this is a classic KGB black propaganda tactic, updated for the 21st century. Putin doesn't expect anyone to mistake it for real (apart from the very stupid and the fringe, who'll help boost it on their own). Instead, this tactic relies on introducing as much noise as possible into the system in order to drown out accurate information. This is signal-jamming by way of trolling.
Back in late 2016/early the IC predicted that the Russians would start releasing fake Trump videos in order to discredit genuine revelations, but I didn't expect this to include sub-MTV music videos.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:11 AM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
VIRGINIA CD10 POLL: US House election
All potential voters:
@JenniferWexton (D) 49
@RepComstock (R) 39
This is my district, I'm already seeing yard signs saying "Dump Comstock" at houses that haven't displayed yard signs in the past.
posted by peeedro at 10:13 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
All potential voters:
@JenniferWexton (D) 49
@RepComstock (R) 39
This is my district, I'm already seeing yard signs saying "Dump Comstock" at houses that haven't displayed yard signs in the past.
posted by peeedro at 10:13 AM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
Apologies, I didn't mean for my previous comment to come off as hostile as it did.
To redo my post in a nicer way: I think that the democratic party will get nowhere simply opposing Trump. They need to share a positive, motivating vision of a better world. A coherent ideological program, that's what really drives voters to the polls, and that's why republicans are so successful. Republican ideology and desired policies are horrible, but they at least have a clearly articulated vision that they're obviously working toward. People respond to that.
Democrats too often seem vocally dedicated mainly to preserving the status quo above all else. The party needs to instead focus messaging and action around accomplishing tangible goals, even if we're a long way from fully realizing them! We need something to work toward. Medicare for All is a great example of a simply articulated policy that will dramatically improve our society and voters' lives in a way that will get them to the polls.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
To redo my post in a nicer way: I think that the democratic party will get nowhere simply opposing Trump. They need to share a positive, motivating vision of a better world. A coherent ideological program, that's what really drives voters to the polls, and that's why republicans are so successful. Republican ideology and desired policies are horrible, but they at least have a clearly articulated vision that they're obviously working toward. People respond to that.
Democrats too often seem vocally dedicated mainly to preserving the status quo above all else. The party needs to instead focus messaging and action around accomplishing tangible goals, even if we're a long way from fully realizing them! We need something to work toward. Medicare for All is a great example of a simply articulated policy that will dramatically improve our society and voters' lives in a way that will get them to the polls.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Also, if you're in New York, you might want to see if the person in your party's primary is running unopposed. Save yourself a trip to the polls.
posted by zarq at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zarq at 10:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Good lord, this is a classic KGB black propaganda tactic, updated for the 21st century.
Yeah, Surkov might as well be reaching through the screen and slapping us in the face. It's a fascinating and unabashed bit of propaganda.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, Surkov might as well be reaching through the screen and slapping us in the face. It's a fascinating and unabashed bit of propaganda.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:15 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
There's absolutely no way Putin would allow Emin to produce this video without his tacit approval, especially not with Trump trying to arrange a summit with him as soon as next month. Volodya is blatantly rubbing Donnie's face in how much krompromat he has on him. It's the kind dominance play that's the only way to deal with Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:16 AM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
Varying GOTV strategies aren't necessarily in competition with each other. I agree we shouldn't be trying to cater to erstwhile Trump voters, but plenty of potential Democratic voters are deeply fucking cynical about visions and promises about how politicians are going to make their lives better. We absolutely should be fully supporting low-overhead ways to motivate them to get out and vote, even if it's just to give Trump the metaphorical finger. Billboards don't mean we can't talk about health care.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:22 AM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Daily Beast, Woodruff, Immigration Attorney Says ICE Broke Her Foot, Locked Her Up (cw: picture of injured foot)
An immigration attorney said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer broke her foot and locked her in a room early Tuesday morning in Kansas City, Missouri.posted by zachlipton at 10:33 AM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
Andrea Martinez told The Daily Beast she was dropping off a 3-year-old immigrant at an ICE facility to be reunited with his mother before they are to be deported to Honduras. Martinez said she was accompanying the boy, his pregnant mother, and his father into an ICE field office but Martinez was denied access. That’s when Martinez said she was “knocked to the ground and bloodied” by an ICE officer.
Also, if you're in New York, you might want to see if the person in your party's primary is running unopposed. Save yourself a trip to the polls.
I disagree with this suggestion because voting in the primary confirms that your voter registration is in order.
posted by jointhedance at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
I disagree with this suggestion because voting in the primary confirms that your voter registration is in order.
posted by jointhedance at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
but plenty of potential Democratic voters are deeply fucking cynical about visions and promises about how politicians are going to make their lives better.
We do have a cynicism and apathy problem, and it becomes a vicious circle. The more cynical potential Dem voters become, the less they are engaged - and the less they are engaged, the more elected Dem politicians will listen to donors only and chase the elusive "swing" voter.
I think we are starting to see more engagement (too bad about what it took to get there), more women in politics and running for Democratic offices (hooray!) and we are seeing elected officials (like Dianne Feinstein!) shifting to the left in response to pressure from constituents.
I think, if we only had this energized electorate back in 2010...but, H2O under the over-water structure. We are seeing results from increased Dem turnout and Democratic candidates running.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
We do have a cynicism and apathy problem, and it becomes a vicious circle. The more cynical potential Dem voters become, the less they are engaged - and the less they are engaged, the more elected Dem politicians will listen to donors only and chase the elusive "swing" voter.
I think we are starting to see more engagement (too bad about what it took to get there), more women in politics and running for Democratic offices (hooray!) and we are seeing elected officials (like Dianne Feinstein!) shifting to the left in response to pressure from constituents.
I think, if we only had this energized electorate back in 2010...but, H2O under the over-water structure. We are seeing results from increased Dem turnout and Democratic candidates running.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:38 AM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
I disagree with this suggestion because voting in the primary confirms that your voter registration is in order.
There doesn't appear to be any voting in uncontested primaries.
posted by Etrigan at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
There doesn't appear to be any voting in uncontested primaries.
posted by Etrigan at 10:41 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Apologies, I didn't mean for my previous comment to come off as hostile as it did.
FWIW, I took no offense. I know I have significant political differences with most of my fellow MeFites. But right now the immediacy of needing to stop the Trump Administration makes those differences seem like minor quibbles.
I think that the democratic party will get nowhere simply opposing Trump. They need to share a positive, motivating vision of a better world. A coherent ideological program, that's what really drives voters to the polls, and that's why republicans are so successful.
There are only 19 weeks until the General Election. Work on that other stuff for 2020, but for now, I beg you, please concentrate on whatever clear, simple message will motivate your people to go to the polls on November 6!
You have enough votes from people who already identify/lean Democrat to flip a bunch of districts without persuading a single swing voter. Y'all just suck at actually showing up. :(
I understand the allure of planning a grand long-term strategy, but please deal with the current emergency first. We have a narcissistic megalomaniacal tyrant in the White House and we need divided government ASAP. I'm doing the best I can on my end to siphon off as many GOP votes to the LP as possible but I need y'all to bring it on your end too.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:42 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
FWIW, I took no offense. I know I have significant political differences with most of my fellow MeFites. But right now the immediacy of needing to stop the Trump Administration makes those differences seem like minor quibbles.
I think that the democratic party will get nowhere simply opposing Trump. They need to share a positive, motivating vision of a better world. A coherent ideological program, that's what really drives voters to the polls, and that's why republicans are so successful.
There are only 19 weeks until the General Election. Work on that other stuff for 2020, but for now, I beg you, please concentrate on whatever clear, simple message will motivate your people to go to the polls on November 6!
You have enough votes from people who already identify/lean Democrat to flip a bunch of districts without persuading a single swing voter. Y'all just suck at actually showing up. :(
I understand the allure of planning a grand long-term strategy, but please deal with the current emergency first. We have a narcissistic megalomaniacal tyrant in the White House and we need divided government ASAP. I'm doing the best I can on my end to siphon off as many GOP votes to the LP as possible but I need y'all to bring it on your end too.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:42 AM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
@JenniferJJacobs (Bloomberg)
TRUMP says U.S. immigration policy should simply be: "YOU CAN'T COME IN." He just told members of Congress that the US immigration policy right now is a "hodgepodge of laws." "It’s so simple. It’s called, 'I’m sorry you can’t come in.'"
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
TRUMP says U.S. immigration policy should simply be: "YOU CAN'T COME IN." He just told members of Congress that the US immigration policy right now is a "hodgepodge of laws." "It’s so simple. It’s called, 'I’m sorry you can’t come in.'"
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:56 AM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
Meanwhile, down here in Florida, I saw a pro-Bill Nelson TV commercial today that proudly labeled him as "not too left, not too right" and as a moderate centrist all the way around. Maybe that's what it'll take to beat Rick Scott in this state, but I cringe when I hear him sold as a moderate. I want the leftiest leftist that ever lefted to balance out Marco Rubio's presence, but I know that's unrealistic here.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Servo5678 at 10:59 AM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
To be fair your amazon packages get a bar code that generally lasts the duration of the delivery process. We probably should be glad the Cheeto's minions aren't tattooing bar codes on everyone they pickup.
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
Hmm, can we resuscitate the POW wristband movement concept and use it for separated families?
posted by phearlez at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wristbands. They could have done wristbands.
Hmm, can we resuscitate the POW wristband movement concept and use it for separated families?
posted by phearlez at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
I disagree with this suggestion because voting in the primary confirms that your voter registration is in order.
The sites I linked to above (including this one) allow any voter to confirm that their registration is in order. New Yorkers don't need to show up at a polling place for that. Corrections are done by mail, online or in person.
As Etrigan notes, one can't vote in an uncontested congressional primary election in NYS. The candidates are running unopposed. They're going to win by default.
posted by zarq at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The sites I linked to above (including this one) allow any voter to confirm that their registration is in order. New Yorkers don't need to show up at a polling place for that. Corrections are done by mail, online or in person.
As Etrigan notes, one can't vote in an uncontested congressional primary election in NYS. The candidates are running unopposed. They're going to win by default.
posted by zarq at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
TRUMP says U.S. immigration policy should simply be: "YOU CAN'T COME IN." He just told members of Congress that the US immigration policy right now is a "hodgepodge of laws." "It’s so simple. It’s called, 'I’m sorry you can’t come in.'"
"Please, please, don't throw us in the briar patch," says the tech industry HR people of Canada, Ireland, London, Tel Aviv, Singapore....
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
"Please, please, don't throw us in the briar patch," says the tech industry HR people of Canada, Ireland, London, Tel Aviv, Singapore....
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:00 AM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
Maybe not London.
posted by Artw at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2018 [24 favorites]
Democrats too often seem vocally dedicated mainly to preserving the status quo above all else.
There is no status quo. It's been killed dead by the Trump/GOP chimera. All we have are shards of our standards and institutions, covered in the stink of white supremacy and greed. It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break my heart...
The idea that the Democratic leadership is anything but a raft in a sea of political bullshit is not useful. Any change must come from us. We need to force Democrats and the few sane Republicans left that we need to repair and upgrade our norms, because without them we will sink into a shattered, second-rate former democracy.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:07 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
There is no status quo. It's been killed dead by the Trump/GOP chimera. All we have are shards of our standards and institutions, covered in the stink of white supremacy and greed. It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break my heart...
The idea that the Democratic leadership is anything but a raft in a sea of political bullshit is not useful. Any change must come from us. We need to force Democrats and the few sane Republicans left that we need to repair and upgrade our norms, because without them we will sink into a shattered, second-rate former democracy.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:07 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
To be fair, if we'd implemented Trump's proposed "I'm sorry you can't come in" policy in 1885 when Friedrich Drumpf immigrated to the US at age 16 and changed his name to Fredrick Trump the US would be a much better place....
Pulling the ladder up, Republican policy since 1854!
posted by sotonohito at 11:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Pulling the ladder up, Republican policy since 1854!
posted by sotonohito at 11:09 AM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Maybe not London.
You don't have to run faster than a bear, just faster than one of your friends.
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
You don't have to run faster than a bear, just faster than one of your friends.
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
Aside from calling to close all the borders, Trump had some other things to say today, including pining for the old days when tariffs were high enough to fund the government:
@benpershing: It's Throwback Tuesday for POTUS. Per WH pool report: "He cited the days of tariffs before the income tax, recalling President McKinley. 'You didn’t need any income tax,' he said."
@KThomasDC: Trump: "They want us to choose 5,000 judges. How do you choose 5,000 judges? Can you imagine the corruption just from a normal standpoint, just common sense. Can you imagine the corruption? Go to the barber shop, grab somebody, make him a judge."
Nobody has proposed 5,000 new immigration judges or anything close to that (Cruz proposed 375, and there's like 80 or so that Congress has appropriated and authorized but the government hasn't even hired), but it's telling that he can't conceive of hiring people without them all being corrupt.
Here's a document that DOJ filed with the court in one of the child separation cases. It's information for parents being separated from their children with a complicated series of instructions for who to call to find them again. The Spanish version is just riddled with language errors. A small detail, but a telling one.
ICE Modified Its 'Risk Assessment' Software So It Automatically Recommends Detention
Daniel Dale says Trump has shattered his dishonesty record with 103 false claims last week, mostly because he talked a lot.
@LibyaLiberty:
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [60 favorites]
@benpershing: It's Throwback Tuesday for POTUS. Per WH pool report: "He cited the days of tariffs before the income tax, recalling President McKinley. 'You didn’t need any income tax,' he said."
@KThomasDC: Trump: "They want us to choose 5,000 judges. How do you choose 5,000 judges? Can you imagine the corruption just from a normal standpoint, just common sense. Can you imagine the corruption? Go to the barber shop, grab somebody, make him a judge."
Nobody has proposed 5,000 new immigration judges or anything close to that (Cruz proposed 375, and there's like 80 or so that Congress has appropriated and authorized but the government hasn't even hired), but it's telling that he can't conceive of hiring people without them all being corrupt.
Here's a document that DOJ filed with the court in one of the child separation cases. It's information for parents being separated from their children with a complicated series of instructions for who to call to find them again. The Spanish version is just riddled with language errors. A small detail, but a telling one.
ICE Modified Its 'Risk Assessment' Software So It Automatically Recommends Detention
When an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer arrests an undocumented immigrant, whether they have been residing in the US for years or were picked up trying to cross the border, the agency must make a custody decision. This decision determines whether the immigrant will be released on bond or detained in one of ICE’s prison-like detention centers until their court date. Since 2013, ICE has relied on a computerized Risk Classification Assessment that uses statistics to determine whether the immigrant should be released, and if so, on what on what bond amount.Tim Wu, The Supreme Court Devastates Antitrust Law. Nobody had time for Ohio v American Express, but the implications are not good for future antitrust actions.
According to a new investigative report from Reuters, however, last year ICE changed the risk assessment software so that it always recommends detention for apprehended immigrants to conform to Trump’s “zero tolerance” stance on illegal immigration. This change led to an almost immediate increase in the detention of immigrants with little to no criminal history, who would’ve normally been released on bond until their court date. In 2017, ICE booked more than 43,000 immigrants into its detention centers—more than three times the number of detainees in the year prior.
Daniel Dale says Trump has shattered his dishonesty record with 103 false claims last week, mostly because he talked a lot.
@LibyaLiberty:
Just got off the phone with an Arab American friend with family in a country on the Muslim Ban list. She was broken. “Maybe it’s time to stop fighting. Maybe we just have to accept that America is just another country. There’s nothing special here. This can’t be home.”I can't do a good Chrysostom impression, but Taniel has a great spreadsheet of races to watch tonight
I wanted to tell her we could never stop fighting, giving in is a win for the bigots & racists. But you know what? They did win. They won big. And even though I will never give up fighting, the uphill battle has become something very different. We now speak different languages. When I say constitution, bill of rights, they don’t mean the same thing anymore. They exist as figments of an imagination that has no foothold in the present-Like a cartoon where the running character looks down & realizes they’ve run out of road, they’re floating above a ravine. Like holding a wad full of a currency no longer accepted by vendors. I can’t sugarcoat it. America let me down today. Tomorrow I will get up & keep fighting, keep hoping,keep remembering the good that defines this young nation that gave me a home & an identity. But today,I mourn.
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on June 26, 2018 [60 favorites]
Just voted a 100% female ticket in my D primary. Sure, it is red state Oklahoma, but it felt great. Also...medical marijuana FTW!
posted by HyperBlue at 11:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by HyperBlue at 11:14 AM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
As Etrigan notes, one can't vote in an uncontested congressional primary election in NYS. The candidates are running unopposed. They're going to win by default.
Thanks for the clarification. New York, you are weird.
I was thinking of a situation like yesterday in Maryland, where it turns out the Motor Vehicle Administration did not forward voter registration information from 80,000 people to the Board of Elections..Maryland's primary election day is today. If MVA hadn't fessed up then primary voters could have outed the error.
posted by jointhedance at 11:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks for the clarification. New York, you are weird.
I was thinking of a situation like yesterday in Maryland, where it turns out the Motor Vehicle Administration did not forward voter registration information from 80,000 people to the Board of Elections..Maryland's primary election day is today. If MVA hadn't fessed up then primary voters could have outed the error.
posted by jointhedance at 11:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
recalling President McKinley
Because things worked out SUPER GREAT for him.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
Because things worked out SUPER GREAT for him.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:20 AM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
NYT Opinion: What My 6-Year-Old Son and I Endured in Family Detention
The day-to-day conditions were horrible. The food was often expired, the milk was spoiled, and we weren’t provided with snacks for our children between meals. When we saved food for snacks, it was taken from us and thrown out because of concerns about rats in the dorms. Children went to bed hungry. And we could get water between meals only by asking the officers. Sometimes they wouldn’t bring any. The water we did have made us sick.
It was no place for human beings, let alone for families with small children. When our children were sick, we waited days for medical attention. When one mother whose daughter had asthma informed the officers that her child needed medical care, she was told that she should have thought about that before she came to the United States. Another mother asked for medical assistance for her son but it never came. She was deported, and her son died just a few months later.
[...] The younger children were very confused about why they were trapped inside. The stories they acted out when they were playing always recreated the dangerous journey they had just gone through to get here. The characters in their games became coyotes (smugglers who help people cross the border), “la migra” (border patrol agents) and immigration judges. The detention center became their entire world. [...] Other children I know from the detention center are clearly traumatized, afraid of police officers and constantly worried about going back. They remember it for what it was: a prison.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:28 AM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
The day-to-day conditions were horrible. The food was often expired, the milk was spoiled, and we weren’t provided with snacks for our children between meals. When we saved food for snacks, it was taken from us and thrown out because of concerns about rats in the dorms. Children went to bed hungry. And we could get water between meals only by asking the officers. Sometimes they wouldn’t bring any. The water we did have made us sick.
It was no place for human beings, let alone for families with small children. When our children were sick, we waited days for medical attention. When one mother whose daughter had asthma informed the officers that her child needed medical care, she was told that she should have thought about that before she came to the United States. Another mother asked for medical assistance for her son but it never came. She was deported, and her son died just a few months later.
[...] The younger children were very confused about why they were trapped inside. The stories they acted out when they were playing always recreated the dangerous journey they had just gone through to get here. The characters in their games became coyotes (smugglers who help people cross the border), “la migra” (border patrol agents) and immigration judges. The detention center became their entire world. [...] Other children I know from the detention center are clearly traumatized, afraid of police officers and constantly worried about going back. They remember it for what it was: a prison.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:28 AM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
Thanks for the clarification.
No problem!
New York, you are weird.
Yep. It's nice, though. All i have to do is punch in my address and everything i need is at my fingertips. The board of elections has a mobile app. Their site even lists out who's running and for what party. Wish it was like that nationwide.
I was thinking of a situation like yesterday in Maryland, where it turns out the Motor Vehicle Administration did not forward voter registration information from 80,000 people to the Board of Elections..Maryland's primary election day is today. If MVA hadn't fessed up then primary voters could have outed the error.
Holy cow. That's awful.
posted by zarq at 11:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
No problem!
New York, you are weird.
Yep. It's nice, though. All i have to do is punch in my address and everything i need is at my fingertips. The board of elections has a mobile app. Their site even lists out who's running and for what party. Wish it was like that nationwide.
I was thinking of a situation like yesterday in Maryland, where it turns out the Motor Vehicle Administration did not forward voter registration information from 80,000 people to the Board of Elections..Maryland's primary election day is today. If MVA hadn't fessed up then primary voters could have outed the error.
Holy cow. That's awful.
posted by zarq at 11:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
For the record, the next thing Trump said after "you can't come in" was "You have to go into a legal process." So even though this would be very unsurprising on his part, he didn't literally propose a total ban on all immigration.
Instead, it's more of the usual head-smashingly obtuse (and racist) simplification. From his perspective, immigration-related policies are over-complicated egghead nonsense when we should just Let The Good Ones In and Keep The Bad Ones Out. It's another example of what I've mentioned before, how the act of ranting "No details! Just get it done!" connotes Real Leadership to some people.
When applied to the national immigration debate, this mindset has meant that instead of discussing what the laws ought to be and how to conduct those laws, people treat "illegal" as this innate status somehow outside social constructs. Then they act like the entire debate is about whether or not to use law enforcement to reify this obvious-to-them status of "illegality". So Trump sees mumbo-jumbo in any system where the law doesn't reduce to "Illegal immigration is hereby banned" (even though that doesn't work as law because of the obvious circularity).
That's why if Democrats passed laws that loosened (and simplified!) restrictions so that more people could become legal citizens, these people would, without sensing the irony, just scream about the system "rewarding the illegals" (and they wouldn't just mean grandfathering in someone who had broken actual laws). That's the mental apparatus they've made to support and hide the racism behind "law and order".
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Instead, it's more of the usual head-smashingly obtuse (and racist) simplification. From his perspective, immigration-related policies are over-complicated egghead nonsense when we should just Let The Good Ones In and Keep The Bad Ones Out. It's another example of what I've mentioned before, how the act of ranting "No details! Just get it done!" connotes Real Leadership to some people.
When applied to the national immigration debate, this mindset has meant that instead of discussing what the laws ought to be and how to conduct those laws, people treat "illegal" as this innate status somehow outside social constructs. Then they act like the entire debate is about whether or not to use law enforcement to reify this obvious-to-them status of "illegality". So Trump sees mumbo-jumbo in any system where the law doesn't reduce to "Illegal immigration is hereby banned" (even though that doesn't work as law because of the obvious circularity).
That's why if Democrats passed laws that loosened (and simplified!) restrictions so that more people could become legal citizens, these people would, without sensing the irony, just scream about the system "rewarding the illegals" (and they wouldn't just mean grandfathering in someone who had broken actual laws). That's the mental apparatus they've made to support and hide the racism behind "law and order".
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:34 AM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Schumer never once publicly criticized the Democrats who voted with the GOP to deregulate banks, give Trump more surveillance powers, or confirm a torturer as head of CIA. But this...
posted by bookman117 at 11:43 AM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
posted by bookman117 at 11:43 AM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
we weren’t provided with snacks for our children between meals. When we saved food for snacks,
Not that I want think anybody in this thread is like HOW DARE THEY EXPECT SNACKS BETWEEN MEALS, but:
1. It speaks to the complete and utter lack of preparation of these assholes to deal with small child care that they hadn't fucking thought that small children would get hungry between meals, because, I just.
2. Let me repeat a point: people would save food for children, so that the kids wouldn't go to bed hungry, and then these monsters would throw it away and not replace it.
3. To give you an idea of the caloric needs of small children, my two year old weighs 28 pounds, and needs about 1,000 calories a day. It isn't an accurate way of scaling things, but to give you a rough sense of how much he eats compared to the size of his wee little body, if you grossed him up to 180 pounds, for example, he'd need 6,000 calories a day, or basically what a male heavyweight rower eats when ramping up for the Olympics.
4. Children are being traumatized and going hungry when their parents are there. What the fuck do you think is happening to all those children in cages when their parents aren't there?
I read the articles yesterday about parents in detention centers sleeping with their legs around their children, because the parents were afraid the kids would be snatched in the night by the government. I am so angry.
Time to cancel that MM LaFleur order and throw some more money to RAICES.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [76 favorites]
Not that I want think anybody in this thread is like HOW DARE THEY EXPECT SNACKS BETWEEN MEALS, but:
1. It speaks to the complete and utter lack of preparation of these assholes to deal with small child care that they hadn't fucking thought that small children would get hungry between meals, because, I just.
2. Let me repeat a point: people would save food for children, so that the kids wouldn't go to bed hungry, and then these monsters would throw it away and not replace it.
3. To give you an idea of the caloric needs of small children, my two year old weighs 28 pounds, and needs about 1,000 calories a day. It isn't an accurate way of scaling things, but to give you a rough sense of how much he eats compared to the size of his wee little body, if you grossed him up to 180 pounds, for example, he'd need 6,000 calories a day, or basically what a male heavyweight rower eats when ramping up for the Olympics.
4. Children are being traumatized and going hungry when their parents are there. What the fuck do you think is happening to all those children in cages when their parents aren't there?
I read the articles yesterday about parents in detention centers sleeping with their legs around their children, because the parents were afraid the kids would be snatched in the night by the government. I am so angry.
Time to cancel that MM LaFleur order and throw some more money to RAICES.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:50 AM on June 26, 2018 [76 favorites]
For the record, the next thing Trump said after "you can't come in" was "You have to go into a legal process." So even though this would be very unsurprising on his part, he didn't literally propose a total ban on all immigration.
I suspect you know this, but I gotta yell it anyway:
There is already a legal process. That is the entire fucking problem here. We weren't just letting in anyone who wanted to come from those countries. He claimed that we were being too lax and needed to have this Muslim travel ban as a stopgap measure, eighteen months ago, and he and his State Department and Homeland Security Department and every other department haven't done jack nor shit in the meantime to correct whatever errors were in the system that were allowing these countries to flood us with terrorists, none of whom have killed an American in the U.S. since he was still getting Vietnam deferments and being sanctioned by the U.S. government for racism.
For the record, he's literally a racist.
posted by Etrigan at 11:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [84 favorites]
I suspect you know this, but I gotta yell it anyway:
There is already a legal process. That is the entire fucking problem here. We weren't just letting in anyone who wanted to come from those countries. He claimed that we were being too lax and needed to have this Muslim travel ban as a stopgap measure, eighteen months ago, and he and his State Department and Homeland Security Department and every other department haven't done jack nor shit in the meantime to correct whatever errors were in the system that were allowing these countries to flood us with terrorists, none of whom have killed an American in the U.S. since he was still getting Vietnam deferments and being sanctioned by the U.S. government for racism.
For the record, he's literally a racist.
posted by Etrigan at 11:55 AM on June 26, 2018 [84 favorites]
I said yesterday if the Dems weren't leading here (Comstock) they were in big league trouble. They're up double-digits.
---
Virginia US House races are going to be a bloodbath for the Republicans this year. The GOP Senate nominee is so loathsome that a bunch of people will go to the polls to basically vote "fuck that guy" (Stewart) "and his little dog too" (downticket Republican).
Larry Sabato (UVa Center for Politics)
Tight as a tick in VA Senate. Kidding. Kaine +18, 54-36% in new Q poll. Corey Stewart is about as weak as expected.
posted by chris24 at 11:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
---
Virginia US House races are going to be a bloodbath for the Republicans this year. The GOP Senate nominee is so loathsome that a bunch of people will go to the polls to basically vote "fuck that guy" (Stewart) "and his little dog too" (downticket Republican).
Larry Sabato (UVa Center for Politics)
Tight as a tick in VA Senate. Kidding. Kaine +18, 54-36% in new Q poll. Corey Stewart is about as weak as expected.
posted by chris24 at 11:57 AM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
White House proposal would slash legal immigration rates by 44 percent this year and result in 22 million fewer immigrants over the next five decades
Normally I wouldn’t have to ask, but - this is if not reversed, right? This isn’t that if the law passed it couldn’t be changed for that length of time?
Apologies if this seems obvious, I just feel I can’t count on normal assumptions and norms anymore.
posted by corb at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Normally I wouldn’t have to ask, but - this is if not reversed, right? This isn’t that if the law passed it couldn’t be changed for that length of time?
Apologies if this seems obvious, I just feel I can’t count on normal assumptions and norms anymore.
posted by corb at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Quindar Beep: "
"Please, please, don't throw us in the briar patch," says the tech industry HR people of Canada, Ireland, London, Tel Aviv, Singapore...."
Also research into, well, most anything.
InTheYear2017: "For the record, the next thing Trump said after "you can't come in" was "You have to go into a legal process." So even though this would be very unsurprising on his part, he didn't literally propose a total ban on all immigration.
"
Of course not, where would he get his next spouse? And I'm sure he'd like to keep the door open for people who can roll up with a wheel-barrel full of money.
posted by Mitheral at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Please, please, don't throw us in the briar patch," says the tech industry HR people of Canada, Ireland, London, Tel Aviv, Singapore...."
Also research into, well, most anything.
InTheYear2017: "For the record, the next thing Trump said after "you can't come in" was "You have to go into a legal process." So even though this would be very unsurprising on his part, he didn't literally propose a total ban on all immigration.
"
Of course not, where would he get his next spouse? And I'm sure he'd like to keep the door open for people who can roll up with a wheel-barrel full of money.
posted by Mitheral at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Schumer never once publicly criticized the Democrats who voted with the GOP to deregulate banks, give Trump more surveillance powers, or confirm a torturer as head of CIA. But this...
I was just telling a friend -- who's a constituent of No Buck Chuck's -- that while I've often referred to "Writers" constructing the narrative that is our current reality (eg, like many here, often saying things like "Come on, Writers, that name is a little too on the nose!"), if I truly thought we were living through a constructed narrative, I might hold out hope that Schumer and other Dems like him are going to be revealed as having set Trump up big time in the final act of the story: presenting a very public and accommodating face while secretly enabling the resistance, log-jamming and slow-footing all of Trump's plans.
I don't think that any longer. I think what we see is what Schumer and others are truly like.
That they don't understand Trump calling Waters a "low IQ person" is his tv friendly way of saying "stupid n-word" is amazing to me. And in Pelosi's case, her reprimand of Waters didn't earn her a damn thing from Trump. He still insulted her a few hours later.
Am I wrong to think that we used to hear about President's holding such opinions after they left office? The Negros living like dogs thing with Nixion came to light after he was no longer President, didn't it? And here we have Trump putting the flimsiest of covers over his publicly expressed opinions, and people are coming down on the Democrats about civility.
I wish I knew why so many Democrats bought into the kiss up/kick down thing.
posted by lord_wolf at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
I was just telling a friend -- who's a constituent of No Buck Chuck's -- that while I've often referred to "Writers" constructing the narrative that is our current reality (eg, like many here, often saying things like "Come on, Writers, that name is a little too on the nose!"), if I truly thought we were living through a constructed narrative, I might hold out hope that Schumer and other Dems like him are going to be revealed as having set Trump up big time in the final act of the story: presenting a very public and accommodating face while secretly enabling the resistance, log-jamming and slow-footing all of Trump's plans.
I don't think that any longer. I think what we see is what Schumer and others are truly like.
That they don't understand Trump calling Waters a "low IQ person" is his tv friendly way of saying "stupid n-word" is amazing to me. And in Pelosi's case, her reprimand of Waters didn't earn her a damn thing from Trump. He still insulted her a few hours later.
Am I wrong to think that we used to hear about President's holding such opinions after they left office? The Negros living like dogs thing with Nixion came to light after he was no longer President, didn't it? And here we have Trump putting the flimsiest of covers over his publicly expressed opinions, and people are coming down on the Democrats about civility.
I wish I knew why so many Democrats bought into the kiss up/kick down thing.
posted by lord_wolf at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Unfortunately, this isn't a matter of "keep fighting." His power to discriminate against Muslims in this way now carries with it the imprimatur of the SCOTUS.
What infuriates me most about the reverse engineering on the decision ("well, even though Trump said it was a Muslim ban, it's plausible it might not be, so it isn't") is that they didn't even consider whether it had any chance of accomplishing its pretended aim: to increase security of the US. To do that, the defendants would have had to prove some incremental benefit from blocking all immigration over and above the rigorous vetting that was occurring. Of course, it's nonsense that we're threatened by these legal immigrants, so the "conservative" (read, white supremacist) SCOTUS majority would have had to rule against Trump, and there was no way they were going to do that.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
What infuriates me most about the reverse engineering on the decision ("well, even though Trump said it was a Muslim ban, it's plausible it might not be, so it isn't") is that they didn't even consider whether it had any chance of accomplishing its pretended aim: to increase security of the US. To do that, the defendants would have had to prove some incremental benefit from blocking all immigration over and above the rigorous vetting that was occurring. Of course, it's nonsense that we're threatened by these legal immigrants, so the "conservative" (read, white supremacist) SCOTUS majority would have had to rule against Trump, and there was no way they were going to do that.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:05 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Rust Moranis: TRUMP says U.S. immigration policy should simply be: "YOU CAN'T COME IN." He just told members of Congress that the US immigration policy right now is a "hodgepodge of laws." "It’s so simple. It’s called, 'I’m sorry you can’t come in.'"
Liberty Enlightening the World could be retrofitted with a giant STOP sign, and "The New Colossus" could be covered up with "I'm Sorry You Can't Come In" -Donald Trump, with a hastily erected statue of SHS with a speaker repeating "We're simply out of resources" (which is what she said about flopping on the earlier stated end to the "zero tolerance" policy).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Liberty Enlightening the World could be retrofitted with a giant STOP sign, and "The New Colossus" could be covered up with "I'm Sorry You Can't Come In" -Donald Trump, with a hastily erected statue of SHS with a speaker repeating "We're simply out of resources" (which is what she said about flopping on the earlier stated end to the "zero tolerance" policy).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
A small bit of good news: The city council of the town next to mine voted unanimously to cancel ICE's bed rental contract with the municipal jail last night. People have been pressing the council on this for months. The council meeting started with them considering an amendment to the contract to only lease the jail beds for detainees charged with suspected felonies / serious misdemeanors and ended with them canceling the contract altogether.
posted by bassooner at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by bassooner at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
The New, New Colossus
“Keep, ancient shitholes, your storied filth!” cries she
With silent lips. “Keep your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost back,
I snuff my lamp beside the iron door!”
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
“Keep, ancient shitholes, your storied filth!” cries she
With silent lips. “Keep your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost back,
I snuff my lamp beside the iron door!”
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
TRUMP says U.S. immigration policy should simply be: "YOU CAN'T COME IN." He just told members of Congress that the US immigration policy right now is a "hodgepodge of laws." "It’s so simple. It’s called, 'I’m sorry you can’t come in.'"
THIS IS THE US LAW RIGHT NOW.
I repeat my statement from the previous thread. There are three ways to get into the US legally:
1) Be elite. (Internationally renowned or extraordinarily rich)
2) Marry an American (still not a guarantee).
3) Win a lottery, H-1B or DV.
Any other way to get into the US is just temporary. You're going to get sent home after you stop being useful to us. H-2A? You're temporary. J-1? We give you a year after we train you to maybe find a H-1B and then you're gone. There is no real skilled worker migration program for the United States like, say, EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED FUCKING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
Everything about the US immigration system is about legally (as possible) traversing a map that's literally labeled "HERE BE DRAGONS" and letting a trickle of the most elite people in the world take up residence, some spouses, and a lucky hundred thousand or so, give or take. The United States has a net migration rate of somewhere around 3 per thousand. This is about half the migration rates of countries like Canada and Australia.
The system has literally routed around the economic damage caused by prejudice in our legal immigration systems to use undocumented workers for labor.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [36 favorites]
THIS IS THE US LAW RIGHT NOW.
I repeat my statement from the previous thread. There are three ways to get into the US legally:
1) Be elite. (Internationally renowned or extraordinarily rich)
2) Marry an American (still not a guarantee).
3) Win a lottery, H-1B or DV.
Any other way to get into the US is just temporary. You're going to get sent home after you stop being useful to us. H-2A? You're temporary. J-1? We give you a year after we train you to maybe find a H-1B and then you're gone. There is no real skilled worker migration program for the United States like, say, EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED FUCKING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
Everything about the US immigration system is about legally (as possible) traversing a map that's literally labeled "HERE BE DRAGONS" and letting a trickle of the most elite people in the world take up residence, some spouses, and a lucky hundred thousand or so, give or take. The United States has a net migration rate of somewhere around 3 per thousand. This is about half the migration rates of countries like Canada and Australia.
The system has literally routed around the economic damage caused by prejudice in our legal immigration systems to use undocumented workers for labor.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [36 favorites]
4) Be a refugee.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
From Pramila Jayapal:
BREAKING: I am very proud to be the first sitting member of Congress whose campaign workers have unionized (with @CWG_Workers!). Unions give workers a critical voice and they are the backbone of our middle class, and I hope we can be a model for campaigns throughout the country.
Changing my vote to Jayapal/Harris 2020.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
BREAKING: I am very proud to be the first sitting member of Congress whose campaign workers have unionized (with @CWG_Workers!). Unions give workers a critical voice and they are the backbone of our middle class, and I hope we can be a model for campaigns throughout the country.
Changing my vote to Jayapal/Harris 2020.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
4) Be a refugee.
Not anymore. We had 11 Syrian refugees admitted YTD back in April.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Not anymore. We had 11 Syrian refugees admitted YTD back in April.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Milo Yiannopoulos Encourages Vigilantes to Start ‘Gunning Journalists Down’
Milo Yiannopoulos has started issuing reporters threatening messages when asked to comment for stories. “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” the right-wing nationalist told Observer over text message, in response to a longer feature in development about an Upper East Side restaurant he is said to frequent.
Terroristic threats? That's a deporterin'.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [71 favorites]
Milo Yiannopoulos has started issuing reporters threatening messages when asked to comment for stories. “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” the right-wing nationalist told Observer over text message, in response to a longer feature in development about an Upper East Side restaurant he is said to frequent.
Terroristic threats? That's a deporterin'.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [71 favorites]
This whole thing affects students and scientists so much. I can think of three people known to me from "Muslim-ban" countries who will basically have to choose between finishing their studies here without going home to see their parents for years or abandoning their studies, and if they hit any funding or visa snags while they're here, that will be it for them. Not to mention the people from Muslim countries who are post-docs or staff scientists who are long-term residents who basically can't go home if they ever want to come back to their jobs. I mean, these are people that I literally know, some of them people whose visas I actually worked on to get them here. The actual best people.
And all my Somali neighbors who would like, eg, to bring family members to join them, or go see relatives in Somalia or neighboring regions. This is a blow against my neighborhood, mostly applauded by garbage humans who have never even met a Muslim.
I think of all the nice, everyday people whose lives are thrown into chaos by this - it's just garbage, and I'm supposed to go about my life as if this country weren't burning down around our ears.
I mean, this really is war, it's internal war, information war, stochastic war. It's not going to look like two armies.
posted by Frowner at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [82 favorites]
And all my Somali neighbors who would like, eg, to bring family members to join them, or go see relatives in Somalia or neighboring regions. This is a blow against my neighborhood, mostly applauded by garbage humans who have never even met a Muslim.
I think of all the nice, everyday people whose lives are thrown into chaos by this - it's just garbage, and I'm supposed to go about my life as if this country weren't burning down around our ears.
I mean, this really is war, it's internal war, information war, stochastic war. It's not going to look like two armies.
posted by Frowner at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [82 favorites]
US immigration law has always, paradoxically, stacked the decks against immigrants. Quotas and bans happened in the 19th and 20th centuries. Racism and ignorance was rampant back then, too.
The current situation isn't all that much different than it was a century or more ago, when US banned Asian immigrants from citizenship and set quotas on whether or not and how long they and other groups could stay in the country.
History is repeating itself, as it often does.
posted by zarq at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
The current situation isn't all that much different than it was a century or more ago, when US banned Asian immigrants from citizenship and set quotas on whether or not and how long they and other groups could stay in the country.
History is repeating itself, as it often does.
According to Pew Research Center studies, in less than 40 years, there will be no ethnic majority group in the U.S., and by 2065, Asians are projected to become the largest immigrant group.but Trump's immigration plans could keep whites in the U.S. majority for up to five more years. That's not a coincidence.
posted by zarq at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
Just gonna paste here what I sent to Dick Durbin, my senator, because if I hafta shout into the void, at least I'm gonna do it loudly:
Please convey to your colleagues Pelosi and Schumer my deep dissatisfaction with their condemnation of Maxine Waters's call for public shunning of members of the Trump administration. This is not a normal presidency, and children are in cages. Don't act like "civility" will save us. You want Dems fired up to vote in November? You guys are gonna need to start showing a lot more fire yourselves, not this namby-pamby "let the monsters eat in peace" crap.
Yrs, etc
posted by salix at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [57 favorites]
Please convey to your colleagues Pelosi and Schumer my deep dissatisfaction with their condemnation of Maxine Waters's call for public shunning of members of the Trump administration. This is not a normal presidency, and children are in cages. Don't act like "civility" will save us. You want Dems fired up to vote in November? You guys are gonna need to start showing a lot more fire yourselves, not this namby-pamby "let the monsters eat in peace" crap.
Yrs, etc
posted by salix at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [57 favorites]
Michael Bloomberg is considering running in 2020 as a Democrat. At the end of his second term he would be 86 years old. So would Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders would be 87. I feel strongly that these gentlemen would be better off endorsing and campaigning for candidates they support rather than running for President themselves.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:43 PM on June 26, 2018 [88 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:43 PM on June 26, 2018 [88 favorites]
This whole thing affects students and scientists so much.
I need to talk to my boss about setting up a satellite office in Halifax because of this shit.
posted by ocschwar at 12:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I need to talk to my boss about setting up a satellite office in Halifax because of this shit.
posted by ocschwar at 12:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
@LisaDNews: HHS WOULD NOT ANSWER: - ! If they are STILL receiving kids who are being separated from their parents.! (I asked 3 times.) - What ages the kids are and why they have not answered that question tho many of us have asked it for over a week.
@jacobsoboroff: .@HHSGov also says they still have 2,047 separated children in their custody. That means since the last update over the weekend, only *six* separated kids have been reunited with their parents.
Unless they are STILL adding more separated children, which they refuse to answer.
These don't seem like unreasonable questions.
Of course there's no WH press briefing today. Sanders was going to appear on Fox News anyway, but someone deleted that tweet after people pointed out that she was talking to Fox and not the public.
posted by zachlipton at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
@jacobsoboroff: .@HHSGov also says they still have 2,047 separated children in their custody. That means since the last update over the weekend, only *six* separated kids have been reunited with their parents.
Unless they are STILL adding more separated children, which they refuse to answer.
These don't seem like unreasonable questions.
Of course there's no WH press briefing today. Sanders was going to appear on Fox News anyway, but someone deleted that tweet after people pointed out that she was talking to Fox and not the public.
posted by zachlipton at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
Trump, just now talking about laying telephone line on a battlefield: "That was a long time ago, before we have what we have today, called a cellophone"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
Of course there's no WH press briefing today. Sanders was going to appear on Fox News anyway, but someone deleted that tweet after people pointed out that she was talking to Fox and not the public.
I'm legitimately surprised by this. After the Supreme Court fuckery today I thought they'd want to get up on the podium for a victory lap in front of a press room that would undoubtedly focus on that as the news of the day. I can only hope this means the press room really is focused more on the internment issue and the White House still doesn't want to face them on it.
Or maybe they're just not planning to do press conferences anymore because somebody asked SHS if she had any empathy.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm legitimately surprised by this. After the Supreme Court fuckery today I thought they'd want to get up on the podium for a victory lap in front of a press room that would undoubtedly focus on that as the news of the day. I can only hope this means the press room really is focused more on the internment issue and the White House still doesn't want to face them on it.
Or maybe they're just not planning to do press conferences anymore because somebody asked SHS if she had any empathy.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
@jacobsoboroff: .@HHSGov also says they still have 2,047 separated children in their custody. That means since the last update over the weekend, only *six* separated kids have been reunited with their parents.
See also: The Trump administration says it has reunited more than 500 families. One legal group in Texas has confirmed 4 cases.
I think that range is accurate.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
See also: The Trump administration says it has reunited more than 500 families. One legal group in Texas has confirmed 4 cases.
I think that range is accurate.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
So, I just sent Chuck Schumer an email (the bits about meeting him are true, BTW):
I have been a supporter of yours for several years, and had the honor of meeting you in person at a fundraiser back in 1998. I believe that the event was hosted by a friend of yours, [name redacted]; at the time I was his executive assistant.posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [79 favorites]
However, 20 years later, I find myself questioning my support. Recently you chastised Senator Maxine Waters, stating that her advocating civil disobedience was "Un-American."
Senator Schumer: at a time when the current administration is violating the First Amendment through the implementation of travel bans against Muslim-majority nations, asylum seekers are having their children forcibly removed from them, and there is an ongoing investigation of a foreign country's involvement in our last presidential election, civil disobedience against those who perpetrate crimes against our government is not only not "unAmerican" - it is ESSENTIAL AND NECESSARY.
I urge you to heed the wishes of your constituency and actually stand up to this assault on our government. It is what I elected you for in 1998 (you may recall at that meeting, a friend of mine congratulated you for voting against Bill Clinton's impeachment three times), it is what I have been electing you for ever since. Please give me a reason to re-elect you now.
Here's a video of Elaine Cho protecting Mitch McConnell from protestors (who were not being violent)
posted by Brainy at 1:01 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 1:01 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
But of course Trump Nazi's aren't even good at the things the Nazis did well; their record keeping sucks.
Y’all still don’t get it, do you? The Nazi’s meticulous record keeping came back to bite them in the ass at Nuremberg. Records keep people accountable.
They’re doing this intentionally.
posted by joedan at 1:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
Y’all still don’t get it, do you? The Nazi’s meticulous record keeping came back to bite them in the ass at Nuremberg. Records keep people accountable.
They’re doing this intentionally.
posted by joedan at 1:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
June 26, 2018 - Kaine Up 18 Points In Virginia U.S. Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Have Almost 2-1 Negative View Of GOP
me
posted by Jacqueline at 1:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
me
posted by Jacqueline at 1:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Some backstory from Mike Masnick (the Techdirt editor) on that Mercer role-playing game: I Helped Design The Election Simulation 'Parlor Game' Rebekah Mercer Got, And It's Not What You Think. This is a really weird story.
posted by zachlipton at 1:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
More good polling news for Ds today.
NBC News/Marist Polls:
FL Sen:
Bill Nelson (D) 49%
Rick Scott (R) 45%
AZ Sen:
Kyrsten Sinema (D) leads all GOP candidates by double digits
Sinema leads Arpaio by +25
Leads McSally by +11
Leads Ward +10
OH Sen:
Sherrod Brown (D) 51%
Jim Renacci (R) 38%
posted by chris24 at 1:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
NBC News/Marist Polls:
FL Sen:
Bill Nelson (D) 49%
Rick Scott (R) 45%
AZ Sen:
Kyrsten Sinema (D) leads all GOP candidates by double digits
Sinema leads Arpaio by +25
Leads McSally by +11
Leads Ward +10
OH Sen:
Sherrod Brown (D) 51%
Jim Renacci (R) 38%
posted by chris24 at 1:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
I'd just like you all to take a brief moment to enjoy this campaign ad by County Executive candidate George Leventhal for Montgomery County in Maryland. I'm not voting for him, but also the ad did not affect my decision.
posted by numaner at 1:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by numaner at 1:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
The Guardian: Seventeen states sue trump administration over family separations:
In the court filing on Tuesday in the US district court in Seattle, the states contended that the administration’s policy deprives parents and children of due process and denies immigrants fleeing violence the right to apply for asylum.
“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” the New Jersey attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, said in an emailed statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance.”
Edited to add from CNBC:
The states that sued are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
In the court filing on Tuesday in the US district court in Seattle, the states contended that the administration’s policy deprives parents and children of due process and denies immigrants fleeing violence the right to apply for asylum.
“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” the New Jersey attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, said in an emailed statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance.”
Edited to add from CNBC:
The states that sued are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
Trump's immigration plans could keep whites in the U.S. majority for up to five more years. That's not a coincidence.
The GOP is banking on remaining relevant for five more years thanks to Trump, and at which point they should be overwhelmed and voted out of power in increasing numbers ...
... Or they could pay heed to Post-2012 Election "Autopsy" (officially its "Growth and Opportunity Project") report, which as noted in that Washington Post article, strongly calls out the following:
And this is old news now, but Sally Bradshaw, a veteran Republican official and a longtime aide to Jeb Bush and George H.W. Bush, co-authored the Republican National Committee’s “autopsy” report, which many in the party ignored, despite its worthwhile recommendations, parted ways with her party when she said she couldn't back Trump
Too bad she couldn't sway the GOP to be even a bit more forward-looking.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
The GOP is banking on remaining relevant for five more years thanks to Trump, and at which point they should be overwhelmed and voted out of power in increasing numbers ...
... Or they could pay heed to Post-2012 Election "Autopsy" (officially its "Growth and Opportunity Project") report, which as noted in that Washington Post article, strongly calls out the following:
We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. We also believe that comprehensive immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all.How long will voter intimidation, disenfranchisement, racism and xenophobia keep the party afloat? Another 5 years?
And this is old news now, but Sally Bradshaw, a veteran Republican official and a longtime aide to Jeb Bush and George H.W. Bush, co-authored the Republican National Committee’s “autopsy” report, which many in the party ignored, despite its worthwhile recommendations, parted ways with her party when she said she couldn't back Trump
Bradshaw told CNN, “As much as I don’t want another four years of (President Barack) Obama’s policies, I can’t look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump. I can’t tell them to love their neighbor and treat others the way they wanted to be treated, and then vote for Donald Trump. I won’t do it.”Huh, white men in power chose to not listen to the warnings of a woman? That's a shocker. But she saw what the majority of the country saw: Donald Trump is a bully who is bad for the country.
Too bad she couldn't sway the GOP to be even a bit more forward-looking.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
WaPo, Josh Rogin, Biden: European leaders reeling from Trump’s hostile behavior
Jason Rezaian (the one held by Iran for 544 days), Call Trump’s travel ban what it is: an Iran ban
In lighter news, the Mayor of Warren, Michigan does not want to talk to you while he's jogging, and he'd appreciate it if you'd stop harassing him about the Post Office.
posted by zachlipton at 1:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
One European diplomat told me that in a private White House meeting in March, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven explained to Trump that Sweden, although not a member of NATO, partners with the alliance on a case-by-case basis. Trump responded that the United States should consider that approach. A senior administration official told me Trump was joking.I—I don't think he was. I'm also not past the whole "Swedish Prime Minister has to explain they're not NATO members" thing.
Jason Rezaian (the one held by Iran for 544 days), Call Trump’s travel ban what it is: an Iran ban
The Supreme Court decision is yet another reminder to Iranians everywhere that they have no allies — neither in their home country’s government nor in that of the United States. The sad irony is that the travel ban plays into the hands of the clerical regime that still runs the country.Unsurprisingly, Manafort has lost his motion to dismiss the Virginia indictment.
Young Iranians, in particular, have traditionally viewed the United States — a country they see as the embodiment of openness, meritocracy, and rule of law — as the antithesis of Iran’s overbearing theocracy. Now the Supreme Court has unmistakably delivered the message that Iranians don’t deserve to partake of the American Dream — even as visitors.
This week, protestors in Iran’s largest cities are once again taking to the streets to express their discontent with the dismal state of their country. And this is the moment the United States has chosen to label all of its Iranian admirers as undesirables.
The Trump administration likes to parrot the line that it supports the aspirations of Iranians to achieve a better, more democratic future for themselves. From now on, this claim stands exposed as fiction. Rest assured that the mullahs in Tehran couldn’t be happier.
In lighter news, the Mayor of Warren, Michigan does not want to talk to you while he's jogging, and he'd appreciate it if you'd stop harassing him about the Post Office.
posted by zachlipton at 1:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
Wristbands / barcodes / genetic tests, this is all just blowing my mind.
It is not like this is some insurmountable problem and the natural state of government services is ignorance and entropy! Like, there are things called records and databases (yes, I know you all know this) where when you put a child in PRISON you keep track of their name, photo, and the names and location of their parents.
It is the willful spiteful disregard and lack of care that has created this issue. It would not have happened this way but by design.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
It is not like this is some insurmountable problem and the natural state of government services is ignorance and entropy! Like, there are things called records and databases (yes, I know you all know this) where when you put a child in PRISON you keep track of their name, photo, and the names and location of their parents.
It is the willful spiteful disregard and lack of care that has created this issue. It would not have happened this way but by design.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
The United States has a net migration rate of somewhere around 3 per thousand. This is about half the migration rates of countries like Canada and Australia.
The USA takes in the most legal immigrants in absolute numbers. But in per capita terms it AFAIK just barely cracks the top 20 (which is still pretty high, just not in the higest echelon). But generally even the places that place above the USA in per capita terms, such as Canada, have stricter merit-based systems which require education and job offers even for "unskilled" worker VISAS. But the experience itself is often more unpleasant for navigating the system in the USA even though we allow far more of unskilled-type immigrants than most.
So it's a mixed bag and not as simple as "the US allows the most immigrants rah rah!" vs "the US doesn't allow as many immigrants per capita boo boo!".
that said, fuck ICE.
posted by Justinian at 1:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
The USA takes in the most legal immigrants in absolute numbers. But in per capita terms it AFAIK just barely cracks the top 20 (which is still pretty high, just not in the higest echelon). But generally even the places that place above the USA in per capita terms, such as Canada, have stricter merit-based systems which require education and job offers even for "unskilled" worker VISAS. But the experience itself is often more unpleasant for navigating the system in the USA even though we allow far more of unskilled-type immigrants than most.
So it's a mixed bag and not as simple as "the US allows the most immigrants rah rah!" vs "the US doesn't allow as many immigrants per capita boo boo!".
that said, fuck ICE.
posted by Justinian at 1:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
In my fantasy dreamworld, someone would create an app to play the audio of the children crying at the push of a button, whenever the user spotted a Trump administration official. Maybe occasionally interspersed with "shame". If it could sync the audio with other users doing the same thing, it couldn't be ignored.
Note that my fantasy dreamworld should not have a NEED for such an app, but here we are.
posted by Soliloquy at 1:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
Note that my fantasy dreamworld should not have a NEED for such an app, but here we are.
posted by Soliloquy at 1:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
at which point they should be overwhelmed and voted out of power
Not if they succeed at disenfranchising people and gaming the system. Have you not heard how many conservatives now insist "We're a republic, not a democracy?" That's because they know they are not a majority, so they don't believe, any more, in majority rule. Other than 2004 (which was special circumstances with memory of 9/11 fresh, and the Iraq war new) they have not won the popular vote in a presidential race since 1988.
They have control of all three branches of government right now, even though they did not win a majority of votes for open house or senate seats, or the presidency, in 2016.
They want a system like apartheid South Africa. Minority rule. And they are getting more and more open about saying so.
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [59 favorites]
Not if they succeed at disenfranchising people and gaming the system. Have you not heard how many conservatives now insist "We're a republic, not a democracy?" That's because they know they are not a majority, so they don't believe, any more, in majority rule. Other than 2004 (which was special circumstances with memory of 9/11 fresh, and the Iraq war new) they have not won the popular vote in a presidential race since 1988.
They have control of all three branches of government right now, even though they did not win a majority of votes for open house or senate seats, or the presidency, in 2016.
They want a system like apartheid South Africa. Minority rule. And they are getting more and more open about saying so.
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [59 favorites]
Republican National Committee’s “autopsy” report, which many in the party ignored, despite its worthwhile recommendations
They didn't ignore it, they concluded that we have to get rid of and suppress voting by all the nonwhites
posted by benzenedream at 1:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
They didn't ignore it, they concluded that we have to get rid of and suppress voting by all the nonwhites
posted by benzenedream at 1:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
FL Sen:
Bill Nelson (D) 49%
Rick Scott (R) 45%
Bill Nelson could seriously be the only Democratic Senate incumbent to lose his seat in the Trump mid-term. Imagine that being your legacy, because Nelson has done precious little else in 18 years as a wooden stiff in the Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:44 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bill Nelson (D) 49%
Rick Scott (R) 45%
Bill Nelson could seriously be the only Democratic Senate incumbent to lose his seat in the Trump mid-term. Imagine that being your legacy, because Nelson has done precious little else in 18 years as a wooden stiff in the Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:44 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'd just like you all to take a brief moment to enjoy this campaign ad by County Executive candidate George Leventhal for Montgomery County in Maryland. I'm not voting for him, but also the ad did not affect my decision.
How can you not vote for him after that awesome ad?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
How can you not vote for him after that awesome ad?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Some backstory from Mike Masnick (the Techdirt editor) on that Mercer role-playing game: I Helped Design The Election Simulation 'Parlor Game' Rebekah Mercer Got, And It's Not What You Think. This is a really weird story.
Three observations. First: The designer claims that "The game was also designed to be non-partisan, and fairly balanced between the various positions and factions."
In the real world, the positions and factions are most certainly not balanced, especially when it comes to asymmetric information warfare and propaganda campaigns. If the stated goal of the game is to "help think though various scenarios of how tech and politics might mix in the future", then it is starting from an extremely faulty premise.
Second: how could AI experts not see that any simulation sufficient to game-out successful defenses to information warfare can also be used to game-out successful offensive strategies. If the game has any real-world value at all, then they need to understand that it is not somehow inherently positive or morally neutral. It could just as easily be used for evil purposes as for good. Luckily, given the first point, the game probably has very little real-world value, since it's built on an imaginary level playing field.
Third: The designer claims that "playing the actual game requires a lot more [than the Mercers had access to] -- including a bunch of facilitators who understand the game, and a backend engine that they most certainly did not have (nor would they have understood it if they had seen it)."
So what? That means it was even more of a parlor game for the super rich and not the supposed educational game that the designer claims. That seems to back up the original narrative, not debunk it.
posted by jedicus at 1:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Three observations. First: The designer claims that "The game was also designed to be non-partisan, and fairly balanced between the various positions and factions."
In the real world, the positions and factions are most certainly not balanced, especially when it comes to asymmetric information warfare and propaganda campaigns. If the stated goal of the game is to "help think though various scenarios of how tech and politics might mix in the future", then it is starting from an extremely faulty premise.
Second: how could AI experts not see that any simulation sufficient to game-out successful defenses to information warfare can also be used to game-out successful offensive strategies. If the game has any real-world value at all, then they need to understand that it is not somehow inherently positive or morally neutral. It could just as easily be used for evil purposes as for good. Luckily, given the first point, the game probably has very little real-world value, since it's built on an imaginary level playing field.
Third: The designer claims that "playing the actual game requires a lot more [than the Mercers had access to] -- including a bunch of facilitators who understand the game, and a backend engine that they most certainly did not have (nor would they have understood it if they had seen it)."
So what? That means it was even more of a parlor game for the super rich and not the supposed educational game that the designer claims. That seems to back up the original narrative, not debunk it.
posted by jedicus at 1:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Unsurprisingly, Manafort has lost his motion to dismiss the Virginia indictment.
This was the judge who earlier questioned if Mueller had authority - and who Trump... trumpeted - so perhaps not completely unsurprisingly. But we end up where even a Republican-appointed judge who was dubious completely ruled against Manafort/Trump and for Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 1:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
This was the judge who earlier questioned if Mueller had authority - and who Trump... trumpeted - so perhaps not completely unsurprisingly. But we end up where even a Republican-appointed judge who was dubious completely ruled against Manafort/Trump and for Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 1:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
The Onion: Tips For Staying Civil While Debating Child Prisons
Remind yourself that you’re just two people having a cocktail at the same D.C. party and that politics is a game to you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [61 favorites]
Remind yourself that you’re just two people having a cocktail at the same D.C. party and that politics is a game to you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [61 favorites]
The forcible relocation of U. S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of Presidential authority.The Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump’s travel ban isn’t a ‘Muslim ban,’ annotated
posted by kirkaracha at 2:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
From yesterday, from a tweet thread regarding the pearl-clutching over nonviolent protest: - I could go in like this, but you should just read Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which addresses precisely this point.
In 1963. It's shameful that some Americans haven't learned better in 55 years.
posted by Gelatin at 2:02 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
In 1963. It's shameful that some Americans haven't learned better in 55 years.
posted by Gelatin at 2:02 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
Imagine that being your legacy, because Nelson has done precious little else in 18 years as a wooden stiff in the Senate.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:44 PM
Sotomayor - Yea
Kagan - Yea
ACA - Yes
Met with and would have voted for Merrick - Yea
Gorsuch Confirmation - No
ACA Repeal Vote - No
He is the ONLY Democrat elected to a statewide office in Florida. Call him a centrist democrat all you want. I'd like someone more progressive but a more progressive option doesn't exist. Christ, did you see the candidates that were run against Rubio in 2016?
posted by 6ATR at 2:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [44 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:44 PM
Sotomayor - Yea
Kagan - Yea
ACA - Yes
Met with and would have voted for Merrick - Yea
Gorsuch Confirmation - No
ACA Repeal Vote - No
He is the ONLY Democrat elected to a statewide office in Florida. Call him a centrist democrat all you want. I'd like someone more progressive but a more progressive option doesn't exist. Christ, did you see the candidates that were run against Rubio in 2016?
posted by 6ATR at 2:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [44 favorites]
From the descriptions of this "Machine Learning President" game, I suspect that it's not really accurately described as a "game" in the conventional sense (not even like a "Vampire" or "Assassins" type of parlor game). It seems to me like it was set up like more of the kind of exercise you do in a corporate training seminar to learn about lean manufacturing or agile scrum project management or whatever. But, the designers of the thing haven't actually released the thing itself yet so who knows.
posted by mhum at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by mhum at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Vice: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s MAGA Socks Might Have Violated Federal Law
Today, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tweeted a photo of himself wearing “Make America Great Again!” socks. The tweet has since been deleted, and Zinke weirdly reposted a censored version, apologizing for “not realizing it had what could be viewed as a political slogan.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Today, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tweeted a photo of himself wearing “Make America Great Again!” socks. The tweet has since been deleted, and Zinke weirdly reposted a censored version, apologizing for “not realizing it had what could be viewed as a political slogan.”
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
He is the ONLY Democrat elected to a statewide office in Florida. Call him a centrist democrat all you want.
Sure, I'll take 6 more years of wooden stiff voting for Democratic leadership and judges over the alternative, but he's running on no real record of doing anything and running a shitty, uninspiring and stupid campaign to augment his minimal accomplishments. Even compared to other moderate red-staters like Manchin and McCaskill, who seem to have the pulse of their state no matter how much I dislike them, Nelson decidedly does not.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Sure, I'll take 6 more years of wooden stiff voting for Democratic leadership and judges over the alternative, but he's running on no real record of doing anything and running a shitty, uninspiring and stupid campaign to augment his minimal accomplishments. Even compared to other moderate red-staters like Manchin and McCaskill, who seem to have the pulse of their state no matter how much I dislike them, Nelson decidedly does not.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
CNN, Manu Raju, Steve King says retweet of Nazi sympathizer's message was unintentional, won't delete tweet, in which a racist digs in.
posted by zachlipton at 2:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
In 1963. It's shameful that some Americans haven't learned better in 55 years.
Or in 1849, a mere one hundred and sixty nine years ago. [previously on MeFi] (And, spoiler alert, it was about racism then, too.)
It's hard to imagine something more American than civil disobedience, but here we are.
posted by ragtag at 2:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Or in 1849, a mere one hundred and sixty nine years ago. [previously on MeFi] (And, spoiler alert, it was about racism then, too.)
It's hard to imagine something more American than civil disobedience, but here we are.
posted by ragtag at 2:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Michael Bloomberg is considering running in 2020 as a Democrat. At the end of his second term he would be 86 years old. So would Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders would be 87. I feel strongly that these gentlemen would be better off endorsing and campaigning for candidates they support rather than running for President themselves.
+infinity. And ditto the likes of Richard Painter in MN, who jumped right into an, almost certainly doomed, Senate bid as a born-again Democrat. Memo to old white former Republican guys - welcome to the blue fold, but please, serve the party before you expect it to serve you!
I don't really want to see Yet Another White Man as the Dem nominee in 2020. Unless it's Sherrod Brown or Jeff Merkley - ah hell, Ralph Northam has been knocking it out of the park lately. But women, especially, deserve better than "a bloo bloo bloo we can't affoooooord to run a woman" BS. My dream is a Gillibrand/Harris or Harris/Gillibrand ticket winning by a landslide and rubbing disgruntled #MeToo-is-Too-Far noses in it from coast to coast.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
+infinity. And ditto the likes of Richard Painter in MN, who jumped right into an, almost certainly doomed, Senate bid as a born-again Democrat. Memo to old white former Republican guys - welcome to the blue fold, but please, serve the party before you expect it to serve you!
I don't really want to see Yet Another White Man as the Dem nominee in 2020. Unless it's Sherrod Brown or Jeff Merkley - ah hell, Ralph Northam has been knocking it out of the park lately. But women, especially, deserve better than "a bloo bloo bloo we can't affoooooord to run a woman" BS. My dream is a Gillibrand/Harris or Harris/Gillibrand ticket winning by a landslide and rubbing disgruntled #MeToo-is-Too-Far noses in it from coast to coast.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:28 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Soliloquy: Note that my fantasy dreamworld should not have a NEED for such an app, but here we are.
There's a gadget for that (Amazon link) to play back 104 seconds of audio. And there's also an app for that -- Instant Buttons: The Best Soundboard (free, Google Play store) / Custom Soundboard (free, iTunes store)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's a gadget for that (Amazon link) to play back 104 seconds of audio. And there's also an app for that -- Instant Buttons: The Best Soundboard (free, Google Play store) / Custom Soundboard (free, iTunes store)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Democrat Says They Should've 'Shut Down the Senate' Over GOP Blocking Obama SCOTUS Nominee.
In which we see another institutional group which made poor life decisions because they were convinced Clinton would the election and any damage could be undone once she took office. Senate Democrats join Barack Obama's administration, the news media, every single voter who got all pissy about Hillary Clinton winning the primary, and most of all James "I've made a huge mistake" Comey on that list.
tl;dr - Senate Democrats didn't go nuclear when Garland didn't get a hearing because they figured Clinton would pick someone even better. And then we all died, oh well.
posted by Justinian at 2:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [79 favorites]
In which we see another institutional group which made poor life decisions because they were convinced Clinton would the election and any damage could be undone once she took office. Senate Democrats join Barack Obama's administration, the news media, every single voter who got all pissy about Hillary Clinton winning the primary, and most of all James "I've made a huge mistake" Comey on that list.
tl;dr - Senate Democrats didn't go nuclear when Garland didn't get a hearing because they figured Clinton would pick someone even better. And then we all died, oh well.
posted by Justinian at 2:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [79 favorites]
Mari Uyehara writing for GQ: Blacklist Every Last One of Them
What the condescending, confused political establishment misses is that the restaurant industry have a duty to its immigrant community, the same men and women who harvest our tomatoes, pack our meat, pick our crab, milk our cows, clear our tables, wash our dishes, and cook our food. According to the National Restaurant Association, 23 percent of all restaurant workers in America are foreign born; Pew pegs the number of undocumented immigrants at 11 percent. Immigrant labor produces 79 percent of the country’s dairy and 1.5–2 million immigrants work in the produce industry. Farmers across the country say that Americans don’t want these jobs, but we haven’t opened up legal immigration to meet the demands of our society. Immigrants feed us by doing the work we won’t. And increasingly, they’ve been targeted by the Trump administration with systematic terrorization tactics, upending their lives, safety and families.posted by Catblack at 2:44 PM on June 26, 2018 [73 favorites]
Protestors are outside the Red Hen right now. One is carrying a "Trump is Love Sign."
The station's web site reports that Stephanie Wilkinson, co-owner of The Red Hen, has resigned as executive director of Main Street Lexington.
posted by jgirl at 2:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
The station's web site reports that Stephanie Wilkinson, co-owner of The Red Hen, has resigned as executive director of Main Street Lexington.
posted by jgirl at 2:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Soliloquy: Note that my fantasy dreamworld should not have a NEED for such an app, but here we are.
With Serval mesh networking, you could have Android phones form an ad-hoc local network, synchronize, and then hop around the room taking turns playing the file. IT would take a long time for security to identify each person whose phone is doing it, especially if the protesters are playing dumb and accusing other guests of being the ones doing it.
posted by ocschwar at 2:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
With Serval mesh networking, you could have Android phones form an ad-hoc local network, synchronize, and then hop around the room taking turns playing the file. IT would take a long time for security to identify each person whose phone is doing it, especially if the protesters are playing dumb and accusing other guests of being the ones doing it.
posted by ocschwar at 2:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Jimmy Fallon leans into Trump feud: Melania, “I don’t think your anti-bullying campaign is working”
When Fallon had Trump within arm's reach, he tousled Trump's hair like his best buddy, but now that there is a feud he takes a swing -- at his wife.
Coward.
posted by JackFlash at 2:59 PM on June 26, 2018 [53 favorites]
When Fallon had Trump within arm's reach, he tousled Trump's hair like his best buddy, but now that there is a feud he takes a swing -- at his wife.
Coward.
posted by JackFlash at 2:59 PM on June 26, 2018 [53 favorites]
Protestors are outside the Red Hen right now. One is carrying a "Trump is Love Sign."
Another is carrying a sign about God burning LGBT people so I guess it balances out.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
Another is carrying a sign about God burning LGBT people so I guess it balances out.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
The station's web site reports that Stephanie Wilkinson, co-owner of The Red Hen, has resigned as executive director of Main Street Lexington.
I feel bad for her. She took a stand, and she's going to be harassed for the next year. I'm sure the death threats have already started. I hope people have hooked her up with Crash Override.
posted by suelac at 3:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [41 favorites]
I feel bad for her. She took a stand, and she's going to be harassed for the next year. I'm sure the death threats have already started. I hope people have hooked her up with Crash Override.
posted by suelac at 3:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [41 favorites]
A man was pouring a liquid on the Red Hen, and police took him away, thankfully, according to Channel 4 in D.C.
posted by jgirl at 3:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by jgirl at 3:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Civility, always civility.
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
The MBTA, the Boston-area transit system, opened bids yesterday for track and signal work on the Green Line. Per the Globe's Adam Vaccaro:
The T expected the work to be worth $66.5m, but the low bid was $74m. The difference was attributed largely to tariffs and steel prices.posted by adamg at 3:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
What the condescending, confused political establishment misses is that the restaurant industry have a duty to its immigrant community, the same men and women who harvest our tomatoes, pack our meat, pick our crab, milk our cows, clear our tables, wash our dishes, and cook our food. According to the National Restaurant Association, 23 percent of all restaurant workers in America are foreign born; Pew pegs the number of undocumented immigrants at 11 percent. Immigrant labor produces 79 percent of the country’s dairy and 1.5–2 million immigrants work in the produce industry. Farmers across the country say that Americans don’t want these jobs, but we haven’t opened up legal immigration to meet the demands of our society. Immigrants feed us by doing the work we won’t. And increasingly, they’ve been targeted by the Trump administration with systematic terrorization tactics, upending their lives, safety and families.
posted by Catblack at 2:44 PM on June 26 [18 favorites −] [!]
A good reminder that immigrants are absolutely necessary in all Western societies (maybe except Japan), both for the economy and for basic functionality. Ironically, considering that bus, one of the big losers of Brexit is the NHS because it is utterly dependent on immigrant workers. In the US, every link in the the food chain is dependent on immigrant workers. In the EU, for all the whining about immigration, every single aspect of the economy is dependent on immigration, which is why Merkel so innocently said "wir schaffen das". What she, and so many other politicians forget is that no one has explained to the general public how things really are. Since I'm in a positive mood today, I imagine that they consistently make this huge mistake because they forget that not everyone knows what they know, and they forget that part of their duty as leaders is to educate the public. There are other possible interpretations, of course.
When I was young, I so often speculated about how it really felt to live during the 30's. A lot of my favorite literature was from then, but still, I couldn't feel it. Now, as we are going through a very similar situation, I get how it was almost impossible to describe the emotional impact of everything collapsing at a tremendous speed around us. When we read Tucholsky or Zweig or Nordahl Grieg, it was with the hindsight of knowing that in the end, the Americans saved civilisation and democracy. The evil disappeared, and their tragic deaths seemed futile and meaningless. The drama in their books and poetry seemed slightly overwrought, even as it was fascinating. Now, as it is clear that the Americans will not be here to save us, the fear of losing everything becomes much more real. My eldest daughter recently read The World of Yesterday, and it was very clear to me that she read it much more in the spirit it was written than I did when I was her age. Which is so immensely sad, I can hardly bear it.
posted by mumimor at 3:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 2:44 PM on June 26 [18 favorites −] [!]
A good reminder that immigrants are absolutely necessary in all Western societies (maybe except Japan), both for the economy and for basic functionality. Ironically, considering that bus, one of the big losers of Brexit is the NHS because it is utterly dependent on immigrant workers. In the US, every link in the the food chain is dependent on immigrant workers. In the EU, for all the whining about immigration, every single aspect of the economy is dependent on immigration, which is why Merkel so innocently said "wir schaffen das". What she, and so many other politicians forget is that no one has explained to the general public how things really are. Since I'm in a positive mood today, I imagine that they consistently make this huge mistake because they forget that not everyone knows what they know, and they forget that part of their duty as leaders is to educate the public. There are other possible interpretations, of course.
When I was young, I so often speculated about how it really felt to live during the 30's. A lot of my favorite literature was from then, but still, I couldn't feel it. Now, as we are going through a very similar situation, I get how it was almost impossible to describe the emotional impact of everything collapsing at a tremendous speed around us. When we read Tucholsky or Zweig or Nordahl Grieg, it was with the hindsight of knowing that in the end, the Americans saved civilisation and democracy. The evil disappeared, and their tragic deaths seemed futile and meaningless. The drama in their books and poetry seemed slightly overwrought, even as it was fascinating. Now, as it is clear that the Americans will not be here to save us, the fear of losing everything becomes much more real. My eldest daughter recently read The World of Yesterday, and it was very clear to me that she read it much more in the spirit it was written than I did when I was her age. Which is so immensely sad, I can hardly bear it.
posted by mumimor at 3:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
So, having just voted in the Maryland primary semi-successfully, please print out an actual sample ballot for your district instead of relying on endorsement lists. The school board and party races will thank you (abstractly).
For the lesser known, down ballot races I might as well have written down Peter I Staker for Montgomery County Cricket Master.
posted by Slackermagee at 3:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
For the lesser known, down ballot races I might as well have written down Peter I Staker for Montgomery County Cricket Master.
posted by Slackermagee at 3:37 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
A good reminder that immigrants are absolutely necessary in all Western societies (maybe except Japan), both for the economy and for basic functionality.
Not to turn this into a derail, but the idea that Japan doesn't need foreign labor is a common misconception that fuels right-wing beliefs about the effectiveness of immigration restrictions. In particular, Japan's draconian immigration policies are exacerbating a major shortage of nursing and elder care workers.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
Not to turn this into a derail, but the idea that Japan doesn't need foreign labor is a common misconception that fuels right-wing beliefs about the effectiveness of immigration restrictions. In particular, Japan's draconian immigration policies are exacerbating a major shortage of nursing and elder care workers.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [42 favorites]
Not to turn this into derail, but the idea that Japan doesn't need foreign labor is a common misconception that fuels right-wing beliefs about the effectiveness of immigration restrictions. In particular, Japan's draconian immigration policies are exacerbating a major shortage of nursing and elder care workers.
Thanks, I wasn't sure about this, but rather thought so.
posted by mumimor at 3:40 PM on June 26, 2018
Thanks, I wasn't sure about this, but rather thought so.
posted by mumimor at 3:40 PM on June 26, 2018
I haven't felt a lot of urgency to contact my senator (Schumer) since I agree with many of his stances, the Maxine Waters stuff was beyond the pale. I tried calling and didn't get through so I just sent this email:
Message Topic: Immigration
Subject: Sen Schumer's Comments on Rep Waters
Hello,
I'm writing to express my extreme displeasure at Senator Schumer's comments regarding Representative Maxine Waters' speech advocating that members of the Trump administration should be unwelcome in public because of their heinous policies.
It is remarkably spineless of Senator Schumer when, faced with literal concentration camps in our country, to make a tone argument against a member of his own party. I have been a life long member of the Democratic party and I will continue to be so, but I cannot and will not condone such pandering and false equivalences in the face of facism. Literal evil is being perpetrated by this administration. If Senator Schumer is unwilling to stand up to hatred in our country he should step down and let another Democrat who willing to do so speak up.
I eagerly await a response from the Senator apologizing for his inappropriate remarks to Representative Waters and condemning the false equivalence put forth by the Trump administration of putting children in concentration camps and being rude to those who are running the camps.
Dr. ChutneyFerret
p.s. Incidentally, I have categorized this message topic as "Immigration" because you do not have a category for "What the hell was my Senator thinking when he said that?" and immigration is the closest topic to it given the racist, xenophobic dystopia this administration is trying to drag us into. The incredibly myopic comments that are the topic of this message aside, I do appreciate when the Senator has stood up to the President and his administration.
posted by ChutneyFerret at 3:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [46 favorites]
Message Topic: Immigration
Subject: Sen Schumer's Comments on Rep Waters
Hello,
I'm writing to express my extreme displeasure at Senator Schumer's comments regarding Representative Maxine Waters' speech advocating that members of the Trump administration should be unwelcome in public because of their heinous policies.
It is remarkably spineless of Senator Schumer when, faced with literal concentration camps in our country, to make a tone argument against a member of his own party. I have been a life long member of the Democratic party and I will continue to be so, but I cannot and will not condone such pandering and false equivalences in the face of facism. Literal evil is being perpetrated by this administration. If Senator Schumer is unwilling to stand up to hatred in our country he should step down and let another Democrat who willing to do so speak up.
I eagerly await a response from the Senator apologizing for his inappropriate remarks to Representative Waters and condemning the false equivalence put forth by the Trump administration of putting children in concentration camps and being rude to those who are running the camps.
Dr. ChutneyFerret
p.s. Incidentally, I have categorized this message topic as "Immigration" because you do not have a category for "What the hell was my Senator thinking when he said that?" and immigration is the closest topic to it given the racist, xenophobic dystopia this administration is trying to drag us into. The incredibly myopic comments that are the topic of this message aside, I do appreciate when the Senator has stood up to the President and his administration.
posted by ChutneyFerret at 3:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [46 favorites]
CNN, Manu Raju, Steve King says retweet of Nazi sympathizer's message was unintentional, won't delete tweet, in which a racist digs in.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
Asked why he wouldn't delete a message from someone who has praised Nazi Germany, King said: "Because then it'd be like I'm admitting that I did something, now I'm sorry about it. I'm not sorry. I'm human."We know it's conservative practice to never admit a mistake, but good gravy. They really are saying the quiet parts loud.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
Daily Beast: Border Agent Threatened to Put Immigrant’s Daughter Up for Adoption, ACLU Says
Because Maria had committed a misdemeanor offense by crossing the border, she and her daughter were sent to a processing center where a CBP officer allegedly gave Maria a stark choice. (Maria is a pseudonym to protect her identity.) If she gave up her asylum claim and returned to Guatemala, she and her daughter would remain together. If she applied for asylum, on the other hand, Maria would be thrown in jail for a year and her daughter would be put up for adoption. Maria would never see her daughter again.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
Because Maria had committed a misdemeanor offense by crossing the border, she and her daughter were sent to a processing center where a CBP officer allegedly gave Maria a stark choice. (Maria is a pseudonym to protect her identity.) If she gave up her asylum claim and returned to Guatemala, she and her daughter would remain together. If she applied for asylum, on the other hand, Maria would be thrown in jail for a year and her daughter would be put up for adoption. Maria would never see her daughter again.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
Unsurprisingly, Manafort has lost his motion to dismiss the Virginia indictment.
The VA judge did ultimately rule for the government, but the order included the judge's extended and blatantly prejudicial commentary railing against Mueller himself, the appointment of Mueller to begin with, and the entire concept of Special Counsel's as 'a thing'.
Federal Judge Launches Meandering Attack On Mueller And Special Counsels
T. S. Ellis is a Republican judge appointed by Reagan.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
The VA judge did ultimately rule for the government, but the order included the judge's extended and blatantly prejudicial commentary railing against Mueller himself, the appointment of Mueller to begin with, and the entire concept of Special Counsel's as 'a thing'.
Federal Judge Launches Meandering Attack On Mueller And Special Counsels
T. S. Ellis is a Republican judge appointed by Reagan.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
Jackpot! The "Mr. President, fuck you!" staffer is an intern for one of my Senators, Maggie Hassan. Her name was immediately published by Fox News, of course, but Senator Hassan stood up for her:
I don't have accounts on any social media platforms but if the intern (a college student) needs anyone to draw aggro for her, and you're in a position to safely and productively help, please do so.
posted by XMLicious at 4:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [50 favorites]
“This young woman immediately accepted responsibility for her actions and is facing consequences for them,” Hassan told Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post on Tuesday. “The president is doing neither.”I thanked my Senator for doing so in my email urging her to condemn Democratic Congressional leadership for their dismissal of Maxine Waters.
Hassan said taking away the Marriott’s ID badge will restrict her access to the Capitol complex for the remainder of her internship. In defending her intern, Hassan took the opportunity to criticize Trump.
“I think it’s really important to understand that this behavior shouldn’t be equated with the president’s destructive and divisive actions, like ripping health care away from people by failing to protect pre-existing conditions; going out, gutting the ACA; like separating children from their parents at our southern border,” Hassan told the Post.
I don't have accounts on any social media platforms but if the intern (a college student) needs anyone to draw aggro for her, and you're in a position to safely and productively help, please do so.
posted by XMLicious at 4:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [50 favorites]
T. S. Ellis is a Republican judge appointed by Reagan.
He spends a lot of his ruling fellating Scalia for his lone dissent in a case decided 7-1.
"Yes, my team lost 7-1 but that bases empty homer was a thing of beauty!"
posted by Justinian at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
He spends a lot of his ruling fellating Scalia for his lone dissent in a case decided 7-1.
"Yes, my team lost 7-1 but that bases empty homer was a thing of beauty!"
posted by Justinian at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Senate Democrats didn't go nuclear when Garland didn't get a hearing because they figured Clinton would pick someone even better. And then we all died, oh well.
Oh, the embarrassment.
posted by The Tensor at 4:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh, the embarrassment.
posted by The Tensor at 4:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
“This young woman immediately accepted responsibility for her actions and is facing consequences for them,” Hassan told Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post on Tuesday. “The president is doing neither.”
Good for you, Maggie. Contrasting the minor offense of your intern to the egregious behavior of the POTUS* is the correct thing to do. Other Democrats, pay attention (I'm side-eyeing you, Chuck).
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:30 PM on June 26, 2018 [48 favorites]
Good for you, Maggie. Contrasting the minor offense of your intern to the egregious behavior of the POTUS* is the correct thing to do. Other Democrats, pay attention (I'm side-eyeing you, Chuck).
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:30 PM on June 26, 2018 [48 favorites]
“I think it’s really important to understand that this behavior shouldn’t be equated with the president’s destructive and divisive actions, like ripping health care away from people by failing to protect pre-existing conditions; going out, gutting the ACA; like separating children from their parents at our southern border,” Hassan told the Post.
Now THAT’S how you pivot from the insincere tone policing and civility concern trolling to re-focus on what’s really important!
It’s not that some folks have used crude language at you or disrupted your enchilada platter. It’s that they felt they had to because you’re actively corrupt, harming others, and abusing the public trust.
posted by darkstar at 4:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [54 favorites]
Now THAT’S how you pivot from the insincere tone policing and civility concern trolling to re-focus on what’s really important!
It’s not that some folks have used crude language at you or disrupted your enchilada platter. It’s that they felt they had to because you’re actively corrupt, harming others, and abusing the public trust.
posted by darkstar at 4:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [54 favorites]
Fuck this arsehole:
Tough words from VP Pence in Brasilia today: He told Latin American nations: "Just as the United States Respects Your Borders and Your Sovereignty, We Insist That You Respect Ours."
The first reply says it all:
Nicaragua (1912-1933)
Mexico (1914)
Haiti (1915-1934)
Dominican Republic (1916-1924)
Guatemala (1954)
Chile (1973)
Panama (1989)
cc: @VP
posted by adamvasco at 4:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [84 favorites]
Tough words from VP Pence in Brasilia today: He told Latin American nations: "Just as the United States Respects Your Borders and Your Sovereignty, We Insist That You Respect Ours."
The first reply says it all:
Nicaragua (1912-1933)
Mexico (1914)
Haiti (1915-1934)
Dominican Republic (1916-1924)
Guatemala (1954)
Chile (1973)
Panama (1989)
cc: @VP
posted by adamvasco at 4:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [84 favorites]
CNN: Sarah Sanders to receive Secret Service protection
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
CNN: Sarah Sanders to receive Secret Service protection
Well, it's not like the SS is out of people, or budget, what with protecting this entire cadre of traitors and con men.
And the spokesperson who needs the SS still hasn't told us #WHERE ARE THE GIRLS.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:53 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
Well, it's not like the SS is out of people, or budget, what with protecting this entire cadre of traitors and con men.
And the spokesperson who needs the SS still hasn't told us #WHERE ARE THE GIRLS.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 4:53 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
... because obviously the measured response to being turned away at a restaurant is to have the Secret Service there to compel those uppity waitstaff into service.
posted by Archelaus at 5:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by Archelaus at 5:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [32 favorites]
Sarah “I’m an honest person” Sanders, re: being asked to leave a restaurant because she lies on behalf of Trump every damn day that she bothers to show her face at the podium:
"Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important, but the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable."
They’re never going to stop lying. Fuck their mewling cries for civility.
posted by palomar at 5:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [31 favorites]
"Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important, but the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable."
They’re never going to stop lying. Fuck their mewling cries for civility.
posted by palomar at 5:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [31 favorites]
I’m not sure how this works - if someone denies her service do the SS shoot them? Do they get to sit at the table too? Does the public pick up their whole tab or just starters?
posted by Artw at 5:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
I’m not sure how this works - if someone denies her service do the SS shoot them?
SS's SS aren't for service-refusal, they're to keep people from harassing and embarrassing her in public and to discourage the Nielsen/Miller Mexican Restaurant treatment. A group of loud and angry people getting into her space and armed security would not necessarily mix well.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
SS's SS aren't for service-refusal, they're to keep people from harassing and embarrassing her in public and to discourage the Nielsen/Miller Mexican Restaurant treatment. A group of loud and angry people getting into her space and armed security would not necessarily mix well.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Not that she shouldn’t have another day in her entire life that she doesn’t have that recording of crying children played at her, but has that actually happened, to date? Quietly being refused service is the specific insult she’s suffered so far.
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren has posted a detailed account of what it was like in the detention center she visited. Exactly as brutal as you'd think.
posted by adamg at 5:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [50 favorites]
posted by adamg at 5:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [50 favorites]
Hi. I'm not sure if anyone has posted this yet; I'm sorry to repost if they have.
East Bay DSA is joining Families Belong Together for a protest this Saturday, June 30, at the ICE detention center in Richmond. More info here:
https://act.moveon.org/event/families-belong-together_attend1/20020/
If you need a ride I can pick you up from North Berkeley BART at 10:30 AM. Please MeMail me.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 5:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
East Bay DSA is joining Families Belong Together for a protest this Saturday, June 30, at the ICE detention center in Richmond. More info here:
https://act.moveon.org/event/families-belong-together_attend1/20020/
If you need a ride I can pick you up from North Berkeley BART at 10:30 AM. Please MeMail me.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 5:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to accelerate his probe into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russians who sought to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a person familiar with the investigation...He’ll be able to turn his full attention to the issue as he resolves other questions, including deciding soon whether to find that Trump sought to obstruct justice.
I'm nervous about this two-report plan. Whatever the outcome of the report on obstruction of justice is it seems likely to become a proxy for the entire investigation and diminish the importance of the report on collusion. And since the primary directive of Mueller's appointment is to "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated," it seems like that report should come first.
Also, based on the publicly-available information it seems likely that Trump obstructed justice, which was an impeachable offense for both Nixon and Clinton. So if the report says he obstructed justice do we just wait around until the Democrats (hopefully) take the House in November?
And what if the report finds he didn't obstruct justice? He'll immediately claim to be vindicated and demand the investigation be stopped, probably with universal support from Republicans.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'm nervous about this two-report plan. Whatever the outcome of the report on obstruction of justice is it seems likely to become a proxy for the entire investigation and diminish the importance of the report on collusion. And since the primary directive of Mueller's appointment is to "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated," it seems like that report should come first.
Also, based on the publicly-available information it seems likely that Trump obstructed justice, which was an impeachable offense for both Nixon and Clinton. So if the report says he obstructed justice do we just wait around until the Democrats (hopefully) take the House in November?
And what if the report finds he didn't obstruct justice? He'll immediately claim to be vindicated and demand the investigation be stopped, probably with universal support from Republicans.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:41 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
(Made a meetup link)
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 5:47 PM on June 26, 2018
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 5:47 PM on June 26, 2018
GUYS. Linda Sarsour (and Jess macintosh and other awesome women) was just on Chris Hayes and she referenced MLK's letter from the Birmingham Jail! Finally! Someone did it! Good on Sarsour and Hayes. For that little added frisson of awesome she specifically equated Chuck Schumer to the "white moderate" that MLK was warning us about who prefers order over justice. And it was so perfect. It's obvious to me that Hayes is on the side of the supposedly un-civil here rather than the old fuckin' white guys (and Pelosi) calling for everyone to just get along. I wish he'd just say it out loud but I suppose he doesn't do that sort of commentary often and lets his guests do it for him.
All of these people should know better. Schumer. Pelosi. Dan Rather was spouting nonsense about civility on CNN. Historian Douglas Brinkley, for whom I hold great respect generally, doing the same. Civility, civility, civility. People exactly like them did the same about abolition. About women's suffrage. The Civil Rights movement. The anti-Vietnam movement. OF course I support your aims but I cannot support your methods of direct action. Oh no. Just wait, be patient.
You'd think people with a great grasp of history, and I believe most of those I listed do, would see that history will not be on their side any more than it was on the side of MLK's "white moderates" during the Civil Rights era.
posted by Justinian at 5:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [72 favorites]
All of these people should know better. Schumer. Pelosi. Dan Rather was spouting nonsense about civility on CNN. Historian Douglas Brinkley, for whom I hold great respect generally, doing the same. Civility, civility, civility. People exactly like them did the same about abolition. About women's suffrage. The Civil Rights movement. The anti-Vietnam movement. OF course I support your aims but I cannot support your methods of direct action. Oh no. Just wait, be patient.
You'd think people with a great grasp of history, and I believe most of those I listed do, would see that history will not be on their side any more than it was on the side of MLK's "white moderates" during the Civil Rights era.
posted by Justinian at 5:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [72 favorites]
Jebus, seriously, this waiting on the Mueller investigation feels like when I was waiting to get the results back from my bone marrow biopsy.
I mean, I know it takes time to do it right, but aieeee, the survival of the organism may literally depend upon the results!
posted by darkstar at 5:50 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
I mean, I know it takes time to do it right, but aieeee, the survival of the organism may literally depend upon the results!
posted by darkstar at 5:50 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
There's even a bipartisan Congressional Civility Caucus, started earlier this year.
posted by jgirl at 5:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jgirl at 5:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's obvious to me that Hayes is on the side of the supposedly un-civil here rather than the old fuckin' white guys (and Pelosi) calling for everyone to just get along. I wish he'd just say it out loud but I suppose he doesn't do that sort of commentary often and lets his guests do it for him.
He did say that people are conflating things by acting as though moral obligations and optimum political moves always coincide: a politician may well be required by a non-vestigial conscience to take an action that will immediately get them voted out of office.
posted by XMLicious at 5:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Chris Hayes pretty much said it on Seth Meyers.
posted by lauranesson at 6:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by lauranesson at 6:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
About civility: I don't have a single tear to shed for any inconvenience or animosity SH Sanders experiences as fallout for her job as obvious liar for hire by fascists.
But I also can't see a denial-of-service movement accomplishing anything other than shifting the national conversation from being about our governance choices towards how the Trump administration is being treated.
Ultimately private power to cause inconvenience just isn't going to do much compared to changing who's holding office. And if there's elections to be won (please, God, let it be so), I'd guess the former conversation is better.
posted by wildblueyonder at 6:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
But I also can't see a denial-of-service movement accomplishing anything other than shifting the national conversation from being about our governance choices towards how the Trump administration is being treated.
Ultimately private power to cause inconvenience just isn't going to do much compared to changing who's holding office. And if there's elections to be won (please, God, let it be so), I'd guess the former conversation is better.
posted by wildblueyonder at 6:08 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
At the time of separation, most of the mothers were told their children would be back. One woman had been held at "the icebox," a center that has earned its nickname for being extremely cold. When the agent came to take her child, she was told that it was just too cold for the child in the center, and that they were just going to keep the child warm until she was transferred. That was mid-June. She hasn't seen her child since.From the account by Elizabeth Warren that adamg posted upthread.
One mother had been detained with her child. They were sleeping together on the floor of one of the cages, when, at 3:00am, the guards took her away. She last saw her 7-year-old son sleeping on the floor. She cried over and over, "I never got to say goodbye. I never got to say goodbye." That was early-June, and she hasn't seen him since.
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [18 favorites]
I would say that there’s something to be said for making their time in office as uncomfortable and unpleasant as possible. And to say that they are being treated exactly as they are treating others.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
I can't look at the continued talk about civility while the family separation shit is still going on. All weekend, I thought, "The pressure on this abuse of asylum seekers is having an effect. Maybe it's only quieting because it's the weekend. Maybe it'll ramp back up on Monday."
Instead, half the volume in every discussion of politics was taken up by this civility nonsense. It's Twitter, it's Facebook, it's every little media clip I see (and no, I don't watch cable news actively, because screw that). And now it's Tuesday--late Tuesday, after the Muslim Ban decision is handed down--and there's still the same volume.
Is everyone this hung up on it? Is everyone scared to stay focused on this thing? Are we all really this ridiculous?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [26 favorites]
Instead, half the volume in every discussion of politics was taken up by this civility nonsense. It's Twitter, it's Facebook, it's every little media clip I see (and no, I don't watch cable news actively, because screw that). And now it's Tuesday--late Tuesday, after the Muslim Ban decision is handed down--and there's still the same volume.
Is everyone this hung up on it? Is everyone scared to stay focused on this thing? Are we all really this ridiculous?
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [26 favorites]
Re: the "Crisis Pregnancy Center" ruling, is there some reason the real clinics can't just start advertising themselves with phrases like "We employ licensed doctors," or "we perform medical procedures" or something like that that subtly calls out the fake versions without mentioning them at all? Can they advertise with things like "make sure to ask for medical credentials at any pregnancy center" or "the only women's health center in the X area with licensed physicians"? I know the fake versions are more numerous and very willing to use deception, but is this a line they'd cross?
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
I posted earlier today that the right complaining about the civility issue is a classic emotional abuse technique designed to throw their opponent off balance, DARVO (Deny, Accuse, Reverse Victim and Offender). It provokes a response, JADE (Justify, Argue, Defend, Explain). The purpose is to put the person on the defensive who’s calling you out on your bullshit, and to make yourself out as the victim while they question the legitimacy of their accusation.
It’s a very common and very effective psych-out. Most people fall into the trap because they don’t realize that the point of doing it isn’t to make the offender realize they’re in the wrong, but to take the spotlight off the offender and put it on the accuser.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [43 favorites]
It’s a very common and very effective psych-out. Most people fall into the trap because they don’t realize that the point of doing it isn’t to make the offender realize they’re in the wrong, but to take the spotlight off the offender and put it on the accuser.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [43 favorites]
Is everyone this hung up on it? Is everyone scared to stay focused on this thing? Are we all really this ridiculous?
Sarah Huckabee Sanders made it a thing. Fuck any other framing. She could have left quietly and shut up.
posted by dilaudid at 6:22 PM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders made it a thing. Fuck any other framing. She could have left quietly and shut up.
posted by dilaudid at 6:22 PM on June 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
> Is everyone this hung up on it? Is everyone scared to stay focused on this thing? Are we all really this ridiculous?
Both direct action to fight the administration and political pressure on Congress are going to be necessary to put an end to this -- neither is sufficient alone -- and the civility debate has a huge impact on how effective the latter will be. If "our side" hides behind a cloak of "civility" as a means of doing nothing, then all the protest in the world short of a coup won't mean anything. Elected representatives need to understand that this is an issue that it's okay to be uncivil about, to flip the table about, to interrupt a press secretary's dinner about. I think we can walk and chew gum here.
posted by tonycpsu at 6:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Both direct action to fight the administration and political pressure on Congress are going to be necessary to put an end to this -- neither is sufficient alone -- and the civility debate has a huge impact on how effective the latter will be. If "our side" hides behind a cloak of "civility" as a means of doing nothing, then all the protest in the world short of a coup won't mean anything. Elected representatives need to understand that this is an issue that it's okay to be uncivil about, to flip the table about, to interrupt a press secretary's dinner about. I think we can walk and chew gum here.
posted by tonycpsu at 6:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
It looks as if people are going to be employing escrache and shaming, harassing, and otherwise not permitting Republican officials to keep pretending it's all just politics as normal and we're all nice and civil.
Given that reality, the best course of action is to figure out how to steer the conversation in an America where Republicans are subject to escrache.
I think we can steer things pretty well if we try. And by "we" I mean elected Democrats and Democratic spox. The most obvious technique is to simply direct the conversation back to the cause of the loss of civility:
"It's just not right to harass Sen McConnell!"
"What's not right is Sen McConnell aiding an administration that is ripping families apart!"
The Democrats and Democratic voices have two choices: they can either embrace the Republican calls for civility and disown a movement that's sprung up organically, or they can recognize the PR gift they've been given and run with it.
Schumer and Pelosi have already started with a misstep, but that can be corrected.
posted by sotonohito at 6:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
Given that reality, the best course of action is to figure out how to steer the conversation in an America where Republicans are subject to escrache.
I think we can steer things pretty well if we try. And by "we" I mean elected Democrats and Democratic spox. The most obvious technique is to simply direct the conversation back to the cause of the loss of civility:
"It's just not right to harass Sen McConnell!"
"What's not right is Sen McConnell aiding an administration that is ripping families apart!"
The Democrats and Democratic voices have two choices: they can either embrace the Republican calls for civility and disown a movement that's sprung up organically, or they can recognize the PR gift they've been given and run with it.
Schumer and Pelosi have already started with a misstep, but that can be corrected.
posted by sotonohito at 6:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez over Crowley 57-43 with 82% reporting.
Still not done, but that's a hell of a lead. Wow.
I do think this is exactly what Democrats should be doing, pushing left for better candidates in primaries in districts where the demand is clearly there. I also think it's an extremely low turnout race, and I'd be cautious about generalizing it too broadly. That leftist candidates can build enthusiasm to take on an entrenched incumbent in an election designed to generate as little interest as possible to protect incumbents is a delightfully exploitable quirk of our system, but I'm not convinced it inherently proves "so goes NY-14 so goes the nation."
I very much hope she wipes the floor with him.
posted by zachlipton at 6:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
Still not done, but that's a hell of a lead. Wow.
I do think this is exactly what Democrats should be doing, pushing left for better candidates in primaries in districts where the demand is clearly there. I also think it's an extremely low turnout race, and I'd be cautious about generalizing it too broadly. That leftist candidates can build enthusiasm to take on an entrenched incumbent in an election designed to generate as little interest as possible to protect incumbents is a delightfully exploitable quirk of our system, but I'm not convinced it inherently proves "so goes NY-14 so goes the nation."
I very much hope she wipes the floor with him.
posted by zachlipton at 6:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [49 favorites]
If folks are interested in the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez race, results are coming in.
Ocasio-Cortez is ahead by about 13.5% with 74% of the precincts reporting. Unless the remaining precincts are really large, Crowley would have to almost double his share of the vote to win.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez is ahead by about 13.5% with 74% of the precincts reporting. Unless the remaining precincts are really large, Crowley would have to almost double his share of the vote to win.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Every time a Democrat is successfully primaried from the Left, an angel gets it's wings, a baby smiles, and a trump voter falls down a manhole.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 6:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [60 favorites]
posted by mrjohnmuller at 6:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [60 favorites]
"It's just not right to harass Sen McConnell!"
The beaufy of that argument, already used by Elaine Chao, his wife, is that it implicitly admits that the GOP's executive branch appointees are very much fair game for this now.
THank you, Mrs. Chao, the camel thanks you for letting his nose in the tent.
posted by ocschwar at 6:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
The beaufy of that argument, already used by Elaine Chao, his wife, is that it implicitly admits that the GOP's executive branch appointees are very much fair game for this now.
THank you, Mrs. Chao, the camel thanks you for letting his nose in the tent.
posted by ocschwar at 6:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Can I unfurl the red flags yet?
I want to unfurl the red flags.
posted by The Whelk at 6:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
I want to unfurl the red flags.
posted by The Whelk at 6:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Of course they’re clutching their pearls about “civility.” It’s just like the old saying - they only call it class warfare when we fight back.
posted by azpenguin at 6:40 PM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 6:40 PM on June 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Jeff Sessions Jokes About Separating Immigrant Children From Parents During L.A. Immigration Speech
The rhetoric we hear from the other side on this issue—as on many others—has become radicalized. We hear views on television today that are on the lunatic fringe frankly. And what is perhaps more galling is the hypocrisy. These same people live in gated communities many of them and are featured at events where you have to have an ID even to hear them speak. They like a little security around themselves. And if you try to scale the fence, believe me, they’ll be even too happy to have you arrested and separated from your children. They would like to see that. So they want borders in their lives but not yours. Not the American people’s. This is why the American people are sick of the lip service and the hypocrisy
Even though a few people laughed, this was no joke. Jeff Sessions is combining and conflating two invented us-vs-them dynamics (they want to invade and steal your country and the other they want to lock up your children). It's a bad combo. And remember, every goddamned insane evil thing they accuse the other side of, they believe themselves, intend to do themselves or are already doing themselves: Sessions does not want to stop at immigrant kids.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2018 [41 favorites]
The rhetoric we hear from the other side on this issue—as on many others—has become radicalized. We hear views on television today that are on the lunatic fringe frankly. And what is perhaps more galling is the hypocrisy. These same people live in gated communities many of them and are featured at events where you have to have an ID even to hear them speak. They like a little security around themselves. And if you try to scale the fence, believe me, they’ll be even too happy to have you arrested and separated from your children. They would like to see that. So they want borders in their lives but not yours. Not the American people’s. This is why the American people are sick of the lip service and the hypocrisy
Even though a few people laughed, this was no joke. Jeff Sessions is combining and conflating two invented us-vs-them dynamics (they want to invade and steal your country and the other they want to lock up your children). It's a bad combo. And remember, every goddamned insane evil thing they accuse the other side of, they believe themselves, intend to do themselves or are already doing themselves: Sessions does not want to stop at immigrant kids.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2018 [41 favorites]
i was so happily surprised when I tuned into the Ocasio-Cortez/Crowley results! Also Adem Bunkeddeko in my district is only narrowly behind the incumbent Yvette Clarke right now. Primaries, man.
posted by ferret branca at 6:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ferret branca at 6:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is everyone this hung up on it? Is everyone scared to stay focused on this thing? Are we all really this ridiculous?
Don't be fooled. It's a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters of discourse, change the topic, and defuse a potent avenue of criticism and attack. It is one of the things the conservative politico-media complex is very good at doing, and the nature of the establishment and corporate media makes it all that much easier for them. The important thing to remember is that nobody anywhere actually believes the bullshit civility argument they are making. They all know they're acting in bad faith. It's a manuever, a tactic.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
Don't be fooled. It's a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters of discourse, change the topic, and defuse a potent avenue of criticism and attack. It is one of the things the conservative politico-media complex is very good at doing, and the nature of the establishment and corporate media makes it all that much easier for them. The important thing to remember is that nobody anywhere actually believes the bullshit civility argument they are making. They all know they're acting in bad faith. It's a manuever, a tactic.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
With more than 80% of the vote in, a 28-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America has a double-digit lead over a 10-term incumbent who was thought to be the next Democratic leader of the House.
THE PEOPLE’S FLAG IS DEEPEST RED
posted by The Whelk at 6:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
THE PEOPLE’S FLAG IS DEEPEST RED
posted by The Whelk at 6:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
AP calls NY-11 (Staten Island) for Donnvan over Grimm in the GOP primary, looks like 64-36 or so. That's what the GOP is looking to see, given Grimm's, er, history
posted by zachlipton at 6:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 6:49 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
...I also can't see a denial-of-service movement accomplishing anything other than shifting the national conversation from being about our governance choices towards how the Trump administration is being treated.
Ultimately private power to cause inconvenience just isn't going to do much compared to changing who's holding office.
Someone more familiar with this history will perhaps correct me here but I believe this is exactly what happened to Charles Boycott in the late 19th century, an English land agent in Ireland when it was still a colony of the British Empire. He is of course the reason why we have the word "boycott", the action against him was followed by land reform legislation being taken up by Parliament, and coincidentally a few decades later Ireland became an independent country. The above Wikipedia article has a quote from Charles Stewart Parnell, an MP and one of the people put on trial for conspiracy charges for organizing against Boycott:
On 19 September 1880, Parnell gave a speech in Ennis, County Clare to a crowd of Land League members. He asked the crowd, "What do you do with a tenant who bids for a farm from which his neighbour has been evicted?" The crowd responded, "kill him," "shoot him." Parnell replied:If it works against colonial overlords—and again someone may correct me, but it seems like it mattered more than just voting did at that point—I think we should not dismiss it in our situation.I wish to point out to you a very much better way – a more Christian and charitable way, which will give the lost man an opportunity of repenting. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him – you must shun him in the streets of the town – you must shun him in the shop – you must shun him on the fair green and in the market place, and even in the place of worship, by leaving him alone, by putting him in moral Coventry,^ by isolating him from the rest of the country, as if he were the leper of old – you must show him your detestation of the crime he committed.
posted by XMLicious at 6:50 PM on June 26, 2018 [34 favorites]
@AP_Politics: BREAKING: U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley defeated by young challenger in Democratic primary in New York.
SAY HER NAME, ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, YOU WORTHLESS WIRE SERVICE
@alykatzz: Before everyone starts drafting left-wave takes on the NY primary results: the candidate breathing down Rep. Yvette Clarke's neck has an MBA and is in favor of charter schools. Overall message is frustration with institutional Democrats.
Anyway, do itRockapella The Whelk!
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
SAY HER NAME, ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, YOU WORTHLESS WIRE SERVICE
@alykatzz: Before everyone starts drafting left-wave takes on the NY primary results: the candidate breathing down Rep. Yvette Clarke's neck has an MBA and is in favor of charter schools. Overall message is frustration with institutional Democrats.
Anyway, do it
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Quotes from a Buzzfeed article yesterday, on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Ryan C. Brooks)
“Obviously Joe’s going to win, but she’s run a very energetic campaign and managed to gain some traction,” George Arzt, a New York political operative and Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s campaign spokesperson (who’s facing her own primary challenge), told BuzzFeed News. “The race is going to come down to turnout, and there’s no one who can get the vote turned out like the Queens Democratic Party and the Bronx Democratic Party.”posted by pjenks at 6:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [33 favorites]
“He’s the heavy favorite in the race and she’s gotten some attention from some media outlets, but it’s not sticking well enough,” said New York Democratic strategist and former aide to Kirsten Gillibrand Jon Reinish. “People in that district have been represented by Crowley for a long time. They know who he is and I think that her assertion that he’s not progressive enough falls on deaf ears.”
HASHTAG TRY SOCIALISM
HASHTAG DSAUSA.ORG SOCIALISTS.MYC
HASHTAG EVERYONE GETTING DRUNK WITH ME IS PRAXIS
posted by The Whelk at 6:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [71 favorites]
HASHTAG DSAUSA.ORG SOCIALISTS.MYC
HASHTAG EVERYONE GETTING DRUNK WITH ME IS PRAXIS
posted by The Whelk at 6:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [71 favorites]
That leftist candidates can build enthusiasm to take on an entrenched incumbent in an election designed to generate as little interest as possible to protect incumbents is a delightfully exploitable quirk of our system, but I'm not convinced it inherently proves "so goes NY-14 so goes the nation."
I mean, with all due respect, fuck that. I’m female and this is the kind of shit that makes me want to quit my day job and run too, or at the very least volunteer and/ or donate my ass off. The blue wave is the female wave and the morale boost with this one is going to be electric. She was endorsed by BROAD CITY. Badass witches, unite!
posted by robotdevil at 6:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
I mean, with all due respect, fuck that. I’m female and this is the kind of shit that makes me want to quit my day job and run too, or at the very least volunteer and/ or donate my ass off. The blue wave is the female wave and the morale boost with this one is going to be electric. She was endorsed by BROAD CITY. Badass witches, unite!
posted by robotdevil at 6:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
Not to abuse the edit window: hey The Whelk thanks for starting the metafilter DSA wave. Y’all made me join too!
posted by robotdevil at 6:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by robotdevil at 6:57 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
COMRADES ALL!
posted by The Whelk at 7:02 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:02 PM on June 26, 2018 [28 favorites]
TrumpsTaxes: "Um...with 41% of votes counted, Oklahoma Democrats are currently outvoting Oklahoma Republicans 140K to 137K. Democrats are also outvoting, or are tied with, Republicans in each measurable Cong District thus far.
"It's still early, but I think something is happening in Oklahoma."
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
"It's still early, but I think something is happening in Oklahoma."
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
is there some reason the real clinics can't just start advertising themselves with phrases like "We employ licensed doctors," or "we perform medical procedures" or something like that that subtly calls out the fake versions without mentioning them at all?
No reason except money -- money that is badly needed to provide medical services to those who desperately need it. Have you seen the proliferation of billboards advertising those fake pregnancy clinics? Where's the millions of dollars to combat that going to come from?
posted by JackFlash at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
No reason except money -- money that is badly needed to provide medical services to those who desperately need it. Have you seen the proliferation of billboards advertising those fake pregnancy clinics? Where's the millions of dollars to combat that going to come from?
posted by JackFlash at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
@alykatzz: Before everyone starts drafting left-wave takes on the NY primary results: the candidate breathing down Rep. Yvette Clarke's neck has an MBA and is in favor of charter schools. Overall message is frustration with institutional Democrats.
Worth pointing out that her challenger Adem Bunkeddeko was endorsed over Clarke by the New York Times. And looking over his campaign site, his positions are overall very leftist, with the biggest one being affordable housing (a crisis-level problem in the district).
This tweet is honestly pretty disingenuous.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Worth pointing out that her challenger Adem Bunkeddeko was endorsed over Clarke by the New York Times. And looking over his campaign site, his positions are overall very leftist, with the biggest one being affordable housing (a crisis-level problem in the district).
This tweet is honestly pretty disingenuous.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
great shot of AOC, realizing how big her lead is
posted by pjenks at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
posted by pjenks at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [45 favorites]
And an update -- TrumpsTaxes: "And with 56% reporting Republicans are now outvoting Democrats 193K to 189K. Not surprised that they took over, but I'm still impressed."
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
So, should we be civil with a man who thinks he can joke about the 1900 odd remaining kids who are crying themselves to sleep tonight?
(I'm taking an online class on rhetoric. This week's homework is on questions.)
posted by ocschwar at 7:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
(I'm taking an online class on rhetoric. This week's homework is on questions.)
posted by ocschwar at 7:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
What are you thinking tonight if you're Andrew Cuomo?
"Is there a 24 hour tattoo parlor nearby, and how big can they ink 'abolish ICE?'"
Also the look on Ocasio-Cortez's face here is beautiful.
posted by zachlipton at 7:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
"Is there a 24 hour tattoo parlor nearby, and how big can they ink 'abolish ICE?'"
Also the look on Ocasio-Cortez's face here is beautiful.
posted by zachlipton at 7:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [37 favorites]
These same people live in gated communities many of
Do liberal areas even have these?? I've only encountered gated communities in Red States.
posted by ocschwar at 7:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Do liberal areas even have these?? I've only encountered gated communities in Red States.
posted by ocschwar at 7:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
I hope Schumer is watching NY-14 and quakeing in his boots. It's still 5 years from now, but remember his cowardly betrayal of Maxine Waters to carry water for Trump 24 hours before Ocasio-Cortez won. Don't forget. Don't forgive.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [57 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [57 favorites]
I am busting out some sake to celebrate a huge win for the Democratic Socialists! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rules! I'm usually so dour in these threads but tonight I party.
I'm so psyched to see the DSA continue kicking electoral ass!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'm so psyched to see the DSA continue kicking electoral ass!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:15 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
It looks to me like the shitty anti-democratic pro-incumbency low-turnout model New York pol system of holding the primaries for Federal stuff and state stuff on different days has come back to bite incumbents in the ass. Good. If you institute shitty anti-democratic low-turnout systems you deserve to lose because of them.
posted by Justinian at 7:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 7:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [29 favorites]
Do liberal areas even have these?? I've only encountered gated communities in Red States.
There are gated communities in California. In the red parts.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
There are gated communities in California. In the red parts.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
There are gated communities in Washington state, just not many. They’re not a liberal/conservative thing, they’re a rich/not rich thing.
posted by palomar at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by palomar at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [21 favorites]
I’m blasting the red flag and forming emails and texts like HEY GUESS WHAT MOTHERFARCKER
posted by The Whelk at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [16 favorites]
The worst take, from someone who doesn't seem to have been told anything about what just happened. @realDonaldTrump: Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
Counterpoint, from the next Congresswoman from NY-14 [in the past, not an immediate response or anything], who does know what she's talking about: “When I stick to my issues it's clear I'm fighting Trump without having to mention his Twitter. This guy is gross, offensive in every way & he's going to be a bad person seven days a week. If we focus on his messaging, the only thing it's going to do is erode our mental health.”
posted by zachlipton at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [58 favorites]
Counterpoint, from the next Congresswoman from NY-14 [in the past, not an immediate response or anything], who does know what she's talking about: “When I stick to my issues it's clear I'm fighting Trump without having to mention his Twitter. This guy is gross, offensive in every way & he's going to be a bad person seven days a week. If we focus on his messaging, the only thing it's going to do is erode our mental health.”
posted by zachlipton at 7:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [58 favorites]
I have to imagine that the hastily called meetings at the DNC and DCCC are going to be quite interesting tomorrow.
posted by azpenguin at 7:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 7:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
I have to imagine that the hastily called meetings at the DNC and DCCC are going to be quite interesting tomorrow.
"Let's go over all the reasons why this was a total fluke and in no way indicative of anything whatsoever, ok good talk guys"
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
"Let's go over all the reasons why this was a total fluke and in no way indicative of anything whatsoever, ok good talk guys"
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
"Let's go over all the reasons why this was a total fluke and in no way indicative of anything whatsoever, ok good talk guys"
It's clearly not a fluke but it does seem like something different is happening in New York than happened in that other large liberal bastion, California. Establishment types did quite well here. Why the disconnect? Better challengers in NY? The top-two jungle primary in CA spooking voters into tactical voting?
Unclear.
posted by Justinian at 7:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's clearly not a fluke but it does seem like something different is happening in New York than happened in that other large liberal bastion, California. Establishment types did quite well here. Why the disconnect? Better challengers in NY? The top-two jungle primary in CA spooking voters into tactical voting?
Unclear.
posted by Justinian at 7:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Latest trump tweet:
He really has no fucking clue about politics.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
He really has no fucking clue about politics.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Relentless Street game from Ocasio-Cortez , plus apparent sloth/arrogance from Crowley.
What I want to know is : where were his union/machine people? That's meant to be the thing that was impossible to beat....
posted by lalochezia at 7:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
What I want to know is : where were his union/machine people? That's meant to be the thing that was impossible to beat....
posted by lalochezia at 7:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am totally ready to sit across a table from Sarah Sanders and have her talk to me openly and honestly. If she can split a muffin with me and try to justify Trump's lies, well, more power to her. But I am ready to look her in the eye right now and declare SHAME. SHAME for all your lies that have cost this country so much. SHAME! I don't care where you eat or who you choose to dine with. SHAME for all the sickness you have brought upon us.
posted by SPrintF at 7:40 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 7:40 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
@freedlander: [Video, cw: Congressman singing] Crowley closes out with a performance of Born to Run dedicated to @Ocasio2018
Other races:
Oklahoma passed medical marijuana
Romney wins the Utah GOP primary
NY-9: Rep. Clarke expanded her lead to 656 votes, with 93% reporting.
NY-23 (Tom Reed's district): Still a close race here between Tracy Mitrano and Max Della Pia. All I know about this race is that Mitrano is the person who used to send bulk all-caps emails telling us not to pirate stuff when I was in college, and the guy who played Martok on DS9 (and, on a separate occasion, drove me to drink) is running as an independent. Do people have any picks here?
Maryland Governor: AP calling it for former NAACP head Ben Jealous with 39%, a strong lead over 2nd place candidate Rushern Baker (30%) in a very crowded field, with 73% reporting. Read more about Jealous; this will be a race to watch.
posted by zachlipton at 7:42 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
Other races:
Oklahoma passed medical marijuana
Romney wins the Utah GOP primary
NY-9: Rep. Clarke expanded her lead to 656 votes, with 93% reporting.
NY-23 (Tom Reed's district): Still a close race here between Tracy Mitrano and Max Della Pia. All I know about this race is that Mitrano is the person who used to send bulk all-caps emails telling us not to pirate stuff when I was in college, and the guy who played Martok on DS9 (and, on a separate occasion, drove me to drink) is running as an independent. Do people have any picks here?
Maryland Governor: AP calling it for former NAACP head Ben Jealous with 39%, a strong lead over 2nd place candidate Rushern Baker (30%) in a very crowded field, with 73% reporting. Read more about Jealous; this will be a race to watch.
posted by zachlipton at 7:42 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
Relentless Street game from Ocasio-Cortez , plus apparent sloth/arrogance from Crowley.
It's not like Crowley had a bad voting record either. 4% from Club For Growth, 3% from AFP so the libertarian billionaires hate him which is always a good sign.
In my (bad) opinion I'd say populism with a mix of visibility and perception.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's not like Crowley had a bad voting record either. 4% from Club For Growth, 3% from AFP so the libertarian billionaires hate him which is always a good sign.
In my (bad) opinion I'd say populism with a mix of visibility and perception.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ocasio-Cortez winning is WILD.
posted by rorgy at 7:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by rorgy at 7:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
This is another good article on Ben Jealous, it will be a race to watch.
posted by peeedro at 7:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by peeedro at 7:56 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
“The last time Mr. Crowley, 56, even had a primary challenger, in 2004, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was not old enough to vote.” (NYT)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's not like Crowley had a bad voting record either.
That's kind of the bare minimum you'd expect from the representative of one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the country, though.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
That's kind of the bare minimum you'd expect from the representative of one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the country, though.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
I was going to make a comment about him suffering from the disadvantage of being yet another bland old corporate-friendly white dude... except he's 56 which makes him a baby in Democratic leadership. That in and of itself is a problem, obviously. Democratic Leadership shouldn't share a mailing list with AARP.
posted by Justinian at 8:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 8:00 PM on June 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump is retweeting a ton of nonsense, even by his usual standards.
WaPo, Gregory S. Schneider, Outside the Red Hen, fire and ire on social media come to life
Civility.
posted by zachlipton at 8:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
WaPo, Gregory S. Schneider, Outside the Red Hen, fire and ire on social media come to life
The quaint red restaurant, its dirty green awnings made famous by a disapproving tweet Monday from President Trump, was scheduled to open for dinner service at 5 p.m. Protesters began showing up around 3.The article goes on to explain that people with extremely homophobic banners showed up, causing the Confederate flag wavers to cross the street because "We don’t want anything to do with that crazy religious bigot stuff."
At first, it was just two guys holding Trump banners, a Confederate flag and a Corey Stewart for U.S. Senate sign. Standing in a steady rain, mobbed by three or four TV crews who had been stationed across from the darkened restaurant since morning, the pair said they were there to call for civility.
“Just to let these people know that we don’t appreciate their communism and their kicking out our public servant,” said Chris Wayne, 35, of Monterey, a mountain hamlet about an hour north of Lexington.
Wayne gave his occupation as “vigilante” — he pointed to the “VGL-NTE” license plates of his red Ford Super Duty pickup — and said that “politics shouldn’t decide whether you can eat dinner or not.
...
Soon, the police showed up to tell Orea he could yell, but he was going to have to put down the bullhorn. A ponytailed man came up with a bucket of chicken manure and dumped it on the corner in front of the Red Hen and was promptly arrested. More patrol cars arrived and blocked off the street in the town of 7,000.
Civility.
posted by zachlipton at 8:07 PM on June 26, 2018 [69 favorites]
Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
This is the correct take. The ten-term Democratic Congressman lost his Democratic Primary election to a Democratic Socialist because he was insufficiently nice and respectful to Donald Trump.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
This is the correct take. The ten-term Democratic Congressman lost his Democratic Primary election to a Democratic Socialist because he was insufficiently nice and respectful to Donald Trump.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:11 PM on June 26, 2018 [66 favorites]
If trump thinks that the equivalent of Boss Tweed was disrespectful, just wait until he gets a taste of the DSA.
Regardless, this should be a clear signal to the tired Democratic establishment that ground game and exciting political messaging that doesn't come hand delivered from Chase Bank are what will win elections.
posted by codacorolla at 8:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
Regardless, this should be a clear signal to the tired Democratic establishment that ground game and exciting political messaging that doesn't come hand delivered from Chase Bank are what will win elections.
posted by codacorolla at 8:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
In other good news, newly minted alt-right gal pal, Chelsea Manning is struggling to crack 5% in her primary.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:17 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
I was going to make a comment about him suffering from the disadvantage of being yet another bland old corporate-friendly white dude... except he's 56 which makes him a baby in Democratic leadership. That in and of itself is a problem, obviously. Democratic Leadership shouldn't share a mailing list with AARP.
Crowley loss does not sound like a win for Pelosi/Hoyer.
It sounds like Taps for the whole Dem hierarchy.
Wake-up call for a party that has put off a generational change for too long
Ben Jacobs: Incumbents in Maryland got killed tonight. Joe Vallario, longtime chair of House Judiciary lost as did Mac Middleton, chair of Senate Finance as well as Joan Carter Conway and Nathaniel McFadden in Baltimore
Also in Maryland: Cardin 80.5 - Manning 5.7. Still not clear what Manning thought she was doing here, but it sure wasn't running an actual campaign.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
Crowley loss does not sound like a win for Pelosi/Hoyer.
It sounds like Taps for the whole Dem hierarchy.
Wake-up call for a party that has put off a generational change for too long
Ben Jacobs: Incumbents in Maryland got killed tonight. Joe Vallario, longtime chair of House Judiciary lost as did Mac Middleton, chair of Senate Finance as well as Joan Carter Conway and Nathaniel McFadden in Baltimore
Also in Maryland: Cardin 80.5 - Manning 5.7. Still not clear what Manning thought she was doing here, but it sure wasn't running an actual campaign.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
Why the disconnect? Better challengers in NY?
The Whelk lives in NYC.
But I am genuinely glad to see this. I’m no DSA member, but they’ve been showing some pretty decent solidarity at least on this coast.
posted by corb at 8:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Whelk lives in NYC.
But I am genuinely glad to see this. I’m no DSA member, but they’ve been showing some pretty decent solidarity at least on this coast.
posted by corb at 8:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
That picture Pat Kiernan tweeted of Ocasio-Cortez realizing how big her lead was made me burst into sobs. Like zero to explosive tears in about .6 seconds. My joy is unbounded, my shocked glee overwhelming.
posted by minervous at 8:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by minervous at 8:21 PM on June 26, 2018 [25 favorites]
[federal] Judge bars separation of immigrants from children, orders reunification.
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [58 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 8:25 PM on June 26, 2018 [58 favorites]
I’m struggling to follow how someone who says these things is an “alt-right gal pal”.
posted by nikaspark at 8:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 8:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Here we go! @Reuters: JUST IN: U.S. Judge in San Diego bars separation of immigrants caught at border from children, orders reuinification
Here's the court order: Ms. L v. ICE
Here's the court order: Ms. L v. ICE
The unfortunate reality is that under the present system migrant children are not accounted for with the same efficiency and accuracy as property.posted by zachlipton at 8:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [36 favorites]
...
Defendants, and their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all those who are in active concert or participation with them, are preliminarily enjoined from detaining Class Members in DHS custody without and apart from their minor children, absent a determination that the parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child, unless the parent affirmatively, knowingly, and voluntarily declines to be reunited with the child in DHS custody.
That picture Pat Kiernan tweeted of Ocasio-Cortez realizing how big her lead was made me burst into sobs. Like zero to explosive tears in about .6 seconds. My joy is unbounded, my shocked glee overwhelming.
You should see the video. Sorry for causing more tears.
posted by Justinian at 8:27 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
You should see the video. Sorry for causing more tears.
posted by Justinian at 8:27 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
The article goes on to explain that people with extremely homophobic banners showed up, causing the Confederate flag wavers to cross the street because "We don’t want anything to do with that crazy religious bigot stuff."FTFY.
Civility.The Aristocrats.
posted by smcameron at 8:30 PM on June 26, 2018 [17 favorites]
So, will Ocasio-Cortez now face a strongish R challenger, or is her election just a formality at this point? Is this a district that would only run a token R, or none at all?
posted by anastasiav at 8:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by anastasiav at 8:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
for parties tonight, we can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old, for the union makes us strong
posted by The Whelk at 8:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The court order requires that DHS release this class of parents:
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
The class is defined to include: “All adult parents who enter the United States at or between designated ports of entry who (1) have been, are, or will be detained in immigration custody by the [DHS], and (2) have a minor child who is or will be separated from them by DHS and detained in ORR custody, ORR foster care, or DHS custody absent a determination that the parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child.” (See Order Granting in Part Mot. for Class Cert. at 17.) The class does not include parents with criminal history or communicable disease, or those apprehended in the interior of the country or subject to the EO.I say the order requires them to be released because the Flores settlement still bans DHS from detaining children for more than 20 days, and there’s little chance of these cases being resolved in 20 days.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, will Ocasio-Cortez now face a strongish R challenger, or is her election just a formality at this point?
Clinton won it 78-20. Crowley beat his Republican opponent 83-17. Sooooooo.
posted by Justinian at 8:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
Clinton won it 78-20. Crowley beat his Republican opponent 83-17. Sooooooo.
posted by Justinian at 8:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
"To get the crowd to quiet down at the @Ocasio2018 victory party, the speaker is yelling mic check -- crowd yelling back mic check. For you kids, this is from Occupy. Occupy is coming to Congress."
posted by The Whelk at 8:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [108 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:35 PM on June 26, 2018 [108 favorites]
You should see the video. Sorry for causing more tears.
From her comments: "There is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018."
posted by TwoStride at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
From her comments: "There is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018."
posted by TwoStride at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [47 favorites]
So, will Ocasio-Cortez now face a strongish R challenger, or is her election just a formality at this point? Is this a district that would only run a token R, or none at all?
It's a PVI D+29 district, maybe the most Democratic district in the entire country. There's not a Republican alive that could win there.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's a PVI D+29 district, maybe the most Democratic district in the entire country. There's not a Republican alive that could win there.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
So, will Ocasio-Cortez now face a strongish R challenger, or is her election just a formality at this point? Is this a district that would only run a token R, or none at all?
Token R. Bluer than blue.
posted by lalochezia at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
So, will Ocasio-Cortez now face a strongish R challenger, or is her election just a formality at this point? Is this a district that would only run a token R, or none at all?
In the last two elections, the Republican finished behind "Blank, Void, or Write-In". There are no strongish R challengers in that district.
posted by Etrigan at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
In the last two elections, the Republican finished behind "Blank, Void, or Write-In". There are no strongish R challengers in that district.
posted by Etrigan at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [19 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez over Crowley 57-43 with 82% reporting.
I was in my old stomping grounds in the Bronx at the start of May, and her posters were all over the place (and really -- the best fucking election posters I've ever seen, that was super-inspiring shit). They were everywhere. Public spaces, sure, but more importantly, inside every shop window. She had ground game. She was making contact.
I have been following her on FB since then, and she is simply relentless. Relentless but positive. She is fighting for positive change. She knows the local issues, and knows what needs to happen to fix them. Her message was clearly connecting.
Crowley? From the comments I've read, he may be a force in Washington, but he was invisible locally. He had zero presence on the ground. Seeing him in debate with Ocasio-Cortez, he was simply stunned -- he had no idea of the magnitude of ICE, had no idea of the importance of the issue to his constituents. Ocasio-Cortez steamrolled over that guy. He clearly had lost touch with what mattered to his constituents. Between her message of positive change and his complete absence -- it was no contest.
All politics is local. Crowley lost the local. Ocasio-Cortez made contact in a huge way, and that's what made this result. Good for her, and good for the Bronx and Queens. They have a VOICE.
I look forward to hearing more from her in the coming years. She can only improve the conversation.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [85 favorites]
I was in my old stomping grounds in the Bronx at the start of May, and her posters were all over the place (and really -- the best fucking election posters I've ever seen, that was super-inspiring shit). They were everywhere. Public spaces, sure, but more importantly, inside every shop window. She had ground game. She was making contact.
I have been following her on FB since then, and she is simply relentless. Relentless but positive. She is fighting for positive change. She knows the local issues, and knows what needs to happen to fix them. Her message was clearly connecting.
Crowley? From the comments I've read, he may be a force in Washington, but he was invisible locally. He had zero presence on the ground. Seeing him in debate with Ocasio-Cortez, he was simply stunned -- he had no idea of the magnitude of ICE, had no idea of the importance of the issue to his constituents. Ocasio-Cortez steamrolled over that guy. He clearly had lost touch with what mattered to his constituents. Between her message of positive change and his complete absence -- it was no contest.
All politics is local. Crowley lost the local. Ocasio-Cortez made contact in a huge way, and that's what made this result. Good for her, and good for the Bronx and Queens. They have a VOICE.
I look forward to hearing more from her in the coming years. She can only improve the conversation.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:36 PM on June 26, 2018 [85 favorites]
I’m struggling to follow how someone who says these things is an “alt-right gal pal”.
I don't know, it could be all those game nights she spent with Lucian Wintrich and Cassandra Fairbanks and at the moment I saw her laughing with Gavin McInnes I stopped trusting her as far as I can throw her.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
I don't know, it could be all those game nights she spent with Lucian Wintrich and Cassandra Fairbanks and at the moment I saw her laughing with Gavin McInnes I stopped trusting her as far as I can throw her.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:39 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
I was only aware of the party, and I’m honestly tired of the left forever shitting on people for mistakes and dumping them overboard. Seriously. Over it.
posted by nikaspark at 8:42 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 8:42 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Luckily we don't have to care about Manning or her motives in the context of politics that actually matter after tonight. Let's hope she moves on and finds some direction in her new life, and stays out of the political spotlight unless she's actually ready for it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:43 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:43 PM on June 26, 2018 [22 favorites]
I know there's a lot to come and a lot of work and nothing is sure but right now I'm frantically texting and hugging my comrades and we keep saying "It happened it actually happened" because none of us can actually believe it happened.
second year running a candiate for local elections BTW, this is NYC DSA's second year with a dedicated electoral team.
Democracy is coming to the USA.
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 PM on June 26, 2018 [63 favorites]
second year running a candiate for local elections BTW, this is NYC DSA's second year with a dedicated electoral team.
Democracy is coming to the USA.
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 PM on June 26, 2018 [63 favorites]
Democracy is coming to the USA.
Would you say... This is what Democracy Looks Like?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Would you say... This is what Democracy Looks Like?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:46 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Yeah, my personal feelings are that she’s not ready to take stuff like this on and my hope is that she is able to find a peaceful life outside notability. That said I don’t have any negative feelings towards her, I have compassion.
posted by nikaspark at 8:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 8:47 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oklahomans vote in favor of State Question 788, legalizing medical marijuana.
From the article:
Now that the state question has been legalized, lawmakers can make amendments to the legislation before it goes into effect.
After lawmakers amend the state question, the Oklahoma State Department of Health will have 30 days to make available on its website an application for a medical marijuana license. Then, within 60 days after SQ 788's passage, Health Department officials will have to establish a regulatory office that will receive applications for medical marijuana licenses, recipients and dispensary growers.
posted by TrishaU at 8:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
From the article:
Now that the state question has been legalized, lawmakers can make amendments to the legislation before it goes into effect.
After lawmakers amend the state question, the Oklahoma State Department of Health will have 30 days to make available on its website an application for a medical marijuana license. Then, within 60 days after SQ 788's passage, Health Department officials will have to establish a regulatory office that will receive applications for medical marijuana licenses, recipients and dispensary growers.
posted by TrishaU at 8:48 PM on June 26, 2018 [15 favorites]
Wow, that video makes me love AOC.
[and the Crowley video of him dedicating "Born to Run" to OAC (and singing it pretty well) gave me the good feels, too; recommend watching both]
posted by mabelstreet at 8:53 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
[and the Crowley video of him dedicating "Born to Run" to OAC (and singing it pretty well) gave me the good feels, too; recommend watching both]
posted by mabelstreet at 8:53 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
You should see the video. Sorry for causing more tears.
That just fraction of a second where you can see her collect herself and get back in the game, just about in between two frames... holy shit.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:55 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
That just fraction of a second where you can see her collect herself and get back in the game, just about in between two frames... holy shit.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:55 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
This is a prime example of gaslighting.
Is it true, or even coherent? No. Doesn't matter.
The POTUS* Spake and now it's something that is now true. Until the next time POTUS* Speaketh again.
Now the Deplorables have another new pre-packaged nonsense pivot to use.
This entire opera is absolutely jaw dropping. Putin just bluffed a hand (while cheating the long game) and Trump dumped everything he had. Again. And again, and...
This is not normal. How has Trump not been sanctioned by an adult yet?
posted by porpoise at 9:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
This is a prime example of gaslighting.
Is it true, or even coherent? No. Doesn't matter.
The POTUS* Spake and now it's something that is now true. Until the next time POTUS* Speaketh again.
Now the Deplorables have another new pre-packaged nonsense pivot to use.
This entire opera is absolutely jaw dropping. Putin just bluffed a hand (while cheating the long game) and Trump dumped everything he had. Again. And again, and...
This is not normal. How has Trump not been sanctioned by an adult yet?
posted by porpoise at 9:03 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
for parties tonight, we can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old, for the union makes us strong
This is your regularly scheduled reminder that those words - which are great - were not written by Pete Seeger, but rather Ralph Chaplin, for the IWW, or the Industrial Workers of the World, who are still a real, living, breathing union that embraces workers everywhere, skilled or not, citizens or not, imprisoned or not. You can join, no matter who you are, reading this, unless you are a cop or a boss with hiring and firing authority.
posted by corb at 9:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [68 favorites]
This is your regularly scheduled reminder that those words - which are great - were not written by Pete Seeger, but rather Ralph Chaplin, for the IWW, or the Industrial Workers of the World, who are still a real, living, breathing union that embraces workers everywhere, skilled or not, citizens or not, imprisoned or not. You can join, no matter who you are, reading this, unless you are a cop or a boss with hiring and firing authority.
posted by corb at 9:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [68 favorites]
Well, dangit, my candidate, Cary Kennedy, who I've backed since caucus and for whom I've knocked on 600+ doors , is not the Dem nominee for governor in Colorado. Congrats to Jared Polis, who goes on to face Walker Stapleton in the general. I'm encouraged by Ocasio-Cortez's win, amazing news, and also by the raw vote totals in CO--almost 74K more Dem ballots cast than R in the governor's race, with 50% of counties reporting. Planning to spend July volunteering with the county Democratic party on voter registration, then get back into canvassing later in the summer. I'm also working on a Metafilter-inspired cross stitch sampler that says "Despair is a sin." Onward to November.
posted by danielleh at 9:06 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by danielleh at 9:06 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
@jonfavs: Much of the DC media equates being further left with being angry or strident, since that’s what happens on the right. But from what (admittedly little) I’ve seen of @Ocasio2018’s campaign, she’s hopeful, inspiring, optimistic, and galvanizing.
I've never really thought of it this way, but so much of our mental picture of a primary challenge is angry Tea Party folks waving bigoted signs, and that both sides narrative keeps getting perpetuated (to be fair, stuff like mic checking Elijah Cummings's speech on racial equality at the DNC does not help here). We're going to hear a lot about Cantor and Tea Party comparisons and whatever, but the positivity of what's happening, people coming together to say we can take care of each other better, shouldn't be falsely balanced against an astroturf campaign of a bunch of white guys upset there's a black President and they have to pay taxes.
posted by zachlipton at 9:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
I've never really thought of it this way, but so much of our mental picture of a primary challenge is angry Tea Party folks waving bigoted signs, and that both sides narrative keeps getting perpetuated (to be fair, stuff like mic checking Elijah Cummings's speech on racial equality at the DNC does not help here). We're going to hear a lot about Cantor and Tea Party comparisons and whatever, but the positivity of what's happening, people coming together to say we can take care of each other better, shouldn't be falsely balanced against an astroturf campaign of a bunch of white guys upset there's a black President and they have to pay taxes.
posted by zachlipton at 9:10 PM on June 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
(Corb I've been on the fence about joining the IWW or donating and I think I really should- they're an important part of our history and do a lot of on the ground work.)
posted by The Whelk at 9:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:12 PM on June 26, 2018 [10 favorites]
Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
I hope Chuck Schumer is paying attention to this line, because when you're facing assholes like the modern GOP and insist on being civil all the time, no exceptions, they will use your civility like a shield only to pop up from behind it and sucker punch you and continue to expect civility in return. Trump knows this in his bones, it's essential to how bullies operate, and he's taunting the civility-at-all-costs types with this line.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
I hope Chuck Schumer is paying attention to this line, because when you're facing assholes like the modern GOP and insist on being civil all the time, no exceptions, they will use your civility like a shield only to pop up from behind it and sucker punch you and continue to expect civility in return. Trump knows this in his bones, it's essential to how bullies operate, and he's taunting the civility-at-all-costs types with this line.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:14 PM on June 26, 2018 [27 favorites]
This thread got me looking at my local DSA chapter; I followed them on Twitter and today they tweeted:
posted by shirobara at 9:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
Supreme Court got you down?I've been calling my representatives and paying attention to what they've been doing -- and by and large, feeling that even though they're both Democrats, they're still in denial about the enormity of what's happening. This tweet spoke to me more than anything any of them have said. Joined today.
Join DSA and get rid of ‘em. 🌹
posted by shirobara at 9:18 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
The article goes on to explain that people with extremely homophobic banners showed up, causing the Confederate flag wavers to cross the street because "We don’t want anything to do with that crazy religious bigot stuff."
Civility.
Well, don’t forget, it was called the “Civil” War.
posted by darkstar at 9:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
Civility.
Well, don’t forget, it was called the “Civil” War.
posted by darkstar at 9:20 PM on June 26, 2018 [7 favorites]
NYT story on AOC
Representative Steny Hoyer, a longtime rival of Ms. Pelosi’s, now is freed from having to worry about Mr. Crowley in his ambition to be leader. But some House Democrats, speaking anonymously to discuss a delicate topic, said Tuesday night that given the party’s changing face, it would be difficult to dump Ms. Pelosi for an older, white male lawmaker.
In a flurry of phone calls and text messages, Democratic lawmakers floated names such as Cheri Bustos of Illinois, Linda Sanchez of California, Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts as potential younger alternatives to Ms. Pelosi.
But Ms. Pelosi has made clear she intends to seek the post again if Democrats take back the House and it is not clear that any potential alternative candidate could build a coalition to defeat her.
posted by lalochezia at 9:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Representative Steny Hoyer, a longtime rival of Ms. Pelosi’s, now is freed from having to worry about Mr. Crowley in his ambition to be leader. But some House Democrats, speaking anonymously to discuss a delicate topic, said Tuesday night that given the party’s changing face, it would be difficult to dump Ms. Pelosi for an older, white male lawmaker.
In a flurry of phone calls and text messages, Democratic lawmakers floated names such as Cheri Bustos of Illinois, Linda Sanchez of California, Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts as potential younger alternatives to Ms. Pelosi.
But Ms. Pelosi has made clear she intends to seek the post again if Democrats take back the House and it is not clear that any potential alternative candidate could build a coalition to defeat her.
posted by lalochezia at 9:26 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
zachlipton: NY-23 (Tom Reed's district): Still a close race here between Tracy Mitrano and Max Della Pia. All I know about this race is that Mitrano is the person who used to send bulk all-caps emails telling us not to pirate stuff when I was in college, and the guy who played Martok on DS9 (and, on a separate occasion, drove me to drink) is running as an independent. Do people have any picks here?
Zach, I'm in NY23, and today was my first-ever contested Congressional primary election. If you want a good bit of color, here's a local piece. Honestly, all the candidates were pretty great and their basic positions were very much the progressive liberal Democratic positions. I'm much more interested in the coming fight against Tom Reed.
That said...
Tracy Mitrano is the establishment candidate. She had most of the endorsements, won most straw polls, and I'm sure she'd be very good as a congressperson, but she never sold it to me. It felt like the campaign machine was going through the motions - for example, we hung around near her stand at the Ithaca festival, right next to her, and she was too busy to say Hi to my son in a wheelchair. Small thing, but I have a bunch of similar stories. No real campaign contact, other than a couple of fliers in the mail. I know this is unfair - she was probably very active in parts of the district that aren't as liberal as Ithaca, and we've stopped answering our land line because it is just a constant barrage of spam. If she's our nominee, I have a small nagging worry about how effective the campaign will be.
Meanwhile, two young and knowledgeable canvassers from Max Della Pia really sold his candidacy to us at our front door. (Direct voter contact works!) Della Pia is an Air Force veteran, worked for Senator Carl Levin, and he was also the only person to mention science and climate change in his closing argument to primary voters, so I was feeling pretty positive about him.
So I convinced my brother in law to vote for Della Pia earlier, but then at the last minute my sister-in-law convinced me and my wife to vote for Aaron Golden, who is young, smart, owns a local running store, is very active in the anti-fracking scene, and apparently really impressed her at a candidates forum. He's coming in 4th, it looks like, in a 5 person field. So if Max Della Pia comes within a few votes and then loses to Tracy Mitrano, it will have been me and my sister-in-law who failed to tip the balance. Yikes!
And now, checking the primary results: Della Pia is leading Mitrano by 26 votes out of 21,661 votes, with all counties reporting 100%. That is ridiculously close - I guess it comes down to absentees now. ("Too close to call" gives me PTSD flashbacks to Florida 2000.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Zach, I'm in NY23, and today was my first-ever contested Congressional primary election. If you want a good bit of color, here's a local piece. Honestly, all the candidates were pretty great and their basic positions were very much the progressive liberal Democratic positions. I'm much more interested in the coming fight against Tom Reed.
That said...
Tracy Mitrano is the establishment candidate. She had most of the endorsements, won most straw polls, and I'm sure she'd be very good as a congressperson, but she never sold it to me. It felt like the campaign machine was going through the motions - for example, we hung around near her stand at the Ithaca festival, right next to her, and she was too busy to say Hi to my son in a wheelchair. Small thing, but I have a bunch of similar stories. No real campaign contact, other than a couple of fliers in the mail. I know this is unfair - she was probably very active in parts of the district that aren't as liberal as Ithaca, and we've stopped answering our land line because it is just a constant barrage of spam. If she's our nominee, I have a small nagging worry about how effective the campaign will be.
Meanwhile, two young and knowledgeable canvassers from Max Della Pia really sold his candidacy to us at our front door. (Direct voter contact works!) Della Pia is an Air Force veteran, worked for Senator Carl Levin, and he was also the only person to mention science and climate change in his closing argument to primary voters, so I was feeling pretty positive about him.
So I convinced my brother in law to vote for Della Pia earlier, but then at the last minute my sister-in-law convinced me and my wife to vote for Aaron Golden, who is young, smart, owns a local running store, is very active in the anti-fracking scene, and apparently really impressed her at a candidates forum. He's coming in 4th, it looks like, in a 5 person field. So if Max Della Pia comes within a few votes and then loses to Tracy Mitrano, it will have been me and my sister-in-law who failed to tip the balance. Yikes!
And now, checking the primary results: Della Pia is leading Mitrano by 26 votes out of 21,661 votes, with all counties reporting 100%. That is ridiculously close - I guess it comes down to absentees now. ("Too close to call" gives me PTSD flashbacks to Florida 2000.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:31 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
(Corb I've been on the fence about joining the IWW or donating and I think I really should- they're an important part of our history and do a lot of on the ground work.)
Heck yes to this. IWW meetings/actions are a great place to connect with people who understand democracy, direct action, and class-consciousness outside of electoral politics.
I was involved with IWW pretty heavily for a few years in the 90s and it really formed my political point of view... so much so that it took me until this December to realize that I had to get my non-electoral ass in gear and join up with East Bay DSA!
(Which I did, and am pretty amazed by everything the organization is taking on nationwide. Like, kinda shocked, actually. What a time. What a time.)
posted by eyesontheroad at 9:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Heck yes to this. IWW meetings/actions are a great place to connect with people who understand democracy, direct action, and class-consciousness outside of electoral politics.
I was involved with IWW pretty heavily for a few years in the 90s and it really formed my political point of view... so much so that it took me until this December to realize that I had to get my non-electoral ass in gear and join up with East Bay DSA!
(Which I did, and am pretty amazed by everything the organization is taking on nationwide. Like, kinda shocked, actually. What a time. What a time.)
posted by eyesontheroad at 9:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!
I dare him to say this at the corner of White Plains Road and Pelham Parkway. See how true it is.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
I dare him to say this at the corner of White Plains Road and Pelham Parkway. See how true it is.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
I really DGAF who is Speaker, and any Democrat jockeying for it now before the real work is done can get fucked. Win first. Stop fucking losing to Trump. Stop Trump. The last thing any of us cares about is which one of you miserable careerist fucks that fiddled while the world burns gets to claim credit for all the work WE DID in your name for lack of any alternative to save the republic.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [88 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:38 PM on June 26, 2018 [88 favorites]
With the State of Hawaii v. Donald J. Trump SCOTUS decision, has anyone seen what the official reasoning is for why the travel ban didn't prevent Kim Yong-chol from visiting Washington or whether it would interfere with Trump's White House invitation to Kim Jong-un? Diplomatic visas aren't barred maybe?
posted by XMLicious at 9:48 PM on June 26, 2018
posted by XMLicious at 9:48 PM on June 26, 2018
> [NY23] Della Pia is leading Mitrano by 26 votes out of 21,661 votes, with all counties reporting 100%. That is ridiculously close - I guess it comes down to absentees now. ("Too close to call" gives me PTSD flashbacks to Florida 2000.)
Aaaand here we go - statement from the campaign of incumbent Republican Tom Reed [NY23]:
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
Aaaand here we go - statement from the campaign of incumbent Republican Tom Reed [NY23]:
“It’s no surprise that with a field of Extreme Ithaca Liberal options to choose from, the Democrats couldn’t make a definitive selection in their Primary on Tuesday,” said Nicholas Weinstein, Campaign Manager for Tom Reed for Congress. “With their unanimous support for higher taxes, heroin injection sites in our neighborhoods and government-run socialized medicine, these Extreme Ithaca Liberals have clearly demonstrated to the voters that they are out of touch with our values in the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Western New York. We look forward to continuing to highlight how extreme and out of touch they are as they sort through the absentee ballots.”We can smell the fear, Tom.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:51 PM on June 26, 2018 [23 favorites]
This is the platform that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran on and she WON! We need more candidates like this.
posted by The Whelk at 9:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [72 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:54 PM on June 26, 2018 [72 favorites]
Diplomatic visas aren't barred maybe?
Yes. Diplomatic visa holders were explictly exempted, and there are provisions for case-by-case waivers that could apply in any case; the ban wasn't absolute in situations where the government wanted to let someone in (but the waivers were a sham for ordinary people).
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes. Diplomatic visa holders were explictly exempted, and there are provisions for case-by-case waivers that could apply in any case; the ban wasn't absolute in situations where the government wanted to let someone in (but the waivers were a sham for ordinary people).
posted by zachlipton at 9:58 PM on June 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
We've mentioned many here tonight, but Taniel's spreadsheet has now been filled out with lots of delicious results in various key races if you want to catch up.
It's been a really long day.
posted by zachlipton at 10:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's been a really long day.
posted by zachlipton at 10:04 PM on June 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Extreme Ithaca Liberals? These guys are just self-parodies at this point. How many people even live in Ithaca, 73? (yes, yes, I know there's actually a few more than that.) I do hope this becomes a thing, though.
Jake Jortles - Extreme Calumet City Liberal! Wrong for Schaumburg, wrong for America.
posted by Justinian at 10:06 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Jake Jortles - Extreme Calumet City Liberal! Wrong for Schaumburg, wrong for America.
posted by Justinian at 10:06 PM on June 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
I wondered if Ocasio-Cortez was going to be the first Millennial in Congress, so I checked - no, Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is currently the youngest Representative; she was born July 2, 1984. (Millennials seem to start in 1982, although there are some disagreements.)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be just barely old enough, by a few months, to be President in January of 2025.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be just barely old enough, by a few months, to be President in January of 2025.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:16 PM on June 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
I have been following her on FB since then, and she is simply relentless. Relentless but positive. She is fighting for positive change. She knows the local issues, and knows what needs to happen to fix them. Her message was clearly connecting.
Ocasio spoke at a progressive Muslim group iftar a few months back that my family and I attended in our district. Crowley isn't our rep and we couldn't vote for her against him. But she attended anyway and spoke passionately and eloquently about issues that really do matter to working class and middle class Queens residents. She spoke about our values and ways that Trump and the GOP stand in opposition to them. She spoke about Crowley, and why she was running against him. And she spoke about the importance of voting, which was the purpose of the event. Not taking the right to vote for granted
By the time she was done, I would have happily moved to her district just to be able to vote for her. Fantastic candidate.
So anyway, she spoke for a while, and then so did Grace Meng and Tahseen Chowdhury. Chowdhury is running against IDC member Jose Peralta. Who is also not our rep.
It suprised me that Ocasio and Chowdhury took the time to speak with people who weren't going to be their constituents. But they were wise to do so. Because this is Queens, and despite it's huge size, the borough isn't that big. Word of mouth goes a long way.
I'm thrilled she won. That district isn't going to a Republican any time soon so she's probably going to become one of the youngest people in Congress come November.
posted by zarq at 10:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [54 favorites]
Ocasio spoke at a progressive Muslim group iftar a few months back that my family and I attended in our district. Crowley isn't our rep and we couldn't vote for her against him. But she attended anyway and spoke passionately and eloquently about issues that really do matter to working class and middle class Queens residents. She spoke about our values and ways that Trump and the GOP stand in opposition to them. She spoke about Crowley, and why she was running against him. And she spoke about the importance of voting, which was the purpose of the event. Not taking the right to vote for granted
By the time she was done, I would have happily moved to her district just to be able to vote for her. Fantastic candidate.
So anyway, she spoke for a while, and then so did Grace Meng and Tahseen Chowdhury. Chowdhury is running against IDC member Jose Peralta. Who is also not our rep.
It suprised me that Ocasio and Chowdhury took the time to speak with people who weren't going to be their constituents. But they were wise to do so. Because this is Queens, and despite it's huge size, the borough isn't that big. Word of mouth goes a long way.
I'm thrilled she won. That district isn't going to a Republican any time soon so she's probably going to become one of the youngest people in Congress come November.
posted by zarq at 10:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [54 favorites]
Yassss AOC fuckin A we needed a win after today’s round of horseshit.
posted by supercrayon at 10:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 10:19 PM on June 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
July 2, 1984
guess who has a libra 1984 birthday and now looking at city council election dates
posted by The Whelk at 10:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
guess who has a libra 1984 birthday and now looking at city council election dates
posted by The Whelk at 10:23 PM on June 26, 2018 [40 favorites]
Some fun NY-14 maps, including turnout and race data. I'll leave it to the locals here to share conclusions.
posted by zachlipton at 10:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 10:29 PM on June 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
January:Oh god we need to like, run socialist candidates or something this is awful.
April: targeted action via low level civic involvement has a bigger return on invest then hitting for big races
July: Who wants to send me to congress you socialism loving fucks?!
posted by The Whelk at 10:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [97 favorites]
April: targeted action via low level civic involvement has a bigger return on invest then hitting for big races
July: Who wants to send me to congress you socialism loving fucks?!
posted by The Whelk at 10:33 PM on June 26, 2018 [97 favorites]
Yay Wobblies!
If you are interested in general civil defense as well as worker's rights, you can join the IWW-General Defense Committee. One does not have to be red carded, or a member of the IWW itself, to join the GDC and become gray carded.
I joined earlier this year. Finding a community of like minded activists has been really rewarding.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
If you are interested in general civil defense as well as worker's rights, you can join the IWW-General Defense Committee. One does not have to be red carded, or a member of the IWW itself, to join the GDC and become gray carded.
I joined earlier this year. Finding a community of like minded activists has been really rewarding.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:34 PM on June 26, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well. I joined the DSA too this week. It's all the Whelk's fault, of course.
posted by litlnemo at 12:10 AM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by litlnemo at 12:10 AM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
A fantastic Twitter thread on civility by Angus Johnson of @studentactivism:
Okay. I've found it. The absolute culmination of the "we have to build bridges with the far right" argument.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [34 favorites]
Okay. I've found it. The absolute culmination of the "we have to build bridges with the far right" argument.
URGES GOOD WILL BY JEWS FOR NAZIS[hat tip: Wired ]
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [34 favorites]
Crowley loss does not sound like a win for Pelosi/Hoyer.
It sounds like Taps for the whole Dem hierarchy.
Wake-up call for a party that has put off a generational change for too long
Glamour Senior Political Reporter Celeste Katz @CelesteKatzNYC: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's statement on the #NY14 blowout is a three-paragraph homage to defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, with a one-sentence nod to the winner: “I congratulate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her victory.” #ElectionDay"
Incidentally, Pelosi's statement says nothing about making a concerted effort to go after Trump and his GOPers (merely referring, in passing, to "the historic challenges of the Trump administration"). Compare that to Crowley's model concession: "if we don't win back the House this November, we will lose the nation we love. This is why we must come together."
Meanwhile, Ben Dreyfuss @bendreyfuss tweets, "The video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez realizing she won is my favorite thing in the whole world http://bit.ly/2MpOF92 (via @NY1)"
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
It sounds like Taps for the whole Dem hierarchy.
Wake-up call for a party that has put off a generational change for too long
Glamour Senior Political Reporter Celeste Katz @CelesteKatzNYC: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's statement on the #NY14 blowout is a three-paragraph homage to defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, with a one-sentence nod to the winner: “I congratulate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her victory.” #ElectionDay"
Incidentally, Pelosi's statement says nothing about making a concerted effort to go after Trump and his GOPers (merely referring, in passing, to "the historic challenges of the Trump administration"). Compare that to Crowley's model concession: "if we don't win back the House this November, we will lose the nation we love. This is why we must come together."
Meanwhile, Ben Dreyfuss @bendreyfuss tweets, "The video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez realizing she won is my favorite thing in the whole world http://bit.ly/2MpOF92 (via @NY1)"
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
Interesting corrections being made to the NYT article: the Google snippet shows it containing the phrase: ""We beat a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today," said Ocasio-Cortez, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders who has...", whereas the article now has Sanders mentioned only in the phrase "In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders." and no longer quotes her on the "machine" other than in this appended correction: This story has been corrected to show that Ocasio-Cortez said "meet a machine," not "beat a machine."
posted by progosk at 3:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by progosk at 3:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don’t think this had been mentioned, but from OAC’s Twitter, sounds like there was much fuckery at the polls:
Good morning!
Polls haven’t even opened yet and Team @JoeCrowleyNY is already breaking election law 🤗
Campaign posters right at the entrance of polling stations before opening - they‘re illegal within 100 ft.
Thoughts, @BOENYC?
Then this:
Hearing that Team @JoeCrowleyNY is taking our campaign posters, affixing them to trees, and then reporting them to @NYCSanitation to fine us.
They are trying to ratchet us into $10k worth of fines.
If you see anyone affixing our posters illegally, STOP THEM and take a photo.
And she won by a huge margin despite all that. People in NY do not sound surprised by such fuckery, by the way. But luckily she and her supporters were on top of this, calling it out on Twitter and sending people to polling places. Also apparently there were reports of closed/ wrong poll sites and purges. Shows the importance of having a connected network with people on the ground. It’s not easy but we can fight this stuff with the power of organizing.
posted by robotdevil at 3:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
Good morning!
Polls haven’t even opened yet and Team @JoeCrowleyNY is already breaking election law 🤗
Campaign posters right at the entrance of polling stations before opening - they‘re illegal within 100 ft.
Thoughts, @BOENYC?
Then this:
Hearing that Team @JoeCrowleyNY is taking our campaign posters, affixing them to trees, and then reporting them to @NYCSanitation to fine us.
They are trying to ratchet us into $10k worth of fines.
If you see anyone affixing our posters illegally, STOP THEM and take a photo.
And she won by a huge margin despite all that. People in NY do not sound surprised by such fuckery, by the way. But luckily she and her supporters were on top of this, calling it out on Twitter and sending people to polling places. Also apparently there were reports of closed/ wrong poll sites and purges. Shows the importance of having a connected network with people on the ground. It’s not easy but we can fight this stuff with the power of organizing.
posted by robotdevil at 3:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
The Trumpist gomers are selling his Crowley tweet as him being strategically happy because obviously all the other far-left Socialists in competitive districts will be rejected by the voters in November, even if Ocasio-Cortez wins in a heavily gerrymandered Dem district.
The flop sweat is hilarious.
posted by Etrigan at 3:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
The flop sweat is hilarious.
posted by Etrigan at 3:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Trial runs for fascism are in full flow
Interesting article:
Interesting article:
To see, as most commentary has done, the deliberate traumatisation of migrant children as a “mistake” by Trump is culpable naivety. It is a trial run – and the trial has been a huge success. Trump’s claim last week that immigrants “infest” the US is a test-marketing of whether his fans are ready for the next step-up in language, which is of course “vermin”. And the generation of images of toddlers being dragged from their parents is a test of whether those words can be turned into sounds and pictures. It was always an experiment – it ended (but only in part) because the results were in.posted by PontifexPrimus at 4:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
[...]
Millions and millions of Europeans and Americans are learning to think the unthinkable. So what if those black people drown in the sea? So what if those brown toddlers are scarred for life? They have already, in their minds, crossed the boundaries of morality. They are, like Macbeth, “yet but young in deed”. But the tests will be refined, the results analysed, the methods perfected, the messages sharpened. And then the deeds can follow.
More completely terrifying than interesting, I think. Another quote:
Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about 40 per cent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your 40 per cent is fanatically committed.posted by schadenfrau at 4:29 AM on June 27, 2018 [54 favorites]
Don't be fooled. It's a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters of discourse, change the topic, and defuse a potent avenue of criticism and attack. It is one of the things the conservative politico-media complex is very good at doing, and the nature of the establishment and corporate media makes it all that much easier for them. The important thing to remember is that nobody anywhere actually believes the bullshit civility argument they are making. They all know they're acting in bad faith. It's a manuever, a tactic.
Reminds me of that Sartre quote I've seen around so much recently:
Reminds me of that Sartre quote I've seen around so much recently:
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.posted by Proofs and Refutations at 4:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [47 favorites]
That does it, I'm joining the Wobblies too. It's about time.
I am so not a joiner, but they've been looking out for working people for over a century, and doing so with principle, fire and verve. So far as I can tell, nobody acting at scale is clearer on what mutual aid means, and nobody understands direct action better. I'll be proud to carry the card of One Big Union.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
I am so not a joiner, but they've been looking out for working people for over a century, and doing so with principle, fire and verve. So far as I can tell, nobody acting at scale is clearer on what mutual aid means, and nobody understands direct action better. I'll be proud to carry the card of One Big Union.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
In more Good Socialist News, East Bay Edition: Jovanka Beckles will advance to the November election for CA Assembly District 15:
East Bay Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is celebrating the primary victory of DSA member and Richmond City Council Member and Vice Mayor Jovanka Beckles, who will advance to the run-off election for California Assembly District 15 (AD15) in November. With some ballots still remaining to be counted, Beckles has clinched the second place slot over Oakland City Council Member, Dan Kalb, who conceded this afternoon.posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Without financial or political backing from corporate interests, the Beckles campaign relied instead on support from DSA, Our Revolution, and Richmond Progressive Alliance. Based on her record of passing the first rent control law in California in decades as well as "Ban the Box," and leading the way in forcing Chevron into compliance with environmental and worker safety standards, Beckles has organic support from the working people of the East Bay.
Also, think what you want of Joe Crowley, but his dedication of "Born to Run" to the triumphant AOC was a class move.
Hopefully this is but the first of many victories for her. I am beyond thrilled for her, delighted for her district, and cannot wait to see what she does in Congress.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [40 favorites]
Hopefully this is but the first of many victories for her. I am beyond thrilled for her, delighted for her district, and cannot wait to see what she does in Congress.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [40 favorites]
In New Mexico governor race, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham leads Republican Steve Pearce 51% to 38% in a new poll by SurveyUSA.
Currently NM is led by Republican Susana Martinez, Chair of the Republican Governors Association, who is term limited.
posted by chris24 at 5:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
Currently NM is led by Republican Susana Martinez, Chair of the Republican Governors Association, who is term limited.
posted by chris24 at 5:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
Some more info on above. in 2014, Martinez (R) won by 14. But Clinton won the state by 8 in 2016.
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Glamour Senior Political Reporter Celeste Katz @CelesteKatzNYC: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's statement on the #NY14 blowout is a three-paragraph homage to defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, with a one-sentence nod to the winner: “I congratulate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her victory.” #ElectionDay"
She's pissed her friend lost, and with him they lose some seniority in the House. She should have thought of that months ago and planned accordingly, but she wouldn't because she never thought Ocasio could win. The Party underestimates how furious and frightened Democrats are (especially in what should be strongholds of support) at their peril.
That statement is such sour grapes bullshit. She should be thankful not only that one of the Bluest districts in the country voted for someone in her party in a roaring voice but also that she can now see the handwriting is on the wall. Crowley couldn't, but thanks to his trouncing Pelosi can. In a just world she would shift course and shift the course of the Party. But she won't, because she's part of the same corrupt machine and lethargic attitudes that helped give us Trump in the first place and continues to enable him.
So Ocasio won in a Latin-majority district by emphasizing her Puerto Rican and Bronx roots, decrying a Democratic political infrastructure that is calcified and corrupt, and by working really, really hard to connect with voters on the issues they care about. The economy. Healthcare. Education. She made emotional connections with voters on levels that district has never seen from the only Congressman they had. Who doesn't even send his kids to our public schools and doesn't live here half the year.
She ran a textbook underdog campaign and won. Beat a guy who outraised her by a factor of 10 in a district that had voted him into office 10 times.
The Party needs to evolve or die.
posted by zarq at 6:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [106 favorites]
She's pissed her friend lost, and with him they lose some seniority in the House. She should have thought of that months ago and planned accordingly, but she wouldn't because she never thought Ocasio could win. The Party underestimates how furious and frightened Democrats are (especially in what should be strongholds of support) at their peril.
That statement is such sour grapes bullshit. She should be thankful not only that one of the Bluest districts in the country voted for someone in her party in a roaring voice but also that she can now see the handwriting is on the wall. Crowley couldn't, but thanks to his trouncing Pelosi can. In a just world she would shift course and shift the course of the Party. But she won't, because she's part of the same corrupt machine and lethargic attitudes that helped give us Trump in the first place and continues to enable him.
So Ocasio won in a Latin-majority district by emphasizing her Puerto Rican and Bronx roots, decrying a Democratic political infrastructure that is calcified and corrupt, and by working really, really hard to connect with voters on the issues they care about. The economy. Healthcare. Education. She made emotional connections with voters on levels that district has never seen from the only Congressman they had. Who doesn't even send his kids to our public schools and doesn't live here half the year.
She ran a textbook underdog campaign and won. Beat a guy who outraised her by a factor of 10 in a district that had voted him into office 10 times.
The Party needs to evolve or die.
posted by zarq at 6:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [106 favorites]
Bill Kristol
Interesting:
Trump's approval/disapproval is not terrible: AZ: 41%-47%; FL: 45%-46%; OH: 42%-49%.
His "deserves re-election" is terrible: AZ: 35%-57%; FL: 37-54%; OH 34%-58%.
A key slice of voters "approve" of Trump but don't want to vote for him in 2020.
---
Also from the same poll:
NBC: Battleground state polls find more voters prefer Congress as a check on Trump
Interesting:
Trump's approval/disapproval is not terrible: AZ: 41%-47%; FL: 45%-46%; OH: 42%-49%.
His "deserves re-election" is terrible: AZ: 35%-57%; FL: 37-54%; OH 34%-58%.
A key slice of voters "approve" of Trump but don't want to vote for him in 2020.
---
Also from the same poll:
NBC: Battleground state polls find more voters prefer Congress as a check on Trump
In Arizona, 52 percent of registered voters say they’ll use their vote to send a message that the country needs more Democrats to serve as a check on Trump, while 36 percent said the nation needs more Republicans to pass his agenda...posted by chris24 at 6:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
In Florida, another key swing state that’s home to one of the marquee Senate races of the cycle, 49 percent of voters favor a Congress that serves as a check on Trump, while 40 percent want lawmakers to assist Trump in passing legislation...
And in Ohio, 51 percent want more Democrats in Congress in order to counter Trump’s efforts, while 35 percent say they’d like to see more Republicans on Capitol Hill to help the president advance his agenda.
Democratic Party institutions being Democratic Party institutions we should probably find a way to identify left leaning primary winners that are vulnerable to underfunding and send money their way.
posted by Artw at 6:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Bill Kristol: A key slice of voters "approve" of Trump but don't want to vote for him in 2020.
But will anyway.
posted by pjenks at 6:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
But will anyway.
posted by pjenks at 6:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
A key slice of voters "approve" of Trump but don't want to vote for him in 2020.
That’s a whole lot of idiots and narcissists who cannot, under any circumstances, admit when they have made a mistake.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
That’s a whole lot of idiots and narcissists who cannot, under any circumstances, admit when they have made a mistake.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
"Extreme Ithaca Liberals!"
This is a Tom Reed thing. He ran on that line in 2014 and 2016. His campaign also has a website.
posted by zarq at 6:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is a Tom Reed thing. He ran on that line in 2014 and 2016. His campaign also has a website.
posted by zarq at 6:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
SCOTUSblog notes that today's final Supreme Court session (10am) is "the last chance for a verbal retirement announcement from the bench before the summer." (link is today's live blog)
The last two decisions, to be announced this morning, are Janus v. AFSCME (Union dues) Florida v. Georgia (water dispute).
posted by pjenks at 6:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The last two decisions, to be announced this morning, are Janus v. AFSCME (Union dues) Florida v. Georgia (water dispute).
posted by pjenks at 6:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
35 percent say they’d like to see more Republicans on Capitol Hill to help the president advance his agenda.
I know you're tired of my endless shrill shrieking, Void, but lemme just do one more: the GOP controls all three branches of federal government by a healthy margin, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Their inability to get anything done has nothing to do with not having enough Republican congresspeople. It has everything to do with their inability to navigate the bare minimum of political processes, and their repeated tendencies toward pushing their own moderates across the aisle by repeatedly floating batshit crazy ideas.
posted by Mayor West at 6:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
I know you're tired of my endless shrill shrieking, Void, but lemme just do one more: the GOP controls all three branches of federal government by a healthy margin, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Their inability to get anything done has nothing to do with not having enough Republican congresspeople. It has everything to do with their inability to navigate the bare minimum of political processes, and their repeated tendencies toward pushing their own moderates across the aisle by repeatedly floating batshit crazy ideas.
posted by Mayor West at 6:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
a whole lot of idiots and narcissists
AKA Trump's base.
I don't know how many of you guys remember that show The Following where Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy do epic battle against truly, truly terrible writing, but it's the heartwarming tale of a serial killer who starts a half-baked Edgar Allen Poe-based quasi-religious cult of other serial killers. And at the time I was like, "pshaw, malignant narcissists would never band together like that, what a ridiculous concept!"
Unlike some other folks, I can admit I was wrong. I was wrong. Trumpism is a cult made up entirely of sociopaths, narcissists, abusers and assholes, all miraculously and improbably united under the banner of the biggest sociopathic narcissist abuser asshole of them all.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
AKA Trump's base.
I don't know how many of you guys remember that show The Following where Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy do epic battle against truly, truly terrible writing, but it's the heartwarming tale of a serial killer who starts a half-baked Edgar Allen Poe-based quasi-religious cult of other serial killers. And at the time I was like, "pshaw, malignant narcissists would never band together like that, what a ridiculous concept!"
Unlike some other folks, I can admit I was wrong. I was wrong. Trumpism is a cult made up entirely of sociopaths, narcissists, abusers and assholes, all miraculously and improbably united under the banner of the biggest sociopathic narcissist abuser asshole of them all.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
Jim Acosta gets lectured by a MAGA lady that if we don’t “tone it down” and “watch the language,” “there’s going to be a Civil War.” (SLTwitter)
We’ve talked about this here, and I’ve spent WAY too much time thinking about it, late at night, because of what I see as structural inequality built into our increasingly corrupt political system. Like this has been my fear for a while.
But I also think the shadowy villainous cabal types are pushing it. A couple of people in the comments mention that it’s a favorite topic of likely Putin bots, and I’ve seen it bubbling up in various places.
I...I don’t know what to do. I mean, vote, canvas, all that. But the current Dem leadership does not seem equipped to handle this. Or more to the point: I’m not sure it matters, so long as we have a literal propaganda machine advocating Civil War.
How long before it makes it to Fox News? Those ghouls found a way to be ok with torturing children; I hardly think Civil War is beneath them.
I just...do not know what to do. Not just on a personal level. I mean, my options are limited to voting and local action. But as a country, I don’t even know what to advocate for anymore. The abusive partners in this shitty group marriage keep escalating their abuse, and I do not know how we get it to stop.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
We’ve talked about this here, and I’ve spent WAY too much time thinking about it, late at night, because of what I see as structural inequality built into our increasingly corrupt political system. Like this has been my fear for a while.
But I also think the shadowy villainous cabal types are pushing it. A couple of people in the comments mention that it’s a favorite topic of likely Putin bots, and I’ve seen it bubbling up in various places.
I...I don’t know what to do. I mean, vote, canvas, all that. But the current Dem leadership does not seem equipped to handle this. Or more to the point: I’m not sure it matters, so long as we have a literal propaganda machine advocating Civil War.
How long before it makes it to Fox News? Those ghouls found a way to be ok with torturing children; I hardly think Civil War is beneath them.
I just...do not know what to do. Not just on a personal level. I mean, my options are limited to voting and local action. But as a country, I don’t even know what to advocate for anymore. The abusive partners in this shitty group marriage keep escalating their abuse, and I do not know how we get it to stop.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
In my most optimistic moments I imagined Ocasio-Cortez giving Crowley only a good scare, so I didn't even both to check the results last night until I was about to go to bed, and I almost dropped my phone. 15 points! That's a proper stomping. I wish I'd been able to vote for her—I'm outside her district by a matter of blocks.
(Also, I never thought I'd see so many Wobblies on Metafilter, hot damn.)
posted by enn at 6:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
(Also, I never thought I'd see so many Wobblies on Metafilter, hot damn.)
posted by enn at 6:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
The Party needs to evolve or die.
Since I'm in NY, I usually have pretty accurate representation, but I made a point this morning of calling Schumer's office and pointing out 1) Schumer has been pretty good when it's Business as Usual. 2) Business is not usual now -- we have Secret Baby Jails, etc.. and 3) the 20 year incumbent got his clock cleaned by this woman in NY-14, and I then read her platform, pointing out that THIS is what people are turning out to vote for, and it's time for the Senator to get his act together.
THEN, I called Gillibrand's office, and asked that she talks to Schumer, and gets him pointed in the right direction, again reading the platform that kicked the 20 year incument's ass...
posted by mikelieman at 6:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
Since I'm in NY, I usually have pretty accurate representation, but I made a point this morning of calling Schumer's office and pointing out 1) Schumer has been pretty good when it's Business as Usual. 2) Business is not usual now -- we have Secret Baby Jails, etc.. and 3) the 20 year incumbent got his clock cleaned by this woman in NY-14, and I then read her platform, pointing out that THIS is what people are turning out to vote for, and it's time for the Senator to get his act together.
THEN, I called Gillibrand's office, and asked that she talks to Schumer, and gets him pointed in the right direction, again reading the platform that kicked the 20 year incument's ass...
posted by mikelieman at 6:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
Evidence we're changing the conversation about ICE - heard on NPR this morning as they reported on Ocasio-Cortez:
"she ran on progressive issues such as Medicare-for-all and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement"
It's just a regular progressive issue now!
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
"she ran on progressive issues such as Medicare-for-all and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement"
It's just a regular progressive issue now!
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
In other News York City news, the successful school zone camera program is expiring because our legislature is run by assholes. Child fatalities and injuries are down 21% since they were installed.
State Senator Marty Golden opposes the program. He likes to speed through school zones.
Friend of mine was arrested at a protest regarding this over the weekend.
posted by zarq at 6:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
State Senator Marty Golden opposes the program. He likes to speed through school zones.
Friend of mine was arrested at a protest regarding this over the weekend.
posted by zarq at 6:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
THEN, I called Gillibrand's office, and asked that she talks to Schumer, and gets him pointed in the right direction, again reading the platform that kicked the 20 year incument's ass...
Gillibrand's ready to fight. On her Twitter @SenGillibrand yesterday, she promised one for the Supreme Court:
Gillibrand's ready to fight. On her Twitter @SenGillibrand yesterday, she promised one for the Supreme Court:
The Roberts Court has repeatedly put corporations over people, including the dangerous Epic Systems decision, which undermined workers' well-being.posted by Doktor Zed at 6:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
It is clear that the president wants to use the courts to shape policy that he can’t get passed through Congress, like his discriminatory travel ban.
If a vacancy occurs during this term, after the Garland heist, the balance of the court could be tilted even more against women's, workers', and civil rights for decades to come by the president’s list of 25 judges who have passed his litmus test of overturning Roe v. Wade.
We need fair-minded judges who will uphold the value of equality. This current list represents a clear danger to women's health and should be rejected in favor of a bipartisan nominee should there be a vacancy on the bench.
JackFlash: Have you seen the proliferation of billboards advertising those fake pregnancy clinics? Where's the millions of dollars to combat that going to come from?
Billboard Liberation Front and Cacophony Society seem like appropriate avenues to provide ... corrected messaging.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:03 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Billboard Liberation Front and Cacophony Society seem like appropriate avenues to provide ... corrected messaging.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:03 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
@wheeler
OMG, a restaurant just refused to serve Ivanka and threw bread rolls at her head. The restaurant was called "Polling Station". I don't know the location, but we should boycott the entire chain.
posted by Artw at 7:06 AM on June 27, 2018 [66 favorites]
OMG, a restaurant just refused to serve Ivanka and threw bread rolls at her head. The restaurant was called "Polling Station". I don't know the location, but we should boycott the entire chain.
posted by Artw at 7:06 AM on June 27, 2018 [66 favorites]
I...I don’t know what to do. I mean, vote, canvas, all that. But the current Dem leadership does not seem equipped to handle this. Or more to the point: I’m not sure it matters, so long as we have a literal propaganda machine advocating Civil War.
How long before it makes it to Fox News? Those ghouls found a way to be ok with torturing children; I hardly think Civil War is beneath them.
These channels have been advocating for violence against liberals for a while, remember. It hasn't yet boiled over for two reasons: one, the conservative position is rooted in desperately trying to pretend they are the Good Guys and being the first one to shoot makes that real hard; and two, they desperately need to believe they are supported by a silent majority, and actually having to go to war against blue states will expose how unlikeable the "red" side really is.
Despair is a sin. It might happen, but what's much more likely to happen is that Democrats win the House in November, force the Republicans in Congress to impeach Trump, and then suddenly Trump's supporters will make themselves very scarce.
posted by Merus at 7:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
How long before it makes it to Fox News? Those ghouls found a way to be ok with torturing children; I hardly think Civil War is beneath them.
These channels have been advocating for violence against liberals for a while, remember. It hasn't yet boiled over for two reasons: one, the conservative position is rooted in desperately trying to pretend they are the Good Guys and being the first one to shoot makes that real hard; and two, they desperately need to believe they are supported by a silent majority, and actually having to go to war against blue states will expose how unlikeable the "red" side really is.
Despair is a sin. It might happen, but what's much more likely to happen is that Democrats win the House in November, force the Republicans in Congress to impeach Trump, and then suddenly Trump's supporters will make themselves very scarce.
posted by Merus at 7:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The Trump tweet about Crowley losing indicates some political ignorance, yes, but more so his infinite capacity for grudges. If Bob Corker or Jeff Flake were still running in the fall, but got defeated by a Democrat, Trump would gloat about that too. He is very happy to cut off his nose if it will spite your face.
Mayor West: GOP controls all three branches of federal government by a healthy margin, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Hmm? Their Senate majority is quite narrow, that's why they've resorted to blue-moon procedural tricks to pass things like the tax cut, while the really hardcore Republican wish list is basically untouched.
General no-fun-allowed alert to anyone who read kirkaracha's comment too quickly and excitedly: The Ivanka thing is a joke. (For now.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mayor West: GOP controls all three branches of federal government by a healthy margin, including a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Hmm? Their Senate majority is quite narrow, that's why they've resorted to blue-moon procedural tricks to pass things like the tax cut, while the really hardcore Republican wish list is basically untouched.
General no-fun-allowed alert to anyone who read kirkaracha's comment too quickly and excitedly: The Ivanka thing is a joke. (For now.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mod note: Couple deleted. "I'm scared this will end in Civil War" and "just how stupid/bad/etc are Trump supporters" and "must we be pessimistic or must we be optimistic" are all general conversations we've had many, many, many times; please let those be and stick to actual updates on real events in here. There's the WTF thread if you need to vent about feeling scared, and other threads if you want to shoot the breeze.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Supreme Court Deals Blow To Government Unions - Scott Horsley, Nina Totenberg for NPR
In a blow to organized labor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be charged for the cost of collective bargaining.posted by ZeusHumms at 7:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
The vote was a predictable 5-to-4 margin. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion with the court's conservatives joining him.
"Under Illinois law, public employees are forced to subsidize a union, even if they choose not to join and strongly object to the positions the union takes in collective bargaining and related activities," Alito wrote. "We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern."
The decision reverses a four-decades-old precedent and upends laws in 22 states. It also comes on the last day of this Supreme Court term, the period on the final sentence of a chapter that began with the appointment of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch and saw conservative wins in decision after decision. This term was also an affirmation of the risky political gambit played by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who denied even a confirmation hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's pick for the court after Justice Antonin Scalia died.
The Ivanka thing is a joke. (For now.)
This is your once-a-megathread desperate plea for the use of [real] and [fake] tags. Shit is so far into "I can't believe this is happening" territory that I no longer possess the ability to discriminate on my own.
posted by ragtag at 7:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
This is your once-a-megathread desperate plea for the use of [real] and [fake] tags. Shit is so far into "I can't believe this is happening" territory that I no longer possess the ability to discriminate on my own.
posted by ragtag at 7:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
The Ivanka thing is a joke. (For now.)
This isn't: Ivanka Trump donates $50K to megachurch caring for migrant children separated from families
She gave money to a Handmaid's Tale prisonchurch to abuse the disappeared children with, so she's sympathetic now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:29 AM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
This isn't: Ivanka Trump donates $50K to megachurch caring for migrant children separated from families
She gave money to a Handmaid's Tale prisonchurch to abuse the disappeared children with, so she's sympathetic now.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:29 AM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
Dave Weigel
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who's in line to chair Budget if Dems win House, is unabashed about where the party needs to go. "If I'm chairman of the Budget Committee next year, we'll have hearings on Medicare for All."
posted by chris24 at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who's in line to chair Budget if Dems win House, is unabashed about where the party needs to go. "If I'm chairman of the Budget Committee next year, we'll have hearings on Medicare for All."
posted by chris24 at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
North Korea Rapidly Upgrading Nuclear Reactor Despite Summit
posted by gwint at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
posted by gwint at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
InTheYear2017 Hmm? Their Senate majority is quite narrow
No successful filibusters have stopped their agenda, therefore they have a filibuster proof majority.
Different rules apply for Democrats and Republicans. A 51 vote majority (counting the Vice President) means the Republicans have a filibuster proof majority, while having 60 votes did not give the Democrats a filibuster proof majority.
Basically when it comes to the Republicans, 40 votes is a functional majority in the Senate and 51 is filibuster proof.
posted by sotonohito at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
No successful filibusters have stopped their agenda, therefore they have a filibuster proof majority.
Different rules apply for Democrats and Republicans. A 51 vote majority (counting the Vice President) means the Republicans have a filibuster proof majority, while having 60 votes did not give the Democrats a filibuster proof majority.
Basically when it comes to the Republicans, 40 votes is a functional majority in the Senate and 51 is filibuster proof.
posted by sotonohito at 7:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Note that by federal law, unions are required to negotiate for all workers equally, file grievances for them, provide legal representation for them even if they aren't union members, but under this ruling are unable to charge them dues for that service.
posted by JackFlash at 7:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 7:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
Damn, if we got Reps from Kentucky talking about MFA, Dem leadership may actually be learning some lessons.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 7:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
chris24: In New Mexico governor race, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham leads Republican Steve Pearce 51% to 38% in a new poll by SurveyUSA.
Currently NM is led by Republican Susana Martinez, Chair of the Republican Governors Association, who is term limited.
The fact that Susana Tejana (deriding her for being from Texas, though worked in southern New Mexico, the territory of Pearce) won re-election gutted me, but I'm so very happy that New Mexico is swinging back to be full blue (Democrats regained the NM House in 2016, putting the legislative chambers at odds with the governor -- and NM was called for Hillary before California was, which makes me happy, even though we're an hour behind CA).
In the off-chance that Pearce wins, at least he's on record saying he'll overturn some of the terrible education "reforms" foisted upon the state by Susana.
Also, I'm happy that Pearce is leaving his post as the only Republican in the NM congressional delegation, but I hope Xochitl Torres Small, a water rights attorney from Las Cruces (biggest city in southern New Mexico, though its overshadowed by its close neighbor, El Paso, in Texas), though race ratings this year indicate lean or likely Republican, and I don't know enough of the groundwork in the south to suggest otherwise. While it's good that either way we'll have another woman in Congress, Yvette Herrell has the support not only of the New Mexico Republican Party's activist base but also the House Freedom Caucus.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Currently NM is led by Republican Susana Martinez, Chair of the Republican Governors Association, who is term limited.
The fact that Susana Tejana (deriding her for being from Texas, though worked in southern New Mexico, the territory of Pearce) won re-election gutted me, but I'm so very happy that New Mexico is swinging back to be full blue (Democrats regained the NM House in 2016, putting the legislative chambers at odds with the governor -- and NM was called for Hillary before California was, which makes me happy, even though we're an hour behind CA).
In the off-chance that Pearce wins, at least he's on record saying he'll overturn some of the terrible education "reforms" foisted upon the state by Susana.
Also, I'm happy that Pearce is leaving his post as the only Republican in the NM congressional delegation, but I hope Xochitl Torres Small, a water rights attorney from Las Cruces (biggest city in southern New Mexico, though its overshadowed by its close neighbor, El Paso, in Texas), though race ratings this year indicate lean or likely Republican, and I don't know enough of the groundwork in the south to suggest otherwise. While it's good that either way we'll have another woman in Congress, Yvette Herrell has the support not only of the New Mexico Republican Party's activist base but also the House Freedom Caucus.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
North Korea Rapidly Upgrading Nuclear Reactor Despite Summit
What the hell? Just two weeks ago the President said "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea". How can he not have known? Is there a breakdown in the US Intelligence Community? He wouldn't lie about something as important as this, surely??
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
What the hell? Just two weeks ago the President said "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea". How can he not have known? Is there a breakdown in the US Intelligence Community? He wouldn't lie about something as important as this, surely??
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
"Under Illinois law, public employees are forced to subsidize a union, even if they choose not to join and strongly object to the positions the union takes in collective bargaining and related activities"
That's as may be, but the effect of this decision will be to make it very, very tempting for government employees to become free riders, choosing to take a (very) small boost in pay while still getting union benefits. This will stretch union resources thinner, reducing the value of the union, and leading to a vicious cycle of more workers opting to keep a bit of money.
This decision is not about First Amendment rights. It's about destroying unions. The First Amendment is just a pretense.
posted by jedicus at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [44 favorites]
That's as may be, but the effect of this decision will be to make it very, very tempting for government employees to become free riders, choosing to take a (very) small boost in pay while still getting union benefits. This will stretch union resources thinner, reducing the value of the union, and leading to a vicious cycle of more workers opting to keep a bit of money.
This decision is not about First Amendment rights. It's about destroying unions. The First Amendment is just a pretense.
posted by jedicus at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [44 favorites]
No successful filibusters have stopped their agenda, therefore they have a filibuster proof majority.
The Toomey immigration bill got 54 votes in the Senate but failed to proceed because they didn't get 60. Actually 3 of the 4 immigration bills got 50+ but less than 60, but Toomey was one that all Rs voted for and the vast majority of Ds voted against. It penalized sanctuary cities and didn't do anything to fix DACA.
posted by chris24 at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
The Toomey immigration bill got 54 votes in the Senate but failed to proceed because they didn't get 60. Actually 3 of the 4 immigration bills got 50+ but less than 60, but Toomey was one that all Rs voted for and the vast majority of Ds voted against. It penalized sanctuary cities and didn't do anything to fix DACA.
posted by chris24 at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
> Incidentally, Pelosi's statement says nothing about making a concerted effort to go after Trump and his GOPers (merely referring, in passing, to "the historic challenges of the Trump administration").
Ms. Pelosi, your house is literally starting to burn down as we speak, and yet your rhetoric sounds like it was written for a seventh-grade social studies assignment.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Ms. Pelosi, your house is literally starting to burn down as we speak, and yet your rhetoric sounds like it was written for a seventh-grade social studies assignment.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Damn, if we got Reps from Kentucky talking about MFA, Dem leadershipCongressmen may actually be learning some lessonswhat their constituents want.
posted by 6ATR at 7:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by 6ATR at 7:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Teusday’s primaries were good for the left
posted by The Whelk at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Have you not heard how many conservatives now insist "We're a republic, not a democracy?"
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:37 PM on June 26 [53 favorites +] [!]
Agree with your post, but this insistence is not new. Take for instance this video from 1966. What really chaps my hide is that this conservative meme is a false dichotomy in service of their agenda. "Democracy" and "republic" are not mutually exclusive terms. In fact, it's right there in the name of some countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, etc.), although they might not adhere to the relevant principles. A republic is a way of organizing a government of smaller governments, and democracy is one way of running that government. As usual, the conservative argument is disingenuous and heavily canted toward their super secret agenda.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:37 PM on June 26 [53 favorites +] [!]
Agree with your post, but this insistence is not new. Take for instance this video from 1966. What really chaps my hide is that this conservative meme is a false dichotomy in service of their agenda. "Democracy" and "republic" are not mutually exclusive terms. In fact, it's right there in the name of some countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, etc.), although they might not adhere to the relevant principles. A republic is a way of organizing a government of smaller governments, and democracy is one way of running that government. As usual, the conservative argument is disingenuous and heavily canted toward their super secret agenda.
posted by Mental Wimp at 7:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Fall Of A Democratic Leader Caps Strong Primary Night For Progressives (NPR, June 26, 2018)
Back to the article for more recaps from last night:
posted by filthy light thief at 7:48 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
In GOP primaries, President Trump was able to lift two candidates to victory on Tuesday, with one of his earliest allies, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, winning his GOP primary runoff and New York Rep. Dan Donovan also beating back a challenge from former Rep. Michael Grimm.So tweeting is enough now to "swing" support for a candidate? -_-
The president has been burned by making endorsements in the past that didn't pan out (twice in Alabama's special Senate election last year), but he put two more wins in the bank after stumping Monday night for McMaster and tweeting his support for Donovan last month.
Back to the article for more recaps from last night:
A former organizer for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, Ocasio-Cortez ran a vigorous race over Crowley in the increasingly diverse Bronx and Queens district, and she used her Puerto Rican heritage to identify with the district's rapidly growing Latino population. A Democratic socialist who previously worked for the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, she backs abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and supports Medicare for all and free public college. Ocasio-Cortez's victory comes in a year when Democratic women have been prevailing in many primary contests.There's more on the GOP primary wins and losses in the article, but I'll leave those there.
...
Three other New York City Democratic members — Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Yvette Clarke and Eliot Engel — also faced primary challenges of note. All three ended up winning, though Clarke only prevailed by about four points.
Progressives also prevailed in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Maryland, which also highlighted the differing approaches battling for supremacy in that party. Jealous, a former NAACP president who was endorsed not only by Sanders but by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and other progressive figures, defeated Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker, who had wrapped up the support of much of the state's political establishment, such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.
Both candidates are African-American, and now Jealous has a chance to become the first black governor in Maryland history if he wins — and only the third elected across all 50 states. But Jealous will have a difficult race against incumbent GOP Gov. Larry Hogan. Even though Maryland is traditionally a blue state, the centrist Hogan remains extremely popular — even among Democrats — and has been a frequent critic of Trump.
Several competitive New York House seats are also a key part of Democrats' calculus to winning back the House, and in one important contest the more liberal candidate beat the establishment choice. In the 24th District, college professor Dana Balter, who was running as the more progressive pick with the backing of MoveOn.org and all four county committees, prevailed over the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's favored candidate, Juanita Perez Williams. Local officials had complained about DCCC meddling in the race, and now it's Balter who will challenge GOP Rep. John Katko this fall.
In New York's 1st Congressional District, former commercial real estate lending executive Perry Gershon, who spent nearly $1 million of his own money in the contest, bested three other women candidates to claim the Democratic nomination, bucking national trends that have seen female hopefuls advance in other races. He'll face GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin in a Long Island district Trump carried by about 12 points.
And in the 19th District, attorney Antonio Delgado won the Democratic nomination and will challenge Republican Rep. John Faso. Democrats hope to make this seat competitive as well; Trump won it by about seven points, but former President Obama carried it twice.
In Colorado, Democrats have been angling for a long time to take out Republican Rep. Mike Coffman in his suburban Denver district , which Hillary Clinton carried by 9 points. The DCCC got their preferred pick there, with attorney Jason Crow easily beating energy consultant Levi Tillemann, who had been pressured by Hoyer, the House Democratic whip, to abandon his bid.
...
Democratic Rep. Jared Polis won his party's nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in Colorado, which could make history. If Polis wins in November, he would be the first openly gay man ever elected governor in the country. EMILY's List backed former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy. While Democratic women have sailed in House races this year, they've had more trouble in gubernatorial contests.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:48 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Note that by federal law, unions are required to negotiate for all workers equally, file grievances for them, provide legal representation for them even if they aren't union members, but under this ruling are unable to charge them dues for that service.
I have a prediction in the back of my mind that unions are going to eventually become a kind of outsourced HR by the companies for everything but signing the checks. Externalize all costs.
posted by rhizome at 7:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
I have a prediction in the back of my mind that unions are going to eventually become a kind of outsourced HR by the companies for everything but signing the checks. Externalize all costs.
posted by rhizome at 7:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
In a blow to organized labor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be charged for the cost of collective bargaining.
I’m not sure it’s actually that much of a blow to organized labor as the business unions would have it, though. Like - the act of forcing dues is essential to the business union model, but is actually specifically negative in the solidarity union model, where who is paying dues tells you who is involved in the union and who has stopped paying dues tells you who you need to go talk to and bring back into the fold.
And you know - the bosses aren’t really scared of the unions that spend more money on political donations than strike funds, or unions that negotiate cozy no-strike and “management rights” clauses. They aren’t scared of unions where people kind of believe they’re in a union, they guess. They’re scared of unions where there is actual labor unrest and direct action on the shop floor and wildcat strikes. None of which requires mandatory union dues.
posted by corb at 7:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
I’m not sure it’s actually that much of a blow to organized labor as the business unions would have it, though. Like - the act of forcing dues is essential to the business union model, but is actually specifically negative in the solidarity union model, where who is paying dues tells you who is involved in the union and who has stopped paying dues tells you who you need to go talk to and bring back into the fold.
And you know - the bosses aren’t really scared of the unions that spend more money on political donations than strike funds, or unions that negotiate cozy no-strike and “management rights” clauses. They aren’t scared of unions where people kind of believe they’re in a union, they guess. They’re scared of unions where there is actual labor unrest and direct action on the shop floor and wildcat strikes. None of which requires mandatory union dues.
posted by corb at 7:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
sotonohito: No successful filibusters have stopped their agenda, therefore they have a filibuster proof majority.
Aside from whenever actual filibusters have occurred (it depends on your definition, since they almost never get to the point of someone actually talking a la Mr Smith Goes to Washington)... it doesn't take one to have significance, just the implied threat of one. As it stands, the Democrats (while still less progressive than they ought to be) aren't going to let the Poor-People Hunting License Act of 2018 or whatever come to a vote.
I just want to be clear that if the Senate Republicans had a literal filibuster-proof majority, the result would be terrifying. Their not having one is a small blessing in this, the Not-Quite-Worst Timeline (now with Ocasio-Cortez!).
6ATR: Damn, if we got Reps from Kentucky talking about MFA, Dem leadershipCongressmen may actually be learning some lessonswhat their constituents want.
I think this was discussed upthread, but one weirdness in our present politics is that a lot of the policy views of the median conservative are closer to the left than those of his left-wing counterpart are to the right. This leaves white identity grievances as the only tool available to Republicans, hence increasing polarization even as there's (in theory) plenty of national agreement. That doesn't mean Republicans are about to bend on healthcare, because a sick/poor populace is a less empowered one (and the donors always come first). But it does mean Democrats should be absolutely unafraid to run on that stuff (and the hell with those donors).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:53 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Aside from whenever actual filibusters have occurred (it depends on your definition, since they almost never get to the point of someone actually talking a la Mr Smith Goes to Washington)... it doesn't take one to have significance, just the implied threat of one. As it stands, the Democrats (while still less progressive than they ought to be) aren't going to let the Poor-People Hunting License Act of 2018 or whatever come to a vote.
I just want to be clear that if the Senate Republicans had a literal filibuster-proof majority, the result would be terrifying. Their not having one is a small blessing in this, the Not-Quite-Worst Timeline (now with Ocasio-Cortez!).
6ATR: Damn, if we got Reps from Kentucky talking about MFA, Dem leadershipCongressmen may actually be learning some lessonswhat their constituents want.
I think this was discussed upthread, but one weirdness in our present politics is that a lot of the policy views of the median conservative are closer to the left than those of his left-wing counterpart are to the right. This leaves white identity grievances as the only tool available to Republicans, hence increasing polarization even as there's (in theory) plenty of national agreement. That doesn't mean Republicans are about to bend on healthcare, because a sick/poor populace is a less empowered one (and the donors always come first). But it does mean Democrats should be absolutely unafraid to run on that stuff (and the hell with those donors).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:53 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Justinian: [federal] Judge bars separation of immigrants from children, orders reunification.
More details from NPR: Judge Bars Migrant Family Separations, Orders Return Of Children Within 30 Days (June 27, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
More details from NPR: Judge Bars Migrant Family Separations, Orders Return Of Children Within 30 Days (June 27, 2018)
A federal judge in San Diego has barred the separation of migrant children and ordered that those currently detained under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy be reunited with families within 30 days.Partially more "lenient" than the Flores Settlement that prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention centers for more than 20 days, which the Department of Justice asked a federal district court to modify just last week (via The Hill), but also more stringent for younger children, and specifying when parents should be able to talk to their children.
The order, which came down late Tuesday, is the result of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit. It requires children younger than five who are detained in federally contracted shelters to be returned to their parents even sooner — within 14 days. Parents are entitled to speak with their children within 10 days, according to the ruling by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
If anyone is interested in helping with expanding the Torn Apart site, there are hackathons happening this week during the Digital Humanities conference in Mexico, and we can use more data sets, personal connections to useful people (lawyers, journalists, anyone with information we can incorporate), as well as willing people to check datasets, etc. We also need programmers, but I think they'd need to be physically present. Memail me if you can help at all. And above all, we need to know what additions to the site could be most helpful for its various users (activists, media, affected families).
posted by lollusc at 7:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by lollusc at 7:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Say, fuck this (via a reporter who was at Crowley's watch party, worth noting I can't find another source for this): “It’s unfortunate that he had a primary,” said the Bronx Borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr. of @JoeCrowleyNY. “We need him in Washington DC. Washington is about consistency and seniority.”
Yeah, how's that been working out for us lately?
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [65 favorites]
Yeah, how's that been working out for us lately?
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [65 favorites]
ProPublica and Fathom have built an application that tracks the more than $16 million in spending at Trump Organization by political committees and federal government agencies.
The vast majority of the money — at least $13.5 million, or more than 84 percent of what we tracked — was spent by Trump’s presidential campaign (including on Tag Air, the entity that operates Trump’s personal airplane). Republican Senate and House political committees and campaigns have shelled out at least another $2.1 million at Trump properties. At least $400,000 has been spent by federal, state and local agencies. (For example, the Florida Police Chiefs Association held its summer conference last year at the Trump National Doral Miami.) The state and local tally appears to be a gross undercount because of the agencies’ spotty disclosures and reporting.posted by jgirl at 8:04 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's interesting, as a non-american observer, watching the recent tone in these threads. I can't for the life of me be bothered to read the whole thread but instead write scripts to parse them and serve up slices of them in more palatable chunks. Like, say, heavily favourited comments a day or two before they hit the 'Popular' RSS feed.
A while ago I started appending to the end of my script a little Markov chain comment generator that weirdly makes a decent stab at approximating the tone of the current thread.
This morning my favourite examples were:
posted by mce at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
A while ago I started appending to the end of my script a little Markov chain comment generator that weirdly makes a decent stab at approximating the tone of the current thread.
This morning my favourite examples were:
These Nazi fucks expect to be in the House Freedom Caucus .So yeah there's something in the air. Please don't stop pushing.
So will Ocasio Cortez race results are coming in th it looks like it's officially going to be kept away from their children would be rude and not the majority of political bullshit is not the only women's health center in the Bronx Democratic Party Likened Maxine Waters I don't care and economic policies that use religious and geographic discrimination as a congressperson but she knows her district and how to do whatever it goddamn takes to get there more women in particular was kicking students off base due to storms for more than days and there was an election designed to
Crowley concedes and endorses AOC No snark good for definitions of good news newly minted alt right gal pal Chelsea Manning is struggling to crack open a history of rude honorable opposition .
posted by mce at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
the bosses aren’t really scared of the unions
Bullshit. Why have Republicans, and the Kochs and the Mercers spent millions to pass laws eviscerating unions if they aren't scared of them? Just in the last few months there have been teacher strikes in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia --all red states. Bosses are terrified and loath unions, especially public sector unions.
posted by JackFlash at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [58 favorites]
Bullshit. Why have Republicans, and the Kochs and the Mercers spent millions to pass laws eviscerating unions if they aren't scared of them? Just in the last few months there have been teacher strikes in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia --all red states. Bosses are terrified and loath unions, especially public sector unions.
posted by JackFlash at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [58 favorites]
Washington is about consistency and seniority.
Yeah it does seem to be a wad of ancient dust-farters doing exactly the same worthless things forever.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Yeah it does seem to be a wad of ancient dust-farters doing exactly the same worthless things forever.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Customs And Border Agency Halts Many 'Zero Tolerance' Detentions, Citing Workload - Bill Chappell, NPR
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Despite pressure from President Trump for the U.S. to arrest and prosecute anyone caught crossing the border illegally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its agents will temporarily suspend the practice of detaining adults who arrive with children — something that had been a tenet of Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.Seems to be independent of all the other pro and anti immigrant activities.
CBP agents will no longer refer migrant parents and children for prosecution when they're caught at the U.S. southern border, Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said, telling reporters that the system — which was widely criticized for separating families, until Trump eased his policy somewhat last week — hasn't worked out.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
The speed camera issue mentioned by zarq is appalling. A couple good Dems are running against Golden; one of them, Ross Barkan, was super excited about Ocasio-Cortez's win, since he's a journalist who's been documenting Queens Dem machine madness, and AOC, at the Village Voice. Also worth noting that Blake Morris is challenging my lovely state senator who singlehandedly stopped the cameras cause he wants an armed officer in every school.
Somewhat relatedly, I saw someone upthread say Crowley wasn't around his district much for local issues. But somehow he found time to inveigh against bike lanes. AOC is for the lane but still concerned about parking though she's willing to engage with advocates. I wish I had more confidence that our elected officials would work to stop us from dying while we're out walking. I hope AOC's constituents work to hold her accountable. And vote Barkan (or Gounardes) and Morris!
posted by ferret branca at 8:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Somewhat relatedly, I saw someone upthread say Crowley wasn't around his district much for local issues. But somehow he found time to inveigh against bike lanes. AOC is for the lane but still concerned about parking though she's willing to engage with advocates. I wish I had more confidence that our elected officials would work to stop us from dying while we're out walking. I hope AOC's constituents work to hold her accountable. And vote Barkan (or Gounardes) and Morris!
posted by ferret branca at 8:14 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
> “It’s unfortunate that he had a primary,” said the Bronx Borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr. of @JoeCrowleyNY. “We need him in Washington DC. Washington is about consistency and seniority.”
This reads like a parody of a careerist politician type. If a character in a movie said it I'd roll my eyes because it would seem like too broad a caricature.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
This reads like a parody of a careerist politician type. If a character in a movie said it I'd roll my eyes because it would seem like too broad a caricature.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
This simple comment from the (mostly-garbage) Gothamist comment section really resonated with me:
I never really had any kind of strong opinion about Crowley. I can't remember anything he said or did that particularly stuck out as good or bad. But I liked what Ocasio-Cortez had to say, and I admired her for taking a stand. My vote was definitely a positive one for her, rather than a negative one against Crowley.
I feel like a lot of people in the DC and pundit spaces just aren't quite getting this. Bottom line, Ocasio-Cortez won because she engaged with the community and gave them compelling reasons to vote for her. Not 'against Crowley.'
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [79 favorites]
I never really had any kind of strong opinion about Crowley. I can't remember anything he said or did that particularly stuck out as good or bad. But I liked what Ocasio-Cortez had to say, and I admired her for taking a stand. My vote was definitely a positive one for her, rather than a negative one against Crowley.
I feel like a lot of people in the DC and pundit spaces just aren't quite getting this. Bottom line, Ocasio-Cortez won because she engaged with the community and gave them compelling reasons to vote for her. Not 'against Crowley.'
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [79 favorites]
There are no bright lines between "business unions" and "solidarity unions." Direct action isn't free, either for the organizers or the participants. Starving unions of the resources they need to bargain on behalf of their members and to exert their influence in the electoral process to support pro-labor candidates will lead to the death of unions. This ruling will do great harm to organized labor in the US at a time when it's already got one foot in the grave. "But people can join the IWW and strike illegally if it's really important" is not an acceptable substitute.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
What are the chances of the Unions jettisoning the Free Riders? There has to be Freedom of Association aspects to this where you aren't forced to provide benefits to people who aren't actually members?
posted by mikelieman at 8:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 8:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
I am in a district near Crowley's and I'm a member of my local Democratic Club. I got notices from them leading up to the primary asking me to come help get out the vote for Crowley. (I did not.) When I heard that he had skipped a debate with her and sent a surrogate, I thought that demonstrated an unattractive sense of entitlement on his part, and I'm sure others felt similarly.
Speaking of the DSA: what other chapters are following New Orleans's lead with brake light clinics?
posted by brainwane at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Speaking of the DSA: what other chapters are following New Orleans's lead with brake light clinics?
posted by brainwane at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Washington is about consistency and seniority
WHICH EXPLAINS ITS RECORD LEVELS OF POPULARITY
posted by entropicamericana at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
WHICH EXPLAINS ITS RECORD LEVELS OF POPULARITY
posted by entropicamericana at 8:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
Why have Republicans, and the Kochs and the Mercers spent millions to pass laws eviscerating unions if they aren't scared of them? Just in the last few months there have been teacher strikes in Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia --all red states. Bosses are terrified and loath unions, especially public sector unions.
We are already seeing the results of: "What if more Democrats voted in other than presidential elections?" (We win!) "What if more women run for office?" (They win if they are Democrats!)
If we can get union membership energized like this, we will see results. "What if everyone eligible to join a union did? Including the Wobblies?" (I bet unions would start kicking ass and taking names again. One of the reasons the 1950s was so good for white, male workers at least, was unions.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
We are already seeing the results of: "What if more Democrats voted in other than presidential elections?" (We win!) "What if more women run for office?" (They win if they are Democrats!)
If we can get union membership energized like this, we will see results. "What if everyone eligible to join a union did? Including the Wobblies?" (I bet unions would start kicking ass and taking names again. One of the reasons the 1950s was so good for white, male workers at least, was unions.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
What are the chances of the Unions jettisoning the Free Riders? There has to be Freedom of Association aspects to this where you aren't forced to provide benefits to people who aren't actually members?
You can become a members only union but you also lose exclusive bargaining rights. Given SCOTUS has just abolished free-rider fees a lot of unions might convert to members only. Expect most red states to have legislation allowing non-union state employees to benefit from a most favoured nation style status in regards to union contracts.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
You can become a members only union but you also lose exclusive bargaining rights. Given SCOTUS has just abolished free-rider fees a lot of unions might convert to members only. Expect most red states to have legislation allowing non-union state employees to benefit from a most favoured nation style status in regards to union contracts.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The speed camera issue mentioned by zarq is appalling.
It really is. For some extremely thorough coverage of this whole thing, check out Streetsblog NYC, which has been covering the speed camera fight for years.
The backstory is that nearly 50 fucking years ago, Albany bailed out NYC from a financial crisis but with a bunch of conditions, including forbidding us from levying fines without going through Albany first. And since the Senate is currently led by Republicans, this means speed cameras have been used as a political football by the TINY minority of Republican Senators from NYC, including Golden (who constantly speeds and once killed someone doing so) and Felder (who demanded all kinds of ridiculous, never-gonna-pass concessions like 'armed guards in all schools' to support speed cams). They also both take donations from the Police Benevolent Association, who oppose speed cams because they keep fucking catching cops speeding (oh, sorry, because "they threaten police jobs").
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
It really is. For some extremely thorough coverage of this whole thing, check out Streetsblog NYC, which has been covering the speed camera fight for years.
The backstory is that nearly 50 fucking years ago, Albany bailed out NYC from a financial crisis but with a bunch of conditions, including forbidding us from levying fines without going through Albany first. And since the Senate is currently led by Republicans, this means speed cameras have been used as a political football by the TINY minority of Republican Senators from NYC, including Golden (who constantly speeds and once killed someone doing so) and Felder (who demanded all kinds of ridiculous, never-gonna-pass concessions like 'armed guards in all schools' to support speed cams). They also both take donations from the Police Benevolent Association, who oppose speed cams because they keep fucking catching cops speeding (oh, sorry, because "they threaten police jobs").
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
And you know - the bosses aren’t really scared of the unions that spend more money on political donations than strike funds, or unions that negotiate cozy no-strike and “management rights” clauses. They aren’t scared of unions where people kind of believe they’re in a union, they guess. They’re scared of unions where there is actual labor unrest and direct action on the shop floor and wildcat strikes. None of which requires mandatory union dues.
I'm with corb, here: this isn't much of a blow to the kind of unions America needs. Australia doesn't allow unions to charge mandatory dues either, and that hasn't historically been much of a barrier to strike action. (The barriers are usually legal ones.)
There are no bright lines between "business unions" and "solidarity unions."
I'm just learning about business unions now but it's seeming like there actually is a substantial difference between the two. Part of the reason unionisation has been such a struggle in the US is that the 'business' unions fought against racial integration on the basis that it hurt their white workers.
The thing about freeloading is, the fatal argument against a union is that it doesn't speak for the majority of workers. Freeloaders might not pay their union dues, but they usually don't cross the picket line either, which means that they're at least contributing solidarity. It's far, far worse to cross the picket line than to skimp on paying your union dues. Freeloading is an issue, but the union's best energies are directed against employers, not their fellow workers.
posted by Merus at 8:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm with corb, here: this isn't much of a blow to the kind of unions America needs. Australia doesn't allow unions to charge mandatory dues either, and that hasn't historically been much of a barrier to strike action. (The barriers are usually legal ones.)
There are no bright lines between "business unions" and "solidarity unions."
I'm just learning about business unions now but it's seeming like there actually is a substantial difference between the two. Part of the reason unionisation has been such a struggle in the US is that the 'business' unions fought against racial integration on the basis that it hurt their white workers.
The thing about freeloading is, the fatal argument against a union is that it doesn't speak for the majority of workers. Freeloaders might not pay their union dues, but they usually don't cross the picket line either, which means that they're at least contributing solidarity. It's far, far worse to cross the picket line than to skimp on paying your union dues. Freeloading is an issue, but the union's best energies are directed against employers, not their fellow workers.
posted by Merus at 8:32 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Streetsblog is the best. And we can thank the State Senate Republicans for the two-primary setup pointed out by lalex, too. They're a busy bunch. I find it really satisfying that this incumbent-protecting strategy backfired so hard for Crowley.
posted by ferret branca at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ferret branca at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
When I heard that he had skipped a debate with her and sent a surrogate, I thought that demonstrated an unattractive sense of entitlement on his part, and I'm sure others felt similarly.
A refusal to debate the challenger also featured heavily in my State House election where a DSA candidate trounced a previously-unchallenged white male incumbent.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
A refusal to debate the challenger also featured heavily in my State House election where a DSA candidate trounced a previously-unchallenged white male incumbent.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
What are the chances of the Unions jettisoning the Free Riders? There has to be Freedom of Association aspects to this where you aren't forced to provide benefits to people who aren't actually members?
Since 1944 the Supreme Court has endorsed the "rule of fair representation" that requires unions to bargain and provide services for non-union members, so no, they can't just abandon free riders.
What do you think are the chances that this Supreme Court will overturn that precedent the way they just overturned the 40-year-old agency precedent? The right wingers get to pick and choose which long-standing union laws they want to endorse and which they want to overturn.
posted by JackFlash at 8:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Since 1944 the Supreme Court has endorsed the "rule of fair representation" that requires unions to bargain and provide services for non-union members, so no, they can't just abandon free riders.
What do you think are the chances that this Supreme Court will overturn that precedent the way they just overturned the 40-year-old agency precedent? The right wingers get to pick and choose which long-standing union laws they want to endorse and which they want to overturn.
posted by JackFlash at 8:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
> I'm with corb, here: this isn't much of a blow to the kind of unions America needs.
It's a major blow to the unions that America *has*, though. And who do you think are the people most likely to comprise the unions you think that America needs? Unions are people, and current union members are going to be devastated by the Roberts court's assault on organized labor. I am not convinced by these accelerationist arguments that are trying to cast this in a more positive light.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
It's a major blow to the unions that America *has*, though. And who do you think are the people most likely to comprise the unions you think that America needs? Unions are people, and current union members are going to be devastated by the Roberts court's assault on organized labor. I am not convinced by these accelerationist arguments that are trying to cast this in a more positive light.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
Washington is about consistency and seniority.
I get this sentiment from the perspective of retaining institutional knowledge. But clinging on forever just delays the issue. The solution is both to mentor the next generation and to bring back things like the Office of Technology Assessment.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:40 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
I get this sentiment from the perspective of retaining institutional knowledge. But clinging on forever just delays the issue. The solution is both to mentor the next generation and to bring back things like the Office of Technology Assessment.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:40 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
brainwane: The Pittsburgh DSA has done some brake light clinics.
posted by Stacey at 8:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 8:41 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you think that a large portion of Americans are very comfortable with free rides and "f you, I got mine," you can see how this will definitely hurt unions. The PR campaign against them (and actually, the whole industry of anti-union lawyers, consultants, charter school advocates, etc.) has really worked.
posted by armacy at 8:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by armacy at 8:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Just a quick take on MD primaries results. Most of the Democratic primary winners have been the party favorites and also moderates, with strong support from business and Washington Post. David Trone (Rep MD-06), Angela Alsobrooks (Prince Georges County Exec), Ben Cardin (US Sen), among others were all establishment. Afaik the only non-establishments that won are Ben Jealous (Governor) and Marc Elrich (Montgomery County Exec), and the latter is still not clear yet since provisional ballots haven't been counted (possibly by July 6th). I still have more to look up but it seems the moderates have more wins than the progressives.
posted by numaner at 8:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 8:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
“We need him in Washington DC. Washington is about consistency and seniority.”
Senior Democrats focus on a winning message for voters: HEY IT'S MY TURN
posted by benzenedream at 8:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Senior Democrats focus on a winning message for voters: HEY IT'S MY TURN
posted by benzenedream at 8:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
When I heard that he had skipped a debate with her and sent a surrogate, I thought that demonstrated an unattractive sense of entitlement on his part, and I'm sure others felt similarly.
He did actually end up agreeing to debate her at one point and OMG did he come out of it looking terrible. Not sure if this was before or after the surrogate thing.
I mention this in case folks are confused by New Yorkers talking about folks still running primary races.
One thing I am confused about regarding NY is what exactly is Cynthia Nixon's status on the ballot? What does she have to do, or has she already done it?
posted by robotdevil at 8:47 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
He did actually end up agreeing to debate her at one point and OMG did he come out of it looking terrible. Not sure if this was before or after the surrogate thing.
I mention this in case folks are confused by New Yorkers talking about folks still running primary races.
One thing I am confused about regarding NY is what exactly is Cynthia Nixon's status on the ballot? What does she have to do, or has she already done it?
posted by robotdevil at 8:47 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased (SL WAPO)
Honestly just posting this here so I have something to refer to the next time someone on the blue says that the people at Twitter are doing the best they can.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
Honestly just posting this here so I have something to refer to the next time someone on the blue says that the people at Twitter are doing the best they can.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
Part of the reason unionisation has been such a struggle in the US is that the 'business' unions fought against racial integration on the basis that it hurt their white workers.
This is an often repeated anti-union slur but quite ignorant of actual labor history. I've commented on this before but it bears repeating since the myths are so tenacious.
But remember, the reason Martin Luther King was in Memphis, where he gave his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech and gave up his life, was in support of a union labor strike. And union labor leaders helped organize the Rosa Parks bus boycott in Montgomery.
There is a long, mixed history of race and labor unions. The craft unions of the AFL in the 1920s and 1930s were particularly segregationist. On the other hand, the CIO led the way in job integration in the 30s and 40s, including over 80,000 black steelworkers, long before the rest of society even thought about integration.
Company bosses often exploited and exacerbated racial animus, using black workers to break strikes at primarily white factories and white workers to break strikes at primarily black factories. But after WWII most factory unions were integrated, even though some of the building trades remained recalcitrant. By the 1960s, African Americans represented 25% of union membership, twice their percentage in the country's population. Unions were way ahead of the rest of the country on integration.
Most importantly, unions have been the primary vehicle for lifting African Americans from Jim Crow poverty into middle class wage jobs. Today, both black and white union members lead better lives due to their solidarity.
posted by JackFlash at 8:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [67 favorites]
This is an often repeated anti-union slur but quite ignorant of actual labor history. I've commented on this before but it bears repeating since the myths are so tenacious.
But remember, the reason Martin Luther King was in Memphis, where he gave his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech and gave up his life, was in support of a union labor strike. And union labor leaders helped organize the Rosa Parks bus boycott in Montgomery.
There is a long, mixed history of race and labor unions. The craft unions of the AFL in the 1920s and 1930s were particularly segregationist. On the other hand, the CIO led the way in job integration in the 30s and 40s, including over 80,000 black steelworkers, long before the rest of society even thought about integration.
Company bosses often exploited and exacerbated racial animus, using black workers to break strikes at primarily white factories and white workers to break strikes at primarily black factories. But after WWII most factory unions were integrated, even though some of the building trades remained recalcitrant. By the 1960s, African Americans represented 25% of union membership, twice their percentage in the country's population. Unions were way ahead of the rest of the country on integration.
Most importantly, unions have been the primary vehicle for lifting African Americans from Jim Crow poverty into middle class wage jobs. Today, both black and white union members lead better lives due to their solidarity.
posted by JackFlash at 8:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [67 favorites]
Mod note: One deleted; if folks want to continue about unions, probably better to make a separate post for that discussion.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
With regard to Ben Cardin, he's a well-liked incumbent (always harder to unseat) and Chelsea Manning was not a strong or credible challenger. Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, was a good challenger who ran a strong campaign.
Since the energized progressive movement is new (really since 2016) it's going to take a while to win races in areas with well-liked moderate incumbents. Progressives aren't even running in many areas right now. I think what Ocasio-Cortez' victory showed is that progressives and DSA tickets can win - it's not an impossible dream anymore. Matthew Yglesias at Vox calls this a striking win for the left.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Since the energized progressive movement is new (really since 2016) it's going to take a while to win races in areas with well-liked moderate incumbents. Progressives aren't even running in many areas right now. I think what Ocasio-Cortez' victory showed is that progressives and DSA tickets can win - it's not an impossible dream anymore. Matthew Yglesias at Vox calls this a striking win for the left.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased (SL WAPO)
Honestly just posting this here so I have something to refer to the next time someone on the blue says that the people at Twitter are doing the best they can.
I really think we might need to, en masse, with announcements, Leave Twitter.
posted by Brainy at 8:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Honestly just posting this here so I have something to refer to the next time someone on the blue says that the people at Twitter are doing the best they can.
I really think we might need to, en masse, with announcements, Leave Twitter.
posted by Brainy at 8:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
The backstory is that nearly 50 fucking years ago, Albany bailed out NYC from a financial crisis but with a bunch of conditions, including forbidding us from levying fines without going through Albany first. And since the Senate is currently led by Republicans, this means speed cameras have been used as a political football by the TINY minority of Republican Senators from NYC, including Golden (who constantly speeds and once killed someone doing so) and Felder (who demanded all kinds of ridiculous, never-gonna-pass concessions like 'armed guards in all schools' to support speed cams). They also both take donations from the Police Benevolent Association, who oppose speed cams because they keep fucking catching cops speeding (oh, sorry, because "they threaten police jobs").
I came in to rant about this. Especially about the PBA. If you are a cop or a retired cop and you get pulled over for speeding or going through a red light in NYC, all you have to do is flash your badge or PBA card and your fellow union-member cop will let you go. It also works for parking illegally. This is a license to break the law. It is not the way things are supposed to work. Cops should be required to obey traffic rules when they're not on duty. Retired cops should never, ever be able to break the law. That's not a "perk" of the job or their pensions. And yet they all have a 'get out of tickets/fines/jail for free" card because of the police union, the Policeman's Benevolent Association. The reason the PBA is against the cameras is, as showbiz liz notes, because cameras are impersonal. They don't give cops special treatment when they go 11 miles an hour or more over the speed limit in a school zone, during school hours.
You see, the cameras don't run 24 hours a day. They're only active when children might get hit by a car speeding its way through a yellow light, running a red or blowing past a stop sign.
No one at the PBA asks the obvious question of why the hell an off-duty or retired cop needs to drive dangerously through a school zone, and they can't answer the question of why they should be allowed to, either. Heaven forbid a cop get a ticket for endangering children, after all.
The most infuriating thing about this to me as a New Yorker and as a parent of elementary school age children is the politicians' bland assertions that traffic lights and stop signs are effective deterrents. In most cases they were already there before the speed cameras were installed and they didn't prevent kids getting hit by cars and injured or killed. We know that the cameras force drivers to slow down and obey traffic laws. So Felder and Golden, etc., are lying. Streetsblog covered Sunday's rally:
posted by zarq at 9:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
I came in to rant about this. Especially about the PBA. If you are a cop or a retired cop and you get pulled over for speeding or going through a red light in NYC, all you have to do is flash your badge or PBA card and your fellow union-member cop will let you go. It also works for parking illegally. This is a license to break the law. It is not the way things are supposed to work. Cops should be required to obey traffic rules when they're not on duty. Retired cops should never, ever be able to break the law. That's not a "perk" of the job or their pensions. And yet they all have a 'get out of tickets/fines/jail for free" card because of the police union, the Policeman's Benevolent Association. The reason the PBA is against the cameras is, as showbiz liz notes, because cameras are impersonal. They don't give cops special treatment when they go 11 miles an hour or more over the speed limit in a school zone, during school hours.
You see, the cameras don't run 24 hours a day. They're only active when children might get hit by a car speeding its way through a yellow light, running a red or blowing past a stop sign.
No one at the PBA asks the obvious question of why the hell an off-duty or retired cop needs to drive dangerously through a school zone, and they can't answer the question of why they should be allowed to, either. Heaven forbid a cop get a ticket for endangering children, after all.
The most infuriating thing about this to me as a New Yorker and as a parent of elementary school age children is the politicians' bland assertions that traffic lights and stop signs are effective deterrents. In most cases they were already there before the speed cameras were installed and they didn't prevent kids getting hit by cars and injured or killed. We know that the cameras force drivers to slow down and obey traffic laws. So Felder and Golden, etc., are lying. Streetsblog covered Sunday's rally:
The evidence speaks for itself: Speeding violations have dropped 63 percent on streets with the cameras. Citywide traffic fatalities have fallen every year since the first speed cameras were installed in 2013. By allowing the program to sunset, Senate Republicans are going to get people killed.You would think renewing a bill that prevents dead children would be a no-brainer for the legislature, but nope.
posted by zarq at 9:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
One thing I am confused about regarding NY is what exactly is Cynthia Nixon's status on the ballot? What does she have to do, or has she already done it?
The primaries for state offices aren't until September. So her primary isn't until then.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
The primaries for state offices aren't until September. So her primary isn't until then.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
He did actually end up agreeing to debate her at one point and OMG did he come out of it looking terrible.
She walloped him. He was clearly unprepared, both in terms of content and in terms of facing AOC. On the issue of ICE, all he could do was say "Yup... yup... yup..." in agreement with AOC's passionately-presented points, including agreeing with her statement that his response to the ICE crisis was to push more papers around.
His performance was so poor that it went beyond demonstrating that he was unprepared for that debate, but led directly to the question "Just what the hell have you been doing in that office for the last twenty years?!?"
Ocasio-Cortez just ran over Crowley -- but it wasn't about Crowley, he just happened to be there. It was about the issues in the community and the positive means of addressing them. AOC's passion, awareness, connectivity, and boldness is what pushed AOC to victory, not any anti-establishment message. She showed herself to be the Real Deal, and he showed himself to be a seat-warmer.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
She walloped him. He was clearly unprepared, both in terms of content and in terms of facing AOC. On the issue of ICE, all he could do was say "Yup... yup... yup..." in agreement with AOC's passionately-presented points, including agreeing with her statement that his response to the ICE crisis was to push more papers around.
His performance was so poor that it went beyond demonstrating that he was unprepared for that debate, but led directly to the question "Just what the hell have you been doing in that office for the last twenty years?!?"
Ocasio-Cortez just ran over Crowley -- but it wasn't about Crowley, he just happened to be there. It was about the issues in the community and the positive means of addressing them. AOC's passion, awareness, connectivity, and boldness is what pushed AOC to victory, not any anti-establishment message. She showed herself to be the Real Deal, and he showed himself to be a seat-warmer.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
One thing I am confused about regarding NY is what exactly is Cynthia Nixon's status on the ballot? What does she have to do, or has she already done it?
New York State has ballot fusion: we have a whole mess of political parties, each with their own methods for picking candidates. However, your vote counts for a candidate (regardless of which party they are registered under). So, for example, if a candidate is listed under three different parties, a vote for any party line is a vote for that same candidate.
One of those parties, the Working Families party, has already endorsed Cynthia Nixon, and she will appear on the ballot for them.
The Democratic Party has it's state primary in September, and so Nixon and Cuomo (the incumbentasshole governor) are vying for the Democratic line on the ballot. Cuomo has a shit-ton of cash, a lot of endorsements (some of which were, IMHO, almost certainly strongarmed), and is polling well.
Most people vote on Republican or Democratic party lines, so it is important (but not strictly necessary) to win the Democratic primary.
posted by ragtag at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
New York State has ballot fusion: we have a whole mess of political parties, each with their own methods for picking candidates. However, your vote counts for a candidate (regardless of which party they are registered under). So, for example, if a candidate is listed under three different parties, a vote for any party line is a vote for that same candidate.
One of those parties, the Working Families party, has already endorsed Cynthia Nixon, and she will appear on the ballot for them.
The Democratic Party has it's state primary in September, and so Nixon and Cuomo (the incumbent
Most people vote on Republican or Democratic party lines, so it is important (but not strictly necessary) to win the Democratic primary.
posted by ragtag at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Melting ICE? A handful of Democrats turn up the heat.
posted by Artw at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
not any anti-establishment message
She had an anti-establishment message and it was also effective. She talked during in-person appearances about the intransigence of the Democratic party's machinery, and it along with how big party donors and support from unions and other institutions had kept Crowley in office despite his absence from the district and clueless distance from their problems. She included part of that rhetoric about Crowley in her viral campaign video.
posted by zarq at 9:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
She had an anti-establishment message and it was also effective. She talked during in-person appearances about the intransigence of the Democratic party's machinery, and it along with how big party donors and support from unions and other institutions had kept Crowley in office despite his absence from the district and clueless distance from their problems. She included part of that rhetoric about Crowley in her viral campaign video.
posted by zarq at 9:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
Here’s What It’s Like to Work at a Shelter for Immigrant Kids
Some facilities are so overstretched, employees often wait hours for a break to go to the bathroom.
Some facilities are so overstretched, employees often wait hours for a break to go to the bathroom.
Those who stay say they do so to hold onto above-minimum-wage jobs — tough to find in Brownsville, which has an unemployment rate almost twice that of the nation — and concern for children who are alone, coping with hardship and uncertainty.posted by jgirl at 9:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
“Yes, it’s a lot of stress, but you do something,” said one employee. “You feel that you actually got to accomplish something…
“And the kids will actually ask you, are you going to come tomorrow?”
There are 11 Trump-branded hotel properties around the world. Cursory Googling reveals the 11 properties to have a combined 3,400+ rooms.
And each more luxurious than the last.
posted by flabdablet at 9:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
And each more luxurious than the last.
posted by flabdablet at 9:33 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't recall this being posted in the thread but in light of the AOC primary win it seems particularly relevant as it goes deep into the weeds on DCCC campaign funding. Well worth a listen. This is My Party and I'll Try if I want to. On This American Life.
posted by misterpatrick at 9:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by misterpatrick at 9:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
> [One deleted; if folks want to continue about unions, probably better to make a separate post for that discussion.]
Done.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Done.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:36 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Melting ICE? A handful of Democrats turn up the heat.
At least Pelosi isn't on the fence about ICE, though her condemnation via her office could be stronger: “Leader Pelosi believes that ICE has been on the wrong end of far too many inhumane and unconstitutional practices to be allowed to continue without an immediate and fundamental overhaul,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, said in an email. “No one can watch ICE play such a central role in the heartbreak and horror of family separation without reasonably concluding that a drastic overhaul is desperately needed, and soon.”
The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis @mikedebonis, however, reports:
* D.C. office tel. 202-225-8901
** D.C. office tel. 202-225-6676
*** D.C. office tel. 202-225-5401
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
At least Pelosi isn't on the fence about ICE, though her condemnation via her office could be stronger: “Leader Pelosi believes that ICE has been on the wrong end of far too many inhumane and unconstitutional practices to be allowed to continue without an immediate and fundamental overhaul,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, said in an email. “No one can watch ICE play such a central role in the heartbreak and horror of family separation without reasonably concluding that a drastic overhaul is desperately needed, and soon.”
The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis @mikedebonis, however, reports:
Dems clearly wary about #AbolishICE rhetoric. From reporter session today:His colleague Dave Weigel @daveweigel points out, "Apples and oranges, but the GOP hasn't exactly lost votes by running to abolish the IRS. It's never going to do it, but it creates a vision for voters to get excited about."
@RepAdamSmith*: "That's kind of like when the GOP said we should get rid of IRS."
@RepLindaSanchez**: "Or the Dept of Education."
Smith: "...ICE does not have to do what Pres Trump is telling them to do."
@RepJohnYarmuth***, who participated, also skeptical:
"We're all being asked about whether we want to abolish ICE. I don't think that's the appropriate response. ... We need very, very vigilant oversight over these agencies and we need transparency."
* D.C. office tel. 202-225-8901
** D.C. office tel. 202-225-6676
*** D.C. office tel. 202-225-5401
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
Some local coverage of Ocasio-Cortez's win, from City Limits (includes district-by-district turnout percentages) and Astoria Post ("The two faced off in two debates, of a planned four."), and from a local subreddit.
And here's the June 19th NYT opinion piece (by their Editorial Board) where they criticize Crowley for sending a surrogate to that debate: "This is the second primary debate in which Mr. Crowley was a no-show."
posted by brainwane at 9:46 AM on June 27, 2018
And here's the June 19th NYT opinion piece (by their Editorial Board) where they criticize Crowley for sending a surrogate to that debate: "This is the second primary debate in which Mr. Crowley was a no-show."
posted by brainwane at 9:46 AM on June 27, 2018
Am pleased to see Harris come around:
But Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has reconsidered her position on the agency. Harris, who is also viewed as a potential 2020 candidate, said Sunday during an interview with NBC News that “we need to probably think about starting from scratch” in immigration enforcement. Back in March, Harris said during an MSNBC interview that “ICE has a purpose, ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”
Should have been her position from the off, mind.
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
But Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has reconsidered her position on the agency. Harris, who is also viewed as a potential 2020 candidate, said Sunday during an interview with NBC News that “we need to probably think about starting from scratch” in immigration enforcement. Back in March, Harris said during an MSNBC interview that “ICE has a purpose, ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”
Should have been her position from the off, mind.
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Has The Keebler Elf filed an appeal yet regarding the migrant children?
It's going to be pretty surreal if a year from now we wind up impeaching 5 justices for child abuse.
posted by ocschwar at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's going to be pretty surreal if a year from now we wind up impeaching 5 justices for child abuse.
posted by ocschwar at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Should have been her position from the off, mind.
I don't know if her position has changed, per se. What she should have done is give a far more complex statement than "ICE should exist." She was the AG for California. She shouldn't have a problem speaking at length to explain herself.
The problem with ICE is that the agency does have a very specific role related to border security and preventing terrorism, and that role goes beyond what United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was handling prior to 9/11. The department was formed specifically to focus exclusively on plugging gaps in CBP coverage, that CBP either couldn't or wasn't able to handle. What they're intended to do is important. The power they've been given, acquired and are wielding is a gross and disgusting violation of both their mandate and American values. So yes, our immigration policies need to be rethought and reconstructed from the ground up. But some limited form of ICE or the problems it was created to fix will probably be included in that.
posted by zarq at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
I don't know if her position has changed, per se. What she should have done is give a far more complex statement than "ICE should exist." She was the AG for California. She shouldn't have a problem speaking at length to explain herself.
The problem with ICE is that the agency does have a very specific role related to border security and preventing terrorism, and that role goes beyond what United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was handling prior to 9/11. The department was formed specifically to focus exclusively on plugging gaps in CBP coverage, that CBP either couldn't or wasn't able to handle. What they're intended to do is important. The power they've been given, acquired and are wielding is a gross and disgusting violation of both their mandate and American values. So yes, our immigration policies need to be rethought and reconstructed from the ground up. But some limited form of ICE or the problems it was created to fix will probably be included in that.
posted by zarq at 9:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
But some limited form of ICE or the problems it was created to fix will probably be included in that.
Just give the job back to the US Marshalls. The problem with ICE is they ONLY deal with brown people.
posted by ocschwar at 9:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Just give the job back to the US Marshalls. The problem with ICE is they ONLY deal with brown people.
posted by ocschwar at 9:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
One of those parties, the Working Families party, has already endorsed Cynthia Nixon, and she will appear on the ballot for them.
AFAIK she retains the option to just not appear on the ballot if she loses the Democratic primary. My very limited impression of her so far is that she's serious enough not to continue in that event, since at that point she would know that her support among voters limits her role to serving as a spoiler helping elect the Republican candidate Molinaro.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
AFAIK she retains the option to just not appear on the ballot if she loses the Democratic primary. My very limited impression of her so far is that she's serious enough not to continue in that event, since at that point she would know that her support among voters limits her role to serving as a spoiler helping elect the Republican candidate Molinaro.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
What the hell? Just two weeks ago the President said "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea". How can he not have known? Is there a breakdown in the US Intelligence Community? He wouldn't lie about something as important as this, surely??
Somebody (I would credit if I could remember who or where) noticed the other day that the Presidential Daily Briefs are no longer, y'know, daily, at least not on the President's public schedule. I don't know if that means anything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:15 AM on June 27, 2018
Somebody (I would credit if I could remember who or where) noticed the other day that the Presidential Daily Briefs are no longer, y'know, daily, at least not on the President's public schedule. I don't know if that means anything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:15 AM on June 27, 2018
zarq: You would think renewing a bill that prevents dead children would be a no-brainer for the legislature, but nope.
With the heated debates over gun control w/r/t school safety, I've come to realize there are a dwindling number of "no-brainers."
Speaking of (hopeful) no-brainers: Good News! The Privacy Wins Keep Coming (Brian Barrett for Wired, June 27, 2018)
With the heated debates over gun control w/r/t school safety, I've come to realize there are a dwindling number of "no-brainers."
Speaking of (hopeful) no-brainers: Good News! The Privacy Wins Keep Coming (Brian Barrett for Wired, June 27, 2018)
On Monday, police in Florida abandoned a pilot program that had put Amazon’s facial recognition powers at their disposal. On Wednesday, representatives from the country’s most powerful technology companies will gather in San Francisco to take a hard look at the industry’s approach to privacy. And on Thursday, the California legislature will vote on a bill that would grant internet users more power over their data than ever before in the United States. Any of these alone would mark a good week for privacy. Together, and combined with even more major advancements from earlier this month, they represent a tectonic shift.posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Progress can be difficult to measure; it often comes in drips and drops, or not at all for long stretches of time. But in recent weeks, privacy advocates have seen torrential gains, at a rate perhaps not matched since Edward Snowden revealed how the National Security Agency spied on millions of US citizens in 2013. A confluence of factors—generational, judicial, societal—have created momentum where previously there was none. The trick now is to sustain it.
...
But there are signs that the fallout from Cambridge Analytica has still had a wide impact. After The New York Times broke the story of carriers sharing location data with third parties—and the abuse of that system—in May, it took just five weeks for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint to curtail the practice. They did so in part at the urging of senator Ron Wyden (D - Oregon), but also to avoid the sustained public opprobrium Facebook and Equifax endured. What had for so long felt like shouts into a void ultimately echoed throughout the industry.
You can see those reverberations in the Wednesday summit organized by the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group that represents Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and dozens of other major tech companies. First reported by Axios, the meeting will focus not on standards or tariffs, but on a topic that has often seemed anathema in Silicon Valley.
"Protecting consumers’ privacy is a top concern for our industry. As technologies evolve, we continually examine our approach to privacy,” says ICIT spokesman Jose Castaneda. “This week’s convening will continue an important conversation that examines how our users’ and customers’ privacy is protected while also ensuring our ability to meet their demands for innovative products and services."
Part of that conversation will surely involve Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect this spring, tightening the ways in which companies handle user data. But it also reflects a newfound urgency stateside.
“I sometimes joke that’s how you know something is serious, when the trades get involved,” [says Michelle Richardson, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Freedom, Security, and Technology Project]. “That’s when they pull out the big guns.”
The companies' voluntary actions have been buttressed by the legislative and judicial branches. Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Carpenter v. United States that will generally require the government to get a warrant before it accesses cell site location information. But the decision has even broader implications for how courts will view digital privacy going forward.
“At its core, Carpenter is a recognition that there are fundamental changes we’ve witnessed over the last two or three decades in the technologies that we use every day for communications and connecting with others, and that these technologies have implications for individual rights,” says Alan Butler, senior counsel at the non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center. “That’s a point at which we’re on the other side of a sea change.”
Just give the job back to the US Marshalls.
ICE was founded with a very specific mandate that goes beyond apprehending fugitives, which is all that the Marshalls do. ICE also operates outside of the US, in multiple countries. Their role is to help secure our borders, especially against trafficking, smuggling and terrorist threats. They're not supposed to act as the administration's gestapo with regard to legal and illegal immigrants in the way they are doing now.
The problem with ICE is they ONLY deal with brown people.
This isn't true.
Don't assume that what is currently happening is their mission, nor what they are supposed to be doing.
posted by zarq at 10:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
ICE was founded with a very specific mandate that goes beyond apprehending fugitives, which is all that the Marshalls do. ICE also operates outside of the US, in multiple countries. Their role is to help secure our borders, especially against trafficking, smuggling and terrorist threats. They're not supposed to act as the administration's gestapo with regard to legal and illegal immigrants in the way they are doing now.
The problem with ICE is they ONLY deal with brown people.
This isn't true.
Don't assume that what is currently happening is their mission, nor what they are supposed to be doing.
posted by zarq at 10:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Ray Walston, Luck Dragon: Somebody (I would credit if I could remember who or where) noticed the other day that the Presidential Daily Briefs are no longer, y'know, daily, at least not on the President's public schedule. I don't know if that means anything.
It wasn't me, but here's a source to back it up: Trump’s schedule shows that his daily briefing was only daily in three weeks of his presidency (Philip Bump for Washington Post, February 9, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:27 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
It wasn't me, but here's a source to back it up: Trump’s schedule shows that his daily briefing was only daily in three weeks of his presidency (Philip Bump for Washington Post, February 9, 2018)
On Friday morning, The Post reported that President Trump has broken with past presidential practice, choosing to receive the daily intelligence briefing orally, instead of the full written report, as past president have.Why bother with facts and details when you are "like, really smart" with a "very good brain"?
“The arrangement underscores Trump’s impatience with exhaustive classified documents that go to the commander in chief — material that he has said he prefers condensed as much as possible,” our Carol D. Leonnig, Shane Harris and Greg Jaffe write. “But by not reading the daily briefing, the president could hamper his ability to respond to crises in the most effective manner, intelligence experts warned.”
What’s more, time set aside on Trump’s public schedule for the president to receive the daily briefing has waned over the course of the year, even as the time of those briefings slipped later into the morning. Last February, his first full month in office, Trump had 11 scheduled briefings that began, on average, at a bit past 9:30 a.m. The next month he had 18 briefings, starting a bit past 10:45 a.m. on average.
Last month, he had nine scheduled briefings that began at 11 a.m.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:27 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The NRA's scared. This is a surprisingly satisfying watch.
The New Socialist Face of the Democratic Party
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
The New Socialist Face of the Democratic Party
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
The presidents briefing is Fox News and whatever rich person he runs into at the golf club, let’s not pretend it’s anything else.
posted by Artw at 10:29 AM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:29 AM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
“He has already stated that he doesn’t read. How do you become knowledgeable if you don’t read?” - George Christie, former long-time president of the Hell's Angels charter in Ventura, California, talking about Trump of course.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased (SL WAPO)
...
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:49 AM on June 27 [17 favorites +] [!]
The right wing will not stop until they control all of the media. They've done an outstanding job of not only creating the illusion of media that are basically mouthpieces for their propaganda, but they've succeeded in muting the presentation by mainstream media of simple facts that are uncomfortable to them or antithetical to their ideology. They've leveled the idea of expert to mean anyone with an opinion who will express it on TV or in print and they've created "think tanks" whose only purpose is to grind out justifications for their ideology. And now they'd like to see only right-wing ideas expressed on Facebook and Twitter.
They are afraid of the truth and know they can't win in the face of it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
...
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:49 AM on June 27 [17 favorites +] [!]
The right wing will not stop until they control all of the media. They've done an outstanding job of not only creating the illusion of media that are basically mouthpieces for their propaganda, but they've succeeded in muting the presentation by mainstream media of simple facts that are uncomfortable to them or antithetical to their ideology. They've leveled the idea of expert to mean anyone with an opinion who will express it on TV or in print and they've created "think tanks" whose only purpose is to grind out justifications for their ideology. And now they'd like to see only right-wing ideas expressed on Facebook and Twitter.
They are afraid of the truth and know they can't win in the face of it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
CNN: The Trump administration has more than 2,000 children it separated from their parents in its custody. In a six-day span, that number only went down by six children
It's still unknown, though, whether those children were reunited with parents, other family or otherwise transferred out of Health and Human Services custody, and the government has not answered questions about the circumstances of their release.
So we just have their word that they're "releasing" only one a day, and no information is being given about the specifics thereof. Has anybody thought to ask if they're alive?
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [20 favorites]
It's still unknown, though, whether those children were reunited with parents, other family or otherwise transferred out of Health and Human Services custody, and the government has not answered questions about the circumstances of their release.
So we just have their word that they're "releasing" only one a day, and no information is being given about the specifics thereof. Has anybody thought to ask if they're alive?
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [20 favorites]
Despite Trump's all caps tweet backing it, the all-Republican "compromise" immigration bill just completely crashed and burnt on the House floor, 121-301, all Democrats and 112 Republicans voting no. The even more horrible "conservative" bill got 193 votes last week.
Laughing extremely hard at Paul Ryan right now.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
Laughing extremely hard at Paul Ryan right now.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
That's absolutely brutal. I can't remember the last time I saw a bill actually get brought to the floor with so little support. Why would Trump insert himself with that ranty ALL CAPS tweet when it was so obvious how badly this bill would do? It just don't make no sense at all.
posted by Justinian at 10:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 10:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
So we just have their word that they're "releasing" only one a day, and no information is being given about the specifics thereof. Has anybody thought to ask if they're alive?
Also in unanswered questions: 'where are the girls?' Still no answer? I'm not finding any news articles on this after the 21st. Was this asked and answered or something? Or is that just the sort of question that floats around unattended-to, now?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Also in unanswered questions: 'where are the girls?' Still no answer? I'm not finding any news articles on this after the 21st. Was this asked and answered or something? Or is that just the sort of question that floats around unattended-to, now?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:55 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Why would Trump insert himself with that ranty ALL CAPS tweet when it was so obvious how badly this bill would do?
Because he doesn't understand anything about how government works. He'll probably blame the filibuster for this.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Because he doesn't understand anything about how government works. He'll probably blame the filibuster for this.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
tl;dr - Senate Democrats didn't go nuclear when Garland didn't get a hearing because they figured Clinton would pick someone even better.
Sure, they only let McConnell get away with the precedent of denying a sitting President a SCOTUS pick, and blatantly about party politics at that. And here we are.
No Democrat should grant unanimous consent to anything, up to and including the motion to adjourn for lunch, under this regime.
posted by Gelatin at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
Sure, they only let McConnell get away with the precedent of denying a sitting President a SCOTUS pick, and blatantly about party politics at that. And here we are.
No Democrat should grant unanimous consent to anything, up to and including the motion to adjourn for lunch, under this regime.
posted by Gelatin at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
A Terrible Llama - Elizabeth Warren's Facebook post mentions that she did see girls.
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 10:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 10:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Speaking of the DSA: what other chapters are following New Orleans's lead with brake light clinics?
St Louis DSA did it in April.
A quick Googling found LA, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Miami, Chicago, DC...
posted by Foosnark at 11:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
St Louis DSA did it in April.
A quick Googling found LA, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Miami, Chicago, DC...
posted by Foosnark at 11:00 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
@scotusreporter: ALERT: justice kennedy is retiiring
Holy fuck.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
Holy fuck.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
Well, as the "swing" justice, I guess he wanted to hold on until he could really "swing" the court.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:06 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:06 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Kennedy has announced his retirement.
Fuck.
posted by suelac at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Fuck.
posted by suelac at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Elizabeth Warren has posted a detailed account of what it was like in the detention center she visited. Exactly as brutal as you'd think.
And remember, they had time tosanitize the crime scene prepare for her arrival.
posted by Gelatin at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
And remember, they had time to
posted by Gelatin at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
If Democrats do not pull a Mitch and block any nomination from Trump....
posted by lazaruslong at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 11:07 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
Everyone get in touch with your congress critters now about the handling of SCOTUS noms.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:09 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:09 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
I can’t find a date. Is it immediate? When is it happening?
posted by greermahoney at 11:10 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by greermahoney at 11:10 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Does Justice Kennedy's retirement become the focus of all the campaigns for every Congressional mid term election?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Chuck! Hey, silent majority here. Look, we're gonna need you to fight like you've never fought before, and we need you to win us a real justice. So if you could get on that, that'd be great.
/coffee
posted by petebest at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
/coffee
posted by petebest at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
... they can't actually block the nomination. McConnell was able to do so because he had a majority in the Senate.
I'm not saying they shouldn't do everything possible to gum up the works. But it will ultimately fail. This cannot be stopped and will continue to haunt the nation for decades and decades to come.
posted by Justinian at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
I'm not saying they shouldn't do everything possible to gum up the works. But it will ultimately fail. This cannot be stopped and will continue to haunt the nation for decades and decades to come.
posted by Justinian at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
Mod note: A few deleted. Please don't fill up the thread with "we're doomed" stuff; keep the thread for actual updates and usable information.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:11 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
If Kennedy retires and RBG dies (assuming this is even possible), we'll have a court composed of 3 Democratic appointees and 6 Republican appointees even though the Democratic Presidential candidate has won the national popular vote in 6 of the last 7 elections.
When a Democrat takes the White House in 2020, they will have a moral fucking imperative to pack the court.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
When a Democrat takes the White House in 2020, they will have a moral fucking imperative to pack the court.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [68 favorites]
"Swing" the midterms is more like it. Someone looked at the polls and realizing dangling a Supreme Court seat was the best way to stem big loses. Every race turns into a fight over Roe.
I can’t find a date. Is it immediate? When is it happening?
Effective July 31.
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
I can’t find a date. Is it immediate? When is it happening?
Effective July 31.
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Wow, this just changed the tenor of the midterms for both sides.
posted by mynameisluka at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by mynameisluka at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's inevitable that Trump will get someone nominated by this Republican Senate. "Let's pack the court" probably isn't a good election slogan, but it should be a goal for anyone who opposes what is happening to this country.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.-- Mitch McConnell
At this critical juncture in our nation's history, Texans and the American people deserve to have a say in the selection of the next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.-- John Cornyn
The only way to empower the American people and ensure they have a voice is for the next President to make the nomination to fill this vacancy.
Under no circumstance should the Republican Senate majority confirm a Supreme Court nominee as Americans are in the midst of picking the next president.-- Michael A. Needham, president of Heritage Action
The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction.-- Mitch McConnell
You don’t fill Supreme Court vacancies in the middle of a presidential election.-- Mitch McConnell
President Trump started his reelection campaign on Inauguration Day.
Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2018 [87 favorites]
they can't actually block the nomination. McConnell was able to do so because he had a majority in the Senate.
Can’t they filibuster it?
posted by corb at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can’t they filibuster it?
posted by corb at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Does Justice Kennedy's retirement have any effect on the Special Counsel investigation?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018
Nixon didn't make any SC appointments while under investigation, neither should Trump.
posted by peeedro at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
> "Let's pack the court" probably isn't a good election slogan
At this point, it kind of seems like an excellent one.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
At this point, it kind of seems like an excellent one.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:16 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Fuck. He's going to appoint Jeanine Pirro isn't he?
posted by bluecore at 11:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bluecore at 11:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can’t they filibuster it?
McConnell threw that out the window to get Gorsuch confirmed.
posted by azpenguin at 11:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
McConnell threw that out the window to get Gorsuch confirmed.
posted by azpenguin at 11:17 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Can’t they filibuster it?
McConnell permanently killed the filibuster for nominees as part of the Gorsuch confirmation. It's off the rulebook entirely, not just disregarded as a practical matter.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
McConnell permanently killed the filibuster for nominees as part of the Gorsuch confirmation. It's off the rulebook entirely, not just disregarded as a practical matter.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:18 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Retirement is effective as of July 31st, 2018.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Existential Dread at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Someone looked at the polls and realizing dangling a Supreme Court seat was the best way to stem big loses.
But it's not up to the GOP establishment, it's up to Trump. Is he really going to wait half a year to nominate, with the minor chance of facing a Democratic Senate? I expect he'll nominate someone of his own choosing fairly quickly and dare the GOP Senate to oppose him.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
But it's not up to the GOP establishment, it's up to Trump. Is he really going to wait half a year to nominate, with the minor chance of facing a Democratic Senate? I expect he'll nominate someone of his own choosing fairly quickly and dare the GOP Senate to oppose him.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
McConnell threw that out the window to get Gorsuch confirmed.
Right, Democrats filibustered Gorsuch and McConnell removed judicial filibusters entirely. A minority party cannot stop a judicial appointment. Trump could nominate Richard Spencer to the Supreme Court and Democrats could not stop it if Republicans were on board.
From a purely Machiavellian standpoint (which would seem to fit McConnell to a T) it strikes me that the best political move would be for the Republicans not to seat a new justice before the Midterms in order to drive Republican turnout. Because turnout advantage is the only way for Democrats to overcome the shitty structural advantages that Republicans have given themselves.
There doesn't seem to be a downside for them to me. Because if you drive turnout you stem your losses or even gain in the Senate. And if you still lose out you just ram through the nominee in December before the new Congress gets seated.
It's cynical, evil, and cutthroat so I except McConnell to do it.
posted by Justinian at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
Right, Democrats filibustered Gorsuch and McConnell removed judicial filibusters entirely. A minority party cannot stop a judicial appointment. Trump could nominate Richard Spencer to the Supreme Court and Democrats could not stop it if Republicans were on board.
From a purely Machiavellian standpoint (which would seem to fit McConnell to a T) it strikes me that the best political move would be for the Republicans not to seat a new justice before the Midterms in order to drive Republican turnout. Because turnout advantage is the only way for Democrats to overcome the shitty structural advantages that Republicans have given themselves.
There doesn't seem to be a downside for them to me. Because if you drive turnout you stem your losses or even gain in the Senate. And if you still lose out you just ram through the nominee in December before the new Congress gets seated.
It's cynical, evil, and cutthroat so I except McConnell to do it.
posted by Justinian at 11:19 AM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
This is it. The real reshaping of America begins now. Hold on tight and fight for your ever-loving lives.
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:20 AM on June 27, 2018 [45 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:20 AM on June 27, 2018 [45 favorites]
with the minor chance of facing a Democratic Senate
See my comment; they have 2.5 months of lame duck Senate between the election and the new Congress. So there is no chance of being surprised by a Democratic Senate. They'll know well in advance if they need to ram through the nomination.
posted by Justinian at 11:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
See my comment; they have 2.5 months of lame duck Senate between the election and the new Congress. So there is no chance of being surprised by a Democratic Senate. They'll know well in advance if they need to ram through the nomination.
posted by Justinian at 11:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
If there's one tiny glimmer for me, it's that Ocasio-Cortez winning last night sent a shot across the bow of those Dems who would play nice and go along to get along. Play nice and help Trump and your ass is gonna get primaried.
posted by azpenguin at 11:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 11:21 AM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Kennedy's legacy will be the Muslim Ban and giving Trump the power to undo every vaguely good thing he ruled on. Well done Anthony. Enjoy your place in history.
posted by chris24 at 11:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [54 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 11:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [54 favorites]
From a purely Machiavellian standpoint (which would seem to fit McConnell to a T) it strikes me that the best political move would be for the Republicans not to seat a new justice before the Midterms in order to drive Republican turnout.
Is this the best move for both Trump and the Republican Party? Or would Trump benefit more from pushing this through ASAP?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is this the best move for both Trump and the Republican Party? Or would Trump benefit more from pushing this through ASAP?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:22 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
From a purely Machiavellian standpoint (which would seem to fit McConnell to a T) it strikes me that the best political move would be for the Republicans not to seat a new justice before the Midterms in order to drive Republican turnout.
This is what I thought too, but I'm seeing a bunch of:
@rickklein: per @jonkarl - White House will push for a nomination and confirmation before the midterms.
Hard to say if that will stay true, given the way these people operate, but it doesn't seem to be the plan to wait right now, and it would be a long time to wait. If I can think of the craven political opportunity of dragging it out to promote turnout, surely they can, so I'm not quite sure what I'm missing beyond "they want to do more horrible things sooner." Or Trump just DGAF about the midterms and Republican turnout.
posted by zachlipton at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
This is what I thought too, but I'm seeing a bunch of:
@rickklein: per @jonkarl - White House will push for a nomination and confirmation before the midterms.
Hard to say if that will stay true, given the way these people operate, but it doesn't seem to be the plan to wait right now, and it would be a long time to wait. If I can think of the craven political opportunity of dragging it out to promote turnout, surely they can, so I'm not quite sure what I'm missing beyond "they want to do more horrible things sooner." Or Trump just DGAF about the midterms and Republican turnout.
posted by zachlipton at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
@scotusreporter: ALERT: justice kennedy is retiiring
Holy fuck.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 27 [30 favorites +] [!]
I predict the fastest nomination and confirmation of a new justice ever. These pukes will be pissing themselves over the chance to put another right-wing partisan hack on the court before the next election.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Holy fuck.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 27 [30 favorites +] [!]
I predict the fastest nomination and confirmation of a new justice ever. These pukes will be pissing themselves over the chance to put another right-wing partisan hack on the court before the next election.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trump could nominate Richard Spencer to the Supreme Court and Democrats could not stop it if Republicans were on board.
Repubs will absolutely and without question be 100% on board with whoever he nominates, even if it's fucking Kim Jong Un.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Repubs will absolutely and without question be 100% on board with whoever he nominates, even if it's fucking Kim Jong Un.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:23 AM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Trump's incapable of waiting for anything he wants. He'll begin picking and nominating asap.
posted by Harry Caul at 11:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 11:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Kennedy's legacy will be the Travel Ban and giving Trump the power to undo every vaguely good thing he ruled on. Well done Anthony. Enjoy your place in history.
Yeah, congrats, Anthony. Fucking NOBODY is going to remember you for Lawrence and Obergefell.
Christ, I'm so upset. The Supreme Court has been the top issue in my voting for decades.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
Yeah, congrats, Anthony. Fucking NOBODY is going to remember you for Lawrence and Obergefell.
Christ, I'm so upset. The Supreme Court has been the top issue in my voting for decades.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:24 AM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
I think if its a foregone conclusion then the key is to use it to feed the already impressive dem enthusiasm in the midterms (as opposed to the all too easy defeatist mindset that could choose to view this as a reason to give up the fight).
but god it is fucking awful.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
but god it is fucking awful.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I don't think Trump will go for the long-term strategic move over the immediately emotionally gratifying upraised-middle-finger...
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
If I can think of the craven political opportunity of dragging it out to promote turnout, surely they can, so I'm not quite sure what I'm missing beyond "they want to do more horrible things sooner."
The White House is significantly dumber and more impulsive than McConnell, who is very much the face of banal, systematic evil. McConnell is absolutely willing to annoy Trump in order to keep his majority.
posted by jedicus at 11:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
The White House is significantly dumber and more impulsive than McConnell, who is very much the face of banal, systematic evil. McConnell is absolutely willing to annoy Trump in order to keep his majority.
posted by jedicus at 11:26 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Any chance he chooses Sessions to fix his investigation recusal problem?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:26 AM on June 27, 2018
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:26 AM on June 27, 2018
But if they ram through a nominee before the midterms doesn't that just piss of progressives and Democrats even more without the advantage of dangling the seat in front of Republicans to get them to the polls? What am I missing?
Is the theory it will depress progressives so much we'll drink ourselves into a stupor on election day? That's not a bad theory but I don't think it's correct?
posted by Justinian at 11:27 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Is the theory it will depress progressives so much we'll drink ourselves into a stupor on election day? That's not a bad theory but I don't think it's correct?
posted by Justinian at 11:27 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well... do the Republicans have an effective majority right now? They are at 51-49 and as I recall McCain and Thad Cochrane aren't exactly showing up. That's a bare majority if you include Pence. Is there anyone else among the republicans not showing up consistently?
At minimum the Democrats should demand a quorum call before any action on a supreme court nominee and make the 49 Republicans physically put their butts in the seats. If they can't muster 49 for some reason they could even send all but one of the Democrats out and the chamber would in fact lack a quorum.
Yes this may seem like highly technical gamesmanship, but desperate times...
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
At minimum the Democrats should demand a quorum call before any action on a supreme court nominee and make the 49 Republicans physically put their butts in the seats. If they can't muster 49 for some reason they could even send all but one of the Democrats out and the chamber would in fact lack a quorum.
Yes this may seem like highly technical gamesmanship, but desperate times...
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:28 AM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
Plus Flake has been rumbling about not voting for judges until tariffs are voted on.
posted by Harry Caul at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
why couldnt you wait anthony
I feel like someone had a conspiracy theory 20 or so threads ago that I would really like to cling to right now about how Kennedy had some sort of deal for one of his former clerks that wasn’t a monster? Does anyone remember that? I would like not to drink myself to death.
posted by corb at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
I feel like someone had a conspiracy theory 20 or so threads ago that I would really like to cling to right now about how Kennedy had some sort of deal for one of his former clerks that wasn’t a monster? Does anyone remember that? I would like not to drink myself to death.
posted by corb at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Ha, yeah. Time for the rubber to meet the road on that claim, Senator Flake.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:31 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:31 AM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Plus Flake has been rumbling about not voting for judges until tariffs are voted on.
Flake's record so far on judges that make Kennedy look like a flaming commie is 100% approval. That's how reliable he is.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:31 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Flake's record so far on judges that make Kennedy look like a flaming commie is 100% approval. That's how reliable he is.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:31 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
That's a very silly conspiracy theory to put any stock in. Even if Kennedy did make that deal why would sitting Republican Senators keep to it and approve such a nomination if Trump even made it?
posted by Green With You at 11:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Green With You at 11:34 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can kiss ACA, Roe v Wade, VRA, and Marriage equality goodbye.
posted by RedShrek at 11:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by RedShrek at 11:35 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Well... do the Republicans have an effective majority right now?
The question is Collins and Murkowski (and exactly how Flake does his Flaky thing and folds, I guess), who don't want to see Roe disappear. Whether that will in any way impact their vote is an interesting question. It's going to be interesting times.
I'll just put this bit of fanfic here for no reason at all, certainly nothing relevant to the present situation: How Democrats can shut down the Senate
posted by zachlipton at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
The question is Collins and Murkowski (and exactly how Flake does his Flaky thing and folds, I guess), who don't want to see Roe disappear. Whether that will in any way impact their vote is an interesting question. It's going to be interesting times.
I'll just put this bit of fanfic here for no reason at all, certainly nothing relevant to the present situation: How Democrats can shut down the Senate
posted by zachlipton at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
If the Democrats don't treat this as the knife fight it is and obstruct tooth and nail a new Trump justice then they'll never fight for anything.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:37 AM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
@mkraju: Republicans are already saying the Kennedy retirement is going to be a majority saver in the Senate; voting on a replacement will also squeeze red-state Dems between their base, which will want to fight tooth-and-nail and the moderate voters they are trying to court
where is the lie
posted by zombieflanders at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
where is the lie
posted by zombieflanders at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm actually concerned they're going to go full robber-baron era, and throw out most of the 20th-century jurisprudence on the Bill of Rights. We'll be left with the Free Speech & Free Exercise Clauses of the 1st Amendment, and the 2nd Amendment, and that's it. I mean, why not, now they'll have the votes.
posted by suelac at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by suelac at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
How fast can the Supreme Court change laws, given that cases have to make their way up the system for them to decide on?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I feel like someone had a conspiracy theory 20 or so threads ago that I would really like to cling to right now about how Kennedy had some sort of deal for one of his former clerks that wasn’t a monster?
It was Brett Kavanaugh. He’s a monster.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
It was Brett Kavanaugh. He’s a monster.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
is it possible that he's been planning to retire for a while now but they've been saving up this announcement for when they needed to distract attention away from something else? if that's the case, this being a huge fucking deal, maybe if they're pulling out all the stops now it means they know they're circling the drain hard and running out of stuff they can do to sway public opinion/ need to cram in all the stuff they wanted to do before they're canned. maybe the end truly is near for them. i have to imagine the trump era will end like the life of a star, exploding in maximum chaos before burning out.
(i have to find ways to stay optimistic)
posted by robotdevil at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
(i have to find ways to stay optimistic)
posted by robotdevil at 11:39 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
zachlipton : Or Trump just DGAF about the midterms and Republican turnout.
It's a concept that would need to be explained to him, then re-explained with pictures, before giving up. It's basically beyond his grasp. (Following up on what tivalasvegas said, you might say his emotional paycheck depends on not understanding it.)
There's a slim possibility he'll get it and wait things out. If he does, he'll tweet it explicitly ("Could nominate someone, but won't yet -- we need turnout! MAGA"). But I doubt even that.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:40 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's a concept that would need to be explained to him, then re-explained with pictures, before giving up. It's basically beyond his grasp. (Following up on what tivalasvegas said, you might say his emotional paycheck depends on not understanding it.)
There's a slim possibility he'll get it and wait things out. If he does, he'll tweet it explicitly ("Could nominate someone, but won't yet -- we need turnout! MAGA"). But I doubt even that.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:40 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
House Democrats Reeling After Crowley Upset By Long Shot Challenger - Kelsey Snell, NPR
The shocking upset is a significant blow to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her other top deputies, who have been battling calls from within their membership to step aside and allow a new generation of leaders to take the helm. Crowley's loss adds new intensity to a simmering fight over the direction of the Democratic party and who should lead it.Maybe Democrats should stop being afraid of the left - Dylan Scott, Vox
Maybe it shouldn’t be such a shock that a young woman of color who identifies as a democratic socialist won a Democratic primary against a machine politician who takes millions of dollars from corporate donors, even a 10-term incumbent like Crowley.posted by ZeusHumms at 11:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
Democratic voters, and much of the public, have been telling us for years that they were ready for a genuinely progressive policy agenda to enter the mainstream. Maybe it’s time to listen.
I do wonder what would happen if we had a liberal Congress and a leftie Democratic President combined with a conservative Supreme Court. And what would happen if an increasingly liberal and well-educated and not wanting to hear "no" urban populace plus their also very blue city and state governments (as in CA, MA, etc.) say "you're not the boss of us?"
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:42 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mod note: A few deleted; again please not the "we're doomed" and if you just need to say fuuuuuuuck please do that in the venting thread instead. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:43 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:43 AM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
I'm seeing tons of calls from twitterists for Democrats to filibuster this nomination and fuck them if they don't. Did a ton of people recently wake up from a 2 year nap? No wonder many supposed moderates and progressives didn't take the threat of a Trump-packed Supreme Court seriously enough. They just... don't pay attention.
posted by Justinian at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2018 [36 favorites]
The president is riffing live on the significance of this Court vacancy in front of the Portuguese President. He’s incoherent per usual. But visibly giddy at the prospect of getting a second SC justice to his name. Barf.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2018
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2018
[The President] shall have Power...[to] nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States...
What I don't understand is how these few words came to mean that the Senate could refuse to even consider the President's nominees. To my IANAL mind, this clearly gives him the power to appoint. The Senate can offer advice and consent, but the language clearly doesn't give them the power to simply ignore the appointment. The formal process is well established, and by refusing to engage in it, they abrogated their responsibility and left POTUS free rein. At least, I wish Obama would have argued that in Garland's case. If McConnell would have continued to ignore the nomination, then Garland could have toddled over to a 4-4-split SCOTUS, and then we would have had a real discussion about the Constitution and SCOTUS appointments. At the very least, McConnell would have been forced to hold hearings. At best, Justice Garland.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
What I don't understand is how these few words came to mean that the Senate could refuse to even consider the President's nominees. To my IANAL mind, this clearly gives him the power to appoint. The Senate can offer advice and consent, but the language clearly doesn't give them the power to simply ignore the appointment. The formal process is well established, and by refusing to engage in it, they abrogated their responsibility and left POTUS free rein. At least, I wish Obama would have argued that in Garland's case. If McConnell would have continued to ignore the nomination, then Garland could have toddled over to a 4-4-split SCOTUS, and then we would have had a real discussion about the Constitution and SCOTUS appointments. At the very least, McConnell would have been forced to hold hearings. At best, Justice Garland.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:45 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Has anyone run across any analysis or rumour regarding why Kennedy did this now? There were rumblings a while back but they were non-specific and pretty run-of-the-mill. I'm sure we'll never know precisely what he was thinking here but I'd certainly be curious.
posted by halation at 11:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by halation at 11:46 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Justinian: I've always wondered exactly why the Supreme Court has never been a rallying cry for liberals/progressives as it has for (old and white especially) conservatives? It's a headscratcher, especially because, IME, progressives are not ignorant of civics (certainly not more than conservatives!). Is the court and its importance just harder to grok? Less exciting? It's frustrating for me, because sleeping through midterms and then waking up to yell "We're DOOMED!" is pretty ineffectual.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:48 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:48 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
@chrislhayes: Kennedy handing his seat over to Trump is the most perfect example *ever* about how it is all the party of Trump. All of it. Kennedy looks down from SCOTUS and sees the man in the White House and says “Yes. Him. I want him to be the one to choose my replacement.”
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:49 AM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
Possibly because the centrist view of the Supreme Court is that it is politically neutral? Which is untrue, but they like pretending things like that.
posted by Artw at 11:50 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:50 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Phil Mattingly of CNN: MCCONNELL: "We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall."
So, this will not be an election issue. Trump wouldn't have the patience for that anyway.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
So, this will not be an election issue. Trump wouldn't have the patience for that anyway.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:51 AM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
The death of the ACA would be terrible but can be fixed with Medicare for All. Marriage equality has huge donor and grassroots support and would just generally be a disaster for Republicans if it were nixed. To be honest Row v. Wade would also be a huge disaster for them if it were reversed as well. The more I think about it the more funny this is from a certain cynical perspective. Republicans have relied on liberal Supreme Court decisions to keep them from feeling the heat from the base to support unpopular positions on hot button social issues.
posted by bookman117 at 11:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by bookman117 at 11:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
@NatashaBertrand: McConnell on Kennedy retiring: "It's imperative that the president's nominee be treated fairly."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:52 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
McConnell on Kennedy retiring: "It's imperative that the president's nominee be treated fairly."
Agreed, but I think Mitch and I might have different ideas about what "fair" means
posted by theodolite at 11:53 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
Agreed, but I think Mitch and I might have different ideas about what "fair" means
posted by theodolite at 11:53 AM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
No way SCOTUS would have heard this. They would have punted it. It's a classic political question.
As if that matters. See: Bush v. Gore
posted by zarq at 11:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
As if that matters. See: Bush v. Gore
posted by zarq at 11:54 AM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
halation: "Has anyone run across any analysis or rumour regarding why Kennedy did this now? There were rumblings a while back but they were non-specific and pretty run-of-the-mill. I'm sure we'll never know precisely what he was thinking here but I'd certainly be curious."
Not sure but I'd be curious. Kennedy had hired clerks for next year, so he must have made the decision in the last few months.
posted by crazy with stars at 11:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not sure but I'd be curious. Kennedy had hired clerks for next year, so he must have made the decision in the last few months.
posted by crazy with stars at 11:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is Obama hiding in shame? Because boy did he fuck us by letting McConnell get away with everything he got away with.
posted by Brainy at 11:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 11:56 AM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
What I don't understand is how these few words came to mean that the Senate could refuse to even consider the President's nominees. To my IANAL mind, this clearly gives him the power to appoint.
To my knowledge there is no legal rationale that prevented Obama from making a recess appointment when one Congress ended and another began. He chose not to, probably out of respect for tradition and decorum and other things that I am less concerned about than President Trump's ability to appoint Supreme Court justices for life.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
To my knowledge there is no legal rationale that prevented Obama from making a recess appointment when one Congress ended and another began. He chose not to, probably out of respect for tradition and decorum and other things that I am less concerned about than President Trump's ability to appoint Supreme Court justices for life.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
No way SCOTUS would have heard this. They would have punted it. It's a classic political question. They don't get involved in the procedural operation of the Senate and they wouldn't be about to start.
posted by Rock 'em Sock 'em at 11:50 AM on June 27 [1 favorite +] [!]
There was no procedure. That's my point. The words of the document (originalist, heh) explicitly say advice and consent, which had meaning then and have meaning now. One Senator, Mich McConnell, single-handedly saw to it that neither happened. The SCOTUS question would not be whether the Senate used proper procedure, but rather whether they as a body actually gave any advice or consent, given that no official action whatsoever was taken. The President nominates, the Senate gives an up or down. The Constitution is silent on what happens if the Senate declines to fulfill their mandated role. If I were President, I would assume the best and proceed to ask Roberts to swear in Garland. Then the discussion can begin.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Rock 'em Sock 'em at 11:50 AM on June 27 [1 favorite +] [!]
There was no procedure. That's my point. The words of the document (originalist, heh) explicitly say advice and consent, which had meaning then and have meaning now. One Senator, Mich McConnell, single-handedly saw to it that neither happened. The SCOTUS question would not be whether the Senate used proper procedure, but rather whether they as a body actually gave any advice or consent, given that no official action whatsoever was taken. The President nominates, the Senate gives an up or down. The Constitution is silent on what happens if the Senate declines to fulfill their mandated role. If I were President, I would assume the best and proceed to ask Roberts to swear in Garland. Then the discussion can begin.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Has anyone run across any analysis or rumour regarding why Kennedy did this now? There were rumblings a while back but they were non-specific and pretty run-of-the-mill. I'm sure we'll never know precisely what he was thinking here but I'd certainly be curious.
He's a Republican. He was nominated by Reagan, a Republican. Typically Justices time their retirements so that they will be replaced by a like-minded successor. Just because Kennedy was the swing vote on cases related to affirmative action, marriage equality and abortion access, doesn't mean he's not still a conservative or a Republican.
posted by zarq at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
He's a Republican. He was nominated by Reagan, a Republican. Typically Justices time their retirements so that they will be replaced by a like-minded successor. Just because Kennedy was the swing vote on cases related to affirmative action, marriage equality and abortion access, doesn't mean he's not still a conservative or a Republican.
posted by zarq at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
MCCONNELL: "We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall."
So, this will not be an election issue. Trump wouldn't have the patience for that anyway.
FWIW, Fall begins September 22.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
So, this will not be an election issue. Trump wouldn't have the patience for that anyway.
FWIW, Fall begins September 22.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
How fast can the Supreme Court change laws, given that cases have to make their way up the system for them to decide on?
Annually for the next 25 years or so.
posted by notyou at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Annually for the next 25 years or so.
posted by notyou at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
My “assume the best” side says health issues.
My assume the best side is losing the battle in my brain right now.
posted by greermahoney at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
My assume the best side is losing the battle in my brain right now.
posted by greermahoney at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
I emailed my Senators (IL -- Durbin & Duckworth) with the following script:
All's I can say is -- I'm not really a write/call my elected reps person (in fact, I don't remember the last time I did!), and I live in a deep blue area in a blue state so they're *mostly* on my side already. But this seems like a thing that immediate outcry *might* push the Senate Democrats on...
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I respectfully request that [Senator] do everything in [their] power to ensure that President Trump is not allowed to fill the Supreme Court vacancy being left by Justice Kennedy, even if it means denying quorum.I don't know how accurate that Vox article is, or how much can practically be done to shut down the nomination, but... I mean, it's the Senate, like the word literally means "gathering of old people" in Latin. I think the Senate Dems could do it if they really wanted to (by which I mean are committed to being small-d democrats and/or are terrified of their constituents).
All's I can say is -- I'm not really a write/call my elected reps person (in fact, I don't remember the last time I did!), and I live in a deep blue area in a blue state so they're *mostly* on my side already. But this seems like a thing that immediate outcry *might* push the Senate Democrats on...
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
> I'm seeing tons of calls from twitterists for Democrats to filibuster this nomination and fuck them if they don't. Did a ton of people recently wake up from a 2 year nap? No wonder many supposed moderates and progressives didn't take the threat of a Trump-packed Supreme Court seriously enough. They just... don't pay attention.
@LemieuxLGM: A warning that the first time I see some anti-anti-Trump type who completely ignored the Supreme Court in 2016 find a way to blame Senate Dems for not using nonexistent powers to stop Gorsuch II I'm not going to react calmly
posted by tonycpsu at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
@LemieuxLGM: A warning that the first time I see some anti-anti-Trump type who completely ignored the Supreme Court in 2016 find a way to blame Senate Dems for not using nonexistent powers to stop Gorsuch II I'm not going to react calmly
posted by tonycpsu at 11:59 AM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
McConnell on Kennedy retiring: "It's imperative that the president's nominee be treated fairly."
Good to know its impossible to die of irony.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
Good to know its impossible to die of irony.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
Is Obama hiding in shame? Because boy did he fuck us by letting McConnell get away with everything he got away with.
What? Without taking a position on the merits I understand the argument that Senate Democrats fucked us by not completely shutting down the Senate. But Obama wasn't a Senator? He was President? And couldn't do anything?
I know we're all feeling the hit from this but the anger really should be aimed in the right direction.
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
What? Without taking a position on the merits I understand the argument that Senate Democrats fucked us by not completely shutting down the Senate. But Obama wasn't a Senator? He was President? And couldn't do anything?
I know we're all feeling the hit from this but the anger really should be aimed in the right direction.
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Has anyone run across any analysis or rumour regarding why Kennedy did this now?
The term just ended (or is about to end - not sure if there are a couple more decisions pending?), they'll hear no new cases until October. Administratively this is the most logical time to step down and allow a replacement to be seated before the next term.
Unless you mean "why during Trump's presidency," which... I'll let you draw your own conclusions about Kennedy's character and motivations there....
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The term just ended (or is about to end - not sure if there are a couple more decisions pending?), they'll hear no new cases until October. Administratively this is the most logical time to step down and allow a replacement to be seated before the next term.
Unless you mean "why during Trump's presidency," which... I'll let you draw your own conclusions about Kennedy's character and motivations there....
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The death of the ACA would be terrible but can be fixed with Medicare for All.
I mean? What do people honestly see as a plausible timeline for this beautiful dream of medicare for all? Because a whole lot of people with preexisting conditions will die without the guarantee of coverage from the ACA.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
I mean? What do people honestly see as a plausible timeline for this beautiful dream of medicare for all? Because a whole lot of people with preexisting conditions will die without the guarantee of coverage from the ACA.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
@GregStohr: Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a top contender to succeed Kennedy, per a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
This is a guy from the Whitewater and Bush v. Gore crowd, basically a witch hunter in judge's robes. Not even joking: if I was the Clintons, I'd start thinking about what countries would grant them political asylum.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
This is a guy from the Whitewater and Bush v. Gore crowd, basically a witch hunter in judge's robes. Not even joking: if I was the Clintons, I'd start thinking about what countries would grant them political asylum.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
And don’t get me started on what overturning Roe v. Wade will mean, even if it’s “just” in the short or mid term.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
How fast can the Supreme Court change laws, given that cases have to make their way up the system for them to decide on?
With a solid, reliable anti-14th amendment majority on the court, conservative activists will have a steady stream of cases in the pipeline designed to undermine constitutional protection of equal rights every year until their handmaid's tale fantasy is reality.
posted by dis_integration at 12:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
With a solid, reliable anti-14th amendment majority on the court, conservative activists will have a steady stream of cases in the pipeline designed to undermine constitutional protection of equal rights every year until their handmaid's tale fantasy is reality.
posted by dis_integration at 12:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm seeing tons of calls from twitterists for Democrats to filibuster this nomination and fuck them if they don't. Did a ton of people recently wake up from a 2 year nap?
I think a lot of people are, like me, using lazy shorthand, for which I apologize. I say “filibuster” and I don’t actually mean the legal process that is commonly known as filibustering, but rather “shutting down the Senate”, whether it be from work-to-rule, avoiding quorum, or by any means necessary.
I will try to use more precise language to avoid this confusion in these threads which are fast moving and important and clarity of language matters.
posted by corb at 12:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think a lot of people are, like me, using lazy shorthand, for which I apologize. I say “filibuster” and I don’t actually mean the legal process that is commonly known as filibustering, but rather “shutting down the Senate”, whether it be from work-to-rule, avoiding quorum, or by any means necessary.
I will try to use more precise language to avoid this confusion in these threads which are fast moving and important and clarity of language matters.
posted by corb at 12:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
How fast can the Supreme Court change laws, given that cases have to make their way up the system for them to decide on?
With a rock solid conservative majority they will be much more agressive about issuing sweeping rulings that before they would’ve had to get Kennedy to buy in on. They can start overruling decades of the legal system from day 1, there’s always a case out there if they want to find one.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
With a rock solid conservative majority they will be much more agressive about issuing sweeping rulings that before they would’ve had to get Kennedy to buy in on. They can start overruling decades of the legal system from day 1, there’s always a case out there if they want to find one.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
CNN: Ocasio-Cortez: "I Would Support Impeachment"—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she would support the impeachment of President Trump if the Democratic party had the grounds for action.
She did, however, punt on the question of supporting Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House if the Dems retake it. "I think it is far too early to make those kinds of commitments right now."
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
She did, however, punt on the question of supporting Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House if the Dems retake it. "I think it is far too early to make those kinds of commitments right now."
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
I was eavesdropping last night on this Twitter discussion with Obama staffer Jesse Lee on the White House's failure to press for Garland, and thought people might find it interesting.
The fact is, they didn't break through the news cycle. I'm not sure they could have, given how much madness was going on, but they didn't. And the Obama administration's aversion to big showy stunts in favor of civility and decorum was part of that.
I'm really not convinced there was anything they could have done, short of just forcing Garland onto the court anyway and seeing what happened, which would have been a Constitutional crisis. If McConnell didn't want to move the nomination, he wasn't going to move the nomination, and I think it's clear that shame is not a tactic that works with this man.
But some actual shame still would have been good.
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
The fact is, they didn't break through the news cycle. I'm not sure they could have, given how much madness was going on, but they didn't. And the Obama administration's aversion to big showy stunts in favor of civility and decorum was part of that.
I'm really not convinced there was anything they could have done, short of just forcing Garland onto the court anyway and seeing what happened, which would have been a Constitutional crisis. If McConnell didn't want to move the nomination, he wasn't going to move the nomination, and I think it's clear that shame is not a tactic that works with this man.
But some actual shame still would have been good.
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
corb; no problem, when I said "twitterists" I literally meant people on Twitter rather than on Metafilter! Sorry if you thought I was taking aim at you!
posted by Justinian at 12:11 PM on June 27, 2018
posted by Justinian at 12:11 PM on June 27, 2018
If D senators had the guts required for these times, they'd follow this advice:
Dem senators, repeat after me:
“The President of the United States is under investigation for collusion with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice. There can be no SCOTUS replacement until he’s been cleared.”
posted by gwint at 12:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [174 favorites]
Dem senators, repeat after me:
“The President of the United States is under investigation for collusion with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice. There can be no SCOTUS replacement until he’s been cleared.”
posted by gwint at 12:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [174 favorites]
I'm really not convinced there was anything they could have done, short of just forcing Garland onto the court anyway and seeing what happened, which would have been a Constitutional crisis. If McConnell didn't want to move the nomination, he wasn't going to move the nomination, and I think it's clear that shame is not a tactic that works with this man.
As of yesterday, that's been called into question
posted by ocschwar at 12:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Who knew that a weakness of "no-drama Obama" was drama itself?
posted by rhizome at 12:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
@GarrettHaake: Dem. Senator BLUMENTHAL: “The Senate should do nothing to artificially delay” consideration of next justice, but POTUS should take his time & make a centrist choice.
These gutless fuckers are already folding.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
These gutless fuckers are already folding.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
I saw this thread about how to defend and flip the senate and I just don't understand. This list linked in that thread is of twenty senators who need people to work to defend their seats. Three of them voted to confirm that last conservative Trump SCOTUS nominee. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a strategic thinker, but by what logic is it smart to support democratic senators who helped keep the court conservative? I mean, I know if they lose that means a republican wins, but on one hand you have a senator who voted for a conservative judge and on the other you have a republican challenger who might also vote for a conservative. Does the D next to their name magically make them more likely to vote against Trump's next nominee?
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Does the D next to their name magically make them more likely to vote against Trump's next nominee?
The idea isn't that a guy like Manchin doesn't vote in favor of shitty justices, it's that with guys like Manchin you win a majority of seats in the Senate and then the shitty justices never get voted on. The Majority leader schedules the votes and if Schumer is majority leader Trump's shitty appointment never makes it to the floor for Manchin to vote Yes.
That's leaving aside all the non-SC votes since we've argued that ad nauseum.
posted by Justinian at 12:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
The idea isn't that a guy like Manchin doesn't vote in favor of shitty justices, it's that with guys like Manchin you win a majority of seats in the Senate and then the shitty justices never get voted on. The Majority leader schedules the votes and if Schumer is majority leader Trump's shitty appointment never makes it to the floor for Manchin to vote Yes.
That's leaving aside all the non-SC votes since we've argued that ad nauseum.
posted by Justinian at 12:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
Well, I was going to ask what legal or procedural steps the Democrats could take to prevent the seating of whatever backwards loyalist Trump wants to install in the Court (may Kennedy's name be cursed for seven generations for allowing this), but I see there's no point.
Already the Democrats are folding so there's no point in discussing whether denying quorum or unanimous consent could do enough to stop this. Trump's nominee will be seated and almost certainly be seated with at least one, and probably many, Democratic votes.
Which brings me to the next question: given that the Court in its current incarnation is now ratfucked for the next 20 years minimum, what do we do?
Is there any chance of driving through an expansion of the Court if we win the trifecta in 2020? Or is that as dead as the possibility of fighting Trump's nominee?
Have we basically just put all civil rights gains on hold, with some being reversed, for 20 years or can we work around the Court?
So many of our past gains have been made by Supreme Court decisions expanding liberty, I'm used to thinking of them as our first resort, but is it possible to treat the Court as an enemy and make gains against their opposition? Even if the 5 Republican Justices vote in lockstep for the most insane arguments against laws expanding civil liberties?
posted by sotonohito at 12:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Already the Democrats are folding so there's no point in discussing whether denying quorum or unanimous consent could do enough to stop this. Trump's nominee will be seated and almost certainly be seated with at least one, and probably many, Democratic votes.
Which brings me to the next question: given that the Court in its current incarnation is now ratfucked for the next 20 years minimum, what do we do?
Is there any chance of driving through an expansion of the Court if we win the trifecta in 2020? Or is that as dead as the possibility of fighting Trump's nominee?
Have we basically just put all civil rights gains on hold, with some being reversed, for 20 years or can we work around the Court?
So many of our past gains have been made by Supreme Court decisions expanding liberty, I'm used to thinking of them as our first resort, but is it possible to treat the Court as an enemy and make gains against their opposition? Even if the 5 Republican Justices vote in lockstep for the most insane arguments against laws expanding civil liberties?
posted by sotonohito at 12:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well, it looks like I'm doing this again.
posted by pxe2000 at 12:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 12:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
but is it possible to treat the Court as an enemy and make gains against their opposition?
Yes, but mostly at the state level I think.
posted by Justinian at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes, but mostly at the state level I think.
posted by Justinian at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump *will* put a crazy person on the bench. We should fight it with everything we've got, but he will win. We need to think about what happens next. And I mean long-term (with respect for the fact that what happens in the short and medium term is not going to be OK, I just don't know what we do about that).
Court-packing and impeachment of certain terrible justices once we get back into power are options, but they both a) require powerful presidents with big Senate majorities, and b) are reversible as soon as the political tides shift.
I'm starting to think the Overton window needs to move in the direction of Supreme Court reform instead. Like, constitutional amendment-type reform. I'm serious! A larger court with limited, staggered terms. Thirteen members, terms are 25 years, every president gets two selections, something like that.
Much like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, this is something that only Democratic states would sign on to at this time. But as soon as the scenario is flipped, and a Democratic president is elected with a popular vote loss / gets a bunch of Supreme Court appointments, the shoe is on the other foot, and progress can happen. (I have a hunch Mitch McConnell would have taken this Supreme Court deal in October 2016, for example.)
We're talking a generation or two down the road, at least. But if someone had started this process during Bush v. Gore, maybe there'd have been some progress by now. Everyone, even Republicans, knows the Supreme Court is broken. You can't run a democracy with an unelected super-Senate whose only oversight is the icy hand of death. You need a judiciary that actually does law-type stuff.
And no, you don't need to remind me how Republicans aren't interested in democratic governance. The point is that I think you could convince some of them, down the road, that it is in their interest to have judicial stability. This is something that can be pushed at the state level, starting now, and picking up momentum over time. It is something that can be argued in a nonpartisan way in front of TV cameras.
It's also something I'm probably totally wrong about in nineteen different ways. That's fine. I just want us to be talking about big ideas for what to do with the Court. We've gotten Medicare-for-all into the national conversation. Let's get judicial stability in there too.
posted by saturday_morning at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
Court-packing and impeachment of certain terrible justices once we get back into power are options, but they both a) require powerful presidents with big Senate majorities, and b) are reversible as soon as the political tides shift.
I'm starting to think the Overton window needs to move in the direction of Supreme Court reform instead. Like, constitutional amendment-type reform. I'm serious! A larger court with limited, staggered terms. Thirteen members, terms are 25 years, every president gets two selections, something like that.
Much like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, this is something that only Democratic states would sign on to at this time. But as soon as the scenario is flipped, and a Democratic president is elected with a popular vote loss / gets a bunch of Supreme Court appointments, the shoe is on the other foot, and progress can happen. (I have a hunch Mitch McConnell would have taken this Supreme Court deal in October 2016, for example.)
We're talking a generation or two down the road, at least. But if someone had started this process during Bush v. Gore, maybe there'd have been some progress by now. Everyone, even Republicans, knows the Supreme Court is broken. You can't run a democracy with an unelected super-Senate whose only oversight is the icy hand of death. You need a judiciary that actually does law-type stuff.
And no, you don't need to remind me how Republicans aren't interested in democratic governance. The point is that I think you could convince some of them, down the road, that it is in their interest to have judicial stability. This is something that can be pushed at the state level, starting now, and picking up momentum over time. It is something that can be argued in a nonpartisan way in front of TV cameras.
It's also something I'm probably totally wrong about in nineteen different ways. That's fine. I just want us to be talking about big ideas for what to do with the Court. We've gotten Medicare-for-all into the national conversation. Let's get judicial stability in there too.
posted by saturday_morning at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
the reason this shit is happening is because of democrats losing elections to republicans
if you don't like what is happening, stop fucking trash talking whatever democrat said something dumb today and focus on getting people out to vote for the best possible democrats running in your district
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [137 favorites]
if you don't like what is happening, stop fucking trash talking whatever democrat said something dumb today and focus on getting people out to vote for the best possible democrats running in your district
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [137 favorites]
Thanks Justinian, that makes sense. Like I said, strategy is not my strong suit (I'm always losing at Warhammer 40K), so I appreciate the explanation.
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Retirement is effective as of July 31st, 2018.
Christ, what an asshole!
Couldn't he have at least delayed just six months? Even if he is ill or just tired, he could have taken a medical sabbatical but refused to resign until next year. There's nothing anyone could do to prevent that short of impeachment, which would be impossible with a few Democrats.
posted by JackFlash at 12:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Christ, what an asshole!
Couldn't he have at least delayed just six months? Even if he is ill or just tired, he could have taken a medical sabbatical but refused to resign until next year. There's nothing anyone could do to prevent that short of impeachment, which would be impossible with a few Democrats.
posted by JackFlash at 12:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Rep. John Lewis @repjohnlewis offers wise counsel:
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [113 favorites]
Do not get lost in a sea of despair.(Line breaks added, because it reads like poetry.)
Be hopeful, be optimistic.
Our struggle is not the struggle
of a day, a week, a month, or a year,
it is the struggle of a lifetime.
Never, ever be afraid to make some noise
and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.
#goodtrouble
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [113 favorites]
So many of our past gains have been made by Supreme Court decisions expanding liberty, I'm used to thinking of them as our first resort, but is it possible to treat the Court as an enemy and make gains against their opposition? Even if the 5 Republican Justices vote in lockstep for the most insane arguments against laws expanding civil liberties?
Sotonohito, I think that's part of the problem - we liberals/progressives are so used to thinking that the Court is our friend, which it has been since the mid-20th century, that we haven't thought much about "The Court is not our friend anymore, what is Plan B?" I think saturday_morning has some good thoughts on this. But there has to be a Plan B, not a "welp whatchagonnado?"
I'm reminded of "states rights" as a dog whistle, which it became because the Federal government was the one on our (liberal, progressive) side ever since FDR, and especially during the Civil Rights movement. Now the shoe is on the other foot - it is California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and other blue states that are more progressive than the feds. And in California's case, an economy which dwarfs actual countries, putting them in a position to say "nyah nyah, we don't hafta if we don't wanna."
I think the blue states and cities have a major role in stepping up to the progressive plate.
As far as blaming Obama for this mess - no. He was the President, not Superman. I am firmly placing the blame on the shoulders of the Democratic voters who stayed the fuck home in 2010 and 2014. If we had turned out for the midterms in 2010 and 2014, Merrick Garland could have been seated (and a whole lot more legislation enacted). No, you do not get to sit on the couch and blame Obama for not mopping up your mess. (And yes, I know MeFites vote!)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
Sotonohito, I think that's part of the problem - we liberals/progressives are so used to thinking that the Court is our friend, which it has been since the mid-20th century, that we haven't thought much about "The Court is not our friend anymore, what is Plan B?" I think saturday_morning has some good thoughts on this. But there has to be a Plan B, not a "welp whatchagonnado?"
I'm reminded of "states rights" as a dog whistle, which it became because the Federal government was the one on our (liberal, progressive) side ever since FDR, and especially during the Civil Rights movement. Now the shoe is on the other foot - it is California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and other blue states that are more progressive than the feds. And in California's case, an economy which dwarfs actual countries, putting them in a position to say "nyah nyah, we don't hafta if we don't wanna."
I think the blue states and cities have a major role in stepping up to the progressive plate.
As far as blaming Obama for this mess - no. He was the President, not Superman. I am firmly placing the blame on the shoulders of the Democratic voters who stayed the fuck home in 2010 and 2014. If we had turned out for the midterms in 2010 and 2014, Merrick Garland could have been seated (and a whole lot more legislation enacted). No, you do not get to sit on the couch and blame Obama for not mopping up your mess. (And yes, I know MeFites vote!)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [50 favorites]
Senator Harris comes out fighting, throws McConnell's words back at the Republicans and urges that no nominee be considered until after the elections.
posted by sotonohito at 12:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [102 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 12:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [102 favorites]
the reason this shit is happening is because of democrats losing elections to republicans
This is true, and you are right. It is also true that the reason this shit is happening is because we have a system where Republicans control the President and the Senate despite millions more people voting for Democrats for President and the aggregate of all Senate races. We have a system that systematically disenfranchises millions of people in a racially biased fashion and including the entire populations of territories and our federal district. And yes, we have a system where enormous numbers of people don't show up to vote at all. More Americans support Roe than ever before.
Winning elections is the only way we're going to fix anything, but this is fundamentally rigged against us. And we need to keep saying that, because in the unlikely event we're ever in a position to do anything about it, we need to fix it.
posted by zachlipton at 12:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [59 favorites]
This is true, and you are right. It is also true that the reason this shit is happening is because we have a system where Republicans control the President and the Senate despite millions more people voting for Democrats for President and the aggregate of all Senate races. We have a system that systematically disenfranchises millions of people in a racially biased fashion and including the entire populations of territories and our federal district. And yes, we have a system where enormous numbers of people don't show up to vote at all. More Americans support Roe than ever before.
Winning elections is the only way we're going to fix anything, but this is fundamentally rigged against us. And we need to keep saying that, because in the unlikely event we're ever in a position to do anything about it, we need to fix it.
posted by zachlipton at 12:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [59 favorites]
I am firmly placing the blame on the shoulders of the Democratic voters who stayed the fuck home in 2010 and 2014.
Hindsight being 20/20 and all, the Dems didn't exactly do a good job of selling themselves outside of 2008 and 2012. It's the conservatives who played along with all of this until 2016 and then started all of the sudden started rending their garments about how horrible Trump is that you should aim your ire at. They're an actual population who took concrete actions to bring us here while absolving themselves of all responsibility for them, and deserve far more blame then hypothetical non-voters.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Hindsight being 20/20 and all, the Dems didn't exactly do a good job of selling themselves outside of 2008 and 2012. It's the conservatives who played along with all of this until 2016 and then started all of the sudden started rending their garments about how horrible Trump is that you should aim your ire at. They're an actual population who took concrete actions to bring us here while absolving themselves of all responsibility for them, and deserve far more blame then hypothetical non-voters.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Fascinating. Weathervane Kennedy's retirement announcement is yet more confirmation that the Republicans themselves expect to lose the Senate in November.
Now, "no collusion" is a demand for Democrats as well as an unconvincing denial by Republicans.
posted by Gelatin at 12:46 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Now, "no collusion" is a demand for Democrats as well as an unconvincing denial by Republicans.
posted by Gelatin at 12:46 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Just prepare for the Trump Justice to draw democratic votes. Because he will. They only filibustered at all over Gorsuch because the base made them, and that’s not an option this time.
Sotonohito, I think that's part of the problem - we liberals/progressives are so used to thinking that the Court is our friend
Liberals place outsized reliance on what’s really a 20 year outlier period from the mid-50s to mid-70s. At all other times in our history the Court has been a force of repression. A couple outlier cases from O’Conner and Kennedy do not outweigh the overall arch of the court’s work since 1980, which has overwhelmingly been to enchance the power of business, stripe rights from consumers, utterly destroy labor, create the mass incarceration state, and enshrine Republican majorities in office for forever.
The Court hasn’t been our friend in a long, long time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
Sotonohito, I think that's part of the problem - we liberals/progressives are so used to thinking that the Court is our friend
Liberals place outsized reliance on what’s really a 20 year outlier period from the mid-50s to mid-70s. At all other times in our history the Court has been a force of repression. A couple outlier cases from O’Conner and Kennedy do not outweigh the overall arch of the court’s work since 1980, which has overwhelmingly been to enchance the power of business, stripe rights from consumers, utterly destroy labor, create the mass incarceration state, and enshrine Republican majorities in office for forever.
The Court hasn’t been our friend in a long, long time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
Of course Kennedy wasn't going to wait six months. He is a Republican.
Yes, appointed by Ronald Reagan -- a long, long time ago, before many people's memory. Think about that regarding Roberts and Alito and Gorsuch and this new abomination. Trump is not going away no matter what happens in 2020. The effects are going to be around for at least the next 25 years.
posted by JackFlash at 12:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yes, appointed by Ronald Reagan -- a long, long time ago, before many people's memory. Think about that regarding Roberts and Alito and Gorsuch and this new abomination. Trump is not going away no matter what happens in 2020. The effects are going to be around for at least the next 25 years.
posted by JackFlash at 12:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
To put my point another way:
@JosephPatrice: Fun fact: By the fall, four Supreme Court justices -- almost half the Court -- will have been picked by Presidents who entered office after losing the popular vote.
@jbouie:
posted by zachlipton at 12:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
@JosephPatrice: Fun fact: By the fall, four Supreme Court justices -- almost half the Court -- will have been picked by Presidents who entered office after losing the popular vote.
@jbouie:
In a game of Jeopardy, this would be an answer to "Why some liberals are resorting to public shaming and vocal protest."We've just spent days on "civility" without commentators grappling with the idea that people might be feeling uncivil because the folks who govern like they think they're god's chosen representatives (to harm people) actually won because they keep pointing to paragraph 47 subsection e of the rulebook which says that the people who get the most votes don't win, over and over again. And that expressing even the mild dissatisfaction with that system of kneeling or "I would like you to leave this place I own, please" is cause for an outrage campaign. Politicians routinely overestimate support for conservative positions, to the extent that "overturn Roe" somehow seems like a mainstream view rather than something not even championed by a majority of Republicans.
Anyway, it's interesting how few pundits think about the long-term consequences of a political party winning majority power despite minority support, and then using that power to pursue deeply unpopular, highly factional policy. Even if it's "fair" given wide knowledge of the rules of the game, it puts a lot of stress on the system. And that stress is exacerbated when the winners govern as if they have an absolute popular mandate.
posted by zachlipton at 12:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
Signs of a spine!
@cnnpolitics
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer comments on the retirement announcement of Justice Anthony Kennedy: “Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016: not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year”
posted by Artw at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [84 favorites]
@cnnpolitics
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer comments on the retirement announcement of Justice Anthony Kennedy: “Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016: not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year”
posted by Artw at 1:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [84 favorites]
Keep contacting your congresspeople. Tell them to fight back however they can until we can deliver the Senate.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
In an election year where the sitting President is still under investigation for colluding with a hostile foreign power to undermine the legitimacy of our election system.
Man up, Chuck.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
Man up, Chuck.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
Then let’s fucking deliver the Senate.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer comments on the retirement announcement of Justice Anthony Kennedy: “Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016: not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year”
I don't like to brag, but I called his office an hour ago, left a message and now he comes out with this.
(OK, i had nothing to do with it, but this is genuinely good to see.)
posted by zarq at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
I don't like to brag, but I called his office an hour ago, left a message and now he comes out with this.
(OK, i had nothing to do with it, but this is genuinely good to see.)
posted by zarq at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
Already the Democrats are folding
Mmmmmmaybe? Or maybe "oh yeah we won't be obstructionist cockbags" at this point, when it's meaningless, is just an effort at preventing the cockbags from making it into a galvanizing issue any sooner than necessary? I certainly see no reason to give them much of any credit on the matter, but they did force the Gorsuch nom. I can see a reasonable strategy behind having some of your members treat it as a boring yeah we'll just do the job like always and letting the more dynamic folks get the press.
Who knows? Blumenthal is on the Judiciary committee so I can see a "let this dork be the voice of do our jobs right" possibility - and in fairness, in that quote he does drop a "gosh we may not have time to do this in a proper manner in the time left to us before the election" in there - or maybe he's just high on his own supply being on that committee and just can't imagine doing anything but being a good little rubber stamp.
posted by phearlez at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mmmmmmaybe? Or maybe "oh yeah we won't be obstructionist cockbags" at this point, when it's meaningless, is just an effort at preventing the cockbags from making it into a galvanizing issue any sooner than necessary? I certainly see no reason to give them much of any credit on the matter, but they did force the Gorsuch nom. I can see a reasonable strategy behind having some of your members treat it as a boring yeah we'll just do the job like always and letting the more dynamic folks get the press.
Who knows? Blumenthal is on the Judiciary committee so I can see a "let this dork be the voice of do our jobs right" possibility - and in fairness, in that quote he does drop a "gosh we may not have time to do this in a proper manner in the time left to us before the election" in there - or maybe he's just high on his own supply being on that committee and just can't imagine doing anything but being a good little rubber stamp.
posted by phearlez at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Water it and feed it and give it plenty of love and maybe one day it will grow into a big spine
posted by saturday_morning at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [36 favorites]
Trump is not going away no matter what happens in 2020. The effects are going to be around for at least the next 25 years.
I am not kidding: fruit of the poisoned tree. If we ever turn this fucking burning ship around, we consider everything to be fruit of the stolen election. None of it is legitimate. All of it should be investigated. And all of them impeached and removed from office.
I’m not saying this as a firebrand. I’m saying this as someone who wants the country to survive. It will not survive while ruled by an abusive minority who cheated their way in. It will not survive if a majority of the people do not view the government as legitimate while they suffer the effects of that illegitimate rule. That is simply not sustainable.
The current state of the union is not sustainable.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [101 favorites]
I am not kidding: fruit of the poisoned tree. If we ever turn this fucking burning ship around, we consider everything to be fruit of the stolen election. None of it is legitimate. All of it should be investigated. And all of them impeached and removed from office.
I’m not saying this as a firebrand. I’m saying this as someone who wants the country to survive. It will not survive while ruled by an abusive minority who cheated their way in. It will not survive if a majority of the people do not view the government as legitimate while they suffer the effects of that illegitimate rule. That is simply not sustainable.
The current state of the union is not sustainable.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [101 favorites]
Second to the immense amount of harm that the Roberts Court, Kennedy-free edition will do to people, what's really making me despair right now is knowing that the accelerationists are winning. This is what so many of them wanted all along.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 1:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Senator Harris comes out fighting, throws McConnell's words back at the Republicans and urges that no nominee be considered until after the elections.
Senators Durbin and Duckworth do too. Yay for my Senators!
posted by SisterHavana at 1:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
Senators Durbin and Duckworth do too. Yay for my Senators!
posted by SisterHavana at 1:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
TPM is collecting a list of statements from Democratic Senators.
posted by zachlipton at 1:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
That TPM collection is handy. And I very much enough calling it "The McConnell Rule."
posted by craven_morhead at 1:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by craven_morhead at 1:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
fruit of the poisoned tree
Over half of the Supreme Court is going to have been appointed by illegitimate presidents. Whether or not we choose to treat it that way, it is in fact now an empirically illegitimate institution.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:11 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
Over half of the Supreme Court is going to have been appointed by illegitimate presidents. Whether or not we choose to treat it that way, it is in fact now an empirically illegitimate institution.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:11 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
Oh, good job: Bob Casey (D), PA is on board too.
posted by gladly at 1:12 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by gladly at 1:12 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
I've mostly used resistbot to yell at Chuck Schumer this week and plan to keep it up for the foreseeable future.
posted by Mavri at 1:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Mavri at 1:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
(Just left a message with Senator Casey's D.C. office to thank him for his support of "The McConnell Rule" and to ask him not to allow Trump to seat a new Supreme Court Justice while he and his administration under investigation by the Special Counsel.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
The ninth justice is a done deal. This "McConnell Rule" silliness among Democratic senators is just that.
But our 2020 candidates had better be running on the Spinal Tap platform: "This one goes to eleven."
posted by pjenks at 1:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
But our 2020 candidates had better be running on the Spinal Tap platform: "This one goes to eleven."
posted by pjenks at 1:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
Senator Chris Murphy (D) CT
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) NY
posted by zarq at 1:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) NY
posted by zarq at 1:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
The ninth justice is a done deal. This "McConnell Rule" silliness among Democratic senators is just that.
Resistance that gets attention but still fails to win a single battle can often be critical in winning the larger war.
posted by phearlez at 1:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
Resistance that gets attention but still fails to win a single battle can often be critical in winning the larger war.
posted by phearlez at 1:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [78 favorites]
Senator Harris comes out fighting, throws McConnell's words back at the Republicans and urges that no nominee be considered until after the elections.
McConnell controls whether the Senate has a recess. If the Dem caucus filibusters any nominee, he will ensure there is a recess long enough for Trump to make a recess appointment. I think they should make a stand, and force this to happen, but with R control of House and Senate, they will get a justice on the court.
posted by dis_integration at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
McConnell controls whether the Senate has a recess. If the Dem caucus filibusters any nominee, he will ensure there is a recess long enough for Trump to make a recess appointment. I think they should make a stand, and force this to happen, but with R control of House and Senate, they will get a justice on the court.
posted by dis_integration at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I know there's a lot going on, but turning back a couple pages in the "still active horror shows" book:
@aflores: .@TRACReports found that about 1,000 of 4,500 adults arrested with kids by Border Patrol in April have been quickly deported. Many without the kids....It appears as though several hundred parents have been deported w/out their kids in April alone.
posted by zachlipton at 1:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
@aflores: .@TRACReports found that about 1,000 of 4,500 adults arrested with kids by Border Patrol in April have been quickly deported. Many without the kids....It appears as though several hundred parents have been deported w/out their kids in April alone.
posted by zachlipton at 1:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
At the very least, it is a good move for Democrats to point out, loudly and repeatedly, the hypocrisy of McConnell and the GOP in a way that cannot reasonably be denied.
(It will be unreasonably denied, or ignored. But still, to say nothing doesn't inspire voter confidence.)
posted by Foosnark at 1:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
(It will be unreasonably denied, or ignored. But still, to say nothing doesn't inspire voter confidence.)
posted by Foosnark at 1:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Just dropped a letter on resistbot to Senator Cardin because of his stance reported in this tweet. It was basically a much nicer version of, "nah, fuck that."
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
If the Dem caucus filibusters any nominee ...
Stop right there. There is no filibuster permitted for the nominee.
posted by JackFlash at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Stop right there. There is no filibuster permitted for the nominee.
posted by JackFlash at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The Dem Senators seem to misapprehend the actual precedent or standard McConnell set in 2016, which is: Republicans can do whatever they want whenever they want, and everyone else in the world can fuck right off forever.
I appreciate their rhetorical snark, though, even just as a tiny morale booster.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
I appreciate their rhetorical snark, though, even just as a tiny morale booster.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Stop right there. There is no filibuster permitted for the nominee.
Supreme Court justice appointments can still be filibustered. Just not any other federal court appointment.
posted by dis_integration at 1:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Supreme Court justice appointments can still be filibustered. Just not any other federal court appointment.
posted by dis_integration at 1:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Just dropped a letter on resistbot to Senator Cardin because of his stance reported in this tweet. It was basically a much nicer version of, "nah, fuck that."
I called Cardin's office two hours after that tweet was posted, and was told that he hadn't made a statement. I think I was lied to.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:29 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I called Cardin's office two hours after that tweet was posted, and was told that he hadn't made a statement. I think I was lied to.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:29 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
phearlez: Resistance that gets attention but still fails to win a single battle can often be critical in winning the larger war.
Yes. When the regime first floated a child separation policy in March of 2017, they retreated because of public reaction, even though there's no tangible Thing that Democrats could have done if they decided to implement it back then. "Hopeless" resistance is crucial.
This also connects to the civility debate that's now one cycle old: talking about this shows less-informed people that the stakes are what they are. A fair number of folks assume "It can't be that bad or else you'd be making a bigger fuss, no?" The fuss itself helps clarify wrong from right.
Honestly, this is the grain of truth in the term "reality-based community", which really was meant as an insult. The Tea Party didn't settle for reality because they didn't even live in it. We need to keep one foot in reality for sure. But the other has to be planted in the impossible so that it can be made possible.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:29 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
Yes. When the regime first floated a child separation policy in March of 2017, they retreated because of public reaction, even though there's no tangible Thing that Democrats could have done if they decided to implement it back then. "Hopeless" resistance is crucial.
This also connects to the civility debate that's now one cycle old: talking about this shows less-informed people that the stakes are what they are. A fair number of folks assume "It can't be that bad or else you'd be making a bigger fuss, no?" The fuss itself helps clarify wrong from right.
Honestly, this is the grain of truth in the term "reality-based community", which really was meant as an insult. The Tea Party didn't settle for reality because they didn't even live in it. We need to keep one foot in reality for sure. But the other has to be planted in the impossible so that it can be made possible.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:29 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
Supreme Court justice appointments can still be filibustered. Just not any other federal court appointment.
That died with Justice Gorsuch's confirmation.
posted by zachlipton at 1:30 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
That died with Justice Gorsuch's confirmation.
posted by zachlipton at 1:30 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
@AJentleson: The first thing all Dems need to do is get a firm mental grip on the new rules.
McConnell annihilated every norm of the nomination process to deny Garland a hearing or vote and steal the Court for a generation.
If you play by the old rules, you're playing a fool's game.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
McConnell annihilated every norm of the nomination process to deny Garland a hearing or vote and steal the Court for a generation.
If you play by the old rules, you're playing a fool's game.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
Mod note: A few deleted. Internet tough-guy stuff about civil war, armed socialist revolt, how you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, and so on, and the obvious rebuttals, is extremely well-covered territory in these threads over a period of two years; let's not.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Supreme Court justice appointments can still be filibustered. Just not any other federal court appointment.
That died with Justice Gorsuch's confirmation.
Gaaah. There's just too much going on. I completely forgot. So there will probably be a new justice before the midterms.
posted by dis_integration at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
That died with Justice Gorsuch's confirmation.
Gaaah. There's just too much going on. I completely forgot. So there will probably be a new justice before the midterms.
posted by dis_integration at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
dis_integration: "If the Dem caucus filibusters any nominee, he will ensure there is a recess long enough for Trump to make a recess appointment."
Isn't a recess appointment only good for a couple years. That would still be a win over a life time appointment for some right wing whack job.
posted by Mitheral at 1:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Isn't a recess appointment only good for a couple years. That would still be a win over a life time appointment for some right wing whack job.
posted by Mitheral at 1:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
McConnell controls whether the Senate has a recess. If the Dem caucus filibusters any nominee, he will ensure there is a recess long enough for Trump to make a recess appointment. I think they should make a stand, and force this to happen, but with R control of House and Senate, they will get a justice on the court.
Yes, realistically, the only meaningful play is probably to take every step necessary to ensure that this absurd travesty happens in such a way as to make it ultra super duper blindingly clear in the public and historical record that this is a giant bunch of illegitimate bullshit.
Also, if I haven't mentioned it lately, the GOP Senate are terrible loathsome people, and I wish them all ill.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Yes, realistically, the only meaningful play is probably to take every step necessary to ensure that this absurd travesty happens in such a way as to make it ultra super duper blindingly clear in the public and historical record that this is a giant bunch of illegitimate bullshit.
Also, if I haven't mentioned it lately, the GOP Senate are terrible loathsome people, and I wish them all ill.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Here's a complete list of what, procedurally, Democrats can do to block the appointment of Michael Cohen or whatever to the Supreme Court:
The only lever here is shaming a centrist Republican, if you can find one, into getting themselves put over a barrel by Mitch McConnell for holding up the 50th vote. Good luck!
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
- Zip
- Zilch
- Nada
The only lever here is shaming a centrist Republican, if you can find one, into getting themselves put over a barrel by Mitch McConnell for holding up the 50th vote. Good luck!
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
So there will probably be a new justice before the midterms.
It took just nine weeks to install Gorsuch. This could be done by the end of August.
posted by JackFlash at 1:39 PM on June 27, 2018
It took just nine weeks to install Gorsuch. This could be done by the end of August.
posted by JackFlash at 1:39 PM on June 27, 2018
But our 2020 candidates had better be running on the Spinal Tap platform: "This one goes to eleven."
If the idea of court-packing somehow gains traction as a 2020 issue/promise, Trump and McConnell will just do it preemptively on their way out.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
If the idea of court-packing somehow gains traction as a 2020 issue/promise, Trump and McConnell will just do it preemptively on their way out.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
No, sorry, you're giving way too much credit.Mmmmmmaybe? Or maybe "oh yeah we won't be obstructionist (insult term)" at this point, when it's meaningless, is just an effort at preventing the (insult term) from making it into a galvanizing issue any sooner than necessary? I certainly see no reason to give them much of any credit on the matter, but they did force the Gorsuch nom. I can see a reasonable strategy behind having some of your members treat it as a boring yeah we'll just do the job like always and letting the more dynamic folks get the press.Dem. Senator BLUMENTHAL: “The Senate should do nothing to artificially delay” consideration of next justice, but POTUS should take his time & make a centrist choice.Already the Democrats are folding
I have no doubt that Senator Blumenthal has a pretty realistic view of the Democrats' chances of stymieing any Trump nominee, but there is nothing to be gained from coming out with such a weak statement straight out of the gate. And it's not like he's required to make a public statement on the matter. Ask yourself "who is the intended audience that Senator Blumenthal thinks wants to hear such a statement?" and it's a real head-scratcher. The Trumpists won't be impressed by him folding immediately and potential Democratic voters who are looking desperately to the party for signs of leadership can only read it as another reason to be disheartened and disillusioned with the Democratic party. His best option, assuming that that statement reflects anything like his true feelings on the matter, would have been to keep his mouth shut. The statement that he made serves only to discourage his supporters and fill his enemies with contempt.
You're a hell of a negotiator, Senator, don't let anybody tell you differently..
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
The ninth justice is a done deal. This "McConnell Rule" silliness among Democratic senators is just that.
Politics is not just what happens on the floor of the House & Senate. Yes the confirmation is a thing that can't be stopped. But how it goes down, that's still something we can control.
posted by scalefree at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
Politics is not just what happens on the floor of the House & Senate. Yes the confirmation is a thing that can't be stopped. But how it goes down, that's still something we can control.
posted by scalefree at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
I hope I live long enough to see the 87-justice SCOTUS of 2050.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
I wonder if it'll be some white dude.
posted by petebest at 1:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by petebest at 1:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [39 favorites]
Wikipedia just reTweeted someone talking about the Finnish concept of sisu and I don't think that's a coincidence.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:48 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:48 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Good god. We will be as incomprehensible to our grandchildren as the Nazis were to us. Trump can't even remember Kennedy's name.
posted by scalefree at 1:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 1:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [38 favorites]
Politics is not just what happens on the floor of the House & Senate.
McConnell understands politics in terms of pure power, and he does not care that people know him to be corrupt and a hypocrite so long as he gets the power to do what he wants. He was able to block Garland because he had the power to do so in Congress. But power does not exist simply in the House & Senate. For example, it would be difficult to hold a vote on a new supreme court justice if the streets of Washington were filled with pissed off people so that neither Senators or Representatives could actually meet. That's another form of power. Americans have forgotten about the broader applications of power. There might be no procedural way to stop a vote. But there was no procedural way for Colonists to do anything about taxation on paper or tea, either.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
McConnell understands politics in terms of pure power, and he does not care that people know him to be corrupt and a hypocrite so long as he gets the power to do what he wants. He was able to block Garland because he had the power to do so in Congress. But power does not exist simply in the House & Senate. For example, it would be difficult to hold a vote on a new supreme court justice if the streets of Washington were filled with pissed off people so that neither Senators or Representatives could actually meet. That's another form of power. Americans have forgotten about the broader applications of power. There might be no procedural way to stop a vote. But there was no procedural way for Colonists to do anything about taxation on paper or tea, either.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
I wonder if it'll be some white dude.
Dinesh D'Souza.
In all seriousness, Is there a realistic shortlist anywhere? I know Kavanaugh was mentioned upthread but it would be good to know what's probably coming.
posted by zarq at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018
Dinesh D'Souza.
In all seriousness, Is there a realistic shortlist anywhere? I know Kavanaugh was mentioned upthread but it would be good to know what's probably coming.
posted by zarq at 1:50 PM on June 27, 2018
The White House has said it will be from one of the 25 names on his Federalist Society-provided list.
posted by zachlipton at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Which brings me to the next question: given that the Court in its current incarnation is now ratfucked for the next 20 years minimum, what do we do?
1. The media has a role to play. We know the majority of people support Democratic ideals. The media needs to act as if this is the case. If they spent as much time on: the women hurt and literally dying from the lack of access to women's care and safe abortions; how the immigration policy and Muslim ban are affecting hard working and honest people and families; humanizing and telling the story of trans folk, gay marriages, etc....if they spent as much time on human interest stories on these people as they do on poor rural whites and Nazi puff pieces, the tide of public sentiment would turn and it would turn fast. The mainstream media has a responsibility, and most of them are failing. Let your NPRs and NYTs know that they're focusing on the wrong stories.
2. We citizens can do things that will help. Things like this, from @emilylhauser
Between the election & the inauguration, I bought two rounds of Plan B (the morning after pill) to have on hand should my children or their friends need it in the anti-choice hellscape that I imagined would come into being. We're a step closer to that hellscape now. 1/2
I just called Plan B customer service to confirm the following: Plan B (& other levonorgestrel meds) has a 4-yr shelf life; the exp. date is printed clearly on the box.
Here's a coupon...
posted by triggerfinger at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
1. The media has a role to play. We know the majority of people support Democratic ideals. The media needs to act as if this is the case. If they spent as much time on: the women hurt and literally dying from the lack of access to women's care and safe abortions; how the immigration policy and Muslim ban are affecting hard working and honest people and families; humanizing and telling the story of trans folk, gay marriages, etc....if they spent as much time on human interest stories on these people as they do on poor rural whites and Nazi puff pieces, the tide of public sentiment would turn and it would turn fast. The mainstream media has a responsibility, and most of them are failing. Let your NPRs and NYTs know that they're focusing on the wrong stories.
2. We citizens can do things that will help. Things like this, from @emilylhauser
Between the election & the inauguration, I bought two rounds of Plan B (the morning after pill) to have on hand should my children or their friends need it in the anti-choice hellscape that I imagined would come into being. We're a step closer to that hellscape now. 1/2
I just called Plan B customer service to confirm the following: Plan B (& other levonorgestrel meds) has a 4-yr shelf life; the exp. date is printed clearly on the box.
Here's a coupon...
posted by triggerfinger at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
I think there's actually a pretty good chance Trump will nominate Roy Moore.
Trump revels in cruelty and vengeance. Moore was defeated in his Senate race, so appointing him to the Supreme Court would be a perfect fuck you to Democrats and a way of demonstrating that no matter what the voters do he, and he alone, can decide who is elevated in the USA.
The only reason why it might not happen is that Roy Moore is old and the Republicans will want the youngest person they can put into the slot.
But Trump being Trump I wouldn't be surprised if he ignored that and nominated Roy Moore anyway.
The other choice is basically any random young, white supremacist, man who graduated with a law degree from Liberty University. There's a lot of them, all essentially interchangeable and I'm sure the Heritage Foundation has already drawn up a list for Trump to pick from based on whatever matrix of family ties, bribes, fraternity memberships, and so on that they use to decide which random lunatic right winger they'll elevate above the pack.
posted by sotonohito at 1:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Trump revels in cruelty and vengeance. Moore was defeated in his Senate race, so appointing him to the Supreme Court would be a perfect fuck you to Democrats and a way of demonstrating that no matter what the voters do he, and he alone, can decide who is elevated in the USA.
The only reason why it might not happen is that Roy Moore is old and the Republicans will want the youngest person they can put into the slot.
But Trump being Trump I wouldn't be surprised if he ignored that and nominated Roy Moore anyway.
The other choice is basically any random young, white supremacist, man who graduated with a law degree from Liberty University. There's a lot of them, all essentially interchangeable and I'm sure the Heritage Foundation has already drawn up a list for Trump to pick from based on whatever matrix of family ties, bribes, fraternity memberships, and so on that they use to decide which random lunatic right winger they'll elevate above the pack.
posted by sotonohito at 1:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Iowa was not shy this year in admitting that the fetal heartbeat bill was a test case to overturn or at least greatly restrict Roe. It will be on the Supreme Court docket in a couple years. This doesn’t bode well.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
No, sorry, you're giving way too much credit.
Oh, I'm not giving any credit. I just am - in no small part for my own mental well-being - choosing not to think of milquetoast comments as an in-advance surrender. In part because at this point there's nothing that can be done. If everyone was just giving it this treatment I'd be exercised but we've got a lot of good, loud voices who are actually good at such performance.
posted by phearlez at 1:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, I'm not giving any credit. I just am - in no small part for my own mental well-being - choosing not to think of milquetoast comments as an in-advance surrender. In part because at this point there's nothing that can be done. If everyone was just giving it this treatment I'd be exercised but we've got a lot of good, loud voices who are actually good at such performance.
posted by phearlez at 1:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think there's actually a pretty good chance Trump will nominate Roy Moore.
Moore, being 71, would be a gift. It seems we're on track to get someone equally loathsome but with 30 more years of life in em than Moore would have.
posted by phearlez at 1:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Moore, being 71, would be a gift. It seems we're on track to get someone equally loathsome but with 30 more years of life in em than Moore would have.
posted by phearlez at 1:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
I think it’ll be Federico Moreno or Margaret Ryan.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:00 PM on June 27, 2018
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:00 PM on June 27, 2018
There's no point in arguing about "surrender" or "folding". The Democrats do not have a majority. They can't do shit. And it would also be cool to stop blaming Democrats for shitty Supreme Court justices, instead of the Republicans who operate in bad faith and appoint terrible people who want to undermine the fabric of our society.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 2:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [33 favorites]
The President will be holding a MAGA rally in Fargo tonight. It’s gonna be lit. You know, like a klan rally.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
I am extremely underwhelmed by the “Oh now, now you did it! Now the gloves are really comin' off!” reactions from elected Democrats, even the individuals I have great respect for.
The Republican Party should have dissolved itself before they allowed an openly fascist demagogue to run in their name, but the institution clearly did not have the rectitude and resolve to do what was necessary. By the same token the Democratic Party simply doesn't have what it takes to respond to the Republican seizure of the Judicial Branch.
The events Republicans set in motion will eventually shake the current political order apart and there is nothing their political opponents can do to fix it—all we can do is throw the next salvo to swing everything back in the other direction. There is no opportunity to be the adults here and doing so will just cement fascist domination of the country and the world.
The same way that Republicans should have dissolved their party, Democrats should not be taking any actions for long-term political preservation. They should be like bombers on track to a target beyond the normal range, because there's no coming back this time.
There are some great people in office and hopefully they'll be part of what comes next but this Democratic Party has never had the integrity or independence to take the necessary next steps to preserve some semblance of a judiciary for We The People rather than just for the one percent and the political potentates.
We should spend no more than token effort on some tiny bending of the rules to make a sham effort to stave off Trump's rules-following replacement of Kennedy, and put everything into electing the most progressive candidates possible who will form the successor to the turn-of-the-century Democratic Party, the ones who can do what needs to be done in the aftermath of the carnage the post-Kennedy solid-conservative-majority court will leave behind it.
The great thing is, that would just establish the precedent for it happening again and simply lower the bar for 13 or 15.
National Security Advisor of the United States is on TV right now announcing future plans in front of a field of Интерфакс/Interfax logos. What the fuck have we become.
posted by XMLicious at 2:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
The Republican Party should have dissolved itself before they allowed an openly fascist demagogue to run in their name, but the institution clearly did not have the rectitude and resolve to do what was necessary. By the same token the Democratic Party simply doesn't have what it takes to respond to the Republican seizure of the Judicial Branch.
The events Republicans set in motion will eventually shake the current political order apart and there is nothing their political opponents can do to fix it—all we can do is throw the next salvo to swing everything back in the other direction. There is no opportunity to be the adults here and doing so will just cement fascist domination of the country and the world.
The same way that Republicans should have dissolved their party, Democrats should not be taking any actions for long-term political preservation. They should be like bombers on track to a target beyond the normal range, because there's no coming back this time.
There are some great people in office and hopefully they'll be part of what comes next but this Democratic Party has never had the integrity or independence to take the necessary next steps to preserve some semblance of a judiciary for We The People rather than just for the one percent and the political potentates.
We should spend no more than token effort on some tiny bending of the rules to make a sham effort to stave off Trump's rules-following replacement of Kennedy, and put everything into electing the most progressive candidates possible who will form the successor to the turn-of-the-century Democratic Party, the ones who can do what needs to be done in the aftermath of the carnage the post-Kennedy solid-conservative-majority court will leave behind it.
If the idea of court-packing somehow gains traction as a 2020 issue/promise, Trump and McConnell will just do it preemptively on their way out.
The great thing is, that would just establish the precedent for it happening again and simply lower the bar for 13 or 15.
National Security Advisor of the United States is on TV right now announcing future plans in front of a field of Интерфакс/Interfax logos. What the fuck have we become.
posted by XMLicious at 2:06 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
Well. This is an exciting time to be alive.
posted by zennie at 2:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by zennie at 2:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
@frankthorp: NEW: @SenatorCollins says she thought not holding a hearing on Merrick Garland was a mistake, and think that Dems calling for the same for Kennedy’s replacement is a mistake as well.
Not even surprised. May she go down in history (if we still have it) as as one of the women who is a willing if not eager accomplice to many other women either being turned into unwilling brood mares or murdered.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
Not even surprised. May she go down in history (if we still have it) as as one of the women who is a willing if not eager accomplice to many other women either being turned into unwilling brood mares or murdered.
posted by zombieflanders at 2:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
Hi I managed to answer the question I was trying to type in a non-noise way so I leave the answer here if somebody was as perplexed the me of five minutes ago:
Question: Don't these fuckers wonder how history books will judge them?
Answer: No, because they're planning on writing the history books of the future.
Thank you, thank you, tip your waiters.
posted by angrycat at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
Question: Don't these fuckers wonder how history books will judge them?
Answer: No, because they're planning on writing the history books of the future.
Thank you, thank you, tip your waiters.
posted by angrycat at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
Like, constitutional amendment-type reform.
This is the only way forward, the one guarantor of the country's future.
An all-out passionate effort could maybe get us one more president, one more congress, another justice or two even if judicial reform efforts fail. But long-term trends are in the Republicans' favor, despite their demographic decline: liberals continue to concentrate in a few large, predominantly coastal cities, ceding ever more power to the conservatives in the form of state houses, US senators, and electoral college votes. If this continues, then the GOP will be able to call a constitutional convention themselves, with ALEC playing the role of James Madison. The result would be a one-party nation dedicated to corporatism and white/masculine supremacy, forever and ever.
I know only two ways to reverse this.
-If we progressives were to disperse across the country, it would bring us representation in proportion with our numbers. It's a tactic that paid huge dividends for libertarians and constitutionalists; there's no reason it couldn't work for us, with our far greater numbers.
-A country-wide progressive realignment. I don't know what this looks like, I don't know how it's accomplished. I do know there's nothing universally inherent in small-town life, or suburban life, or midwestern or even southern life that turns one towards cruelty, bigotry, illiberalism. It's only 100 years ago that robust, cross-racial socialist movements organized workers in West Virginia and rural Oklahoma. They might arise again, if the ground were prepared.
I think such a realignment is most likely to come from real-life, dirt-under-the-fingernails organizing from the likes of the DSA, or from revived and improved civic organizations that can model diverse alternatives to a society cleaved along merely tribal lines.
And longer term, we're going to have to come up with new economic and cultural models that can integrate poor, marginal areas into larger-scale societies, instead of isolating them and leaving them pray to predatory ideologies. (That's only enlightened self-interest, after all. As wealth consolidation continues, more and more of the globe and its inhabitants will written off as irrelevant. We can solve these problems, or we can die.)
All of this is longer term, of course. The agonizing thing is that we now have little short-term recourse, except for turning absolutely everyone out on the street in November. But we're in this mess because the Democratic party has refused to think long-term, focusing only on presidential election years while relying on a decades-long SCOTUS-quo as a political safety net. Those days are over.
We need a project beyond 2020. We need a concrete, multi-generational goal. I say we take enough state houses to launch our own Constitutional Convention and secure government for the people, by the people, forever.
posted by Iridic at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
This is the only way forward, the one guarantor of the country's future.
An all-out passionate effort could maybe get us one more president, one more congress, another justice or two even if judicial reform efforts fail. But long-term trends are in the Republicans' favor, despite their demographic decline: liberals continue to concentrate in a few large, predominantly coastal cities, ceding ever more power to the conservatives in the form of state houses, US senators, and electoral college votes. If this continues, then the GOP will be able to call a constitutional convention themselves, with ALEC playing the role of James Madison. The result would be a one-party nation dedicated to corporatism and white/masculine supremacy, forever and ever.
I know only two ways to reverse this.
-If we progressives were to disperse across the country, it would bring us representation in proportion with our numbers. It's a tactic that paid huge dividends for libertarians and constitutionalists; there's no reason it couldn't work for us, with our far greater numbers.
-A country-wide progressive realignment. I don't know what this looks like, I don't know how it's accomplished. I do know there's nothing universally inherent in small-town life, or suburban life, or midwestern or even southern life that turns one towards cruelty, bigotry, illiberalism. It's only 100 years ago that robust, cross-racial socialist movements organized workers in West Virginia and rural Oklahoma. They might arise again, if the ground were prepared.
I think such a realignment is most likely to come from real-life, dirt-under-the-fingernails organizing from the likes of the DSA, or from revived and improved civic organizations that can model diverse alternatives to a society cleaved along merely tribal lines.
And longer term, we're going to have to come up with new economic and cultural models that can integrate poor, marginal areas into larger-scale societies, instead of isolating them and leaving them pray to predatory ideologies. (That's only enlightened self-interest, after all. As wealth consolidation continues, more and more of the globe and its inhabitants will written off as irrelevant. We can solve these problems, or we can die.)
All of this is longer term, of course. The agonizing thing is that we now have little short-term recourse, except for turning absolutely everyone out on the street in November. But we're in this mess because the Democratic party has refused to think long-term, focusing only on presidential election years while relying on a decades-long SCOTUS-quo as a political safety net. Those days are over.
We need a project beyond 2020. We need a concrete, multi-generational goal. I say we take enough state houses to launch our own Constitutional Convention and secure government for the people, by the people, forever.
posted by Iridic at 2:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
The White House has said it will be from one of the 25 names on his Federalist Society-provided list.
That's the smart move, it's what the White House staff are recommending. But this is Trump. He's a Brownian motion generator, even he doesn't know what he'll decide. If he reads some tweet from @MyBrainIsMadeOfCheese right before the announcement it could be Roy Moore. If it's a particularly satisfying...chat...with Hannity it could be Jeanine Pirro. There's no sense using the normal analytical methods with Trump, they don't apply here.
posted by scalefree at 2:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
That's the smart move, it's what the White House staff are recommending. But this is Trump. He's a Brownian motion generator, even he doesn't know what he'll decide. If he reads some tweet from @MyBrainIsMadeOfCheese right before the announcement it could be Roy Moore. If it's a particularly satisfying...chat...with Hannity it could be Jeanine Pirro. There's no sense using the normal analytical methods with Trump, they don't apply here.
posted by scalefree at 2:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
It's 2018 and we have the Internet. Liberals do not need to go live in small-town BFE and pull up a seat at the bar in order to foment change. And secondly, the two major obstacles that make the non-wealthy vote Republican is a) an equivalence by the Evangelical organizations in this country to align themselves politically with Republicans, and b) a focused and long-term effort by Republicans to capture the media and dismantle the educational system.
If you want to talk about a long-term goal, everyone pool their money and buy Sinclair and Fox. That will go a hell of a lot farther than moving as individuals to try to overcome the Republican Idiocracy.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
If you want to talk about a long-term goal, everyone pool their money and buy Sinclair and Fox. That will go a hell of a lot farther than moving as individuals to try to overcome the Republican Idiocracy.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's 2018 and we have the Internet. Liberals do not need to go live in small-town BFE and pull up a seat at the bar in order to foment change.
I think the point was to increase the number of progressive voters by moving there.
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
I think the point was to increase the number of progressive voters by moving there.
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Looking Forward to the next progressive administration.
Heh. See what I did there, . . .'cause . . .
posted by petebest at 2:22 PM on June 27, 2018
Heh. See what I did there, . . .'cause . . .
posted by petebest at 2:22 PM on June 27, 2018
Yup. The period from January 2009 to January 2011 is the biggest wasted opportunity in US history.
You mean the 72 days Ds actually had a supermajority because of deaths, recounts, and party defections?
The same time period they used to pass the ACA and save the economy?
Sure.
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [72 favorites]
You mean the 72 days Ds actually had a supermajority because of deaths, recounts, and party defections?
The same time period they used to pass the ACA and save the economy?
Sure.
posted by chris24 at 2:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [72 favorites]
Just wrote my good senator (Doug "Freakin'" Jones), who I worked like hell to elect. Feel free to reuse with appropriate edits:
Senator Jones,posted by Rhaomi at 2:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [47 favorites]
I voted for you proudly in the Democratic primary, and was an enthusiastic supporter in the general election. I made countless phone calls, knocked on hundreds of doors, made a website, wore buttons at work, spread yard signs far and wide, and talked up your candidacy to anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn't). I wasn't alone - I worked with dozens of determined Tuscaloosa Democrats, most of whom worked grueling volunteer hours despite kids and second jobs, to get out the vote and put you into this critical role against all odds.
Now we need you to fight for us.
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy is a catastrophic threat to the progressive values we all hold. Another far-right Justice in the mold of Neil Gorsuch will imperil women's health, voting rights, marriage equality, collective bargaining, and so much more. And with an active criminal investigation into the Trump campaign ongoing, I fear another Trump sycophant will help form a majority in favor of any attempt by this president to obstruct the rule of law.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to join with your Senate colleagues and do everything possible to prevent this president from appointing a replacement justice before the end of the current session. Even if we can't emulate the Republicans and blockade a pick until there is a new president, it is absolutely essential that any nominee be reviewed by a more Democratic Senate. Please help give energized Democrats across the nation an opportunity to fight for a "blue wave" Democratic majority the same way we fought for you in 2017, and help stand against the outrageous Republican theft of the Supreme Court for a generation despite losing the popular vote by millions.
I know you believe in what's right. You stepped up to campaign for what seemed like an impossible victory, and we backed you up every step of the way. Don't let us down.
If we progressives were to disperse across the country, it would bring us representation in proportion with our numbers.
Our family just moved from safe haven Baltimore to purple nurple Winchester Va. And producing that effect was a big part of our decision last year.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Our family just moved from safe haven Baltimore to purple nurple Winchester Va. And producing that effect was a big part of our decision last year.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
You mean the 72 days Ds actually had a supermajority because of deaths, recounts, and party defections?
Nobody needs a supermajority. At least in the future we sure as hell shouldn't.
posted by bookman117 at 2:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nobody needs a supermajority. At least in the future we sure as hell shouldn't.
posted by bookman117 at 2:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trump can't even remember Kennedy's name.
"Justice... Anthony....... you know who I'm talking about."
I wish this were a case of Trump negging Kennedy in one of his petty power plays, but the fact is, as I continually remind my status quo–embracing liberal friends, the man is cognitively impaired.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [46 favorites]
"Justice... Anthony....... you know who I'm talking about."
I wish this were a case of Trump negging Kennedy in one of his petty power plays, but the fact is, as I continually remind my status quo–embracing liberal friends, the man is cognitively impaired.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [46 favorites]
Is Obama hiding in shame? Because boy did he fuck us
Counterpoint: we fucked Obama by not treating the 2014 midterms as the emergency they were (you, individually, are excused if you fought to elect Democratic candidates in 2014, and can take this comment as my thanks for your efforts).
The revolving door spins round: @johnrobertsFox: Former @FoxNews co-president Bill Shine will take on a senior communications role for @realDonaldTrump at the @WhiteHouse . While his official title is still being decided, it will likely begin with "Deputy Chief of Staff for ..... "
@DevlinBarrett: Meanwhile in Canada the government is reassuring people there will be more than enough weed to go around
posted by zachlipton at 2:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
Counterpoint: we fucked Obama by not treating the 2014 midterms as the emergency they were (you, individually, are excused if you fought to elect Democratic candidates in 2014, and can take this comment as my thanks for your efforts).
The revolving door spins round: @johnrobertsFox: Former @FoxNews co-president Bill Shine will take on a senior communications role for @realDonaldTrump at the @WhiteHouse . While his official title is still being decided, it will likely begin with "Deputy Chief of Staff for ..... "
@DevlinBarrett: Meanwhile in Canada the government is reassuring people there will be more than enough weed to go around
posted by zachlipton at 2:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [30 favorites]
The Senate can offer advice and consent, but the language clearly doesn't give them the power to simply ignore the appointment.
IANAL either but I feel like people get hung up on the "advice" piece and somehow apply it to the "consent" part as well.
Simply put, the president can appoint whoever they want but only with the consent of the Senate. If they don't have that consent, the nominee cannot be appointed just like my doctor needs my consent before they perform a procedure.
To me it's always sounded like the Senate, as a body, gets a chance to say, "Sorry, you need to nominate someone else. You do not have the Senate's consent to appoint that person."
Am I missing something?
posted by VTX at 2:40 PM on June 27, 2018
IANAL either but I feel like people get hung up on the "advice" piece and somehow apply it to the "consent" part as well.
Simply put, the president can appoint whoever they want but only with the consent of the Senate. If they don't have that consent, the nominee cannot be appointed just like my doctor needs my consent before they perform a procedure.
To me it's always sounded like the Senate, as a body, gets a chance to say, "Sorry, you need to nominate someone else. You do not have the Senate's consent to appoint that person."
Am I missing something?
posted by VTX at 2:40 PM on June 27, 2018
Here's a little ray of light, from @SCOTUSblog:
Justice Kennedy was the obstacle to moving further to the right on issues like abortion and affirmative action. But just as important, the fact that his vote wasn’t certain dissuaded conservative interest groups and justices from taking up a host of big issues. That all changes.posted by pjenks at 2:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Manafort had $10 million loan from Russian oligarch: court filing
A search warrant application unsealed on Wednesday revealed closer links than previously known between President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin.
In an affidavit attached to the July 2017 application, an FBI agent said he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Oleg Deripaska.
Manafort worked for Trump for free.
posted by PenDevil at 2:48 PM on June 27, 2018 [47 favorites]
A search warrant application unsealed on Wednesday revealed closer links than previously known between President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin.
In an affidavit attached to the July 2017 application, an FBI agent said he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Oleg Deripaska.
Manafort worked for Trump for free.
posted by PenDevil at 2:48 PM on June 27, 2018 [47 favorites]
That's a ray of light? So now they can go for it on everything they want to destroy, right? What am I missing?
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Emmy Rae, maybe it was sarcasm?
posted by Brainy at 2:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 2:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's 2018 and we have the Internet.
It's 2018, and reactionaries have the Internet too. It's 2018, and by the time you've posted three nuanced tweets about the virtues of multilateral peacekeeping, three hundred thousand Russian bots have dismissed you as a puppet of George Soros. It's 2018, and we have more Internet and less actual political agency than ever.
By all means, use the Internet for organizing! But it's not going to save us by itself. We need to use every tool, every mode of engagement we have, and then we're going to need to invent new ones.
posted by Iridic at 2:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
It's 2018, and reactionaries have the Internet too. It's 2018, and by the time you've posted three nuanced tweets about the virtues of multilateral peacekeeping, three hundred thousand Russian bots have dismissed you as a puppet of George Soros. It's 2018, and we have more Internet and less actual political agency than ever.
By all means, use the Internet for organizing! But it's not going to save us by itself. We need to use every tool, every mode of engagement we have, and then we're going to need to invent new ones.
posted by Iridic at 2:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
Yeah, all I'm getting from that is "At least the monsters will come out in the open" but speaking for myself as a woman of colour I would prefer the Nazis to go back into hiding, this shit is exhausting
posted by salix at 2:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by salix at 2:56 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
Forget about the McConnell Rule, I think it's time to implement the Trump Rule: Traitors don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
posted by vibrotronica at 3:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [45 favorites]
posted by vibrotronica at 3:00 PM on June 27, 2018 [45 favorites]
the Trump Rule: Traitors don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
And I'd like to think that any justices nominated by Trump would be expected to recuse themselves from any cases related to Trump's malfeasance.
posted by duoshao at 3:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
And I'd like to think that any justices nominated by Trump would be expected to recuse themselves from any cases related to Trump's malfeasance.
posted by duoshao at 3:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Forget about the McConnell Rule, I think it's time to implement the Trump Rule: Traitors don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
Or more plainly: accepting his nomination can be treated as grounds for impeachment.
posted by ocschwar at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
Or more plainly: accepting his nomination can be treated as grounds for impeachment.
posted by ocschwar at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
If we progressives were to disperse across the country, it would bring us representation in proportion with our numbers.
My family is about to become Texans. Once we're settled in, am going to try to volunteer for Colin Allred, who will be running against Pete Sessions this Fall.
Turn Texas Blue. 38 electoral votes.
posted by zarq at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [40 favorites]
My family is about to become Texans. Once we're settled in, am going to try to volunteer for Colin Allred, who will be running against Pete Sessions this Fall.
Turn Texas Blue. 38 electoral votes.
posted by zarq at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [40 favorites]
the two major obstacles that make the non-wealthy vote Republican is a) an equivalence by the Evangelical organizations in this country to align themselves politically with Republicans, and b) a focused and long-term effort by Republicans to capture the media and dismantle the educational system.
You forgot c) a lot of white people are surprisingly racist.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
You forgot c) a lot of white people are surprisingly racist.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
I think it's time to implement the Trump Rule: Traitors don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
Remember when Trump advocated stochastic murder if his opponent were allowed to appoint Supreme Court Justices?
How about: terrorists don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
Remember when Trump advocated stochastic murder if his opponent were allowed to appoint Supreme Court Justices?
How about: terrorists don't get to nominate Supreme Court Justices.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [24 favorites]
It's 2018 and we have the Internet. Liberals do not need to go live in small-town BFE and pull up a seat at the bar in order to foment change.
Please note that those of us out in rural America often don't or barely have access to the Internet at all, and when we do it's not broadband. Also it's really nice outside here half of the year.
Incidentally, I started getting politically involved in the first place because somebody at the local bar was talking about Zephyr Teachout a couple years ago. I think the "pulling up a seat at the bar" thing might actually work.
posted by ragtag at 3:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
Please note that those of us out in rural America often don't or barely have access to the Internet at all, and when we do it's not broadband. Also it's really nice outside here half of the year.
Incidentally, I started getting politically involved in the first place because somebody at the local bar was talking about Zephyr Teachout a couple years ago. I think the "pulling up a seat at the bar" thing might actually work.
posted by ragtag at 3:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
More on Colin Allred:
NPR: Could Dallas Suburbs, Long Republican Strongholds, Turn Blue?
and
Dallas News: With a polarized electorate, can Democrats beat Republican Pete Sessions by swinging left?
posted by zarq at 3:14 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
NPR: Could Dallas Suburbs, Long Republican Strongholds, Turn Blue?
and
Dallas News: With a polarized electorate, can Democrats beat Republican Pete Sessions by swinging left?
posted by zarq at 3:14 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Congrats to the Democrats, who after last night are now officially the Party of impeachment, open borders, abolishing ICE, banning the 2nd Amendment and unbridled socialism.
Thanks, uh, @donaldjtrumpjr.
posted by Artw at 3:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
Thanks, uh, @donaldjtrumpjr.
posted by Artw at 3:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
It's 2018 and we have the Internet. Liberals do not need to go live in small-town BFE and pull up a seat at the bar in order to foment change.
Blue cities tend to be more liberal on civil rights issues and minority rights because familiarity breeds tolerance and it's harder to maintain the insular attitude that Scary Others are Dangerous when those Others are your neighbors, parents to your kids' friends and co-workers. No matter what your favorite fearmongering news channel says.
Cultural diffusion and losing that fear of the Other is one way we become a more diverse society. It happens over time, and not all at once. And yes, personal proximity makes it happen more easily.
posted by zarq at 3:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Blue cities tend to be more liberal on civil rights issues and minority rights because familiarity breeds tolerance and it's harder to maintain the insular attitude that Scary Others are Dangerous when those Others are your neighbors, parents to your kids' friends and co-workers. No matter what your favorite fearmongering news channel says.
Cultural diffusion and losing that fear of the Other is one way we become a more diverse society. It happens over time, and not all at once. And yes, personal proximity makes it happen more easily.
posted by zarq at 3:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
To me it's always sounded like the Senate, as a body, gets a chance to say, "Sorry, you need to nominate someone else. You do not have the Senate's consent to appoint that person."
Am I missing something?
posted by VTX at 2:40 PM on June 27 [+] [!]
We probably shouldn't continue this derail any longer, but the Senate as a body did not officially say anything. Mitch just announced that he wouldn't advise or consent regardless of who the nominee was, because black president. Pretty sure that's not what the framers had in mind.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
Am I missing something?
posted by VTX at 2:40 PM on June 27 [+] [!]
We probably shouldn't continue this derail any longer, but the Senate as a body did not officially say anything. Mitch just announced that he wouldn't advise or consent regardless of who the nominee was, because black president. Pretty sure that's not what the framers had in mind.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
Congrats to the Democrats, who after last night are now officially the Party of impeachment, open borders, abolishing ICE, banning the 2nd Amendment and unbridled socialism.
Ain't life grand?
posted by zarq at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Ain't life grand?
posted by zarq at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
The Republicans had the votes to just deny Garland, which would've been consistency with McConnell's long record of (sometimes!) insisting on up-or-down votes for judicial nominees.
“So even, you know, as you have a lameduck president, there is a historical standard for fairness when it comes to confirming judicial nominees.”posted by kirkaracha at 3:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
“The precedent in the Senate for 214 years prior to the last Congress was the judges who came to the floor got an up-or-down vote.”
“[T]he Republican conference intends to restore the principle that, regardless of party, any President’s judicial nominees, after full debate, deserve a simple up-or-down vote.”
“We need to recommit ourselves to the 200 year principle that in a democracy an up-or-down vote should be given to a President’s judicial nominees. It is simple. It is fair. It has been that way for over 2 centuries. And it’s served us well.”
“Senators can vote for them, Senators can vote against them, but these people deserve a vote. Stalling and not allowing an up-or-down vote is an indication that the system is broken.”
Rep. John Lewis @repjohnlewis offers wise counsel:
Do not get lost in a sea of despair.
I made a doofy Pinterest quote jpg of this in case you, like me, need to tape it up somewhere you can see it often.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Do not get lost in a sea of despair.
I made a doofy Pinterest quote jpg of this in case you, like me, need to tape it up somewhere you can see it often.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 3:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Jeanine Pirro is pro-choice. And sadly I'm not even joking when I say I'd probably take it over Mr. Bigot McHandmaid.
posted by chris24 at 3:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 3:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Meanwhile, other emergencies continue.
KHN, Defendants In Diapers? Immigrant Toddlers Ordered To Appear In Court Alone
NYT, Roiling Markets, U.S. Insists World Must Stop Buying Iranian Oil
The Appeal, ICE Limits Access To Lawyers For NYC Immigrants In Detention, Citing Protests
Daily Beast, Lewandowski Now Claims Down-Syndrome Girl’s Mom Is ‘Potential Child Smuggler’. Why the hell CNN keeps having him on the air as they lecture us about civility is a question we might ask. The feds say the mother in question is a "material witness" in the case of against a smuggler, apparently the person who was driving her family. Nobody has said the mom is a smuggler.
The Massachusetts House just passed automatic voter registration! Onto the Senate.
posted by zachlipton at 3:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
KHN, Defendants In Diapers? Immigrant Toddlers Ordered To Appear In Court Alone
As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.VP Pence has the unmitigated gall to boast about visiting families in Brazil who are refugees from Venezuela. The children in the photos do not appear to have been separated from their parents.
Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more young children — including toddlers — are being affected than in the past.
The 2,000-plus children will likely need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the ongoing trauma of being taken from their parents.
“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”
NYT, Roiling Markets, U.S. Insists World Must Stop Buying Iranian Oil
The United States said on Tuesday that it will impose sanctions against all importers of Iranian oil by Nov. 4, a surprisingly tough position that roiled oil markets and is likely to further alienate allies and adversaries alike.The KFF health tracking poll found that 76% of Americans, including 58% of Republicans, say it is "very important" that it remain law that health insurance companies can't deny coverage because of medical history (nearly the same numers for charging sick people more). Again, what GOP politicians are trying to enact is radically out of step with what Americans want, and that should be said at every turn.
The policy shook financial markets that had become accustomed to waivers for American sanctions that in years past had been granted to companies in countries like India and China as long as they showed steady reductions in their imports of Iranian oil.
But a senior State Department official said Tuesday morning that such routine waivers were not likely to be issued by the Trump administration, although he did not rule them out entirely.
...
European diplomats spent months negotiating a side agreement to the Iran deal with Brian Hook, a top State Department official, hoping such an agreement would persuade Mr. Trump to stay in the accord. In April, President Emmanuel Macron of France told Mr. Trump in the Oval Office that negotiations with Mr. Hook were about to yield a strong agreement. “Who’s Brian Hook?” Mr. Trump responded, according to a person with knowledge of the exchange.
The Appeal, ICE Limits Access To Lawyers For NYC Immigrants In Detention, Citing Protests
On Sunday, President Trump called for abandoning due process for immigrants, tweeting, “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.” In New York City, public defenders say ICE is showing a similar disregard, preventing detained immigrants from meeting with lawyers—and blaming it on protests nearby.BuzzFeed, Adolfo Flores (who has been doing really good work on child separation) and Brianna Sacks, Learning Where The US Is Keeping Your Child Is Only The Beginning Of The Fight For Reunification, in which the government can't find the children or even answer the phone, and if you do get through to sponsor your relative, ORR hands over the information for your entire family information to ICE so they can deport you. See also, The US Claims It Has A Database To Track Immigrant Kids And Parents. But No One Will Talk About It.
Members of the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) launched an occupation of the immigration court at 201 Varick St. last week, inspired by similar ICE facility occupations cropping up nationally. Dozens of activists set up tarps and folding chairs in front of the building’s loading docks to prevent Department of Homeland Security vans from entering or exiting the building with detainees.
On Monday, ICE announced that all hearings at 201 Varick St. were canceled for the day. “This decision was made in order to ensure the safety of ICE employees, the court, the public and the detainees,” ICE spokesperson Rachael Yong Yow told The Appeal.
Occupiers agreed to move across the street and clear the loading dock areas Monday night, however, after public defenders and immigrant groups, including New Sanctuary NYC and Make the Road New York, stressed the negative consequences of disrupting bond hearings and other hearings aimed at client relief. “We wanted to work with immigrant communities,” Marisa Holmes, a spokesperson for MACC, said Tuesday. “We think being on the other side of the street is allowing hearings to continue, which is important.”
Yet ICE continued to refuse to transport detainees to the courthouse, citing safety concerns. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs the court, confirmed Tuesday that rather than in-person hearings, it would host teleconference hearings for all deportation and bond hearings in which a defendant appears on a screen in the courtroom. Amanda St. Jean, a spokeswoman for the immigration review office confirmed the plan to use teleconferencing until it hears otherwise from ICE. It remained in place Wednesday, even though the occupation had dispersed entirely. “I think this claim that they are concerned about safety sounds like an excuse to punish the occupiers by punishing our clients,” said Scott Hechinger, senior staff attorney and director of policy for Brooklyn Defender Services.
Daily Beast, Lewandowski Now Claims Down-Syndrome Girl’s Mom Is ‘Potential Child Smuggler’. Why the hell CNN keeps having him on the air as they lecture us about civility is a question we might ask. The feds say the mother in question is a "material witness" in the case of against a smuggler, apparently the person who was driving her family. Nobody has said the mom is a smuggler.
The Massachusetts House just passed automatic voter registration! Onto the Senate.
posted by zachlipton at 3:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
I really disagree with individual solutions to systemic problems. To tell people that they individually should move to red states to move the needle is insanity itself, and anyone who does should not kid themselves about being some crusader for justice and instead prepare themselves for a life of weird alienation from their neighbors. Individual action isn't going to solve anything here.
I feel the same about complaints about the moral turpitude of voters, or the idiocy of people who won't recycle, or the irresponsibility of black fathers who don't stick around. Sure, people should vote and recycle and stick around for their kids, but maybe we can just assume that these people are mostly good and rational and did these things for legitimate reasons that we don't know.
Neoliberalism would have us believe that if everyone is a moral citizen, the market (or whatever invisible hand bullshit) will save you. But that's 1) utterly wrong in the first place and 2) a dangerously optimistic vision of how people work. It makes a lot more sense to blame the forces and powers that inspired Jane Doe to vote the way she did rather than yell at Jane for doing what she felt was right. Blaming an individual voter who has to operate in the face of a desperately broken country with media machines telling her lies is weird.
posted by TypographicalError at 3:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
I feel the same about complaints about the moral turpitude of voters, or the idiocy of people who won't recycle, or the irresponsibility of black fathers who don't stick around. Sure, people should vote and recycle and stick around for their kids, but maybe we can just assume that these people are mostly good and rational and did these things for legitimate reasons that we don't know.
Neoliberalism would have us believe that if everyone is a moral citizen, the market (or whatever invisible hand bullshit) will save you. But that's 1) utterly wrong in the first place and 2) a dangerously optimistic vision of how people work. It makes a lot more sense to blame the forces and powers that inspired Jane Doe to vote the way she did rather than yell at Jane for doing what she felt was right. Blaming an individual voter who has to operate in the face of a desperately broken country with media machines telling her lies is weird.
posted by TypographicalError at 3:38 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
The heated controversy over Trump's awful family separation policy has been like one of those bug-zapping lights people stick next to pools – it's attracted virtually every species of hypocrite in American public life.
The most conspicuous and ridiculous of these are the hand-over-heart never-Trump Republicans who – after decades of pushing vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric themselves – are now coming out of the woodwork to talk about how mistreatment of the undocumented is contrary to "our principles and values."
posted by growabrain at 3:39 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
The most conspicuous and ridiculous of these are the hand-over-heart never-Trump Republicans who – after decades of pushing vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric themselves – are now coming out of the woodwork to talk about how mistreatment of the undocumented is contrary to "our principles and values."
posted by growabrain at 3:39 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
A tiny ray of sunshine on a day filled with a fuckton of bad news:
There is an asteroid named "23238 Ocasio-Cortez" by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in honor of longevity experiments she conducted out of Mt. Sinai. Per a question on twitter: "My research won 2nd place globally in Microbiology at @intel ISEF. At BU I started as science major, changed to Econ"
posted by bluecore at 3:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
There is an asteroid named "23238 Ocasio-Cortez" by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in honor of longevity experiments she conducted out of Mt. Sinai. Per a question on twitter: "My research won 2nd place globally in Microbiology at @intel ISEF. At BU I started as science major, changed to Econ"
posted by bluecore at 3:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
Jeanine Pirro is pro-choice.
So is Donald Trump.
posted by PenDevil at 3:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
So is Donald Trump.
posted by PenDevil at 3:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Donald trump is pro- donald trump. There's no other position or constancy. Besides, there's no universe in which he nominates any woman, including Jeanine Pirro, to a job that will a) outlast him and b) have oversight over his actions.
posted by mrgoat at 3:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by mrgoat at 3:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to server Sarah Sanders (The Hill, quote-link text from their twitter)
posted by Cheerwell Maker at 4:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [148 favorites]
"I’m not a great fan of shouting down people or being rude to people," Bernie Sanders said. "People have a right to be angry when Congress gives tax breaks to billionaires and then wants to cut nutrition programs for low income pregnant women." But he said that anger needs to be taken out in a "constructive way" and that people should not be kicked out of restaurants over political differences.Fuck. Off. Bernie. Seriously, sit the hell down and shut up.
posted by Cheerwell Maker at 4:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [148 favorites]
>
It's handy for him to be openly stating that, as the representatives of Vladimir Putin's Russia west of the Atlantic, Trump's GOP is the party of bridled socialism. Pitch out the dictators via the Party of Impeachment mantle he has bestowed on the Democrats and we can all happily be socialists together without any further pretending otherwise.
posted by XMLicious at 4:10 PM on June 27, 2018
Congrats to the Democrats, who after last night are now officially the Party of impeachment, open borders, abolishing ICE, banning the 2nd Amendment and unbridled socialism.
Thanks, uh, @donaldjtrumpjr.
It's handy for him to be openly stating that, as the representatives of Vladimir Putin's Russia west of the Atlantic, Trump's GOP is the party of bridled socialism. Pitch out the dictators via the Party of Impeachment mantle he has bestowed on the Democrats and we can all happily be socialists together without any further pretending otherwise.
posted by XMLicious at 4:10 PM on June 27, 2018
But wait! I want to hear more from him about the approved ways in which we are allowed to be angry..Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to server Sarah Sanders:Fuck. Off. Bernie. Seriously, sit the hell down and shut up.
"I’m not a great fan of shouting down people or being rude to people," Bernie Sanders said. "People have a right to be angry when Congress gives tax breaks to billionaires and then wants to cut nutrition programs for low income pregnant women." But he said that anger needs to be taken out in a "constructive way" and that people should not be kicked out of restaurants over political differences.
WTF is wrong with the elected Democrats? (And also pseudo-Democrats like Sanders..) Why can't they help themselves from killing any energy our side could possibly muster, when most of the time all they have to do to avoid getting on the wrong side of an issue like this is keep their mouths shut?
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [40 favorites]
Who’s on President Trump’s list to replace Justice Kennedy?
Brett Kavanaugh - Kennedy clerk, principal author of the Starr Report, and leader of the George W. Bush judicial search team to identify conservative judges. Prohibitive favorite.
Raymond Gruender - Consistently the most conservative member of the Eighth Circuit.
Thomas Hardiman - Consistently the most conservative member of the Third Circuit and maid of honor embarrassed by Trump last time.
Raymond Kethledge - Kennedy clerk, ultra-conservative of the Sixth Circuit, wrote the decision in the IRS "targeting" the Tea Party case.
William H. Pryor Jr. - former AG of Alabama and Roy Moore opponent, but diehard "textualist" in the Gorsuch mode where "textualism" always equals "Republicans win". Recess appointed by W because he couldn't otherwise be confirmed.
Amy Coney Barrett - Recent Trump appointee and Catholic law professor. This is the anti-abortion judge Tim Kaine sold out to confirm
Amul Thapar - Recent Trump appointee to the Sixth Circuit and Mitch McConnell's token Indian American. Somewhat limited judicial record with no real groundbreaking cases in 8 years on the district level, but particularly terrible on 4th amendment and police force cases. Former prosecutor.
There's no good picks here. If you had to choose one, I'd take Thapar, then Hardiman, then Kavanaugh. Those are the only 3 that would ever conceivably vote with the liberal wing under any circumstance in any context.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Brett Kavanaugh - Kennedy clerk, principal author of the Starr Report, and leader of the George W. Bush judicial search team to identify conservative judges. Prohibitive favorite.
Raymond Gruender - Consistently the most conservative member of the Eighth Circuit.
Thomas Hardiman - Consistently the most conservative member of the Third Circuit and maid of honor embarrassed by Trump last time.
Raymond Kethledge - Kennedy clerk, ultra-conservative of the Sixth Circuit, wrote the decision in the IRS "targeting" the Tea Party case.
William H. Pryor Jr. - former AG of Alabama and Roy Moore opponent, but diehard "textualist" in the Gorsuch mode where "textualism" always equals "Republicans win". Recess appointed by W because he couldn't otherwise be confirmed.
Amy Coney Barrett - Recent Trump appointee and Catholic law professor. This is the anti-abortion judge Tim Kaine sold out to confirm
Amul Thapar - Recent Trump appointee to the Sixth Circuit and Mitch McConnell's token Indian American. Somewhat limited judicial record with no real groundbreaking cases in 8 years on the district level, but particularly terrible on 4th amendment and police force cases. Former prosecutor.
There's no good picks here. If you had to choose one, I'd take Thapar, then Hardiman, then Kavanaugh. Those are the only 3 that would ever conceivably vote with the liberal wing under any circumstance in any context.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:20 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to server Sarah Sanders
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
posted by kirkaracha at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
posted by kirkaracha at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Congrats to the Democrats, who after last night are now officially the Party of impeachment, open borders, abolishing ICE, banning the 2nd Amendment and unbridled socialism.
The Republican/Nazi party is all freaked out about people EMBRACING ( their conception of ) "Socialism", but you know, from the "Status Quo DNC isn't working" camp that I'm in, that's a freaking recruiting banner for us.
Bring on Medicare for All. Bring on free movement of capital AND labor! Per aspera ad astra!
posted by mikelieman at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
The Republican/Nazi party is all freaked out about people EMBRACING ( their conception of ) "Socialism", but you know, from the "Status Quo DNC isn't working" camp that I'm in, that's a freaking recruiting banner for us.
Bring on Medicare for All. Bring on free movement of capital AND labor! Per aspera ad astra!
posted by mikelieman at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
We probably shouldn't continue this derail any longer, but the Senate as a body did not officially say anything. Mitch just announced that he wouldn't advise or consent regardless of who the nominee was, because black president. Pretty sure that's not what the framers had in mind.
The framers couldn't have imagined it because the framers expected that upon McConnell's intransigence, Obama would have challenged him to a duel of honor, and they'd work it out between them.
posted by mikelieman at 4:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
The framers couldn't have imagined it because the framers expected that upon McConnell's intransigence, Obama would have challenged him to a duel of honor, and they'd work it out between them.
posted by mikelieman at 4:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
To very much underscore your point about the country he thinks it should be rather than what it is, Two unicycles:
@AnnieLinskey:
I'm very much pleased we're slowly dragging the party in the right direction, but the country and its government sure as hell is not moving that way right now.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
@AnnieLinskey:
Bernie Sanders at a book party in DC says “in many ways we did win the election.” Sanders points to Democratic embrace of Medicare for all as evidence for above statement. Sanders also points to progressive victories last night in places like NY and MD.Today especially is really not the day for this. We're calling our reps begging them to do something about children in cages, but the Democratic party is dreaming bigger now, so we somehow won?
I'm very much pleased we're slowly dragging the party in the right direction, but the country and its government sure as hell is not moving that way right now.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [55 favorites]
NYMag's The Cut: What You Can Do to Try and Prevent a Disastrous Trump-Appointed Justice
They recommend, among various things, reading up at Ditch the List about Trump's nominees, contacting your senators, and helping out/volunteering for vulnerable liberal senators seeking re-election this year.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
They recommend, among various things, reading up at Ditch the List about Trump's nominees, contacting your senators, and helping out/volunteering for vulnerable liberal senators seeking re-election this year.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
Bernie Sanders at a book party in DC says “in many ways we did win the election.” Sanders points to Democratic embrace of Medicare for all as evidence for above statement.
Yeah, because who cares about the cost to women and minorities for a generation says the old white man.
posted by chris24 at 4:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [81 favorites]
Yeah, because who cares about the cost to women and minorities for a generation says the old white man.
posted by chris24 at 4:32 PM on June 27, 2018 [81 favorites]
Dem argle-bargle about restaurant seating rights makes me think there are a lot of sneak Chik-fil-A fans in the party.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
The GOP's position is that if Walgreen's won't sell you the medicine you need because you're a woman, you can always get medical care somewhere else.
The GOP's position is that if a cake baker won't bake you a cake because you're gay, you can always go get a cake somewhere else.
The GOP's position is that if a homeowner won't sell you their house because you're a lesbian, you can always go buy a different house.
As far as I'm concerned, every business in the D.C. area should put up a "No Republicans Welcome" sign in the window and enforce it. The modern GOP seems convinced that the civil rights fights of the 60's never happened. That Free Market, not Big Government, made restaurateurs shape up and allow customers of every color. If your plan for everyone having equal access to public accommodations is "you can always go somewhere else", then you should go somewhere else.
Maybe they'll open up a history book after a cadre of Republican House interns get nailed by a firehose when they're trying to do a sit-in at the Dupont Circle Panera.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [75 favorites]
The GOP's position is that if a cake baker won't bake you a cake because you're gay, you can always go get a cake somewhere else.
The GOP's position is that if a homeowner won't sell you their house because you're a lesbian, you can always go buy a different house.
As far as I'm concerned, every business in the D.C. area should put up a "No Republicans Welcome" sign in the window and enforce it. The modern GOP seems convinced that the civil rights fights of the 60's never happened. That Free Market, not Big Government, made restaurateurs shape up and allow customers of every color. If your plan for everyone having equal access to public accommodations is "you can always go somewhere else", then you should go somewhere else.
Maybe they'll open up a history book after a cadre of Republican House interns get nailed by a firehose when they're trying to do a sit-in at the Dupont Circle Panera.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:42 PM on June 27, 2018 [75 favorites]
Speaking of elderly Americans, anyone who believes in anything approaching a higher power needs to be praying for the health of RBG.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
(And our best scientists: a life extension serum.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
As far as I'm concerned, every business in the D.C. area should put up a "No Republicans Welcome" sign in the window and enforce it.Political affiliation is actually a protected class in D.C. It's one of the few jurisdictions in the country where refusing to serve Republicans would be illegal. (It's also one of the few jurisdictions in the country where I could see it happening.)
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
> However, Clinton also told ‘The Daily Show’ that if Trump wants ‘civility’ he has to ‘stop the name-calling and take the lead.’
Yes, that is definitely something that could happen and a useful, productive thing for Democratic standard bearers to be saying in public at this point.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
Yes, that is definitely something that could happen and a useful, productive thing for Democratic standard bearers to be saying in public at this point.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
I really disagree with individual solutions to systemic problems. To tell people that they individually should move to red states to move the needle is insanity itself, and anyone who does should not kid themselves about being some crusader for justice and instead prepare themselves for a life of weird alienation from their neighbors. Individual action isn't going to solve anything here.
I swear I get where you're coming from. But the particular systemic problem I'm addressing is the shitty fact that the Constitution values land more heavily than people. There's no ignoring or opting out of that the system; we can't change it by popular referendum, because the mechanisms for changing it also favor land over population. The party that's distributed over a wider area will accrue more power, and can eventually start editing the system to lock in that power.
Except for a revolution, the only way to change the game is coordination by everyone left of center to literally expand our base, either by dispersing our numbers or recruiting. I linked a post about how a few thousand libertarians moved from California to Idaho and shifted its government (including a statehouse, two US senators, two representatives and four electoral votes) decisively to the right; the tactic might be insane, but it is viable.
It sucks that we have to consider these things, but what alternative do we have? If we continue as we are, a regional party limited to a few metropolitan areas, I give it six to twenty years before the Republicans finally lock up 38 states and call a Constitutional Convention, at which point we are well and truly done: no more Bill of Rights, no more safe places. If we can prevent all that by renting ten thousand U-Hauls...
individual solutions to systemic problems.
Outside of a few states, we no longer have any formal power. Any solutions are necessarily going to arise from the coordination of private individuals.
posted by Iridic at 4:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
I swear I get where you're coming from. But the particular systemic problem I'm addressing is the shitty fact that the Constitution values land more heavily than people. There's no ignoring or opting out of that the system; we can't change it by popular referendum, because the mechanisms for changing it also favor land over population. The party that's distributed over a wider area will accrue more power, and can eventually start editing the system to lock in that power.
Except for a revolution, the only way to change the game is coordination by everyone left of center to literally expand our base, either by dispersing our numbers or recruiting. I linked a post about how a few thousand libertarians moved from California to Idaho and shifted its government (including a statehouse, two US senators, two representatives and four electoral votes) decisively to the right; the tactic might be insane, but it is viable.
It sucks that we have to consider these things, but what alternative do we have? If we continue as we are, a regional party limited to a few metropolitan areas, I give it six to twenty years before the Republicans finally lock up 38 states and call a Constitutional Convention, at which point we are well and truly done: no more Bill of Rights, no more safe places. If we can prevent all that by renting ten thousand U-Hauls...
individual solutions to systemic problems.
Outside of a few states, we no longer have any formal power. Any solutions are necessarily going to arise from the coordination of private individuals.
posted by Iridic at 4:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yeah, because who cares about the cost to women and minorities for a generation says the old white man.
I think it's intuitively obvious at this point, to even the most casual of observer, that any politician over 65 is past their "Best By" date, and should be responsibly mentoring those of electable age -- to pass on organizational wisdom -- with a good decade or two of fire left within them...
AOC is where we're going, lead, follow, or get out of the way.
That's my message to Schumer's office tomorrow, with a side of Gillibrand being asked to keep Schumer on the right path...
posted by mikelieman at 4:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
I think it's intuitively obvious at this point, to even the most casual of observer, that any politician over 65 is past their "Best By" date, and should be responsibly mentoring those of electable age -- to pass on organizational wisdom -- with a good decade or two of fire left within them...
AOC is where we're going, lead, follow, or get out of the way.
That's my message to Schumer's office tomorrow, with a side of Gillibrand being asked to keep Schumer on the right path...
posted by mikelieman at 4:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Political affiliation is actually a protected class in D.C.
Pay no mind, refusing to serve sandwiches to Republicans is part of my religion and therefore 100% protected.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [64 favorites]
Pay no mind, refusing to serve sandwiches to Republicans is part of my religion and therefore 100% protected.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:55 PM on June 27, 2018 [64 favorites]
The Republican/Nazi party is all freaked out about people EMBRACING ( their conception of ) "Socialism", but you know, from the "Status Quo DNC isn't working" camp that I'm in, that's a freaking recruiting banner for us.
And let's end the pretense that the United States hasn't always been a socialist society, even and especially by their definitions. A subsidized national postal system—subsidized to the point of building roads for it—public education, university land grants, government-directed geographic surveying and scientific expeditions like Lewis & Clark and the Ex. Ex. carried out by what we would call public-sector employees. Marx and Engels of course opposed slavery and hence favored the Union in the Civil War. Here's Teddy Roosevelt stating that the construction of the Erie Canal was a socialist endeavor.
In the last year I've been watching The Mike Wallace Interview from the late 1950s, episodes of which are available around the internet, and have been amazed to see of all people McCarthyist politicians asserting that socialism and communism are different things and carefully distinguishing between them. And don't forget 1960s Ronald Reagan who released a vinyl record to tell everyone that soon-to-be-enacted Medicare was a socialist conspiracy that would lead to government controlling every aspect of your life, until he became a politician and said "oh no Medicare isn't socialism, I was totally talking about something else!"
Flailing around with completely nonsensical shouts of "Commies!" in response to anything less than absolute oligarchic corporatocracy and white supremacy like Junior is doing is really mostly a late 20th century Cold War and Civil Rights Era and aftermath propaganda thing.
posted by XMLicious at 5:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
> I think it's intuitively obvious at this point, to even the most casual of observer, that any politician over 65 is past their "Best By" date
Boomers are between 54 and 72 years old, so they'll still be running things for...ever?
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:07 PM on June 27, 2018
Boomers are between 54 and 72 years old, so they'll still be running things for...ever?
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:07 PM on June 27, 2018
Pay no mind, refusing to serve sandwiches to Republicans is part of my religion and therefore 100% protected.You know, I'm actually pretty sure that my religion has a whole lot more to say about people who fail to welcome immigrants than theirs has to say about gay people.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:09 PM on June 27, 2018 [46 favorites]
Anyone who has respect for Donald Trump I would have to believe shares his moral code and will cheat, defraud or just plain steal from anyone, therefore I will absolutely NOT do any financial dealings with them.
And I separated Communism and Socialism very early in my political/economic education and prefer to think of Communist States as National Monopolies... USSR Inc. and Red China Inc. became my go-to identifications.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
And I separated Communism and Socialism very early in my political/economic education and prefer to think of Communist States as National Monopolies... USSR Inc. and Red China Inc. became my go-to identifications.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Kyle Kondik (Sabato)
Six House ratings changes, all in favor of Dems.
Comstock (R, VA-10) Toss-up > Leans D
Brat (R, VA-7) Leans R > Toss-up
Taylor (R, VA-2) Leans R > Toss-up
Walters (R, CA-45) Leans R > Toss-up
NJ-2 Open (LoBiondo, R) Leans D > Likely D
MacArthur (R, NJ-3) Likely R > Leans R
---
@Taniel
one remedy against the coming SCOTUS: elect govs who'll veto abortion restrictions & gerrymanders, state lawmakers who'll expand labor & reproductive rights, Secretaries of State who'll replace aggressive purges with voting rights agenda, DAs who'll refrain from cruel punishments
---
Alexis Goldstein
Today fucking sucked. But tomorrow is the anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the beautiful birth of the LGBTQ Rights movement. Thank your foremothers and remember how many movements began, not in the courts, but in the streets. 🌈
posted by chris24 at 5:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
Six House ratings changes, all in favor of Dems.
Comstock (R, VA-10) Toss-up > Leans D
Brat (R, VA-7) Leans R > Toss-up
Taylor (R, VA-2) Leans R > Toss-up
Walters (R, CA-45) Leans R > Toss-up
NJ-2 Open (LoBiondo, R) Leans D > Likely D
MacArthur (R, NJ-3) Likely R > Leans R
---
@Taniel
one remedy against the coming SCOTUS: elect govs who'll veto abortion restrictions & gerrymanders, state lawmakers who'll expand labor & reproductive rights, Secretaries of State who'll replace aggressive purges with voting rights agenda, DAs who'll refrain from cruel punishments
---
Alexis Goldstein
Today fucking sucked. But tomorrow is the anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the beautiful birth of the LGBTQ Rights movement. Thank your foremothers and remember how many movements began, not in the courts, but in the streets. 🌈
posted by chris24 at 5:16 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
I wouldn't count anyone born after 1960 as a "boomer." Barack Obama, for instance, is more properly early Gen-X, if we must do the "cohort" thing. I think that the Democratic party leadership has ossified, and it is time for people under 60 (!) to step forward. Older people can still take on mentoring roles - but a lot of the older Democrats seem to be out of step with their constituents. The problem is, that unlike in the 60's and 70's when there was this huge bulge of young folks who could run for office, and fewer older people, we're in a bulge of seventy-somethings and fewer young adults. And people are living longer, healthier lives, etc. etc. (We're in this bind as a society - when people don't die or retire, now what?)
As for socialism, there is a long history of socialism in the US, or at least "socialist-like" movements such as the Shakers and other utopian experiments. It seems that the Red Scare and McCarthyism of the 1950's ushered in the real wave of repression and "Socialism Bad! Evil Commies!" And I might note that people in their 70's now were kids in the 50's and imbibed that stuff unconsciously, and even when they came of age, socialism was a dirty word.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
As for socialism, there is a long history of socialism in the US, or at least "socialist-like" movements such as the Shakers and other utopian experiments. It seems that the Red Scare and McCarthyism of the 1950's ushered in the real wave of repression and "Socialism Bad! Evil Commies!" And I might note that people in their 70's now were kids in the 50's and imbibed that stuff unconsciously, and even when they came of age, socialism was a dirty word.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
If it weren't for the Supreme Court's fixed calendar date, I'd almost believe that Kennedy announced his retirement as a distraction from FBI Agent Peter Strzok's closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill, which began at 10 AM and has been going on all day, in what a Democratic lawmaker described to The Hill's Katie Bo Williams @KatieBoWill as “Kafka-esque” and “Orwellian.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
Dem turnout in NY primary barely hit 10%. I knew NY discouraged turnout to help incumbents but that's fucking awful even by Los Angeles standards. I thought we were the worst.
posted by Justinian at 5:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Political affiliation is actually a protected class in D.C.
On the other hand, assholes are not a protected class.
posted by JackFlash at 5:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
On the other hand, assholes are not a protected class.
posted by JackFlash at 5:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
In specific districts yes. But many districts across the state were uncontested, meaning we could not vote and would have been turned away if we had shown up to the polls. Is that being taken into consideration in the overall number?
posted by zarq at 5:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by zarq at 5:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
You got me man, I just work here.
posted by Justinian at 5:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
So how come I am seeing this shared by angry conservatives but not yet by jubilant liberals?
Jordain Carney, The Hill: "Collins: I look for judges who 'respect precedent'"
Jordain Carney, The Hill: "Collins: I look for judges who 'respect precedent'"
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on Wednesday that she believes Roe v. Wade is settled legal precedent — and she believes judges should respect precedent.posted by OnceUponATime at 5:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
"I view Roe v. Wade as being settled law. It’s clearly precedent and I always look for judges who respect precedent," Collins told reporters on Wednesday, referencing the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Her comments come after Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement announcement quickly reignited talk of a possible fight over abortion.
> So how come I am seeing this shared by angry conservatives but not yet by jubilant liberals?
Because any liberal who might be made jubilant by anything Susan Collins says probably isn't smart enough to operate an internet-enabled device.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
Because any liberal who might be made jubilant by anything Susan Collins says probably isn't smart enough to operate an internet-enabled device.
posted by tonycpsu at 5:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [60 favorites]
So how come I am seeing this shared by angry conservatives but not yet by jubilant liberals?
Because we know damn well Susan Collins is a fucking liar. She's voting for any nominee Trump puts up. But she's sure going to do her Lucy with the football routine again, just like every other fucking time we tried to count on her except OK that one time on ACA but then she betrayed us anyway 4 months later with tax cuts and skinny repeal.
If liberals are learning to say fuck Susan Collins, then good.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
Because we know damn well Susan Collins is a fucking liar. She's voting for any nominee Trump puts up. But she's sure going to do her Lucy with the football routine again, just like every other fucking time we tried to count on her except OK that one time on ACA but then she betrayed us anyway 4 months later with tax cuts and skinny repeal.
If liberals are learning to say fuck Susan Collins, then good.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [41 favorites]
@IBJIYONGI talks us down from the ledge with a hopeful, useful twitter thread, unrolled
posted by chaoticgood at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by chaoticgood at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [14 favorites]
Because the court just ignored 41 years of precedent on the union case?
posted by chris24 at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
I simply cannot imagine Collins and/or Murkowski will block a nominee over abortion. They're making meaningless mouth noise (well, Collins is. Murkowski is still in hiding or something) but will vote the nominee forward even if it is clear he will overturn Roe.
I wonder if Planned Parenthood will retract the award they gave Collins a couple months ago when that happens? And maybe think these things through a little harder?
posted by Justinian at 5:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
I wonder if Planned Parenthood will retract the award they gave Collins a couple months ago when that happens? And maybe think these things through a little harder?
posted by Justinian at 5:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
On the other hand, assholes are not a protected class.
Lawrence v. Texas!
(SORRY sorry sorry)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Lawrence v. Texas!
(SORRY sorry sorry)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
This is the culmination of the conservative movement for 50 years. They've wanted a reverse Warren Court ever since Warren died. Now they'll have it. They will be able to enact every wishlist item they never could've passed through legislation via the bench. All of it. They can rule through judicial junta in perpetuity. There's nothing that would ever budge any Republican from achieving that goal, they've literally all worked their entire lives for this moment. It's the final triumphal victory over Democrats where the tears are real, and infinite, and Susan Collins wants to drink as deeply as any of them.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
* (please just let me have this gallows humor)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:41 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Republicans win the framing everytime: see how many democrats are legitimizing McConnell's unconstituitional scotus-block of garland as if hypocrisy and rule of law were obstacles to republicans.
I second that above comment with one change
Dem Senators: every interview you say this:
The President of the United States is under investigation for collusion with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice. He can not appoint a SCOTUS replacementuntil unless he is fully cleared.
As an aside let's not legitimize Mcconnell's unconstitutional denial of Garland as if its now valid.
-sincerely
a donor, a democrat, a voter, a human
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 5:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
I second that above comment with one change
Dem Senators: every interview you say this:
The President of the United States is under investigation for collusion with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice. He can not appoint a SCOTUS replacement
As an aside let's not legitimize Mcconnell's unconstitutional denial of Garland as if its now valid.
-sincerely
a donor, a democrat, a voter, a human
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 5:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [56 favorites]
I’m unplugging from politics as much as possible for a while. Things are screwed and all this is doing is raising my blood pressure. I badly need a break from this.
posted by azpenguin at 5:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 5:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
also (detail alert) i chided a friend how said (paraphrase) " I'm in a blue state, we'll still have abortion" ....
States rights is not the position of pro-lifers; all the supreme court need do is say "constitution says life liberty pursuit of happiness, doesn't explicitly say fetus isn't life, therefore no penumbra supercedes right to life; abortion everywhere is illegal."
If hobby lobby can have a religion that prohibits health insurance payments from employers (cause jesus totally has a parable about HMOs and copays) then sure as shit R supreme court can just say abortion=unconstitutional.
Then NPR will say they have a point and interview a "moderate" republican.
Also no surrender even if we can't win, make them fight, make them expend time and resources, make them do the work, don't just hand them the victory because we guess we'll have no spine.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 5:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
States rights is not the position of pro-lifers; all the supreme court need do is say "constitution says life liberty pursuit of happiness, doesn't explicitly say fetus isn't life, therefore no penumbra supercedes right to life; abortion everywhere is illegal."
If hobby lobby can have a religion that prohibits health insurance payments from employers (cause jesus totally has a parable about HMOs and copays) then sure as shit R supreme court can just say abortion=unconstitutional.
Then NPR will say they have a point and interview a "moderate" republican.
Also no surrender even if we can't win, make them fight, make them expend time and resources, make them do the work, don't just hand them the victory because we guess we'll have no spine.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 5:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Jeffrey Toobin, who for a long time was the only CNN talking head who seemed to grasp the reality and enormity of the tragedy electing Trump would become, said on CNN that he fully expects that Roe will be overturned and abortion illegal in 20+ states inside 18 months. I don't have the link to video but he said the same on twitter.
This, it seems to me, is the final test of the accelerationist and both-sides-corruption positions. Will this shock more than a third of people into voting in midterms? More than half into voting for the Presidency? Will it be the last straw which pushes the fabled suburban woman demographic into the Democratic camp? Will it show the smarter-than-thou South Park Generation dudes that both sides aren't the same?
We know that both sides aren't the same and I've always believed the accellerationists were spouting dangerous nonsense. I said it when Trump was elected but I'll say it again; I hope I'm wrong. I hope seeing the country go completely into the shitter quickly results in real, lasting progressive change. But if and when it doesn't I hope we can finally tell both these groups of people to go fuck right off and never speak to us again.
posted by Justinian at 5:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [46 favorites]
This, it seems to me, is the final test of the accelerationist and both-sides-corruption positions. Will this shock more than a third of people into voting in midterms? More than half into voting for the Presidency? Will it be the last straw which pushes the fabled suburban woman demographic into the Democratic camp? Will it show the smarter-than-thou South Park Generation dudes that both sides aren't the same?
We know that both sides aren't the same and I've always believed the accellerationists were spouting dangerous nonsense. I said it when Trump was elected but I'll say it again; I hope I'm wrong. I hope seeing the country go completely into the shitter quickly results in real, lasting progressive change. But if and when it doesn't I hope we can finally tell both these groups of people to go fuck right off and never speak to us again.
posted by Justinian at 5:54 PM on June 27, 2018 [46 favorites]
Murkowski warns she will 'carefully scrutinize' Trump's replacement for Kennedy on SCOTUS
Includes a photo of Murkowski with the same carefully-scrutinizing face she'll make when she votes for whatever monster he puts up.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
Includes a photo of Murkowski with the same carefully-scrutinizing face she'll make when she votes for whatever monster he puts up.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [26 favorites]
This, it seems to me, is the final test of the accelerationist and both-sides-corruption positions. Will this shock more than a third of people into voting in midterms? More than half into voting for the Presidency?I hate to be a downer, but I think it may encourage anti-abortion voters more than pro-abortion-rights ones.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
This is another reason why state and local races are important, and why it's so maddening to me that Democratic leadership, and Dem voters, basically let this die. When the Feds are not our friends (as they have been from the New Deal through Civil Rights until 2016) then it makes a hell of a lot of difference if you live in a blue state/municipality or not. Because the red states, and vulnerable people in red states in particular, are going to be the ones affected by Supreme Court rulings.
Run blue, vote blue, from dogcatcher on up.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Run blue, vote blue, from dogcatcher on up.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:10 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
I hate to be a downer
Well, yes, I was speaking rhetorically. I expect the answer is "no" on all counts. Which means in the future if someone says "its okay if a horrible monster gets elected because it will shock the system into improvement" or "both sides are corrupt, just corrupt differently!" we can tell them to go fuck themselves rather than pretend to respect their inanity.
posted by Justinian at 6:12 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well, yes, I was speaking rhetorically. I expect the answer is "no" on all counts. Which means in the future if someone says "its okay if a horrible monster gets elected because it will shock the system into improvement" or "both sides are corrupt, just corrupt differently!" we can tell them to go fuck themselves rather than pretend to respect their inanity.
posted by Justinian at 6:12 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
John Lewis:
But after about an hour of feeling gutted, I remembered that despair is a sin.
I don't know what happens from here, but IF it means the court is broken for the next 25 years ... well, then, I'll just have to set my sites beyond that, and also elsewhere.
I don't have kids. But I know a lot of MeFites do. Mrs. Pterodactyl and Bulgaroktonos have their kraken. Eyebrows has her smaller McGees. Lots ofyou us.
So I'll just have to move on to doing whatever I can do for your kids' kids.
MAYBE things won't recover in our lifetimes. (Maybe. Who knows? I don't.) But if not - well, there'll be plenty of work for us to do fighting for what's good anyway, and for the courts, we'll just have to work toward a longer horizon.
As I keep realizing, this is what less-privileged people have known forever. It's just privileged people like me who tended to focus on the immediate, the current year. I think we CAN do a lot right now ... but some of it may take us the rest of our lives to make progress.
I only know that if I don't keep plugging away - if WE don't keep plugging away, John Lewis and Maxine Waters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris and Rosie M. Banks and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Chrysostom and Saladin and all the people I've seen in these threads who are campaigning and canvassing and writing postcards and donating - if WE don't keep plugging away, it really won't get better.
It's terrifying to think that we might not recover ... but I remind myself that we didn't used to even HAVE a Voting Rights Act. That happened in our lifetime. (For varlous values of lifetime, obviously.) There are even people still alive who were born when women didn't have the vote in this country. Things can change. Things WILL change.
Despair is a sin.
I could swear I saw a quote by the poet Liz Lochhead saying "Feminism is like the hoovering - you just have to keep getting on with it" but I can't find it anywhere. Oh well. It's a good quote.
I'm choosing the struggle. I'm choosing to keep getting on with it. For my MeFite friends' grandkids, and for all my MeFite friends.
And for John.
posted by kristi at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [86 favorites]
Our struggle is not the struggleI was so pleased with last night's ruling on family separation and so gutted by the announcement that Kennedy is vacating a seat.
of a day, a week, a month, or a year,
it is the struggle of a lifetime.
But after about an hour of feeling gutted, I remembered that despair is a sin.
I don't know what happens from here, but IF it means the court is broken for the next 25 years ... well, then, I'll just have to set my sites beyond that, and also elsewhere.
I don't have kids. But I know a lot of MeFites do. Mrs. Pterodactyl and Bulgaroktonos have their kraken. Eyebrows has her smaller McGees. Lots of
So I'll just have to move on to doing whatever I can do for your kids' kids.
MAYBE things won't recover in our lifetimes. (Maybe. Who knows? I don't.) But if not - well, there'll be plenty of work for us to do fighting for what's good anyway, and for the courts, we'll just have to work toward a longer horizon.
As I keep realizing, this is what less-privileged people have known forever. It's just privileged people like me who tended to focus on the immediate, the current year. I think we CAN do a lot right now ... but some of it may take us the rest of our lives to make progress.
I only know that if I don't keep plugging away - if WE don't keep plugging away, John Lewis and Maxine Waters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris and Rosie M. Banks and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Chrysostom and Saladin and all the people I've seen in these threads who are campaigning and canvassing and writing postcards and donating - if WE don't keep plugging away, it really won't get better.
It's terrifying to think that we might not recover ... but I remind myself that we didn't used to even HAVE a Voting Rights Act. That happened in our lifetime. (For varlous values of lifetime, obviously.) There are even people still alive who were born when women didn't have the vote in this country. Things can change. Things WILL change.
Despair is a sin.
I could swear I saw a quote by the poet Liz Lochhead saying "Feminism is like the hoovering - you just have to keep getting on with it" but I can't find it anywhere. Oh well. It's a good quote.
I'm choosing the struggle. I'm choosing to keep getting on with it. For my MeFite friends' grandkids, and for all my MeFite friends.
And for John.
posted by kristi at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [86 favorites]
When a Democrat takes the White House in 2020, they will have a moral fucking imperative to pack the court.
How would this happen? there are 9 Justices, and the Republican ones aren't just gonna retire if a Dem becomes POTUS.
Aside from all that Kennedy can retire whenever he wants. He's served for what, 30+ years?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2018
How would this happen? there are 9 Justices, and the Republican ones aren't just gonna retire if a Dem becomes POTUS.
Aside from all that Kennedy can retire whenever he wants. He's served for what, 30+ years?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2018
One party believes women should be full citizens. The other does not. There’s something worth turning out for this November.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Overheard my eight year old mixed race daughter saying to her friend “who wouldn’t be a feminist”
Don’t despair indeed.
posted by angrybear at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
Don’t despair indeed.
posted by angrybear at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
How would this happen? there are 9 Justices, and the Republican ones aren't just gonna retire if a Dem becomes POTUS.
The president can dubiously appoint more than 9 justices (I expect Trump to try this eventually).
posted by dilaudid at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018
The president can dubiously appoint more than 9 justices (I expect Trump to try this eventually).
posted by dilaudid at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018
There's no rule that says the supreme court must be 9 justices. a democratic congress and democratic president could push that to 15 if they wanted to.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
@ddale8: Trump reads a note he says he was given about how Canada is unfair to American wheat growers, then says, "Do you know what that means? I don't know what the hell it means...what the hell does that mean?" He dismissively tosses away the card on which this was written for him.
This is the guy who boasts about how he has the best brain.
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
This is the guy who boasts about how he has the best brain.
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [35 favorites]
How would this happen? there are 9 Justices, and the Republican ones aren't just gonna retire if a Dem becomes POTUS.There's nothing in the Constitution that says there have to be 9 justices. A president could, hypothetically, appoint a bunch of new justices who would do what the president wanted them to do. FDR threatened to do this in the '30s, basically to blackmail the court into overturning decisions that were preventing him from enacting his agenda.
The problem is that Republicans are much, much more likely to try this these days than Democrats are.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:25 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
The president can dubiously appoint more than 9 justices (I expect Trump to try this eventually).
A president could, hypothetically, appoint a bunch of new justices who would do what the president wanted them to do. FDR threatened to do this in the '30s, basically to blackmail the court into overturning decisions that were preventing him from enacting his agenda.
Not quite. The size of the Court is statutory, not Constitutional, currently affixed at 9 since the Judiciary Act of 1869. FDR's court packing plan would've been legislative, and was defeated in Congress with the aide of the untimely death of the Democratic Majority Leader who FDR had promised one of the expanded seats to. The SCOTUS then acted to save itself from more attacks by FDR by starting to uphold his New Deal legislation.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [20 favorites]
A president could, hypothetically, appoint a bunch of new justices who would do what the president wanted them to do. FDR threatened to do this in the '30s, basically to blackmail the court into overturning decisions that were preventing him from enacting his agenda.
Not quite. The size of the Court is statutory, not Constitutional, currently affixed at 9 since the Judiciary Act of 1869. FDR's court packing plan would've been legislative, and was defeated in Congress with the aide of the untimely death of the Democratic Majority Leader who FDR had promised one of the expanded seats to. The SCOTUS then acted to save itself from more attacks by FDR by starting to uphold his New Deal legislation.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [20 favorites]
Here’s a transcript of the wheat thing. It’s weird.
posted by zachlipton at 6:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:33 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Note that as a non-budgetary matter changing legislation to allow additional justices would require 60 votes in the Senate. Take that into consideration when deciding how much brainspace to devote to hoping for such an outcome.
posted by Justinian at 6:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:35 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
I want to thank Doctor Zed for his comment linking to John Lewis. Lewis is a giant and his tweet is literally the only thing that has made me feel less despairing today. He walked into the firehoses and was attacked by dogs and beaten by racists. If he didn't despair and give up I don't suppose we should either.
posted by Justinian at 6:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:40 PM on June 27, 2018 [51 favorites]
If he didn't despair and give up I don't suppose we should either.
I'm sure he despaired. He just didn't give up. Sisu; from up above.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:43 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
I'm sure he despaired. He just didn't give up. Sisu; from up above.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:43 PM on June 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Note that as a non-budgetary matter changing legislation to allow additional justices would require 60 votes in the Senate.
If Ds take control of Congress and the Presidency in 2020 and don't nuke the filibuster, then we take to the streets against our own party to force it. Rs have destroyed every norm, we have to fight fire with fire.
posted by chris24 at 6:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
If Ds take control of Congress and the Presidency in 2020 and don't nuke the filibuster, then we take to the streets against our own party to force it. Rs have destroyed every norm, we have to fight fire with fire.
posted by chris24 at 6:50 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
I've always wondered exactly why the Supreme Court has never been a rallying cry for liberals/progressives as it has for (old and white especially) conservatives
I was thinking about that, because in 2016 I was flat out told by supposedly leftist, LGBTQ people "Don't talk to me about the Supreme Court. I don't care about the Supreme Court."
I think part of it was idealism and purity politics translating into the idea that immediately electing a "perfect" candidate would solve everything. And if they weren't perfect, the binary nature of purity politics meant they were completely unacceptable.
Add to that not thinking in terms of, or even understanding strategic, long-term maneuvering. That lead to disregarding the idea of voting for "imperfect" candidates or parties in order to protect majorities.
But the number one thing was they were really angry at the DCC, and loathed Clinton. They didn't want to hear about the Supreme Court, because they didn't want to hear any reason to vote for her or support the Democratic Party, as opposed to Greens.
posted by happyroach at 7:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
I was thinking about that, because in 2016 I was flat out told by supposedly leftist, LGBTQ people "Don't talk to me about the Supreme Court. I don't care about the Supreme Court."
I think part of it was idealism and purity politics translating into the idea that immediately electing a "perfect" candidate would solve everything. And if they weren't perfect, the binary nature of purity politics meant they were completely unacceptable.
Add to that not thinking in terms of, or even understanding strategic, long-term maneuvering. That lead to disregarding the idea of voting for "imperfect" candidates or parties in order to protect majorities.
But the number one thing was they were really angry at the DCC, and loathed Clinton. They didn't want to hear about the Supreme Court, because they didn't want to hear any reason to vote for her or support the Democratic Party, as opposed to Greens.
posted by happyroach at 7:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [29 favorites]
Howard Zinn: Don't Despair about the Supreme Court from 2005, during one of the other Courtly crises.
"
posted by Harry Caul at 7:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
"
posted by Harry Caul at 7:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
I don't know what happens from here, but IF it means the court is broken for the next 25 years ... well, then, I'll just have to set my sites beyond that, and also elsewhere.
I'm 54. I'll be 79 in 25 years if I'm spared. Imma go ahead with despair (and beer) for now.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
I'm 54. I'll be 79 in 25 years if I'm spared. Imma go ahead with despair (and beer) for now.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [16 favorites]
Politico with an interesting piece on the hostile dysfunction inside the GOP House.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:27 PM on June 27, 2018
posted by Harry Caul at 7:27 PM on June 27, 2018
Any third party or non voters who dismissed the Supreme Court as a reason to vote Clinton and accused us of emotional blackmail for even bringing it up can go choke to death on their purity and righteousness when the VRA, CRA, ACA and Roe are gone and we live in a theofascist ethnostate.
posted by chris24 at 7:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [37 favorites]
I'm 54. I'll be 79 in 25 years if I'm spared. Imma go ahead with despair (and beer) for now.
At least all the boomers will be dead - we’ll be owners of the ruins they’ve left behind.
Also this is peak gerontocracy right now, coming out of the generational dip created by Gen X younger people with more investment in the survival of society and the human race will start being the dominant voting block, assuming continuation of voting. And of democracy has fallen a bunch of dead people are going to have trouble enforcing whatever replacement for it they have built. Maybe, just maybe, we are at the bottom point and beginning to look up?
posted by Artw at 7:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
At least all the boomers will be dead - we’ll be owners of the ruins they’ve left behind.
Also this is peak gerontocracy right now, coming out of the generational dip created by Gen X younger people with more investment in the survival of society and the human race will start being the dominant voting block, assuming continuation of voting. And of democracy has fallen a bunch of dead people are going to have trouble enforcing whatever replacement for it they have built. Maybe, just maybe, we are at the bottom point and beginning to look up?
posted by Artw at 7:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
Don't forget Obergefell, unions, and the ADA
posted by localhuman at 7:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by localhuman at 7:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
A disturbing thought just occurred to me, though in all likelihood this has been discussed in a previous thread (in fact maybe I read it before and forgot I read it)... the lifetime appointments of SCOTUS justices were originally intended to make them independent of politics. But in this crazy new world where the American system has installed a POTUS* who was pretty much openly a pawn of a foreign power and hence of necessity must be impeached, the institutional inertia against impeachments in general has been greatly eroded.
So kompromat isn't just of value against politicians. I wonder how many of the judges on Trump's potential nominee list are on it because the Russian-Republican Axis has dirt on them, in case their ideological commitments are insufficient.
I also wonder how many conservative-nationalists would actually object to that, or might even believe it's a good thing. They should tack that question on to the polling making inquiries on issues related to the concentration camps:
posted by XMLicious at 7:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
So kompromat isn't just of value against politicians. I wonder how many of the judges on Trump's potential nominee list are on it because the Russian-Republican Axis has dirt on them, in case their ideological commitments are insufficient.
I also wonder how many conservative-nationalists would actually object to that, or might even believe it's a good thing. They should tack that question on to the polling making inquiries on issues related to the concentration camps:
The President should appoint someone to the Supreme Court whom he has the ability to blackmail to prevent judicial activism. Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat...posted by XMLicious at 7:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Roe will be overturned and abortion illegal in 20+ states inside 18 months.
Listened to some random radio on Kennedy today that turned out to be conservative. When it came to Roe v. Wade being overturned the lawyer guests got really quiet and then said that it would likely instead suffer a death by a thousand cuts. It was heartening to hear they thought it wouldn't be overturned, but also clear they would stop at nothing to undermine it in every underhanded way possible.
Oh, and I learned the civility thing is getting crazy play on conservative radio. You see, it's one thing to protest at someone's place of business, but to invade their private life? Nothing's sacred to liberals...
posted by xammerboy at 7:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Listened to some random radio on Kennedy today that turned out to be conservative. When it came to Roe v. Wade being overturned the lawyer guests got really quiet and then said that it would likely instead suffer a death by a thousand cuts. It was heartening to hear they thought it wouldn't be overturned, but also clear they would stop at nothing to undermine it in every underhanded way possible.
Oh, and I learned the civility thing is getting crazy play on conservative radio. You see, it's one thing to protest at someone's place of business, but to invade their private life? Nothing's sacred to liberals...
posted by xammerboy at 7:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was exactly my experience too. Green voters hated Clinton above all else, even more than some Trumpers did.
One other thing I also keep asking myself now: how many of the really vehement posters were ringers. Were the people who disdained the idea of Russian interference as "The DCC trying to hide its corruption" all sincere? Or did some of the accounts quietly disappear after the election? Sometimes I'm tempted to go back and see if I can check on them, but it would be a lot of work for little evidence.
This is another legacy of the Russian interference; questioning how many of the people promoting a position are real.
posted by happyroach at 7:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
One other thing I also keep asking myself now: how many of the really vehement posters were ringers. Were the people who disdained the idea of Russian interference as "The DCC trying to hide its corruption" all sincere? Or did some of the accounts quietly disappear after the election? Sometimes I'm tempted to go back and see if I can check on them, but it would be a lot of work for little evidence.
This is another legacy of the Russian interference; questioning how many of the people promoting a position are real.
posted by happyroach at 7:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [22 favorites]
Maybe, just maybe, we are at the bottom point and beginning to look up?
I doubt it. American wage stagnation has been constant the past 40 years with consumption propped up by access to cheap credit and cheap imported goods. Real spending power for even the upper middle class is dropping. Even college grads, haven't had a raise in real wages since 2000.
I think we're quickly approaching endgame as a whole heap of chickens start coming home to roost and without extraordinary effort by a massive part of the electorate there's little we can probably do to stop it at this point. Kennedy being replaced by a right wing hardliner will cement capital's victory over labor for a generation or longer ensuring that we won't be able to take what is due to us even if we do claw back Congress.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
I doubt it. American wage stagnation has been constant the past 40 years with consumption propped up by access to cheap credit and cheap imported goods. Real spending power for even the upper middle class is dropping. Even college grads, haven't had a raise in real wages since 2000.
I think we're quickly approaching endgame as a whole heap of chickens start coming home to roost and without extraordinary effort by a massive part of the electorate there's little we can probably do to stop it at this point. Kennedy being replaced by a right wing hardliner will cement capital's victory over labor for a generation or longer ensuring that we won't be able to take what is due to us even if we do claw back Congress.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
I’m talking about real life people that I know or knew at one point personally, not just random accounts promoting a position on facebook. Fake Russian bots were a real thing, but so were real people intentionally amplyfying the “both sides” rhetoric through their own social channels.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
"They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists." "Total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." "Look at my African American over here. Look at him." "Shithole countries." "So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?" "I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks." "I know nothing about white supremacists...You wouldn’t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about." "You also had people that were very fine people on both sides." "They call her Pocahontas." "I have seen women manipulate men with just a twitch of their eye — or perhaps another body part." "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" "I moved on her like a bitch." "And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything."
"Civility"? Blow it out your ass.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:57 PM on June 27, 2018 [87 favorites]
"Civility"? Blow it out your ass.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:57 PM on June 27, 2018 [87 favorites]
I'm 54. I'll be 79 in 25 years if I'm spared. Imma go ahead with despair (and beer) for now.
51 here, and whisky, not beer, but that aside. I wish I had the luxury of despair, but I have daughters, 11 and 14, and for whatever reasons, I feel that I have to teach them "Vive la Resistance!" by example, or they won't have the sense of urgency that's needed.
posted by mikelieman at 7:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [34 favorites]
51 here, and whisky, not beer, but that aside. I wish I had the luxury of despair, but I have daughters, 11 and 14, and for whatever reasons, I feel that I have to teach them "Vive la Resistance!" by example, or they won't have the sense of urgency that's needed.
posted by mikelieman at 7:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [34 favorites]
I typed this and deleted it right after the Muslim ban decision because I was pretty certain everybody would say stop being a histrionic negative nancy, but all the offline organizing structures, communities, and networks people are building and have built for political action and resistance must also be made capable (if they're not already) of helping vulnerable people move to areas of safety in and outside the US should that become necessary. Because it could be soon.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
, but all the offline organizing structures, communities, and networks people are building and have built for political action and resistance must also be made capable (if they're not already) of helping vulnerable people move to areas of safety in and outside the US should that become necessary. Because it could be soon.
If anyone wants to go hiking with me way, way up in NY, I won't feel bad if you accidentally cross the border, keep going, and I have to drive home alone.
Just sayin'
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
If anyone wants to go hiking with me way, way up in NY, I won't feel bad if you accidentally cross the border, keep going, and I have to drive home alone.
Just sayin'
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Because it could be soon.
That time is already here, just unevenly distributed.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
That time is already here, just unevenly distributed.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
When it came to Roe v. Wade being overturned the lawyer guests got really quiet and then said that it would likely instead suffer a death by a thousand cuts.
I have some bad news for you about trigger laws.
Also, the reality is that in many parts of the country (Texas and Ohio are big examples), Roe v. Wade is almost functionally non-existent anyway because of the barriers to abortion care. For vast groups of women across the country, they are already in the situation Irish women were in for decades. Rural women in the south and midwest have had to travel as many miles as many Irish women did to another country to simply obtain an abortion.
Obviously overturning Roe would be devastating. But the problem has been with us for years, and I desperately wish folks who lived on the coasts would realize this. Every time I see that a New York abortion fund raised beaucoup money I'm glad, but your sisters in Ohio, Louisiana, and Texas have an even larger hill to climb to get access to abortion.
posted by mostly vowels at 8:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
I have some bad news for you about trigger laws.
Also, the reality is that in many parts of the country (Texas and Ohio are big examples), Roe v. Wade is almost functionally non-existent anyway because of the barriers to abortion care. For vast groups of women across the country, they are already in the situation Irish women were in for decades. Rural women in the south and midwest have had to travel as many miles as many Irish women did to another country to simply obtain an abortion.
Obviously overturning Roe would be devastating. But the problem has been with us for years, and I desperately wish folks who lived on the coasts would realize this. Every time I see that a New York abortion fund raised beaucoup money I'm glad, but your sisters in Ohio, Louisiana, and Texas have an even larger hill to climb to get access to abortion.
posted by mostly vowels at 8:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
The Supreme Court is going to royally screw us for a long time. In the near future, Republicans will probably turn out in droves for the midterms, regardless of whether or not Trump waits to nominate and confirm a judge. If Obama had gotten Medicare for all, Democrats probably would have turned out in droves too. This is that big.
The model going forward will probably be to organize at the state level. It worked for gay marriage. It worked for pot legalization. Would you rather have your company in a state that provides healthcare, funds its schools, and protects minority rights, or not? Tactically we should be investing in voter registration, turn out, and ending gerrymandering.
It's not a good day.... I thought more of Kennedy.
posted by xammerboy at 8:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The model going forward will probably be to organize at the state level. It worked for gay marriage. It worked for pot legalization. Would you rather have your company in a state that provides healthcare, funds its schools, and protects minority rights, or not? Tactically we should be investing in voter registration, turn out, and ending gerrymandering.
It's not a good day.... I thought more of Kennedy.
posted by xammerboy at 8:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The model going forward will probably be to organize at the state level.
Yes. This. 100%. The 2020s are going to go down in history as an era that is downright hostile to federalism. It will be a time where we will need to fight for the statehouses to rescue as many people as we can from so-called originalists and wanna-be Know Nothings.
Rather than talking up things like succession, it might be well to look at a blue state interstate pact that takes up the responsibility of whatever the federal government gives up using whatever it gives back in tax cuts. Probably with aims like a harmonization of tax policy and equalization payments between states so that for instance larger economic base states like for instance, California, New York, and New Jersey, use their clout to shore up places like New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. Trying to basically ensure stability and quality of life for as many residents as possible.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
Yes. This. 100%. The 2020s are going to go down in history as an era that is downright hostile to federalism. It will be a time where we will need to fight for the statehouses to rescue as many people as we can from so-called originalists and wanna-be Know Nothings.
Rather than talking up things like succession, it might be well to look at a blue state interstate pact that takes up the responsibility of whatever the federal government gives up using whatever it gives back in tax cuts. Probably with aims like a harmonization of tax policy and equalization payments between states so that for instance larger economic base states like for instance, California, New York, and New Jersey, use their clout to shore up places like New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. Trying to basically ensure stability and quality of life for as many residents as possible.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:13 PM on June 27, 2018 [25 favorites]
The travel ban surprised me, because the court's decision surrendered their power to check the president on immigration. They didn't make him state an alternative reason for the ban. They didn't make him make a sensible security argument. Those are some pretty easy hurdles to make him go back and jump. They didn't bother, at cost to the court's own power. It's like a court telling a business they can fire someone for any reason, just not the color of someone's skin, and then telling them not to bother coming up with another reason.
posted by xammerboy at 8:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 8:21 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
the court's decision surrendered their power to check the president on immigration.
"National Security" is typically the executive's equivalent to "Open Sesame" when dealing with the judicial branch.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
"National Security" is typically the executive's equivalent to "Open Sesame" when dealing with the judicial branch.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
This court does not care about their own power, they care about Republican power. That means never questioning anything the Republican President does.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:28 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Oh yeah, I've definitely been in plenty of towns with signs in the stores saying that if you voted for Obama don't shop there. Never seen that hit the national news.
posted by xammerboy at 8:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 8:31 PM on June 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
It’s finally happened, the moment the Trump family has been waiting for all year: a serious speaker on North Korea - at the #jejuforum - suggested we may soon see a Trump Tower in Pyongyang & ‘The Apprentice’ on NK state television. I figure I’m now living in a parallel universe
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her"
This!?! is the issue you want to speak out on? Hey irrelevant old white guy: fuck off.
zachlipton: "Here’s a transcript of the wheat thing. It’s weird."
Note that the Harper Government kneecapped the Canada wheat board by allowing farmers with cheap shipping to opt out; We don't even have an arguably non-market system anymore.
posted by Mitheral at 8:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
This!?! is the issue you want to speak out on? Hey irrelevant old white guy: fuck off.
zachlipton: "Here’s a transcript of the wheat thing. It’s weird."
Note that the Harper Government kneecapped the Canada wheat board by allowing farmers with cheap shipping to opt out; We don't even have an arguably non-market system anymore.
posted by Mitheral at 8:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
zachlipton: "Here’s a transcript of the wheat thing. It’s weird."I don't know about Canadian standards - they go about things a bit differently to the rest of the world, though it's neither better nor worse - but I do know that, by Australian standards, US Grade 1 wheat is basically 1 step above feed grade here.
posted by Pinback at 8:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
agent: that's a heckuva act, whadda call it?
liberal: CIVILITY!
posted by entropicamericana at 8:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
liberal: CIVILITY!
posted by entropicamericana at 8:47 PM on June 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
I don't know about Canadian standards - they go about things a bit differently to the rest of the world, though it's neither better nor worse - but I do know that, by Australian standards, US Grade 1 wheat is basically 1 step above feed grade here.
Regardless of the relative obscurity of the issue, it is still shocking (though not surprising, now, of course) that the American President stood in front of a microphone and announced, "huh, I actually have no idea what this policy statement that someone just handed me is about" [paraphrased, but basically real], and then just tossed the notecard on the floor
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Regardless of the relative obscurity of the issue, it is still shocking (though not surprising, now, of course) that the American President stood in front of a microphone and announced, "huh, I actually have no idea what this policy statement that someone just handed me is about" [paraphrased, but basically real], and then just tossed the notecard on the floor
posted by tivalasvegas at 8:53 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Oh yeah - but that just means it's Thursday. I was just commenting to say that Canada is probably right to say US wheat is fit only for animal feed.
posted by Pinback at 9:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Pinback at 9:04 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Tomorrow's paper of record (NY Daily News) [real]
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Note that the Harper Government kneecapped the Canada wheat board by allowing farmers with cheap shipping to opt out; We don't even have an arguably non-market system anymore.
And here's the thing. He's not done yet:
OTTAWA -- Former prime minister Stephen Harper is planning a trip to the White House next week, and hasn’t notified the current Canadian government of his visit, CTV News has learned.
According to emails obtained by CTV News, American officials are expecting Harper to visit D.C. on July 2, the day after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. goods and American-made steel and aluminum are set to come into effect.
It is unclear what the purpose of Harper's visit is, and how long it has been in the works, but officials say he is planning to meet with American National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was the U.S. ambassador to the UN when Harper was prime minister.
That's some straight-up sedition right there - he's meeting with fuckin' Bolton.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
And here's the thing. He's not done yet:
OTTAWA -- Former prime minister Stephen Harper is planning a trip to the White House next week, and hasn’t notified the current Canadian government of his visit, CTV News has learned.
According to emails obtained by CTV News, American officials are expecting Harper to visit D.C. on July 2, the day after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. goods and American-made steel and aluminum are set to come into effect.
It is unclear what the purpose of Harper's visit is, and how long it has been in the works, but officials say he is planning to meet with American National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was the U.S. ambassador to the UN when Harper was prime minister.
That's some straight-up sedition right there - he's meeting with fuckin' Bolton.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:19 PM on June 27, 2018 [31 favorites]
Meh. Harper’s currently the President of the International Democrat Union. Meeting with people like John Bolton is kinda his job.
Apparently CTV News doesn’t have access to Wikipedia.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Apparently CTV News doesn’t have access to Wikipedia.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:44 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
True, but. He’s playing the long game for his party. Sycophancy to right-wing US populism seems right in his rhythm pocket.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
After the Kennedy news this morning, my first thoughts were of "keep going, keep fighting" words and general encouragement. I think there are legit reasons for that. I also have a visceral backlash reflex to despair.
But I also kept quiet on my personal channels and here, partly because I didn't know if hearing all that from cishet white dude was terribly helpful, and also because I figured maybe I should just shut up and let people vent and express or whatever. This was one of those moments where my "everybody should speak their minds, including myself" values kinda conflicted with my thoughts of "Dude, your opinions aren't so important people need to hear them, shut up and give people space."
I still don't know which was the right call. But it's there. And I'm kinda wondering what to do with that going forward, because there will be more hits. Inevitably. I don't know if I'll feel like that again, and I don't know what to do between "back people up and try to be encouraging" versus "shut up and let people mourn/vent/etc."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
But I also kept quiet on my personal channels and here, partly because I didn't know if hearing all that from cishet white dude was terribly helpful, and also because I figured maybe I should just shut up and let people vent and express or whatever. This was one of those moments where my "everybody should speak their minds, including myself" values kinda conflicted with my thoughts of "Dude, your opinions aren't so important people need to hear them, shut up and give people space."
I still don't know which was the right call. But it's there. And I'm kinda wondering what to do with that going forward, because there will be more hits. Inevitably. I don't know if I'll feel like that again, and I don't know what to do between "back people up and try to be encouraging" versus "shut up and let people mourn/vent/etc."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
The snowbirds from Canada who lived next door to my Grandma in Desert Hot Springs during the winter were really proud of their homemade pie crusts and bread and other baked goods and insisted the real reason they were so good was the superior Canadian flour, which was miles better than any American flour.
Uh, it was all delicious, so I guess that wheat business checks out.
posted by notyou at 10:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Uh, it was all delicious, so I guess that wheat business checks out.
posted by notyou at 10:02 PM on June 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
True, but. He’s playing the long game for his party. Sycophancy to right-wing US populism seems right in his rhythm pocket.
Yeah, that would go down great in his home province, whose entire economy is exports. (Including kind of a lot of wheat.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:04 PM on June 27, 2018
Yeah, that would go down great in his home province, whose entire economy is exports. (Including kind of a lot of wheat.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:04 PM on June 27, 2018
I went to a protest today at the Northwest Detention Center, over by the docks in Tacoma. For the past several days there’s been a group that’s set up camp outside as a form of non-violent peaceful protest, Occupy ICE NWDC. At 9 AM and 9 PM they have been holding noise-making rallies, to try to convey to the detainees that people on the outside haven’t forgotten them. Someone posted a "Protest Playdate" to the Tacoma Indivisible group, and about a dozen women with young children showed up for the rally this morning. It was my first protest, and I was nervous— I’m politically liberal but conservative in nature, as in I don't do anything without thinking it over for a week first. But I feel like I can no longer be in denial about how much trouble our country is in, after the sheer horror of the president calling for, and a network of people and companies promptly delivering, an obscenity as grave as stealing children away from their parents. So I prepared everything I thought I might need (thanks to the recent metafilter threads on protesting), read up on my rights, and headed over with my 16-month old.
The night before, there had been over 100 people at the 9 PM rally, and the police had shown up. Their story was that one of the protesters hit a police car with a shopping cart; the protester in question said that he was using the shopping cart to make noise, and the police deliberately hit it with their car and used that as an excuse to make arrests. Ten people were arrested. So when a dozen women (most of us white) with appealing children showed up, the organizer was visibly moved. Her feelings about police had changed for good, she said, but with so many of us here there wouldn’t be any police brutality at this rally.
We made some noise for a half hour. Those of us with kids were pretty well set with toddler musical instruments— I was shaking a lovely set of sleigh bells— while the dozen or so people camping there used pots and pans. I had my baby in a front pack, and he was calm but confused, eventually just laying his head on my chest and giving up on the world making sense. There was a news crew there which took some video of us. (I'm the woman in the burgundy dress with the baby.) According to one of the recently released detainees they can hear the rallies inside, although he hadn’t known a whole camp had sprung up.
Afterward, we hung out, chatted and let the kids play a bit. The group coalesced into "mamas" and "anarchists,” with one side wearing babies and the other side wearing bandanas, but our hosts were friendly and glad to have us, offering us vegan egg McMuffins. Feeding and supervising a wiggly baby took up most of my time; the supervising was no easy task, given that we were on a fairly small strip of land. At one point, someone’s kid got as far as the train tracks between the camp and the detention center fence. Although she was quickly retrieved, about a half hour later the police were there to spray paint “No Trespassing” on the side of the tracks, and the people who’d set up camp unrolled a fence.
There’s another organization there full-time, NWDC Resistance. They had an RV parked at the end of the road, ready to help people visiting detainees and those who are recently released. When detainees are released, it’s often in the middle of the night, and many of them have wound up in Tacoma after being bounced around all over the country. So you can imagine how disorienting it can be to be released at night in an isolated spot, and how welcome NWDC Resistance must be!
The young man who had been at the center of the shopping cart incident had been released, and he came back and told his story to us, then another news station, over the advice of the National Lawyers Guild observer. To us, she advised keeping the kids away from the nighttime rallies and writing the NLG hotline in Sharpie on our arms. Our kids played with chalk and pots and pans, oblivious to the dynamics playing out around them.
The mamas and kids all dispersed by 11; we're intending to come back next week, but the group occupying the area was given a 24 hour notice to vacate this afternoon, so who knows what we'll come back to. Apparently the detainees are being punished for the demonstrations, with people's visits being cut short and my representative, Derek Kilmer, not being allowed to tour the facility because of "protest related concerns." Given that, and the news today of Justice Kennedy's resignation, it can feel like shaking sleigh bells outside a prison isn't doing much good. But I have to believe that it makes a difference for us to stand up for those kidnapped children, and the mothers and fathers who risked so much for them only to have them torn away.
posted by shirobara at 10:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [110 favorites]
The night before, there had been over 100 people at the 9 PM rally, and the police had shown up. Their story was that one of the protesters hit a police car with a shopping cart; the protester in question said that he was using the shopping cart to make noise, and the police deliberately hit it with their car and used that as an excuse to make arrests. Ten people were arrested. So when a dozen women (most of us white) with appealing children showed up, the organizer was visibly moved. Her feelings about police had changed for good, she said, but with so many of us here there wouldn’t be any police brutality at this rally.
We made some noise for a half hour. Those of us with kids were pretty well set with toddler musical instruments— I was shaking a lovely set of sleigh bells— while the dozen or so people camping there used pots and pans. I had my baby in a front pack, and he was calm but confused, eventually just laying his head on my chest and giving up on the world making sense. There was a news crew there which took some video of us. (I'm the woman in the burgundy dress with the baby.) According to one of the recently released detainees they can hear the rallies inside, although he hadn’t known a whole camp had sprung up.
Afterward, we hung out, chatted and let the kids play a bit. The group coalesced into "mamas" and "anarchists,” with one side wearing babies and the other side wearing bandanas, but our hosts were friendly and glad to have us, offering us vegan egg McMuffins. Feeding and supervising a wiggly baby took up most of my time; the supervising was no easy task, given that we were on a fairly small strip of land. At one point, someone’s kid got as far as the train tracks between the camp and the detention center fence. Although she was quickly retrieved, about a half hour later the police were there to spray paint “No Trespassing” on the side of the tracks, and the people who’d set up camp unrolled a fence.
There’s another organization there full-time, NWDC Resistance. They had an RV parked at the end of the road, ready to help people visiting detainees and those who are recently released. When detainees are released, it’s often in the middle of the night, and many of them have wound up in Tacoma after being bounced around all over the country. So you can imagine how disorienting it can be to be released at night in an isolated spot, and how welcome NWDC Resistance must be!
The young man who had been at the center of the shopping cart incident had been released, and he came back and told his story to us, then another news station, over the advice of the National Lawyers Guild observer. To us, she advised keeping the kids away from the nighttime rallies and writing the NLG hotline in Sharpie on our arms. Our kids played with chalk and pots and pans, oblivious to the dynamics playing out around them.
The mamas and kids all dispersed by 11; we're intending to come back next week, but the group occupying the area was given a 24 hour notice to vacate this afternoon, so who knows what we'll come back to. Apparently the detainees are being punished for the demonstrations, with people's visits being cut short and my representative, Derek Kilmer, not being allowed to tour the facility because of "protest related concerns." Given that, and the news today of Justice Kennedy's resignation, it can feel like shaking sleigh bells outside a prison isn't doing much good. But I have to believe that it makes a difference for us to stand up for those kidnapped children, and the mothers and fathers who risked so much for them only to have them torn away.
posted by shirobara at 10:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [110 favorites]
"According to emails obtained by CTV News, American officials are expecting Harper to visit D.C. on July 2, "
I wonder how long it would take him to get off the no fly list if an anonymous tip said he planned to overstay his Visa.
posted by Mitheral at 10:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
I wonder how long it would take him to get off the no fly list if an anonymous tip said he planned to overstay his Visa.
posted by Mitheral at 10:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Bay City News, Concord [California] Mass Detention Camp Plan Likely Scrapped: Officials, in which people turn out to a Concord City Council meeting to stop this (not that the city has a ton of leverage over the military), and they think it's maybe not happening in California (which I guess just means more awfulness somewhere else):
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston sent an email to the council Wednesday morning notifying them that his sources in the California Office of Emergency Services report that "high ranking officials in the Department of Homeland Security" have said that no relocation camps will be established in Concord or anywhere else in California.Also, if you have the chance to see David Henry Hwang's musical Soft Power in San Francisco for the next week and a half, I highly recommend it. It's new and rough, but it also features a Hillary Clinton character singing about democracy that will make you cry.
Likewise, U.S. Rep. Mark Desaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, issued a statement just before 1 p.m. saying that the "dangerous and immoral" effort to turn the Naval Weapons Station into a mass-detention camp had been halted.
DeSaulnier added, however, that he would continue fighting back against the Trump administration's "inhumane and unjust policies."
"It is important not to let our guard down as one tweet can change things," DeSaulnier said.
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 PM on June 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
Sycophancy to right-wing US populism
Yeah, I'm seriously worried about that in Canada especially with Doug Ford winning in TO.
BC is a very different mood - yes, scapegoat foreign (mostly Chinese) laundered/untaxed money mingling with local drug money and laundered through provincial oversighted casinos concurrent with other money scams to buy/ sell property with the former plowed into real estate to make insane money on laundered. At that scale, it doesn't matter if there were underperformers - but nothing was underperforming and everything was climbing.
That kind of climate made everything more expensive.
The NDP won (with help from a sole Green) - the BC Liberals (a complete misnomer; they are the pro-business totally corrupt political branch - see turning a blind eye/ actively involved-in to massive money laundering) are temporarily sidelined.
But there's still a lot of prejudice (especially among the young and the less-than-upper-middle-class) against "Asians' (read: Chinese Mainlanders with Vancouver-housed satellite families, unsportingly competing with untaxed foreign money, making housing - and thus everything else - cost a lot more while our income/ salaries are just as stagnant as those in the USA.
Kind of the reverse, but shades of Brexit with a reversal of "anti-immigrant"-ism.
posted by porpoise at 10:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, I'm seriously worried about that in Canada especially with Doug Ford winning in TO.
BC is a very different mood - yes, scapegoat foreign (mostly Chinese) laundered/untaxed money mingling with local drug money and laundered through provincial oversighted casinos concurrent with other money scams to buy/ sell property with the former plowed into real estate to make insane money on laundered. At that scale, it doesn't matter if there were underperformers - but nothing was underperforming and everything was climbing.
That kind of climate made everything more expensive.
The NDP won (with help from a sole Green) - the BC Liberals (a complete misnomer; they are the pro-business totally corrupt political branch - see turning a blind eye/ actively involved-in to massive money laundering) are temporarily sidelined.
But there's still a lot of prejudice (especially among the young and the less-than-upper-middle-class) against "Asians' (read: Chinese Mainlanders with Vancouver-housed satellite families, unsportingly competing with untaxed foreign money, making housing - and thus everything else - cost a lot more while our income/ salaries are just as stagnant as those in the USA.
Kind of the reverse, but shades of Brexit with a reversal of "anti-immigrant"-ism.
posted by porpoise at 10:18 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you are looking for winning issues for Democrats: Sean Hannity has a helpful list of things Ocasio-Cortez ran on, issues that are apparently appalling to Republicans.
On that list, among other things:
* Woman's Rights
* Support Seniors
* Curb Wall Street Gambling
Look at the rest of the list. Does that mean that they just want to be... evil? I mean, seriously, objectively, The Bad Guys™?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 1:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [57 favorites]
On that list, among other things:
* Woman's Rights
* Support Seniors
* Curb Wall Street Gambling
Look at the rest of the list. Does that mean that they just want to be... evil? I mean, seriously, objectively, The Bad Guys™?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 1:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [57 favorites]
I do love how Fox’s reliable audience of shut-in grandpas got told a vile, evil socialist plank was “care for seniors”
posted by The Whelk at 1:22 AM on June 28, 2018 [66 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:22 AM on June 28, 2018 [66 favorites]
Politico, Rachel Bade, ‘I thought you were my friend’: Immigration meltdown exposes GOP hostilities, with an extraordinarily detailed look at the GOP's utter failure to produce an immigration bill:
Moderate House Republicans suspected they were being played.posted by zachlipton at 1:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
For weeks they’d been negotiating with Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows in a quest to clinch an immigration deal that could pass the House. But whenever the two sides got close, they said, immigration hard-liners would ask for more. Then, on the morning of a scheduled June 21 vote, moderates got their hands on an explosive missive from the Freedom Caucus’ top staffer: an email warning group members that voters would punish them for backing any bill with a whiff of “amnesty.”
“This is bull—-,” Rep. Tom MacArthur scolded Meadows at a meeting in Speaker Paul Ryan’s office that day. The New Jersey Republican, who had worked closely with Meadows in the past and wanted a deal, demanded to know why Meadows appeared to be backing away from a bill he helped craft.
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), a leader of the pro-immigration reform centrists, read the Freedom Caucus email aloud, as Meadows insisted he had no knowledge of it. Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) said he’d been warned not to trust the Freedom Caucus, seething that he’d never make that mistake again.
And so it was that nearly two months of intense intraparty negotiations broke down. Their “compromise” bill died Wednesday afternoon, 121 to 301 — the latest in a string of high-profile failures to overhaul the nation’s immigration system and an embarrassment to House GOP leaders and President Donald Trump. While several top conservatives had been in the room helping write the bill, every single one of them voted against it.
This account is based on interviews with more than 20 lawmakers and staffers who were intimately involved in negotiations over the past month-and-a-half. It paints a picture of immense distrust across the conference and showcases how immigration has become a third rail of Republican politics, immune to reform even under one-party rule.
Things are changing.
@thehill: Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to serve Sarah Sanders
@Boston_DSA
Retweeted The Hill
shut up, grandpa
posted by chris24 at 4:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [75 favorites]
@thehill: Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to serve Sarah Sanders
@Boston_DSA
Retweeted The Hill
shut up, grandpa
posted by chris24 at 4:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [75 favorites]
"Civil War 2" talk has been shut down by the mods earlier, but I found this poll by Rasmussen interesting: 31% Think U.S. Civil War Likely Soon.
That is 31% of the category "likely US voters", and "soon" meaning withing the next five years, with Democrats actually being more fearful at 37%. I'm a bit surprised at the numbers, actually, and a bit concerned that at a certain threshold a prophecy like that is self-fulfilling. Let's hope that threshold is far, far, above 31%.
posted by Harald74 at 4:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
That is 31% of the category "likely US voters", and "soon" meaning withing the next five years, with Democrats actually being more fearful at 37%. I'm a bit surprised at the numbers, actually, and a bit concerned that at a certain threshold a prophecy like that is self-fulfilling. Let's hope that threshold is far, far, above 31%.
posted by Harald74 at 4:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yesterday afternoon to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
Conor Finnegan (ABC)
Pompeo says he is confident that when Trump meets Putin at summit next month, "he will make clear that meddling in our elections is completely unacceptable"
This morning:
@realDonaldTrump
Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
Well, if Putin says so...
posted by chris24 at 5:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
Conor Finnegan (ABC)
Pompeo says he is confident that when Trump meets Putin at summit next month, "he will make clear that meddling in our elections is completely unacceptable"
This morning:
@realDonaldTrump
Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
Well, if Putin says so...
posted by chris24 at 5:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
Berlin is having a Saturday 30th demo too, 1pm to 3pm corner of Ebertstraße and Behrenstraße, (i.e. at the side of the US embassy, down from the Brandenburg gate, opposite the Holocaust Memorial.)
here is the facebook link
and here is the website link
We'll be linking the situation in the US with the threats to asylum seekers' human rights in Germany, we have speakers, actual music, we're collecting donations of toys for local shelters, and the demo will be family-friendly.
Please come if you're in Berlin, share if you know anyone here.
posted by runincircles at 5:24 AM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
here is the facebook link
and here is the website link
We'll be linking the situation in the US with the threats to asylum seekers' human rights in Germany, we have speakers, actual music, we're collecting donations of toys for local shelters, and the demo will be family-friendly.
Please come if you're in Berlin, share if you know anyone here.
posted by runincircles at 5:24 AM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
Funniest thing here is 'Russia didn't do anything!' followed immediately by 'It was the Ds who colluded with Russia!'
Nothing happened but it was the Ds who did it.
posted by chris24 at 5:39 AM on June 28, 2018 [60 favorites]
Funniest thing here is 'Russia didn't do anything!' followed immediately by 'It was the Ds who colluded with Russia!'
Nothing happened but it was the Ds who did it.
posted by chris24 at 5:39 AM on June 28, 2018 [60 favorites]
On a more optimistic note, both Gennady Rudkevich in this Twitter thread and Dylan Matthews at Vox think civil war is very unlikely. (One thing that Rudkevich noted was that we do not have the "youth bulge" that contributes to war. In fact, we have the opposite - an aging population, like most wealthy countries.)
These were written before the Kennedy retirement news, but I think they are still worth reading.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:41 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
These were written before the Kennedy retirement news, but I think they are still worth reading.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:41 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Steven Dennis (Bloomberg)
I was struck today as I sprinted from Senate basement to Senate basement interviewing Senators, how Republicans mostly clammed up about their hopes for overturning Roe v. Wade when I asked about Kennedy’s replacement. Even Ted Cruz wouldn’t talk about Roe directly.
- A lot of these Rs have run campaign after campaign against abortion rights. And this might be their one chance to do something about it for another generation. But looks like we are going to get typical stare decisis Kabuki which will try to keep nom from answering Roe or no.
- The two Rs who support Roe - Collins and Murkowski - are on the hot seat. Collins called Roe settled law; Murkowski said Roe will be a factor in her vote but not only factor, leaving max wiggle room. Both had to be asked about it. They’d much rather be talking anything else.
Neera Tanden (Center for American Progress)
Retweeted Steven Dennis
This is the game. They want to overturn Roe but not tell us about it til their Federalist-picked Justice is on the Court writing the opinion that makes abortion illegal. Don’t fall for it.
posted by chris24 at 5:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
I was struck today as I sprinted from Senate basement to Senate basement interviewing Senators, how Republicans mostly clammed up about their hopes for overturning Roe v. Wade when I asked about Kennedy’s replacement. Even Ted Cruz wouldn’t talk about Roe directly.
- A lot of these Rs have run campaign after campaign against abortion rights. And this might be their one chance to do something about it for another generation. But looks like we are going to get typical stare decisis Kabuki which will try to keep nom from answering Roe or no.
- The two Rs who support Roe - Collins and Murkowski - are on the hot seat. Collins called Roe settled law; Murkowski said Roe will be a factor in her vote but not only factor, leaving max wiggle room. Both had to be asked about it. They’d much rather be talking anything else.
Neera Tanden (Center for American Progress)
Retweeted Steven Dennis
This is the game. They want to overturn Roe but not tell us about it til their Federalist-picked Justice is on the Court writing the opinion that makes abortion illegal. Don’t fall for it.
posted by chris24 at 5:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
Let's hope that threshold is far, far, above 31%.
I suspect it's lower than that, but also suspect that 31% of people expressing performative despair (D) or armchair warrior (R) in response to a poll question doesn't mean 31% of people are actually ready and willing to take up arms.
posted by ook at 5:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
I suspect it's lower than that, but also suspect that 31% of people expressing performative despair (D) or armchair warrior (R) in response to a poll question doesn't mean 31% of people are actually ready and willing to take up arms.
posted by ook at 5:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
You know, the automatic assumption that it’s the D folks doin performative despair and the R folks doing armchair warrior says a lot about something. Not sure what though.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 5:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
For weeks they’d been negotiating with Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows in a quest to clinch an immigration deal that could pass the House. But whenever the two sides got close, they said, immigration hard-liners would ask for more.
This is a hallmark of extremism. You cannot compromise with extremists because their position, which you must meet them halfway on, recedes ever further to infinity. The same thing happened with Obama trying to compromising with Rs when passing ACA.
posted by M-x shell at 5:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
This is a hallmark of extremism. You cannot compromise with extremists because their position, which you must meet them halfway on, recedes ever further to infinity. The same thing happened with Obama trying to compromising with Rs when passing ACA.
posted by M-x shell at 5:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
Harald74 I think the civil war talk is mostly just paranoia or an expression of how fucked people think the current situation is. And there's certainly no denying that the current situation is fucked. People even slightly left of center are feeling entirely left out of the government, because they are, and with Kennedy's retirement the fact that the Court has been owned by the American right for the entirety of most people's lives is now open without even the tiny fig leaf of Kennedy's much overstated centrism to help liberal and left people feel better about the Court's blatant right wing bias.
But, fortunately, civil wars take a lot more than this to get going. It's a bad situation, no denying it, and I'm one of the doom sayers, but I think talk of civil war is not based on any real risk. Roe will be overturned, that's obvious, and things are going to get ugly and there's going to be a lot of civil disobedience and lawbreaking to help women in Handmaid states. We're going to see several organizations spring up to deliberately break the anti-abortion laws, and that's going to cause a lot of stress in the system as well as radicalizing a lot of people on the left side of things (and probably making the sex gap in politics vastly larger).
However, as long as there's a hope of resolving things by normal political channels people won't engage in civil war or revolution. I'd say the part that's most worrying is Trump's cronyism and blatant corruption as that does indicate a breakdown in normal political channels, but I don't think that's anywhere near enough to push the average comfortable, kinda lazy, person into actual war.
Which is a good thing. Revolutions historically tend to turn out very badly and boring and frustratingly slow as it is incremental reform produces better results. I'm one of the people who is screamingly, frothingly, impatient with the incremental reform process and constantly pushing for it to happen faster and better. But I also recognize that it beats the alternative.
We're also looking at a psychological effect. The imminent threat of a bad outcome produces more worry and stress in people than the bad thing actually happening tends to. It's the uncertainty factor I think. We don't know exactly how bad it's really going to be with Roy Moore, or his younger clone, on the Court so we assume the worst in our subconscious and that leads us to think civil war.
There's no denying that the long term picture, with the Senate and EC as they currently exist, is bad and unsustainable. But I don't think we're looking at civil war anytime soon, or possibly even in the long term. The Constitutional picture looks bleak, but despite my doomsaying tendencies I think we'll manage to get a fix without going through a civil war.
posted by sotonohito at 6:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
But, fortunately, civil wars take a lot more than this to get going. It's a bad situation, no denying it, and I'm one of the doom sayers, but I think talk of civil war is not based on any real risk. Roe will be overturned, that's obvious, and things are going to get ugly and there's going to be a lot of civil disobedience and lawbreaking to help women in Handmaid states. We're going to see several organizations spring up to deliberately break the anti-abortion laws, and that's going to cause a lot of stress in the system as well as radicalizing a lot of people on the left side of things (and probably making the sex gap in politics vastly larger).
However, as long as there's a hope of resolving things by normal political channels people won't engage in civil war or revolution. I'd say the part that's most worrying is Trump's cronyism and blatant corruption as that does indicate a breakdown in normal political channels, but I don't think that's anywhere near enough to push the average comfortable, kinda lazy, person into actual war.
Which is a good thing. Revolutions historically tend to turn out very badly and boring and frustratingly slow as it is incremental reform produces better results. I'm one of the people who is screamingly, frothingly, impatient with the incremental reform process and constantly pushing for it to happen faster and better. But I also recognize that it beats the alternative.
We're also looking at a psychological effect. The imminent threat of a bad outcome produces more worry and stress in people than the bad thing actually happening tends to. It's the uncertainty factor I think. We don't know exactly how bad it's really going to be with Roy Moore, or his younger clone, on the Court so we assume the worst in our subconscious and that leads us to think civil war.
There's no denying that the long term picture, with the Senate and EC as they currently exist, is bad and unsustainable. But I don't think we're looking at civil war anytime soon, or possibly even in the long term. The Constitutional picture looks bleak, but despite my doomsaying tendencies I think we'll manage to get a fix without going through a civil war.
posted by sotonohito at 6:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Fuck performative despair. I woke up this morning energized. Never in recent history has the difference between right and wrong, good and evil been clearer. The future is at stake, but we just need to win elections. And we outnumber them. Take the House and hopefully Senate in November, take the presidency in 2020. Nuke the filibuster and reclaim our time, rights and future. Expand the court, pass Medicare for All, etc.
And if Ds won't do that, keep winning elections until we elect people who will. Or elect someone who will say "John M̶a̶r̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ Roberts has made his decision, now let him enforce it!." The Rs have stolen a supreme court seat, they have stolen two presidential elections with judiciary partisanship and foreign collusion. They have gerrymandered and suppressed. They have lost 6 of the last 7 presidential elections. Their 51 senators received 16 million fewer votes. Their 24 seat House advantage came despite equivalent vote totals. They are a racist fascist minority cheating the system to perform a slow coup and using that power to persecute the majority with hugely unpopular positions.
To not fight back against this now and forever is to surrender POC, LGBT and women to their evil agenda for a generation. If resisting to the fullest extent of political and social power causes them to threaten civil war, that's on them. They are a minority, aging, and if we win elections, in control only of the court.
@pareene (Splinter News)
one thing that could happen is a generation that has never seen a real, no "swing voter," fully right-wing court is going to watch like dozens of popular and necessary laws and regulations get struck down yearly, and just reject the legitimacy of the court
posted by chris24 at 6:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [104 favorites]
And if Ds won't do that, keep winning elections until we elect people who will. Or elect someone who will say "John M̶a̶r̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ Roberts has made his decision, now let him enforce it!." The Rs have stolen a supreme court seat, they have stolen two presidential elections with judiciary partisanship and foreign collusion. They have gerrymandered and suppressed. They have lost 6 of the last 7 presidential elections. Their 51 senators received 16 million fewer votes. Their 24 seat House advantage came despite equivalent vote totals. They are a racist fascist minority cheating the system to perform a slow coup and using that power to persecute the majority with hugely unpopular positions.
To not fight back against this now and forever is to surrender POC, LGBT and women to their evil agenda for a generation. If resisting to the fullest extent of political and social power causes them to threaten civil war, that's on them. They are a minority, aging, and if we win elections, in control only of the court.
@pareene (Splinter News)
one thing that could happen is a generation that has never seen a real, no "swing voter," fully right-wing court is going to watch like dozens of popular and necessary laws and regulations get struck down yearly, and just reject the legitimacy of the court
posted by chris24 at 6:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [104 favorites]
Overturning Roe vs Wade directly is, honestly, less dangerous to society than the death by a thousand cuts strategy. If Roe v Wade still stands Rs can rally behind it WHILE blocking essentially all abortions (ie, except the ones for their own wives, mistresses, and daughters) anyway.
Abortion is already inaccessible for many many many women in the US. They can make it inaccessible for all but the very rich without even touching Roe vs Wade. Overturning it would have half the country in the fucking streets, but quietly chipping away at it? Crickets and the occasional reproductive right's activist getting shushed and patronized by BOTH the leftists and the centrists because that is precisely what has happened so far.
You should be MORE afraid of them making abortion illegal in everything but name. They're already doing it and it's already working.
I'm terrified of this new SCOTUS but I was already terrified.
posted by lydhre at 6:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
Abortion is already inaccessible for many many many women in the US. They can make it inaccessible for all but the very rich without even touching Roe vs Wade. Overturning it would have half the country in the fucking streets, but quietly chipping away at it? Crickets and the occasional reproductive right's activist getting shushed and patronized by BOTH the leftists and the centrists because that is precisely what has happened so far.
You should be MORE afraid of them making abortion illegal in everything but name. They're already doing it and it's already working.
I'm terrified of this new SCOTUS but I was already terrified.
posted by lydhre at 6:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
Guardian: EU must 'prepare for worst-case scenarios' under Trump, top official warns
Senior officials concerned about the future under a new American doctrine in which there are ‘no friends, only enemies’
So if America throws away the trans-Atlantic partnership, as it appears to be doing, and NATO becomes problematic, while the Europeans scramble to put a distinct military threat in place, what happens to the American forces and bases in Europe? The alliance was never built with dismantling in mind.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Senior officials concerned about the future under a new American doctrine in which there are ‘no friends, only enemies’
So if America throws away the trans-Atlantic partnership, as it appears to be doing, and NATO becomes problematic, while the Europeans scramble to put a distinct military threat in place, what happens to the American forces and bases in Europe? The alliance was never built with dismantling in mind.
posted by stonepharisee at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
And you're fucking right I am a single-issue reproductive rights voter. The hypothetical candidate could be a socialist wet dream but if they are not vocally pro-choice they can go fuck themselves.
posted by lydhre at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
posted by lydhre at 6:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
Hey, stop me if you've heard this one before: Trump goes abroad to fawn over a hostile dictator right after shitting all over his allies.
The Trump-Putin meeting is officially confirmed for July 16 in Helsinki. NATO summit July 11-12. Mark your calendars!
posted by saturday_morning at 6:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
The Trump-Putin meeting is officially confirmed for July 16 in Helsinki. NATO summit July 11-12. Mark your calendars!
posted by saturday_morning at 6:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
chris24, I flagged your comment as excellent. All of what you said - and let's not forget the local and state elections! There are already abortion deserts, mostly in red states. Ruby red Iowa (home of totally not a Nazi Steve King) has passed the strictest abortion laws in the US. Roe vs. Wade is a formality to women in Iowa because Republicans hold power there.
Meanwhile, the four best states for women's reproductive rights are Oregon, California, Vermont, and Maryland - blue states one and all. Local and state politics make a difference. Let's take back the House, the Senate, and our states!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
Meanwhile, the four best states for women's reproductive rights are Oregon, California, Vermont, and Maryland - blue states one and all. Local and state politics make a difference. Let's take back the House, the Senate, and our states!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
So I happily clicked on those “civil war fears are bullshit” links and in both pieces, this is their major qualification (albeit handwaved away):
I don’t think anyone thinks there is ever again going to be large scale troop warfare between the states, with like...pincer movements and shit. But occupation and constant low grade guerrilla warfare? a long term domestic terror campaign?
I sort of wished they’d actually addressed the situation that seems possible, not re-enactor LARPing.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
If you exclude secessionist conflictsWell yes actually that’s exactly what I’m afraid of?
I don’t think anyone thinks there is ever again going to be large scale troop warfare between the states, with like...pincer movements and shit. But occupation and constant low grade guerrilla warfare? a long term domestic terror campaign?
I sort of wished they’d actually addressed the situation that seems possible, not re-enactor LARPing.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
However, as long as there's a hope of resolving things by normal political channels people won't engage in civil war or revolution.
There is no such hope.
I don't think that's anywhere near enough to push the average comfortable, kinda lazy, person into actual war.
You are performing a rhetorical trick here by implying that "average" and "comfortable" people are the same group. They are emphatically not right now.
Revolutions historically tend to turn out very badly and boring and frustratingly slow as it is incremental reform produces better results.
Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook. The historical record is clear: the only time that inequality is reduced is when many, many people are made shorter by a head. Nothing else has worked—not globally, and certainly not in the US under a constitution designed to protect rural slavers against all other interests. Until and unless that happens the only question is how fast they can build prisons. Devising new categories of crimes and criminals to fill them has never presented the slightest impediment to those in power.
posted by enn at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
There is no such hope.
I don't think that's anywhere near enough to push the average comfortable, kinda lazy, person into actual war.
You are performing a rhetorical trick here by implying that "average" and "comfortable" people are the same group. They are emphatically not right now.
Revolutions historically tend to turn out very badly and boring and frustratingly slow as it is incremental reform produces better results.
Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook. The historical record is clear: the only time that inequality is reduced is when many, many people are made shorter by a head. Nothing else has worked—not globally, and certainly not in the US under a constitution designed to protect rural slavers against all other interests. Until and unless that happens the only question is how fast they can build prisons. Devising new categories of crimes and criminals to fill them has never presented the slightest impediment to those in power.
posted by enn at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
the automatic assumption that it’s the D folks doin performative despair and the R folks doing armchair warrior says a lot about something
Y'know, you're not wrong. I'm mostly going by the overall mood I see when I check in on the various echo chambers. One side seems to have been looking forward to it for months, and even have their scapegoat antifa picked out already. The other side, well, just scroll up
posted by ook at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Y'know, you're not wrong. I'm mostly going by the overall mood I see when I check in on the various echo chambers. One side seems to have been looking forward to it for months, and even have their scapegoat antifa picked out already. The other side, well, just scroll up
posted by ook at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you are looking for winning issues for Democrats: Sean Hannity has a helpful list of things Ocasio-Cortez ran on, issues that are apparently appalling to Republicans.
Literally make this screenshot the DNC platform and they will win back the faith of the American people and the take back both Houses. And the Presidency.
posted by gwint at 6:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [30 favorites]
Literally make this screenshot the DNC platform and they will win back the faith of the American people and the take back both Houses. And the Presidency.
posted by gwint at 6:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [30 favorites]
The other side, well, just scroll up
Not for nothing, but the characterization of “performative despair” has kind of an ugly gendered connotation, and given the events of yesterday, if your uterus is not about to be declared the property of the state, maybe fucking don’t? There are actual real structural reasons to be concerned about a tyranny of the minority — increasing proportional representation for red rural areas as blue cities get even denser, the electoral college, the consolidation of the media in the hands of a few batshit crazy right wing billionaires, and now a Supreme Court that is likely to gut civil rights while enabling even greater voter suppression, all while incomes keep falling amid the disappearance of the strong social networks which would make long term civil resistance possible.
We can still do this by winning elections. But it kinda feels like 2018 and 2020 are our last shots. And this dismissive eye rolling feels a lot like the dismissive eye rolling we (mostly women) got during 2015-2016. The despair, in this case, isn’t just about the future of the country — it’s about whether people will actually stand up for each other and take threats to their allies as seriously as they would take threats to themselves. So. Definitely not “performative.”
posted by schadenfrau at 6:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [76 favorites]
Not for nothing, but the characterization of “performative despair” has kind of an ugly gendered connotation, and given the events of yesterday, if your uterus is not about to be declared the property of the state, maybe fucking don’t? There are actual real structural reasons to be concerned about a tyranny of the minority — increasing proportional representation for red rural areas as blue cities get even denser, the electoral college, the consolidation of the media in the hands of a few batshit crazy right wing billionaires, and now a Supreme Court that is likely to gut civil rights while enabling even greater voter suppression, all while incomes keep falling amid the disappearance of the strong social networks which would make long term civil resistance possible.
We can still do this by winning elections. But it kinda feels like 2018 and 2020 are our last shots. And this dismissive eye rolling feels a lot like the dismissive eye rolling we (mostly women) got during 2015-2016. The despair, in this case, isn’t just about the future of the country — it’s about whether people will actually stand up for each other and take threats to their allies as seriously as they would take threats to themselves. So. Definitely not “performative.”
posted by schadenfrau at 6:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [76 favorites]
I'd like to talk for a bit, if I may, about cranberries. In particular, I would like to tell you a little about our family farm. (I swear this is relevant to the topic at hand. hear me out.)
My great-grandfather started a small bog in Wareham, Massachusetts as something to do during is retirement. To his great surprise, it took off; and sometime after the Ocean Spray cooperative formed in 1930, he joined it. To quote from the Ocean Spray corporate web page:
"The Ocean Spray Cooperative was founded in 1930 by three cranberry growers, Marcus Urann and John Makepeace of Massachusetts, as well as Elizabeth Lee of New Jersey. Rather than compete, the three realized they could be more successful working together to create new products and sell their cranberries year-round. With growers from Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon quickly joining the cooperative, Ocean Spray® products were on store shelves from coast-to-coast within its first decade."
The way the cooperative works is: the farmers sell Ocean Spray all their cranberries, and retain their independence as family farms; Ocean Spray handles all the processing, marketing, and selling. The individual farmers also have a say in how the company does business. The individual farms aren't competing with each other, retain some independence, and are also spared having to try to market and sell their crops. It's an attractive option for many farmers.
My grandfather took over the bog when he retired in the 70s, and the income from that bog sustained him throughout his own retirement up until his death in 2007. He did so well that he regularly shared it with his four children, and the proceeds ensured that he was able to afford a good-quality eldercare home for the last 3 years of his life. When he died, ownership passed to his four children - my mother and her siblings - and my parents took on most of the hands-on overseeing duties.
But the income has dried up in recent years. It'd be an okay income for one person, but my parents are having to split it four ways with my aunts and uncles - all of whom are in their 70s now and starting to get concerned about their own eldercare options. The small stipend they've been getting each month may not be enough - and they've begun talking about selling the farm, keeping it in the family by "selling it" to my brother (who's been interested in that option for a while now). Especially when you consider that the income is being split four ways now - but I have seven cousins, and any income would be split eight ways if we left things the way it is.
So it seems like selling it to one person would be good, right?
Well. It would be in an ordinarly timestream. As it happens, they are considering this sale right at the same time that the EU has been considering adding cranberries to its list of tarriffed products from the USA. So there is a possibility that my brother would be embarking on an agricultural career right at the same time that our government is engaged in a trade war that affects the exact fucking cash crop that this farm is founded on.
So Donald Trump could be directly responsible for killing a farm that has existed in my family for four generations, and harming my family in the process. That's not the ONLY reason I want to punch the guy in the teeth, but it's moved to the top of a VERY, VERY long list of reasons.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [96 favorites]
My great-grandfather started a small bog in Wareham, Massachusetts as something to do during is retirement. To his great surprise, it took off; and sometime after the Ocean Spray cooperative formed in 1930, he joined it. To quote from the Ocean Spray corporate web page:
"The Ocean Spray Cooperative was founded in 1930 by three cranberry growers, Marcus Urann and John Makepeace of Massachusetts, as well as Elizabeth Lee of New Jersey. Rather than compete, the three realized they could be more successful working together to create new products and sell their cranberries year-round. With growers from Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon quickly joining the cooperative, Ocean Spray® products were on store shelves from coast-to-coast within its first decade."
The way the cooperative works is: the farmers sell Ocean Spray all their cranberries, and retain their independence as family farms; Ocean Spray handles all the processing, marketing, and selling. The individual farmers also have a say in how the company does business. The individual farms aren't competing with each other, retain some independence, and are also spared having to try to market and sell their crops. It's an attractive option for many farmers.
My grandfather took over the bog when he retired in the 70s, and the income from that bog sustained him throughout his own retirement up until his death in 2007. He did so well that he regularly shared it with his four children, and the proceeds ensured that he was able to afford a good-quality eldercare home for the last 3 years of his life. When he died, ownership passed to his four children - my mother and her siblings - and my parents took on most of the hands-on overseeing duties.
But the income has dried up in recent years. It'd be an okay income for one person, but my parents are having to split it four ways with my aunts and uncles - all of whom are in their 70s now and starting to get concerned about their own eldercare options. The small stipend they've been getting each month may not be enough - and they've begun talking about selling the farm, keeping it in the family by "selling it" to my brother (who's been interested in that option for a while now). Especially when you consider that the income is being split four ways now - but I have seven cousins, and any income would be split eight ways if we left things the way it is.
So it seems like selling it to one person would be good, right?
Well. It would be in an ordinarly timestream. As it happens, they are considering this sale right at the same time that the EU has been considering adding cranberries to its list of tarriffed products from the USA. So there is a possibility that my brother would be embarking on an agricultural career right at the same time that our government is engaged in a trade war that affects the exact fucking cash crop that this farm is founded on.
So Donald Trump could be directly responsible for killing a farm that has existed in my family for four generations, and harming my family in the process. That's not the ONLY reason I want to punch the guy in the teeth, but it's moved to the top of a VERY, VERY long list of reasons.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [96 favorites]
I'm a huge fan of nonviolent communication (it probably deserves its own post, especially with regard to tribalism and the lack of meaningful communication with people who claim to be conservative/republican, etc.).
Anyway. The thing is, with NVC, there's ultimately this single guiding principle that all communication/human interaction is either a please or a thank you.
So, broadly, giving someone a gift is a "thank you" for them being someone in your life that you deem giftworthy. Or, on the other hand, shouting at an administration official in a restaurant is a "please" asking them to reconsider their actions.
So given that "thank yous" are typically "nonviolent," a lot of focus is on the "asks." How do you hear the "violence" in someone's behavior as a distorted/confused "ask" and how do you structure your own "ask" in such a way that it isn't "violent" towards the person to whom you're ultimately saying "please."
With me?
Alright. The theory behind most disagreements or "inability to compromise" or "difficulty seeing eye to eye" is that the two sides have unmet needs and are catastrophically failing to express those needs to one another.
One of the biggest hurdles to this is the confusion of a "need" vs. a "tactic" or "strategy."
People will say "I need you to have dinner on the table when I get home" when that's actually a "tactic" to meet the underlying need that "I need to eat something around the time I get home because I'm very hungry."
To me, this is the fundamental source of the hypocrisy between the GOP's attitude about the Red Hen kicking SHS out vs. Masterpiece Cakeshop denying a wedding cake to gay people.
When a person is requesting service, as a human being with a need (I need a person of the same sex in my life), denying that person service on account of that need is a violation of that person's dignity as a human being. It's a violation of their basic human right to have needs and to do their best to meet those needs.
On the other hand, when a person is requesting service as a human being in favor of a tactic (I think the best way to solve my perceived problem of immigration is to lock children in cages), denying that person service on account of that preferred tactic is a fair response to a choice detached from any fundamental human need.
That person may have a need to feel safe. But they are choosing to meet that need by inventing bogeymen that threaten safety & then enabling destructive practices that will theoretically slay the bogeymen. None of those are needs. None of those are protected as fundamental to the human experience. They are simply tactics, adopted in service to an underlying need. They are not the needs themselves.
So yeah.
tl;dr:
Denying service to someone who has a need simply because we don't share that need or particularly care about that need, etc., is bad. If someone comes into my store & says "I have a need for belonging" or "I have a need for companionship of a particular nature" or "I have a need for security," I would be in the wrong for denying them service on account of those needs.
However, if someone says "I am meeting my need for belonging by joining up with neo-Nazis" or "I am meeting my need or companionship by negging this lady at the bar" or "I am meeting my need for security by carrying a sidearm," I am *absolutely* within my right to say: I don't approve of your tactics for meeting your needs: please leave my establishment.
Maybe it's too early & I'm not firing on all cylinders, yet.. But this makes sense to me & it helps me understand the cognitive disconnect. I'd welcome any further thought/criticism here or via memail.
posted by narwhal at 7:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
Anyway. The thing is, with NVC, there's ultimately this single guiding principle that all communication/human interaction is either a please or a thank you.
So, broadly, giving someone a gift is a "thank you" for them being someone in your life that you deem giftworthy. Or, on the other hand, shouting at an administration official in a restaurant is a "please" asking them to reconsider their actions.
So given that "thank yous" are typically "nonviolent," a lot of focus is on the "asks." How do you hear the "violence" in someone's behavior as a distorted/confused "ask" and how do you structure your own "ask" in such a way that it isn't "violent" towards the person to whom you're ultimately saying "please."
With me?
Alright. The theory behind most disagreements or "inability to compromise" or "difficulty seeing eye to eye" is that the two sides have unmet needs and are catastrophically failing to express those needs to one another.
One of the biggest hurdles to this is the confusion of a "need" vs. a "tactic" or "strategy."
People will say "I need you to have dinner on the table when I get home" when that's actually a "tactic" to meet the underlying need that "I need to eat something around the time I get home because I'm very hungry."
To me, this is the fundamental source of the hypocrisy between the GOP's attitude about the Red Hen kicking SHS out vs. Masterpiece Cakeshop denying a wedding cake to gay people.
When a person is requesting service, as a human being with a need (I need a person of the same sex in my life), denying that person service on account of that need is a violation of that person's dignity as a human being. It's a violation of their basic human right to have needs and to do their best to meet those needs.
On the other hand, when a person is requesting service as a human being in favor of a tactic (I think the best way to solve my perceived problem of immigration is to lock children in cages), denying that person service on account of that preferred tactic is a fair response to a choice detached from any fundamental human need.
That person may have a need to feel safe. But they are choosing to meet that need by inventing bogeymen that threaten safety & then enabling destructive practices that will theoretically slay the bogeymen. None of those are needs. None of those are protected as fundamental to the human experience. They are simply tactics, adopted in service to an underlying need. They are not the needs themselves.
So yeah.
tl;dr:
Denying service to someone who has a need simply because we don't share that need or particularly care about that need, etc., is bad. If someone comes into my store & says "I have a need for belonging" or "I have a need for companionship of a particular nature" or "I have a need for security," I would be in the wrong for denying them service on account of those needs.
However, if someone says "I am meeting my need for belonging by joining up with neo-Nazis" or "I am meeting my need or companionship by negging this lady at the bar" or "I am meeting my need for security by carrying a sidearm," I am *absolutely* within my right to say: I don't approve of your tactics for meeting your needs: please leave my establishment.
Maybe it's too early & I'm not firing on all cylinders, yet.. But this makes sense to me & it helps me understand the cognitive disconnect. I'd welcome any further thought/criticism here or via memail.
posted by narwhal at 7:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
dismissive eye rolling
Maybe I should have made it clearer that I absolutely include myself in the "despairing" group at the moment. I'm rolling no eyes.
posted by ook at 7:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Maybe I should have made it clearer that I absolutely include myself in the "despairing" group at the moment. I'm rolling no eyes.
posted by ook at 7:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Defendants In Diapers? Immigrant Toddlers Ordered to Appear in Court Alone
Children separated from their parents at the border are being ordered to appear for their own deportation proceedings, attorneys say.
Children separated from their parents at the border are being ordered to appear for their own deportation proceedings, attorneys say.
“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child—in the middle of the hearing—started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”posted by jgirl at 7:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
This is the game. They want to overturn Roe but not tell us about it til their Federalist-picked Justice is on the Court writing the opinion that makes abortion illegal. Don’t fall for it.
I think the game is, and has always been, something different. The national level GOP game with abortion has always seemed to me to be pretty clearly Lucy and the football with evangelical rubes. The current state of play is what works for them -- abortion is notionally legal everywhere, which keeps the rubes activated, and it lets GOP legislatures keep nibbling at it year after year, which also keeps them activated. I don't mean to minimize the harm this does, since they have effectively banned abortion in some states... but it's still there being notionally legal and offending them. Activated, energized evangelicals, but the notional legality under Roe keeps Democratic voters relatively calm.
I think you're looking at a fair number of GOP senators realizing that it might be time to put up or shut up, which they don't like. Directly overturning Roe is kind of a monkey's-paw for them. Most obviously, because evangelicals might crawl back under their various rocks once they've gotten their lolly. This is how evangelicals spent most of the 20th century; sort of vaguely disdaining politics.
Secondarily, just overturning Roe itself would be fantastically unpopular, galvanize Democratic voters, and drive a lot of don't-care-much mostly-inactive voters towards being Democratic voters.
Third, even if national level GOP people are *mostly* smart enough to try to keep their game going, there are enough weirdo true-believers, people whose whole political existence is as performative jackasses, and various others who've gotten high on their own supply that many states, including relatively moderate states, will just outright ban abortion ASAP. This will also be fantastically unpopular except, possibly, in the most conservative states like UT or OK.
Anyway, I think they're looking for someone who will keep the "stare decisis kabuki" going, and are on the one hand worried that an appointee might be too much a true believer and on the other hand worried about what evangelical rubes will do if they don't appoint an obvious true believer.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
I think the game is, and has always been, something different. The national level GOP game with abortion has always seemed to me to be pretty clearly Lucy and the football with evangelical rubes. The current state of play is what works for them -- abortion is notionally legal everywhere, which keeps the rubes activated, and it lets GOP legislatures keep nibbling at it year after year, which also keeps them activated. I don't mean to minimize the harm this does, since they have effectively banned abortion in some states... but it's still there being notionally legal and offending them. Activated, energized evangelicals, but the notional legality under Roe keeps Democratic voters relatively calm.
I think you're looking at a fair number of GOP senators realizing that it might be time to put up or shut up, which they don't like. Directly overturning Roe is kind of a monkey's-paw for them. Most obviously, because evangelicals might crawl back under their various rocks once they've gotten their lolly. This is how evangelicals spent most of the 20th century; sort of vaguely disdaining politics.
Secondarily, just overturning Roe itself would be fantastically unpopular, galvanize Democratic voters, and drive a lot of don't-care-much mostly-inactive voters towards being Democratic voters.
Third, even if national level GOP people are *mostly* smart enough to try to keep their game going, there are enough weirdo true-believers, people whose whole political existence is as performative jackasses, and various others who've gotten high on their own supply that many states, including relatively moderate states, will just outright ban abortion ASAP. This will also be fantastically unpopular except, possibly, in the most conservative states like UT or OK.
Anyway, I think they're looking for someone who will keep the "stare decisis kabuki" going, and are on the one hand worried that an appointee might be too much a true believer and on the other hand worried about what evangelical rubes will do if they don't appoint an obvious true believer.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
as long as there's a hope of resolving things by normal political channels people won't engage in civil war or revolution.
This is why I worry a lot about “let’s just pack the courts to deal with this!” stuff and a lot of other destabilizing solutions to real problems - because the hope of resolving things by normal political channels applies to both sides. Wars don’t have to be wanted by both sides - the enemy gets a vote. It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
The stuff about “not enough young people to kick off a revolution” is somewhat comforting, though, so thank you for that.
posted by corb at 7:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
This is why I worry a lot about “let’s just pack the courts to deal with this!” stuff and a lot of other destabilizing solutions to real problems - because the hope of resolving things by normal political channels applies to both sides. Wars don’t have to be wanted by both sides - the enemy gets a vote. It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
The stuff about “not enough young people to kick off a revolution” is somewhat comforting, though, so thank you for that.
posted by corb at 7:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I agree that Rs have benefitted from the Roe dance, nominally legal but firing up the base. But I disagree that they'll be able to keep it going. Like with the decades of racist dogwhistles that led to Rs ultimately embracing someone who said it overtly, I think the dog has caught the car. They can't control the base. The people they've been telling for years they're going to repeal Roe are going to demand it. Trump will give it to them just like he did the worst of fascist racism because it fulfills a promise and keeps his nutjob 35% happy. It may – and hopefully will – end up backfiring on them longterm, but it's happening.
posted by chris24 at 7:12 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:12 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
that many states, including relatively moderate states, will just outright ban abortion ASAP.
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts are all blue or blueish states which have abortion laws still on the books while Illinois is blue and still has its 1975 trigger law. Mass would probably pass legal abortion immediately if Roe was overturned, Illinois would be a bit harder unless Governor Billionaire Dipshit is thrown out in which case it should be a straightforward manner.
But yes, abortion access would basically look like 2016's electoral map.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts are all blue or blueish states which have abortion laws still on the books while Illinois is blue and still has its 1975 trigger law. Mass would probably pass legal abortion immediately if Roe was overturned, Illinois would be a bit harder unless Governor Billionaire Dipshit is thrown out in which case it should be a straightforward manner.
But yes, abortion access would basically look like 2016's electoral map.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
As opposed to, say, the majority of voters in the 2000 and 2016 elections, who both watched as the candidate with the most votes lost to what amounts to institutionalized gerrymandering, and then filled the Court with ideologues?
We're done playing by Marquess of Queensberry rules. These motherfuckers stole a Supreme Court seat, and are about to confirm whatever horrific human flotsam their Russian-influenced orange master deigns to select. I'd say packing the courts in response, to try to undo some of the massive damage they've done, is a reasonable alternative to our OTHER solution, which is dragging them all out of their homes and publicly flaying them.
posted by Mayor West at 7:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [36 favorites]
As opposed to, say, the majority of voters in the 2000 and 2016 elections, who both watched as the candidate with the most votes lost to what amounts to institutionalized gerrymandering, and then filled the Court with ideologues?
We're done playing by Marquess of Queensberry rules. These motherfuckers stole a Supreme Court seat, and are about to confirm whatever horrific human flotsam their Russian-influenced orange master deigns to select. I'd say packing the courts in response, to try to undo some of the massive damage they've done, is a reasonable alternative to our OTHER solution, which is dragging them all out of their homes and publicly flaying them.
posted by Mayor West at 7:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [36 favorites]
Pack the court to eleven justices (or thirteen; thirteen is a good number) and then lock it down with a law. Pull the ladder up. It's a strategy that's worked well for the other side; we should give it a try.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts are all blue or blueish states which have abortion laws still on the books
Do you mean those states rely on Roe, or that they have their own laws legalizing abortion that they can fall back on?
IIRC New York never bothered to legalize abortion on the state level; it relies on Roe. People have been trying to pass a new state law, but it keeps getting spiked by Cuomo’s IDC.
(Someone please correct me if I’m wrong; I learned about this at a meeting post-election and it was one of many things that knocked me flat, so it’s possible I’m remembering wrong)
posted by schadenfrau at 7:26 AM on June 28, 2018
Do you mean those states rely on Roe, or that they have their own laws legalizing abortion that they can fall back on?
IIRC New York never bothered to legalize abortion on the state level; it relies on Roe. People have been trying to pass a new state law, but it keeps getting spiked by Cuomo’s IDC.
(Someone please correct me if I’m wrong; I learned about this at a meeting post-election and it was one of many things that knocked me flat, so it’s possible I’m remembering wrong)
posted by schadenfrau at 7:26 AM on June 28, 2018
> Pack the court to eleven justices (or thirteen; thirteen is a good number) and then lock it down with a law. Pull the ladder up. It's a strategy that's worked well for the other side; we should give it a try.
Unless the law in question is a Constitutional amendment -- and good luck with that -- there's no way to "lock it down" that isn't subject to the same process that led to the original change. There's no other way to tie the hands of future Congresses, nor should there be.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:26 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Unless the law in question is a Constitutional amendment -- and good luck with that -- there's no way to "lock it down" that isn't subject to the same process that led to the original change. There's no other way to tie the hands of future Congresses, nor should there be.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:26 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
But yes, abortion access would basically look like 2016's electoral map.
Not if Republicans pass federal law banning abortions in all states. Roe is the only thing preventing that right now.
posted by JackFlash at 7:28 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Not if Republicans pass federal law banning abortions in all states. Roe is the only thing preventing that right now.
posted by JackFlash at 7:28 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
if we're fantasizing about how to pack the supreme court, I say we push it to 15 justices, and yes, lock it into law, but additionally, require that 5 of those justices come from a lower court on the East Coast (Federal Court Districts 1-4), and 5 of those justices from the West Coast (Federal Court District 9), and the remaining 5 from the courts in the middle.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:29 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:29 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Utterly unsurprising news here, Flake flakes: Jeff Flake says he won't stall Supreme Court pick over tariff dispute
posted by zachlipton at 7:29 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:29 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
I think it was T.D. Strange who explained the essence of FDR’s Court packing scheme last night:
There’s a law from 18something that restricts the SC to 9; FDR planned to repeal that law and then pack the court with people who would stop fucking with his New Deal programs. The Court went “oh shit, our bad” and just let his stuff through so he wouldn’t bury them in new Justices.
IIRC my impression when I read about it 20 years ago (JESUS I AM OLDER THAN I THOUGHT) was that it was a bunch of old guys who didn’t want to lose personal power or prestige, and cloaked the whole thing in “preserving the Court” or some such noble nonsense.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
There’s a law from 18something that restricts the SC to 9; FDR planned to repeal that law and then pack the court with people who would stop fucking with his New Deal programs. The Court went “oh shit, our bad” and just let his stuff through so he wouldn’t bury them in new Justices.
IIRC my impression when I read about it 20 years ago (JESUS I AM OLDER THAN I THOUGHT) was that it was a bunch of old guys who didn’t want to lose personal power or prestige, and cloaked the whole thing in “preserving the Court” or some such noble nonsense.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Aka the switch in time that saved nine
posted by angrycat at 7:32 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 7:32 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
They're Going to Gaslight Us on Roe
Jan Crawford of CBS News last night:posted by tonycpsu at 7:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [59 favorites]Right now, there is one justice we know of for sure on the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe vs. Wade. That's Clarence Thomas. [...]Carrie Severino of the right-wing Judicial Crisis Network, on NPR this morning:
We only have one member of the Court who's even on record saying what he thinks about Roe vs. Wade, and Chief Justice Roberts himself is known for being an incrementalist. I just think that [it] is very premature to assume that anything like that's around the corner.That's the spin: If there's a challenge to Roe, the votes of Alito, Gorsuch, Roberts, and the next justice are completely unknowable. We'll hear this a lot, even though it's transparent nonsense. We'll be called alarmists (yes, even by someone from a group absurdly named "the Judicial Crisis Network"). [...]
So don't believe this future-is-unwritten nonsense. If there's a challenge, Roe is gone, and don't let them tell you otherwise.
Not if Republicans pass federal law banning abortions in all states. Roe is the only thing preventing that right now.
And it's likely, if not guaranteed, that at least some of the blue states (Oregon and California in particular) will just flout the law. I mean, right now right here in Cali we are flouting federal law left and right with sanctuary cities and legal weed. We, after all, supply so much of the Federal tax revenue...shame if anything were to happen to it...
The issue is that blue states are not in a "meekly roll over and comply" mood. And the blue states have more people and more wealth, so doing anything about the blue-state geese that lay the golden eggs of revenue is not as easy or simple as "compel them somehow."
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:35 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
And it's likely, if not guaranteed, that at least some of the blue states (Oregon and California in particular) will just flout the law. I mean, right now right here in Cali we are flouting federal law left and right with sanctuary cities and legal weed. We, after all, supply so much of the Federal tax revenue...shame if anything were to happen to it...
The issue is that blue states are not in a "meekly roll over and comply" mood. And the blue states have more people and more wealth, so doing anything about the blue-state geese that lay the golden eggs of revenue is not as easy or simple as "compel them somehow."
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:35 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
And then the crazies will push for a federal anti-abortion law. Given how unpopular that is, and given how activated women are at the moment, that one might play out like ACA repeal.
Which isn’t actually all that comforting, now that I think about it.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Which isn’t actually all that comforting, now that I think about it.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Completely banning abortion has very limited public support, regardless of what the rhetoric is. There is always lots of talk to appease a certain voter base, but limited action to prevent angering the majority. It would be interesting to see what they do if suddenly they "could" just outright ban it.
posted by Bovine Love at 7:39 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by Bovine Love at 7:39 AM on June 28, 2018
Here's a chart from Guttmacher of the abortion landscape in the absence of Roe.
Some notes:
-Massachusetts is one of the few states that has full-time legislators and a year-round legislative session. We don't need to wait for Roe to go away, we can lobby for a state law now. Massachusetts also currently has a Democratic trifeca (both houses plus gov are D). The NASTY Women Act (Negating Archaic Statutes Targeting Young Women) already passed the Senate this year and is currently in the MA House Ways and Means committee, which recommended the House pass the bill. If you're in MA, call your state reps and governor and ask them to immediately pass/sign S2260!
-Per the link above, there are only 8 states that protect the right to abortion. Democratic trifecta states like New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Oregon have no such protections. New Jersey also has a year-round legislative session. Delaware and Rhode Island's sessions end on June 30. Oregon's next session isn't until Feb 2019 (though you can urge the gov to call a special session). New York is not quite a trifecta, but might be after November -- the next legislative session starts in Jan 2019.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Some notes:
-Massachusetts is one of the few states that has full-time legislators and a year-round legislative session. We don't need to wait for Roe to go away, we can lobby for a state law now. Massachusetts also currently has a Democratic trifeca (both houses plus gov are D). The NASTY Women Act (Negating Archaic Statutes Targeting Young Women) already passed the Senate this year and is currently in the MA House Ways and Means committee, which recommended the House pass the bill. If you're in MA, call your state reps and governor and ask them to immediately pass/sign S2260!
-Per the link above, there are only 8 states that protect the right to abortion. Democratic trifecta states like New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Oregon have no such protections. New Jersey also has a year-round legislative session. Delaware and Rhode Island's sessions end on June 30. Oregon's next session isn't until Feb 2019 (though you can urge the gov to call a special session). New York is not quite a trifecta, but might be after November -- the next legislative session starts in Jan 2019.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook. The historical record is clear: the only time that inequality is reduced is when many, many people are made shorter by a head. Nothing else has worked—not globally, and certainly not in the US under a constitution designed to protect rural slavers against all other interests.
Sure it has. You'd have to ignore vast swathes of history to argue otherwise.
The historical record, especially in modern times, is filled with mostly non-violent, successful battles for freedom and equality that did not involve guillotining Kings, Queens and Presidents. Including various battles for womens' rights, marriage equality, abortion rights, etc. The Civil Rights movement of mid-last century was probably most successful through non-violent means, post Civil War. Individual non-violent protests, including the Syrian Uprising and Arab Spring, the Gandhi Salt March, Delano Grape Protests, Estonia's Singing Revolution, the Suffrage Parade, etc., all utilized non-violent tactics and instigated great societal changes.
There is a time for violent protests and "catastrophic events, as mentioned in your link. But there is also power in non-violent protests and speaking truth to power. They may take longer, but their effects can be longer lasting.
posted by zarq at 7:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
Sure it has. You'd have to ignore vast swathes of history to argue otherwise.
The historical record, especially in modern times, is filled with mostly non-violent, successful battles for freedom and equality that did not involve guillotining Kings, Queens and Presidents. Including various battles for womens' rights, marriage equality, abortion rights, etc. The Civil Rights movement of mid-last century was probably most successful through non-violent means, post Civil War. Individual non-violent protests, including the Syrian Uprising and Arab Spring, the Gandhi Salt March, Delano Grape Protests, Estonia's Singing Revolution, the Suffrage Parade, etc., all utilized non-violent tactics and instigated great societal changes.
There is a time for violent protests and "catastrophic events, as mentioned in your link. But there is also power in non-violent protests and speaking truth to power. They may take longer, but their effects can be longer lasting.
posted by zarq at 7:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
Massachusetts also currently has a Democratic trifeca (both houses plus gov are D)
Alas, that is not true. Our fuckhead governor is a Republican, albeit a Massachusetts republican. Doesn't mean a law wouldn't pass, I'm fairly certain there is no way Baker would veto it, but let's not rest on our laurels.
posted by lydhre at 7:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Alas, that is not true. Our fuckhead governor is a Republican, albeit a Massachusetts republican. Doesn't mean a law wouldn't pass, I'm fairly certain there is no way Baker would veto it, but let's not rest on our laurels.
posted by lydhre at 7:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
And it's likely, if not guaranteed, that at least some of the blue states (Oregon and California in particular) will just flout the law.
That would be even worse because then enforcement comes down to who the AG is and how vindictive they are in prosecution. After a two term Democratic president are a vindictive Republican president and bulldog AG going to use the FBI to go back through records of doctors who performed these illegal abortions and prosecute every single woman retroactively? Imagine having an abortion and have every election hanging over your head in which you basically might be hunted down and prosecuted for depending on the whims of whoever's in charge.
People forget the reason that legal weed states can flout federal law is that it's written in law that the DOJ can't go hunting drug crimes in states where weed is legal. Abortion would have no such gating of the DOJ.
Alas, that is not true. Our fuckhead governor is a Republican, albeit a Massachusetts republican. Doesn't mean a law wouldn't pass, I'm fairly certain there is no way Baker would veto it, but let's not rest on our laurels.
Baker can't veto it. Democrats have a veto proof majority in the state house.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
That would be even worse because then enforcement comes down to who the AG is and how vindictive they are in prosecution. After a two term Democratic president are a vindictive Republican president and bulldog AG going to use the FBI to go back through records of doctors who performed these illegal abortions and prosecute every single woman retroactively? Imagine having an abortion and have every election hanging over your head in which you basically might be hunted down and prosecuted for depending on the whims of whoever's in charge.
People forget the reason that legal weed states can flout federal law is that it's written in law that the DOJ can't go hunting drug crimes in states where weed is legal. Abortion would have no such gating of the DOJ.
Alas, that is not true. Our fuckhead governor is a Republican, albeit a Massachusetts republican. Doesn't mean a law wouldn't pass, I'm fairly certain there is no way Baker would veto it, but let's not rest on our laurels.
Baker can't veto it. Democrats have a veto proof majority in the state house.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Ack, my bad - I think I mixed it up w/ Connecticut. Still call your state reps to pass the bill and force Baker to make a choice!
posted by melissasaurus at 7:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 7:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Baker can't veto it. Democrats have a veto proof majority in the state house.
True. I still think the best solution is to make MA an actual trifecta state and vote the asshole out.
posted by lydhre at 7:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
True. I still think the best solution is to make MA an actual trifecta state and vote the asshole out.
posted by lydhre at 7:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
McConnell won't be able to get 60 votes in the Senate for a federal make-abortion-illegal bill. You can keep your (understandable) cynicism about Senate Democrats. It's not going to happen. They know which side their donor bread is buttered on, and they know how colossally unelectable they would become.
Now, does the GOP nuke the legislative filibuster to pass it, or find some sequestration fuckery to get around it, or use a Dem filibuster as an excuse to punt and keep pushing evangelicals to the polls? I dunno, probably one of the above. But they will not get to 60.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Now, does the GOP nuke the legislative filibuster to pass it, or find some sequestration fuckery to get around it, or use a Dem filibuster as an excuse to punt and keep pushing evangelicals to the polls? I dunno, probably one of the above. But they will not get to 60.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I"m reading "The Anatomy of Fascism" by Robert O. Paxton and it's helping set my perspective on our current situation immensely.
Some things that really stand out:
Conservatism fears fascism less than socialism
Industrialized nations are more susceptible to fascism
Nations that have successfully delegitimized socialism, collective bargaining and leftism are more susceptible to fascism
Nations where the government is in deadlock are more susceptible to fascism
Governments that are more liberal (in the non-americanized sense of the word, think Laissez-faire individualists) that take a hands-off approach to economic suffering within their borders are more susceptible to fascism.
Fascism exists everywhere the world over, there are stages to fascism,there have been a lot of fascist regimes after WW1 and only one fascism has radicalized (Nazis).
There are stages to fascism: The movement, morphing into a party, gaining power, exercising power, radicalization
The most important thing I've learned so far: Radical Fascism is never, ever, as in never ever an inevitability.
All that said, here's how I read the current situation:
Trump's "movement" morphed into the GOP (conservatives would rather have a fascist than a leftist), then gained power and is now exercising power. But that said as far as historical comparisons to fascism go he's pretty damn tame and weak and buffoonish.
The next stage is the radicalization of power. We have to remember that fascisms are brittle, and they are NOT inevitable. I think we also need to consider that maybe Trump is not the "Il Duce" we are expecting. IMO the fascists here are the freedom caucus and the tea party. Trump is trying to be the cult of personality around that, but what if he's not the actual fascist? What if we are totally misreading this and focusing on trump when we should be looking to 2024 or 2028 instead? One thing I'm learning about reading this book is that Fascisms tend hang around for decades in the wings waiting for the right time to attempt each "move" into a greater stage of fascism.
So, this leads me to think do we have a facade of fascism with Trump, with a more dangerous set of people that are not being given enough attention? And if we are misreading Trump as a fascist, are we missing the consolidation of power of a plutocracy instead? Do we actually have both happening at once?
IMO, the question "is Trump a fascist or not?" is to something we should be keeping a keen eye on, but we should also not assume that we correct in our answer if we believe the answer is "yes" because we could be missing some critical understanding of our contemporary reality that will come biting us in the ass in a few years.
That said, if there's two things that really got me thinking from reading this book is how Conservatives will build coalitions over any form authoritarian rule over socialism and leftism, and that fascism is ultimately weak and requires conservative complicity in order to thrive.
posted by nikaspark at 7:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
Some things that really stand out:
Conservatism fears fascism less than socialism
Industrialized nations are more susceptible to fascism
Nations that have successfully delegitimized socialism, collective bargaining and leftism are more susceptible to fascism
Nations where the government is in deadlock are more susceptible to fascism
Governments that are more liberal (in the non-americanized sense of the word, think Laissez-faire individualists) that take a hands-off approach to economic suffering within their borders are more susceptible to fascism.
Fascism exists everywhere the world over, there are stages to fascism,there have been a lot of fascist regimes after WW1 and only one fascism has radicalized (Nazis).
There are stages to fascism: The movement, morphing into a party, gaining power, exercising power, radicalization
The most important thing I've learned so far: Radical Fascism is never, ever, as in never ever an inevitability.
All that said, here's how I read the current situation:
Trump's "movement" morphed into the GOP (conservatives would rather have a fascist than a leftist), then gained power and is now exercising power. But that said as far as historical comparisons to fascism go he's pretty damn tame and weak and buffoonish.
The next stage is the radicalization of power. We have to remember that fascisms are brittle, and they are NOT inevitable. I think we also need to consider that maybe Trump is not the "Il Duce" we are expecting. IMO the fascists here are the freedom caucus and the tea party. Trump is trying to be the cult of personality around that, but what if he's not the actual fascist? What if we are totally misreading this and focusing on trump when we should be looking to 2024 or 2028 instead? One thing I'm learning about reading this book is that Fascisms tend hang around for decades in the wings waiting for the right time to attempt each "move" into a greater stage of fascism.
So, this leads me to think do we have a facade of fascism with Trump, with a more dangerous set of people that are not being given enough attention? And if we are misreading Trump as a fascist, are we missing the consolidation of power of a plutocracy instead? Do we actually have both happening at once?
IMO, the question "is Trump a fascist or not?" is to something we should be keeping a keen eye on, but we should also not assume that we correct in our answer if we believe the answer is "yes" because we could be missing some critical understanding of our contemporary reality that will come biting us in the ass in a few years.
That said, if there's two things that really got me thinking from reading this book is how Conservatives will build coalitions over any form authoritarian rule over socialism and leftism, and that fascism is ultimately weak and requires conservative complicity in order to thrive.
posted by nikaspark at 7:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
True. I still think the best solution is to make MA an actual trifecta state and vote the asshole out.
Evan Falchuk acted as a spoiler candidate. Otherwise Martha Coakley would have won it.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:56 AM on June 28, 2018
Evan Falchuk acted as a spoiler candidate. Otherwise Martha Coakley would have won it.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:56 AM on June 28, 2018
MSNBC's Chris Matthews is all in on preemptively blaming the Democrats for Trump's replacement.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:57 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by tonycpsu at 7:57 AM on June 28, 2018
crap missed the edit window "Conservatives will build coalitions WITH any form authoritarian rule over socialism and leftism
posted by nikaspark at 7:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by nikaspark at 7:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook. The historical record is clear: the only time that inequality is reduced is when many, many people are made shorter by a head. Nothing else has worked—not globally, and certainly not in the US under a constitution designed to protect rural slavers against all other interests.
I think this kind of belief, which is IMO a half truth, points to the need to look very closely at degrees of violence and how different social formations together generate social change.
For instance, there's a difference between high-violence left movements where there's a routine, intentional and structural use of violence (conventional civil war, sustained guerrilla campaigns) and low-violence left movements where there's occasional violence and/or a lot of property "violence" (union movements, GLBTQ movements, women's movements, civil rights movements).
Then there's the fact that the world wars, the Black Plague, etc were high-death situations but were not left-led revolutions - a lot of positive social change happened afterward, but not because left movements were guillotining people. The destabilization of the economy provided an opportunity for mass-movement-based change with relatively little violence.
Then there's the whole question of when violent movements succeed and when they fail - it seems like they succeed (and let's define "success" as "improving the lot of most people and also not needing to imprison or murder whole social categories of people in cold blood after power has been attained") the most when there's deep social organizing behind them and some sympathizers among the elite and in the military. And IMO one way you get to that point is precisely through boring old "let's elect some DSA candidates" style work, because either you elect enough DSA-style candidates to make meaningful social change or else you activate people enough that more militant action can succeed.
What is unlikely to work, in my opinion, is the kind of social transition which goes "everyone is not organized and most of the politically active people have centrist-Democractic politcs, then the collapse comes and we install full communism". That's the underpants gnomes theory of social change.
I would say that actual left organizing at any level of society and based on anything DSA-esque or leftward is likely to pull toward social transformation in the long run, because what is necessary in all scenarios is a mass movement of people who have a substantially left analysis. If someone is all "the ACA is the best we can do because we must not destabilize the insurance industry", they're unlikely to flip over to, eg, full communism, but if someone thinks that we should have a Medicare buy-in option, they're far more likely to go over to "the state provides health care to all, cradle to grave, all services covered" if they think they can get it.
posted by Frowner at 8:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
I think this kind of belief, which is IMO a half truth, points to the need to look very closely at degrees of violence and how different social formations together generate social change.
For instance, there's a difference between high-violence left movements where there's a routine, intentional and structural use of violence (conventional civil war, sustained guerrilla campaigns) and low-violence left movements where there's occasional violence and/or a lot of property "violence" (union movements, GLBTQ movements, women's movements, civil rights movements).
Then there's the fact that the world wars, the Black Plague, etc were high-death situations but were not left-led revolutions - a lot of positive social change happened afterward, but not because left movements were guillotining people. The destabilization of the economy provided an opportunity for mass-movement-based change with relatively little violence.
Then there's the whole question of when violent movements succeed and when they fail - it seems like they succeed (and let's define "success" as "improving the lot of most people and also not needing to imprison or murder whole social categories of people in cold blood after power has been attained") the most when there's deep social organizing behind them and some sympathizers among the elite and in the military. And IMO one way you get to that point is precisely through boring old "let's elect some DSA candidates" style work, because either you elect enough DSA-style candidates to make meaningful social change or else you activate people enough that more militant action can succeed.
What is unlikely to work, in my opinion, is the kind of social transition which goes "everyone is not organized and most of the politically active people have centrist-Democractic politcs, then the collapse comes and we install full communism". That's the underpants gnomes theory of social change.
I would say that actual left organizing at any level of society and based on anything DSA-esque or leftward is likely to pull toward social transformation in the long run, because what is necessary in all scenarios is a mass movement of people who have a substantially left analysis. If someone is all "the ACA is the best we can do because we must not destabilize the insurance industry", they're unlikely to flip over to, eg, full communism, but if someone thinks that we should have a Medicare buy-in option, they're far more likely to go over to "the state provides health care to all, cradle to grave, all services covered" if they think they can get it.
posted by Frowner at 8:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
MSNBC's Chris Matthews is all in on preemptively blaming the Democrats for Trump's replacement.
Chris Matthews is a misogynist garbage human
posted by zarq at 8:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [32 favorites]
Chris Matthews is a misogynist garbage human
posted by zarq at 8:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [32 favorites]
corb It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
I think you're ignoring the fact that huge swaths of the population are **LITERALLY** disenfranchised. 7.4% of the black population, that's over 6 million people, are legally barred from voting.
Then there's the less literal, but still very real, disenfranchisement due to gerrymandering, the structure of the Senate, the cap on the House, and the Electoral College.
I don't think I'm going to cry many tears over white Republican voters who are upset at equality.
enn Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook.
No, it's a recognition that historically revolutions tend to produce worse governments than the ones that they replaced. There are exceptions, but the unusual result of the American Revolution has convinced a whole lot of Americans that revolution is a great thing that improves conditions.
Most revolutions wind up more like Cuba's. They replace a dictatorial monster with a number of enemies and a weak grip on power with.... a dictatorial monster who has fewer enemies and a firmer grip on power. Cuba under Batista was miserable. Cuba under Castro was about the same or even worse, and it gave Castro an unshakable grip on power.
Revolution typically ends very badly for everyone and tends to produce repressive post-revolutionary governments.
I can't guarantee that a second American civil war would end with a repressive and awful government. But I know which way to bet.
posted by sotonohito at 8:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
I think you're ignoring the fact that huge swaths of the population are **LITERALLY** disenfranchised. 7.4% of the black population, that's over 6 million people, are legally barred from voting.
Then there's the less literal, but still very real, disenfranchisement due to gerrymandering, the structure of the Senate, the cap on the House, and the Electoral College.
I don't think I'm going to cry many tears over white Republican voters who are upset at equality.
enn Sorry, this is ahistorical pollyannaism for people who want to feel like they are heroic change agents for clicking things on Facebook.
No, it's a recognition that historically revolutions tend to produce worse governments than the ones that they replaced. There are exceptions, but the unusual result of the American Revolution has convinced a whole lot of Americans that revolution is a great thing that improves conditions.
Most revolutions wind up more like Cuba's. They replace a dictatorial monster with a number of enemies and a weak grip on power with.... a dictatorial monster who has fewer enemies and a firmer grip on power. Cuba under Batista was miserable. Cuba under Castro was about the same or even worse, and it gave Castro an unshakable grip on power.
Revolution typically ends very badly for everyone and tends to produce repressive post-revolutionary governments.
I can't guarantee that a second American civil war would end with a repressive and awful government. But I know which way to bet.
posted by sotonohito at 8:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
Josh Marshall:
posted by schadenfrau at 8:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [119 favorites]
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about something that had been eating at me since Tuesday. Many of our assumptions about the course of the Mueller investigation are based on the premise or the backstop that Supreme Court will enforce the Nixon-era precedents about the rule of law and presidency This seemed less clear to me after Tuesday’s decisions, though I didn’t return to that issue after yesterday’s news. I did last night at 3 am. The Mueller probe is the most immediate issue but it’s really just a proxy for our democratic institutions. I’ve said before that Trump is an autocrat without an autocracy. But he’s working on it and the question is whether there will be any check.The prosecutor’s entire email is nightmare fuel, and it ends with this:
Looking through my email I found this from a former federal public corruption prosecutor …
Democrats have a much stronger case to make: no vote should be taken until after the Special Counsel has submitted a report to Congress, or closed the investigation of the President. A President under federal criminal investigation for stealing an election should not be able to nominate the person who may decide his fate. There will be a cloud over the legitimacy of this nomination unless and until the cloud of the Mueller investigation has been lifted.That’s what I’m going to say when I call my Senators today.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [119 favorites]
tonycpsu: MSNBC's Chris Matthews is all in on preemptively blaming the Democrats for Trump's replacement.
I think it's a real stretch to see that as "preemptive blame". It's a call to action -- he's saying Democrats ought to fight, not that (somehow) stopping a nominee is the ultimate litmus test for whether the party has value or something.
Murc's Law frames Republicans as passive actors, while Chris is treating them as the antagonists to the Democrats' protagonists. Is it better to describe Democrats as passive, rather than as protagonists, because of the absence of procedural tools available? I don't think so.
He's also on the record as supporting Red-Hen-style public resistance -- I suppose that could be viewed as "blaming" Democrats for not fucking up Trump officials' lives enough to "force" them to reunify families, but I don't think so.
EDIT: I WAS THINKING OF CHRIS HAYES NEVER MIND. On seeing zarq's links my heart sank lower and lower and then I realized my mistake before even having to click. Yeah, the hell with Chris Matthews. (Although I still sort-of stand by my interpretation of that excerpt? I dunno.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:10 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think it's a real stretch to see that as "preemptive blame". It's a call to action -- he's saying Democrats ought to fight, not that (somehow) stopping a nominee is the ultimate litmus test for whether the party has value or something.
Murc's Law frames Republicans as passive actors, while Chris is treating them as the antagonists to the Democrats' protagonists. Is it better to describe Democrats as passive, rather than as protagonists, because of the absence of procedural tools available? I don't think so.
He's also on the record as supporting Red-Hen-style public resistance -- I suppose that could be viewed as "blaming" Democrats for not fucking up Trump officials' lives enough to "force" them to reunify families, but I don't think so.
EDIT: I WAS THINKING OF CHRIS HAYES NEVER MIND. On seeing zarq's links my heart sank lower and lower and then I realized my mistake before even having to click. Yeah, the hell with Chris Matthews. (Although I still sort-of stand by my interpretation of that excerpt? I dunno.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:10 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
No, it's a recognition that historically revolutions tend to produce worse governments than the ones that they replaced. There are exceptions, but the unusual result of the American Revolution has convinced a whole lot of Americans that revolution is a great thing that improves conditions.
Most revolutions wind up more like Cuba's. They replace a dictatorial monster with a number of enemies and a weak grip on power with.... a dictatorial monster who has fewer enemies and a firmer grip on power. Cuba under Batista was miserable. Cuba under Castro was about the same or even worse, and it gave Castro an unshakable grip on power.
Revolution typically ends very badly for everyone and tends to produce repressive post-revolutionary governments.
I can't guarantee that a second American civil war would end with a repressive and awful government. But I know which way to bet.
Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast is a great in-depth examination of this. Except for the U.S., I can't think of *any* revolution he's covered that worked out the way it was originally intended, nor any result that couldn't be described as "deeply mixed at best."
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:11 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Most revolutions wind up more like Cuba's. They replace a dictatorial monster with a number of enemies and a weak grip on power with.... a dictatorial monster who has fewer enemies and a firmer grip on power. Cuba under Batista was miserable. Cuba under Castro was about the same or even worse, and it gave Castro an unshakable grip on power.
Revolution typically ends very badly for everyone and tends to produce repressive post-revolutionary governments.
I can't guarantee that a second American civil war would end with a repressive and awful government. But I know which way to bet.
Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast is a great in-depth examination of this. Except for the U.S., I can't think of *any* revolution he's covered that worked out the way it was originally intended, nor any result that couldn't be described as "deeply mixed at best."
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:11 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
1688, if you count that?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump is trying to be the cult of personality around that, but what if he's not the actual fascist?
Believe the autocrat. Not to say the rest of the fuckers aren't fascist too, but Trump sure as shit is.
corb It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
Yeah, sorry but this comes across as conservative white people shouldn't be inconvenienced. POC, women, urban, Ds, etc. have been disenfranchised pretty much for the entirety of US history.
posted by chris24 at 8:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
Believe the autocrat. Not to say the rest of the fuckers aren't fascist too, but Trump sure as shit is.
corb It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
Yeah, sorry but this comes across as conservative white people shouldn't be inconvenienced. POC, women, urban, Ds, etc. have been disenfranchised pretty much for the entirety of US history.
posted by chris24 at 8:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
FWIW before “civility” stepped in the reaction to the child concentration camps was the first time I ever felt that there could be a popular uprising in the US that wasn’t white supremacists finally managing to hold their racial purge.
The reaction was quite enlightening.
posted by Artw at 8:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
The reaction was quite enlightening.
posted by Artw at 8:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
> he's saying Democrats ought to fight
He's not saying just that, though. He's saying that they need to fight *and succeed* in stopping not just the bad Trump nominees but *any nominees* or pay the price at the polls in the mid-terms:
He's not saying just that, though. He's saying that they need to fight *and succeed* in stopping not just the bad Trump nominees but *any nominees* or pay the price at the polls in the mid-terms:
“There is no way politically the Democratic base will stand for any kind of hearings or vote for a Trump nominee before the election,” he added. “We’ve got an election in four and half months. There’s no reason to consider a replacement on the Supreme Court in that time.” Matthews said McConnell has “no right” to bring a nominee up for a vote after what he did to Merrick Garland two years ago.posted by tonycpsu at 8:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Another thing to consider with revolutions: Different countries have different options. Cuba, for instance, is a small country with a small economy, easy to blockade and marginalize, dependent on larger states for support. The outcome of the Cuban revolution was, IMO, far more determined by US hostility and the need to rely on other communist states than anything else.
Actual revolutionary change in the United States seems more possible simply because we're a huge economy and physically isolated from Europe and China, so while it would be possible to blockade a, like, People's Democratic Republic of America or whatever, we'd have a lot more options and other countries would have a lot more incentive to make nice.
The conditions of possibility for each political movement depend so much on where it's happening, who the players are, what the economy depends on, etc. Most of the revolutions people point to as "the revolution always goes sour" took place in economies very, very different from ours, with an extremely large peasant/hinterland population, a capital that was the economic and political center and a natural turn to entrenched military campaigns. All of them took place with the US and Europe as powerful, wealthy enemies.
My point isn't "hey, let's all leave for the hills to form a guerrilla movement" so much as "look closely at the conditions under which upheaval happens".
posted by Frowner at 8:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Actual revolutionary change in the United States seems more possible simply because we're a huge economy and physically isolated from Europe and China, so while it would be possible to blockade a, like, People's Democratic Republic of America or whatever, we'd have a lot more options and other countries would have a lot more incentive to make nice.
The conditions of possibility for each political movement depend so much on where it's happening, who the players are, what the economy depends on, etc. Most of the revolutions people point to as "the revolution always goes sour" took place in economies very, very different from ours, with an extremely large peasant/hinterland population, a capital that was the economic and political center and a natural turn to entrenched military campaigns. All of them took place with the US and Europe as powerful, wealthy enemies.
My point isn't "hey, let's all leave for the hills to form a guerrilla movement" so much as "look closely at the conditions under which upheaval happens".
posted by Frowner at 8:20 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Believe the autocrat. Not to say the rest of the fuckers aren't fascist too, but Trump sure as shit is.
Oh I believe he is a fascist, I also think he's not a very effective one, that his attempts to ascend to radicalization of power are not inevitable and I believe we will stymie this fucker because he's a disorganized buffoon. It's what comes after him that I also want to consider because I don't think conservatives are going to let any form of perceived democratic socialism take power any time soon.
I mean how the hell did Hillary win the popular vote by three million votes and still lose? Something is broken with US elections that is biased towards conservative rule. And the factors that gave rise to Trump will be no different after he is deposed from power.
posted by nikaspark at 8:21 AM on June 28, 2018 [14 favorites]
Oh I believe he is a fascist, I also think he's not a very effective one, that his attempts to ascend to radicalization of power are not inevitable and I believe we will stymie this fucker because he's a disorganized buffoon. It's what comes after him that I also want to consider because I don't think conservatives are going to let any form of perceived democratic socialism take power any time soon.
I mean how the hell did Hillary win the popular vote by three million votes and still lose? Something is broken with US elections that is biased towards conservative rule. And the factors that gave rise to Trump will be no different after he is deposed from power.
posted by nikaspark at 8:21 AM on June 28, 2018 [14 favorites]
Democrats have a much stronger case to make: no vote should be taken until after the Special Counsel has submitted a report to Congress, or closed the investigation of the President.
Trump could use SCOTUS pick to obstruct Russia probe, argues Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk), summarizing all the problems arising from this situation:
Trump could use SCOTUS pick to obstruct Russia probe, argues Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk), summarizing all the problems arising from this situation:
#SCOTUS could alter the course of the Russia probe if it's asked to decide:posted by Doktor Zed at 8:32 AM on June 28, 2018 [59 favorites]
- Can a POTUS be subpoenaed? Can he defy one?
- Can a POTUS be indicted?
- Are there limits to the lawfulness of pardons?
- Can Congress impose limits on POTUS' authority to fire judges?
These are not just hypotheticals. These are all questions that have been raised by DOJ officials, Trump's legal team, or both.
There is a real — & growing — possibility that the fate of the Russia investigation could ultimately be decided by #SCOTUS.
Even if Trump's #SCOTUS pick is acting in good faith, there will be the appearance of a conflict of interest in ANY case related to the Russia probe in which s/he rules in favor of Trump (e.g., ruling that POTUS can't be subpoenaed).
That's just a fact. And that's a problem.
During confirmation hearings, Trump's #SCOTUS pick must be asked:
"Do you believe there are limits to the lawfulness of presidential pardons?"
"Do you believe a POTUS must comply w/ a grand jury subpoena?"
"Do you believe POTUS has authority to fire the special counsel?"
Oh I believe he is a fascist, I also think he's not a very effective one,
Given the current situation, I'd rethink that. How is he not effective? He's been in power, unchecked by congress, for less than 18 months and look at where we are: culture war in full swing, calls to criminalize the press, rampant corruption at the highest level of government, unpunished and even celebrated grifting by officials, our social services being steadily dismantled, a trade war with multiple continents, any environmental regulation standing in the oligarchs' way is being overturned, he gets another SCJ pick to challenge Roe vs. Wade and every civil rights law including voting rights, he's preemptively undermining the judicial branch investigating him, and oh he's fully dehumanized immigrants and put children in cages.
He IS effective. Stop lying to yourselves. We are hurtling full bore towards authoritarianism and the only potential brakes are a landslide victory in the midterms for the Democrats. And even then they still have two months to rip this world to pieces before they Ds can stall them until 2020.
Do not get complacent. He is, personally, a complete moron and buffoon. His fascism however found fertile ground and is anything but ineffective.
posted by lydhre at 8:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [67 favorites]
Given the current situation, I'd rethink that. How is he not effective? He's been in power, unchecked by congress, for less than 18 months and look at where we are: culture war in full swing, calls to criminalize the press, rampant corruption at the highest level of government, unpunished and even celebrated grifting by officials, our social services being steadily dismantled, a trade war with multiple continents, any environmental regulation standing in the oligarchs' way is being overturned, he gets another SCJ pick to challenge Roe vs. Wade and every civil rights law including voting rights, he's preemptively undermining the judicial branch investigating him, and oh he's fully dehumanized immigrants and put children in cages.
He IS effective. Stop lying to yourselves. We are hurtling full bore towards authoritarianism and the only potential brakes are a landslide victory in the midterms for the Democrats. And even then they still have two months to rip this world to pieces before they Ds can stall them until 2020.
Do not get complacent. He is, personally, a complete moron and buffoon. His fascism however found fertile ground and is anything but ineffective.
posted by lydhre at 8:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [67 favorites]
Not entirely sure I get the objection to the Dowd peice? Who here thinks surrender and capitulation is even remotely going to be acceptable on the part of Democrats?
posted by Artw at 8:38 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by Artw at 8:38 AM on June 28, 2018
It’s actually really important that huge swaths of the population don’t feel disenfranchised.
Let's ignore for the moment the very salient fact that there are groups of people in this country who have always been disenfranchised and have never achieved true equality in some way.
Someone is always going to feel disenfranchised.
It is not possible to avoid because most of the issues at stake do not have a middle ground.
A large percent of our population believed that certain groups of people are abnormal and dangerous in some way and do not deserve the rights that they themselves enjoy. Many of them clearly believe they have a mandate to protect themselves from those groups through discrimination, or worse, jail time or expulsion from American society.
A nearly equally large percent of our population believe that they have a right to equality, respect and dignity. They view the other group as a danger to their existence.
Resolving this will result in people feeling disenfranchised. That is inevitable.
For example, a law or court decision declaring same-sex marriage legal results in those who have taken a stand against it feeling oppressed and presumably that the religious theocracy they hoped for isn't coming to fruition. A law or court decision banning same-sex marriage will in fact disenfranchise millions. We cannot have a group of states with different immigration policies than the rest of the country. And the inequality inherent in allowing some states to allow women bodily autonomy while denying it to others would be illegal on constitutional grounds.
posted by zarq at 8:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Let's ignore for the moment the very salient fact that there are groups of people in this country who have always been disenfranchised and have never achieved true equality in some way.
Someone is always going to feel disenfranchised.
It is not possible to avoid because most of the issues at stake do not have a middle ground.
A large percent of our population believed that certain groups of people are abnormal and dangerous in some way and do not deserve the rights that they themselves enjoy. Many of them clearly believe they have a mandate to protect themselves from those groups through discrimination, or worse, jail time or expulsion from American society.
A nearly equally large percent of our population believe that they have a right to equality, respect and dignity. They view the other group as a danger to their existence.
Resolving this will result in people feeling disenfranchised. That is inevitable.
For example, a law or court decision declaring same-sex marriage legal results in those who have taken a stand against it feeling oppressed and presumably that the religious theocracy they hoped for isn't coming to fruition. A law or court decision banning same-sex marriage will in fact disenfranchise millions. We cannot have a group of states with different immigration policies than the rest of the country. And the inequality inherent in allowing some states to allow women bodily autonomy while denying it to others would be illegal on constitutional grounds.
posted by zarq at 8:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
The US also expelled a lot of loyalists after the revolution, and those who did not agree with the new regime could settle elsewhere in the Empire.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
He IS effective. Stop lying to yourselves. We are hurtling full bore towards authoritarianism and the only potential brakes are a landslide victory in the midterms for the Democrats. And even then they still have two months to rip this world to pieces before they Ds can stall them until 2020.
I would highly recommend reading more history, because yes this is bad but what Mussolini and Hitler did to consolidate power and attempt to radicalize was really really fucked up beyond belief and what hitler did that went far beyond what Mussolini was able to accomplish was absolute horror on scales that are definitely on levels that will reverberate across centuries in terms of just how evil his actions were in comparison to everything after him. (I also think the whole history of colonization is as evil and is something we need to be discussing as well, but that's not a here or now discussion, maybe an FPP dedicated to that?)
Anyway, Trump is NOT inevitable, and Trump can absolutely be stopped.
I say this as a trans woman who has been under actual legal attack in the state of Texas since 2015. I'm in the literal crosshairs of this shit, afraid for my life some days and I'm telling you autocracy and radical fascism is not a foregone conclusion, what is required is for us to FIGHT BACK and RESIST by making our voices heard and showing up to this moment of history and refusing to be complicit by any means necessary.
posted by nikaspark at 8:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
I would highly recommend reading more history, because yes this is bad but what Mussolini and Hitler did to consolidate power and attempt to radicalize was really really fucked up beyond belief and what hitler did that went far beyond what Mussolini was able to accomplish was absolute horror on scales that are definitely on levels that will reverberate across centuries in terms of just how evil his actions were in comparison to everything after him. (I also think the whole history of colonization is as evil and is something we need to be discussing as well, but that's not a here or now discussion, maybe an FPP dedicated to that?)
Anyway, Trump is NOT inevitable, and Trump can absolutely be stopped.
I say this as a trans woman who has been under actual legal attack in the state of Texas since 2015. I'm in the literal crosshairs of this shit, afraid for my life some days and I'm telling you autocracy and radical fascism is not a foregone conclusion, what is required is for us to FIGHT BACK and RESIST by making our voices heard and showing up to this moment of history and refusing to be complicit by any means necessary.
posted by nikaspark at 8:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
And to follow up, I'm not placing my faith in democrats saving me. Though vote for them I will!
posted by nikaspark at 8:48 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 8:48 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump could use SCOTUS pick to obstruct Russia probe
Yeah. The NYTimes article on Kennedy reminded me of Bush v Gore and I realized, all of a sudden, in a flash: the reshapen court, especially if Ginsburg or Breyer leave the court for some reason (TTTCS etc), is basically a coin flip from making some ruling that gives Trump complete, unaccountable, dictatorial powers of some kind. Suppose Trump declares a 2020 electoral loss illegitimate because of a fantasy of immigrant voter fraud (he already seems to believe the difference in the popular vote is entirely due to voter fraud), refuses to leave office, and sues to get the court to legitimize his refusal. I would've believed Kennedy would not vote in favor of such a move, and maybe Roberts might not, but the new court? Who knows. Nobody has any clue. And this scenario seems incredibly likely. Everything in front of us is now so fluid and unstable. Only the Republicans in congress can restore us, but they lack virtue and courage.
posted by dis_integration at 8:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Yeah. The NYTimes article on Kennedy reminded me of Bush v Gore and I realized, all of a sudden, in a flash: the reshapen court, especially if Ginsburg or Breyer leave the court for some reason (TTTCS etc), is basically a coin flip from making some ruling that gives Trump complete, unaccountable, dictatorial powers of some kind. Suppose Trump declares a 2020 electoral loss illegitimate because of a fantasy of immigrant voter fraud (he already seems to believe the difference in the popular vote is entirely due to voter fraud), refuses to leave office, and sues to get the court to legitimize his refusal. I would've believed Kennedy would not vote in favor of such a move, and maybe Roberts might not, but the new court? Who knows. Nobody has any clue. And this scenario seems incredibly likely. Everything in front of us is now so fluid and unstable. Only the Republicans in congress can restore us, but they lack virtue and courage.
posted by dis_integration at 8:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
What I meant by my comment, is that the American Revolution was much more of a separatist movement than a revolution like the Cuban Revolution. I don't think you can compare the two.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm kind of surprised that so many people think Trump's SCOTUS pick is in any way going to be someone he chooses. He didn't even remember Kennedy's name. Gorsuch wasn't his pick. He was handed a name by the Heritage Foundation or the Kochs or the Mercers and told that was the best guy. And they'll do that again - none of them support Trump for himself. They want to use him, and he needs their support.
I'd rather believe he might pick his own person (I'm thinking Giuliani) because of the shitshow that would ensue when the Freedom Caucus also votes no. But I don't think there's any chance of that.
posted by Mchelly at 8:53 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'd rather believe he might pick his own person (I'm thinking Giuliani) because of the shitshow that would ensue when the Freedom Caucus also votes no. But I don't think there's any chance of that.
posted by Mchelly at 8:53 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
none of them support Trump for himself.
But they all support the continued centralization of power within the presidency for whoever comes next.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:57 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
But they all support the continued centralization of power within the presidency for whoever comes next.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:57 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
I would highly recommend reading more history, because yes this is bad but what Mussolini and Hitler did to consolidate power and attempt to radicalize was really really fucked up beyond belief and what hitler did that went far beyond what Mussolini was able to accomplish was absolute horror on scales that are definitely on levels that will reverberate across centuries in terms of just how evil his actions were in comparison to everything after him.
The idea that fascism has to manifest exactly as it did before and if it doesn't match perfectly the comparison/analogy is not valuable and possibly damaging to the cause is questionable bordering on ridiculous. Yes we can still defeat him and fascism – just like the CPD and SPD could've if they got their shit together, just like the European powers could've if they'd been less appeasing - but it is laying out the true horrors and possibilities of the potential end game that will help mobilize the resistance. Constantly harping that he's not really a Hitler is counter-productive and ultimately meaningless. Yes, he's not exactly Hitler. Doesn't make the damage he is and can do any less horrific in today's world.
posted by chris24 at 8:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [39 favorites]
The idea that fascism has to manifest exactly as it did before and if it doesn't match perfectly the comparison/analogy is not valuable and possibly damaging to the cause is questionable bordering on ridiculous. Yes we can still defeat him and fascism – just like the CPD and SPD could've if they got their shit together, just like the European powers could've if they'd been less appeasing - but it is laying out the true horrors and possibilities of the potential end game that will help mobilize the resistance. Constantly harping that he's not really a Hitler is counter-productive and ultimately meaningless. Yes, he's not exactly Hitler. Doesn't make the damage he is and can do any less horrific in today's world.
posted by chris24 at 8:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [39 favorites]
Constantly harping that he's not really a Hitler is counter-productive and ultimately meaningless. yes, he's not exactly Hitler.
Constantly hyperbolizing him as history's greatest monster is unhelpful at minimum, and grating to at least some of us who lost family members in an attempted genocide to the gas chambers in extermination camps.
For a hundred reasons, he's not Hitler nor Mussolini. Perspective is a thing that matters.
posted by zarq at 9:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Constantly hyperbolizing him as history's greatest monster is unhelpful at minimum, and grating to at least some of us who lost family members in an attempted genocide to the gas chambers in extermination camps.
For a hundred reasons, he's not Hitler nor Mussolini. Perspective is a thing that matters.
posted by zarq at 9:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Thinking about revolutions, and whether internet tough talk translates into action: There's a gun for every American, but less than 1/3 of Americans actually own a gun. And half the guns are owned by only 3% of the population. And I'm betting in the "less than 1/3 who own guns" there are people who just have one to keep raccoons and coyotes away from the chicken coop.
With past revolutions, not only was the youth population proportionately larger, most men and even boys had some kind of military or marksmanship/hunting training. If you weren't a veteran you were closely related to one. Even more recently, in 1960 45% of American men were veterans; in 2014, 16% were.
So, unlike in many (most?) past revolutions, we can't call upon a large reserve of young, single people who know their way around weapons. I am worried about women and LGBT people in red states and their legal rights, but not so worried about literal blood in the streets.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
With past revolutions, not only was the youth population proportionately larger, most men and even boys had some kind of military or marksmanship/hunting training. If you weren't a veteran you were closely related to one. Even more recently, in 1960 45% of American men were veterans; in 2014, 16% were.
So, unlike in many (most?) past revolutions, we can't call upon a large reserve of young, single people who know their way around weapons. I am worried about women and LGBT people in red states and their legal rights, but not so worried about literal blood in the streets.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
At what point does tearing ethnic children from their parents and putting them in concentration camps become close enough to reference it? So it's 1934, not 1942. Doesn't make the danger less, just means we still have a chance to stop it.
posted by chris24 at 9:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 9:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
For a hundred reasons, he's not Hitler nor Mussolini.
zarq, no one is claiming he’s the equivalent of Mussolini or Hitler yet — and I think that’s the key point. He is very much on the same trajectory. They just market tested genocide by torturing children and putting them in fucking concentration camps, for Chrissake, and now, four months before decisive elections, he has the opportunity to fully corrupt the judicial branch. Elections he’s vaguely threatened with Reischtagian shenanigans, btw.
So he’s not Mussolini or Hitler, but that’s largely because he hasn’t gotten there yet. With unchecked power, he would be. It wouldn’t look exactly like Mussolini or Hitler or Stalin; it would look like its own atrocity. But the bigotry and the cruelty and the willingness to act on both are there. And what terrifies some of us are the parallels — people didn’t take Hitler seriously, either. They thought he was a clown. He still killed them.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:12 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
zarq, no one is claiming he’s the equivalent of Mussolini or Hitler yet — and I think that’s the key point. He is very much on the same trajectory. They just market tested genocide by torturing children and putting them in fucking concentration camps, for Chrissake, and now, four months before decisive elections, he has the opportunity to fully corrupt the judicial branch. Elections he’s vaguely threatened with Reischtagian shenanigans, btw.
So he’s not Mussolini or Hitler, but that’s largely because he hasn’t gotten there yet. With unchecked power, he would be. It wouldn’t look exactly like Mussolini or Hitler or Stalin; it would look like its own atrocity. But the bigotry and the cruelty and the willingness to act on both are there. And what terrifies some of us are the parallels — people didn’t take Hitler seriously, either. They thought he was a clown. He still killed them.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:12 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
If there’s one thing I’m trying to get across it is that fascisms are weak, not inevitable and rely on conservative complicity to radicalize.
We have power, we need to use it. That means you have to do WAY more than vote in the midterm elections. And that may mean you have to be uncivil to people.
posted by nikaspark at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
We have power, we need to use it. That means you have to do WAY more than vote in the midterm elections. And that may mean you have to be uncivil to people.
posted by nikaspark at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
And what did the German right wing and Hitler do in the 20s and 30s? Pack the courts, corrupt the judiciary and inextricably tangle it with the Party, and rewrite the laws.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
For a hundred reasons, he's not Hitler nor Mussolini.
Neither Hitler nor Mussolini was Hitler or Mussolini until they became Hitler and Mussolini.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:19 AM on June 28, 2018 [50 favorites]
Neither Hitler nor Mussolini was Hitler or Mussolini until they became Hitler and Mussolini.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:19 AM on June 28, 2018 [50 favorites]
If there’s one thing I’m trying to get across it is that fascisms are weak, not inevitable and rely on conservative complicity to radicalize.
Do you not think he has this already? Or at the very least, that the trendline very much points in this direction?
posted by schadenfrau at 9:21 AM on June 28, 2018
Do you not think he has this already? Or at the very least, that the trendline very much points in this direction?
posted by schadenfrau at 9:21 AM on June 28, 2018
If a dude openly admires Hitler, hires Baby Goebbels as head of Ethnic Cleansing, is there as a a result of democracy being undermined and is a hairs breath from destroying it completely I think we can be okay with broad strokes Hitler comparisons TBH.
posted by Artw at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Mod note: Once again, please do not go down a rabbit hole on Hitler Analogy Y/N. This isn't getting the thread anywhere useful; set up a conversation or debate elsewhere if y'all actually want to try and hash it out.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
I would highly recommend reading more history,
I'm sorry, but this is really, really patronizing. You're speaking, in the main, to people who have both read and lived a lot of history, by no means all of it North American. When such people tell you they're finding Trump's fascism entirely efficacious enough, please have the good grace to listen to them, rather than, my god, telling them to read more history. Thank you.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:27 AM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
I'm sorry, but this is really, really patronizing. You're speaking, in the main, to people who have both read and lived a lot of history, by no means all of it North American. When such people tell you they're finding Trump's fascism entirely efficacious enough, please have the good grace to listen to them, rather than, my god, telling them to read more history. Thank you.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:27 AM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
I would highly recommend reading more history,
My parents grew up under Mussolini. Not every fascist dictator needs to be a perfect analog for past fascist dictators to be considered as such.
If I thought authoritarianism were inevitable I’d be the first to go jump in a lake, that’s not why I’m calling Trump’s fascism effective. We must fight it with all we’ve got and underestimating what actual fascists will do to support Trump is not how we win.
posted by lydhre at 9:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
My parents grew up under Mussolini. Not every fascist dictator needs to be a perfect analog for past fascist dictators to be considered as such.
If I thought authoritarianism were inevitable I’d be the first to go jump in a lake, that’s not why I’m calling Trump’s fascism effective. We must fight it with all we’ve got and underestimating what actual fascists will do to support Trump is not how we win.
posted by lydhre at 9:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
Chuck Schumer Is Secretly Sabotaging the Next Democratic President
At least Harry Reid played the game.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [37 favorites]
“According to a senior GOP senator who spoke on condition of anonymity,” reports Politico, “Schumer has privately reassured Republican senators in recent weeks that he would not change the rules and is committed to keeping the filibuster.” What this means is that the decision to bottle up the agenda of the next Democratic president is being made right now, in private, in a secret deal between Schumer and Senate Republicans.Utterly. Fucking. Useless.
At least Harry Reid played the game.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:42 AM on June 28, 2018 [37 favorites]
What game is Schumer playing?
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Tiddlywinks?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:45 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
What game is Schumer playing?
"Civility." You win when the other player murders you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [71 favorites]
"Civility." You win when the other player murders you.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [71 favorites]
“According to a senior GOP senator who spoke on condition of anonymity,” reports Politico, “Schumer has privately reassured Republican senators in recent weeks that he would not change the rules and is committed to keeping the filibuster.” What this means is that the decision to bottle up the agenda of the next Democratic president is being made right now, in private, in a secret deal between Schumer and Senate Republicans.
TBH I am not sure I believe this. It sounds so very National Enquirer to me. Maybe it's true, but it could be yet more trolling to try to put the Democrats in real disarray.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
TBH I am not sure I believe this. It sounds so very National Enquirer to me. Maybe it's true, but it could be yet more trolling to try to put the Democrats in real disarray.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Status Quo: The Family Game of Maintaining Your Comfortable Position In Society
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Harry Reid was pretty damn effective as a politician. Chuck has had his moments, but they are extremely rare and he's generally completely ineffective at his stated aims. I suspect he's more interested in representing his donors' interests as opposed to his constituents. Either way, it's time for him to go.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Existential Dread at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Schumer's already a dead pol walking, on general principles but especially since the base is going to tear him limb from limb if he doesn't manage to thread the ultra-tiny needle of losing the SCOTUS thing in the only one or two acceptable ways (as compared with the 5,000 totally unacceptable potential ways he could lose it).
But pre-fucking the future means he's probably about to get a thorough, up close and personal acquaintance with exactly the voter "incivility" he so dislikes.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
But pre-fucking the future means he's probably about to get a thorough, up close and personal acquaintance with exactly the voter "incivility" he so dislikes.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I do agree that it's time for Chuck to go. Let Kirsten Gillibrand or someone else willing to take the gloves off step up to the leadership.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:49 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow
It is easy to dismiss Donald Trump as an ignoramus, not least because he is. But he has an acute understanding of one thing: test marketing. He created himself in the gossip pages of the New York tabloids, where celebrity is manufactured by planting outrageous stories that you can later confirm or deny depending on how they go down. And he recreated himself in reality TV where the storylines can be adjusted according to the ratings. Put something out there, pull it back, adjust, go again.posted by jgirl at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we would be fools not to see it.
Reason Hit & Run: Dear Democratic Socialists Who Think You’re Having a Moment: It’s Me, a Libertarian, Who’s Been Through This.
"Democratic socialism, the ideology with which Ocasio-Cortez identifies, appears to be having a political moment. To which I say, as a libertarian who has been through the whole an-idea-whose-time-has-finally-come experience: good luck with that, comrades. The signs are easy to misread."posted by Jacqueline at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
"This bit received more tepid applause from the audience than much of the rest of his routine."
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Simple counterpoint to the quoted part of the Reason piece linked by Jacqueline: The libertarian "moment" had a major impact in pulling politics rightward. We're not in Libertopia and we never will be, and perhaps gay space communism is similarly far-off, but the signs are in place for a proper leftward realignment of the polity (SC notwithstanding).
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
Reason Hit & Run: Dear Democratic Socialists Who Think You’re Having a Moment: It’s Me, a Libertarian, Who’s Been Through This.
Apples and oranges. Libertarianism is a morally bankrupt ideology; democratic socialism is not.
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [68 favorites]
Apples and oranges. Libertarianism is a morally bankrupt ideology; democratic socialism is not.
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [68 favorites]
Dear Democratic Socialists Who Think You’re Having a Moment: It’s Me, a Libertarian, Who’s Been Through This.
Maybe it's rose-colored glasses, but I feel like "care for seniors" will catch on more in the general public than "everyone can own a tank now."
posted by melissasaurus at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [101 favorites]
Maybe it's rose-colored glasses, but I feel like "care for seniors" will catch on more in the general public than "everyone can own a tank now."
posted by melissasaurus at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [101 favorites]
I live in New York and I cannot WAIT to vote Schumer out... in, what? 2022?
Meanwhile I'm calling, emailing, and faxing him daily.
(I also think that article might be right-wing bait.)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Meanwhile I'm calling, emailing, and faxing him daily.
(I also think that article might be right-wing bait.)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
“Schumer has privately reassured Republican senators in recent weeks that he would not change the rules and is committed to keeping the filibuster.”
It's 2 1/2 years before we *might* have a D president. There's every possibility Rs keep control of congress in November. I'd probably say that now too if it lessened the possibility Rs nuke it for the remainder of Trump's term. What really happens when/if we get control, after two elections of angry Dems and god knows what horrors between now and then is way too early to say. The fury and will of the D base will hopefully force what it needs then.
posted by chris24 at 10:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's 2 1/2 years before we *might* have a D president. There's every possibility Rs keep control of congress in November. I'd probably say that now too if it lessened the possibility Rs nuke it for the remainder of Trump's term. What really happens when/if we get control, after two elections of angry Dems and god knows what horrors between now and then is way too early to say. The fury and will of the D base will hopefully force what it needs then.
posted by chris24 at 10:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Maybe it's rose-colored glasses, but I feel like "care for seniors" will catch on more in the general public than "everyone can own a tank now."
How big a tank?
posted by zarq at 10:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
How big a tank?
posted by zarq at 10:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
losing the SCOTUS thing in the only one or two acceptable ways (as compared with the 5,000 totally unacceptable potential ways he could lose it).
I feel like we’ve covered this above, but really the acceptable way to lose is having fought it and objected every inch of the way. It may not be what he wants to do but it’s not exactly a mystery.
The unacceptable ways are, in order of increasing unacceptability: having half heartedly fought it, having stood by and not fought it, having helped it happen in exchange for some doubtful concession, having helped it happen in exchange for nothing.
It may require some effort on his part, the immediate reward might kit be victory, but there’s no threading of a needle here - what to do is profoundly clear.
posted by Artw at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
I feel like we’ve covered this above, but really the acceptable way to lose is having fought it and objected every inch of the way. It may not be what he wants to do but it’s not exactly a mystery.
The unacceptable ways are, in order of increasing unacceptability: having half heartedly fought it, having stood by and not fought it, having helped it happen in exchange for some doubtful concession, having helped it happen in exchange for nothing.
It may require some effort on his part, the immediate reward might kit be victory, but there’s no threading of a needle here - what to do is profoundly clear.
posted by Artw at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Mitch McConnell’s politics of shamelessness have won - Matthew Yglesias, Vox
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
Nobody likes him, but he’s the most effective politician of his time.Emphasis mine.
...
There’s a perfect alignment between the reputation he wants, the reputation he has, and the reputation he deserves in a way that’s unequalled among American politicians and that allows him to conduct himself with an even greater degree of shamelessness than Donald Trump himself since unlike the all-id Trump, McConnell isn’t out of control he’s just willing to be utterly ruthless in pursuit of his political objectives.
...
Part of the genius of his shameless Calvinballing is that it not only blocks the opposition party, it frustrates them. Angry and frightened by the prospect of the Supreme Court moving further rightward, much of the progressive base is inevitably going to take out their rage not on Trump, McConnell, and vulnerable Senate Republicans like Dean Heller (R-NV) but on Democrats for not being able to make the right tactical choices to block him — just as much of the progressive rank-and-file reacted to disappointment with Democrats’ legislative productivity in 2009-2010 by sitting out the midterms.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:07 AM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
Apples and oranges. Libertarianism is a morally bankrupt ideology; democratic socialism is not.
Also there are no libertarian countries. There are no success stories. Not so for democratic socialism.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
Also there are no libertarian countries. There are no success stories. Not so for democratic socialism.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
Re: Libertarian moments.
Um, you got the awful hellscape you wanted, what the fuck are you complaining about? Your “moment” was super successful, firvwhatever your value of success is when you hate the world and want to destroy it.
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
Um, you got the awful hellscape you wanted, what the fuck are you complaining about? Your “moment” was super successful, firvwhatever your value of success is when you hate the world and want to destroy it.
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
Rage shouldn't be focused on any one individual or party. It's unlikely there's any single change that could fix everything satisfactorily.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018
How big a tank?
Whatever you can afford.
(Also this is the answer to every libertarian question.)
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
Whatever you can afford.
(Also this is the answer to every libertarian question.)
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
So I've been consoling and re-girding myself by trying to grasp at any infinitesimal bit of silver lining I can glimpse in this bleak hellscape, and what I've got so far is:
1) Schumer and his ilk? gone daddy gone
2) Any Dem Senator who votes to approve Justice Dread? primaried into oblivion
and why? because
3) The overall Democratic/left base just took a noticeable step left in the last week since the "progressive but timid" and "lefty lite" contingents have lost any incentive to water things down and the centrists have, I hope, realized that when babies are in concentration camps, moderation is not an option. So assuming that sticks and folks don't revert to nicey-nice kumbaya habit, there's a whole new vista of DGAF ahead. Fired up, ready to go.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
1) Schumer and his ilk? gone daddy gone
2) Any Dem Senator who votes to approve Justice Dread? primaried into oblivion
and why? because
3) The overall Democratic/left base just took a noticeable step left in the last week since the "progressive but timid" and "lefty lite" contingents have lost any incentive to water things down and the centrists have, I hope, realized that when babies are in concentration camps, moderation is not an option. So assuming that sticks and folks don't revert to nicey-nice kumbaya habit, there's a whole new vista of DGAF ahead. Fired up, ready to go.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Man, fuck Reason and their bullshit for going after a WoC , especially given their history of racism and holocaust denialism.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
rewil posted this in the thread about the affair between the reporter and the intelligence aide but it belongs here too: Jill Abramson, Ex-New York Times Editor: The ‘Narcissistic’ NYT Is Making ‘Horrible Mistakes,’ Needs a ‘Course Correction’
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:21 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:21 AM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Mod note: Please note: there is now a thread dedicated specifically to the Kennedy retirement / SCOTUS appointment situation. It is not a new catch-all; please take detailed discussion of the SC appointment thing there but keep everything else here.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
“Schumer has privately reassured Republican senators in recent weeks that he would not change the rules and is committed to keeping the filibuster.”
Fine, if it keeps Republicans from using the nuclear option while Trump remains in the White House. If or when a Democratic president is elected, the issue can be revisited. After all, McConnell has demonstrated that rules and agreements are not permanent.
If Schumer were to declare now he was going to change the rules, then Republicans would eliminate the filibuster tomorrow and a lot of bad stuff would happen. So for now, such an agreement works to Democratic advantage.
posted by JackFlash at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Fine, if it keeps Republicans from using the nuclear option while Trump remains in the White House. If or when a Democratic president is elected, the issue can be revisited. After all, McConnell has demonstrated that rules and agreements are not permanent.
If Schumer were to declare now he was going to change the rules, then Republicans would eliminate the filibuster tomorrow and a lot of bad stuff would happen. So for now, such an agreement works to Democratic advantage.
posted by JackFlash at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Man, fuck Reason and their bullshit for going after a WoC , especially given their history of racism and holocaust denialism.
Big cheerleaders for the rise of the Alt-Right too. It’s basically the house magazine for the wing of fascism that consider themselves intellectual.
posted by Artw at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Big cheerleaders for the rise of the Alt-Right too. It’s basically the house magazine for the wing of fascism that consider themselves intellectual.
posted by Artw at 10:30 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
I live in New York and I cannot WAIT to vote Schumer out... in, what? 2022?
Yup. AOC will have been in Congress four years by then. Seems like enough to me. More than Obama had, anyway.
I am very very done with Chuck.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Yup. AOC will have been in Congress four years by then. Seems like enough to me. More than Obama had, anyway.
I am very very done with Chuck.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
regarding the idea that moving somewhere red is a stupid and pointless idea: like, why say that? it's not for everyone, but some people are into it. i get the sense that there's a feeling of not wanting to be judged if you personally are unwilling or unable to move from your blue area. as has been discussed here previously many times, that is totally reasonable and nobody (at least on here) is going to fault you for it and you don't have to feel bad.
i think we can certainly agree, though, that there IS value in blue-ing up red states using as many different tactics as we can. if one tactic doesn't work for you, okay fine, then you do something different but don't give us shit for taking that route if we want. for some of us the circumstances actually do align so that moving somewhere is feasible. i wouldn't up and quit my job or anything. but in my case i was looking for a job, and i did let this factor be a part of my decision making process, and next year i'll be moving to (to be fair, a very blue city) in a red state. of course that wasn't the only factor in my decision! but it feels good to know that in 2020 i can be out on the streets doing whatever i can in a state that only very narrowly went for trump. this is after being born and raised in a sea of your-vote-doesn't-really-matter blueness.
there are a million ways to contribute to achieving the ends we want. instead of saying why one is better and one sucks can't we just all make our individual choices about how we want to contribute, and support each other in all things that might make a tiny iota of difference?
posted by robotdevil at 10:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
i think we can certainly agree, though, that there IS value in blue-ing up red states using as many different tactics as we can. if one tactic doesn't work for you, okay fine, then you do something different but don't give us shit for taking that route if we want. for some of us the circumstances actually do align so that moving somewhere is feasible. i wouldn't up and quit my job or anything. but in my case i was looking for a job, and i did let this factor be a part of my decision making process, and next year i'll be moving to (to be fair, a very blue city) in a red state. of course that wasn't the only factor in my decision! but it feels good to know that in 2020 i can be out on the streets doing whatever i can in a state that only very narrowly went for trump. this is after being born and raised in a sea of your-vote-doesn't-really-matter blueness.
there are a million ways to contribute to achieving the ends we want. instead of saying why one is better and one sucks can't we just all make our individual choices about how we want to contribute, and support each other in all things that might make a tiny iota of difference?
posted by robotdevil at 10:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
there are a million ways to contribute to achieving the ends we want. instead of saying why one is better and one sucks can't we just all make our individual choices about how we want to contribute, and support each other in all things that might make a tiny iota of difference?
Can this please be pinned above the comment box on every politics thread?
posted by saturday_morning at 10:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
Can this please be pinned above the comment box on every politics thread?
posted by saturday_morning at 10:43 AM on June 28, 2018 [58 favorites]
I feel like we’ve covered this above, but really the acceptable way to lose is having fought it and objected every inch of the way. It may not be what he wants to do but it’s not exactly a mystery.
I didn't mean fight vs. non-fight but more the finer points of tactics and methods. For instance, if Chuck does the "bareknuckles fight fight fight fight right up to the last second and then release Manchin, Donnelly, and Heitkamp to save their asses by voting Yea" thing as we have seen before? then he will be finely minced cat food in short order.
Or if he does go with an all-out fight to the death but keeps doing the main speeches/announcements himself? I will reach through the TV and throttle him myself. Someone with some oratory skills needs to be the voice of this clambake. They can't win it, but they can accomplish other things if they're smart and brave.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I didn't mean fight vs. non-fight but more the finer points of tactics and methods. For instance, if Chuck does the "bareknuckles fight fight fight fight right up to the last second and then release Manchin, Donnelly, and Heitkamp to save their asses by voting Yea" thing as we have seen before? then he will be finely minced cat food in short order.
Or if he does go with an all-out fight to the death but keeps doing the main speeches/announcements himself? I will reach through the TV and throttle him myself. Someone with some oratory skills needs to be the voice of this clambake. They can't win it, but they can accomplish other things if they're smart and brave.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Remember when we all gathered in the hundreds to shout at Chuck’s apartment cause he refused to develop a god damned spine?
Maybe we should do that again.
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
Maybe we should do that again.
posted by The Whelk at 10:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
robotdevil: "there are a million ways to contribute to achieving the ends we want. instead of saying why one is better and one sucks can't we just all make our individual choices about how we want to contribute, and support each other in all things that might make a tiny iota of difference?"
I'm proud of you and I'm happy you're doing your part.
But it isn't a viable strategy for large-scale change and no one should pretend it is.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:54 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm proud of you and I'm happy you're doing your part.
But it isn't a viable strategy for large-scale change and no one should pretend it is.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:54 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Every so often on social media, I like to post the final speech from Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. For a comedy that speech sure does do a good job of bringing me to tears EVERY single time.The speech is something that I think we could all stand to hear from time to time, but especially now.
posted by Twain Device at 10:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Twain Device at 10:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
regarding the idea that moving somewhere red is a stupid and pointless idea: like, why say that? it's not for everyone, but some people are into it. i get the sense that there's a feeling of not wanting to be judged if you personally are unwilling or unable to move from your blue area. as has been discussed here previously many times, that is totally reasonable and nobody (at least on here) is going to fault you for it and you don't have to feel bad.
If that's something you want to do and feel you can do, fine. If you don't feel safe doing that or it's otherwise not doable, then don't.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
If that's something you want to do and feel you can do, fine. If you don't feel safe doing that or it's otherwise not doable, then don't.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Washington Post: Barbara Lee considers bid for House Democratic leadership :
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [56 favorites]
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) has begun talking to fellow Democrats about running for chair of the House Democratic Conference, the leadership role held by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.).OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE Let Barbara Lee be the House Democratic Conference chair. I would give five years off my life for this. Signed, an ex-constituent
“I was not seriously considering this until Tuesday night,” Lee said. “If this were not an open seat, I’d be making a different calculation. But things move fast around here, and I didn’t want to wait until November to start looking at this.”
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [56 favorites]
I think the thing that concerns me the most right now is that red states keep showing themselves to be completely incapable of running a functional state government. For example, in Kansas, Sam Brownback's absurd tax-decimating "stimulus" has the state on four-day school weeks. What parent in their right mind is going to choose to live there?
We're facing a potential vicious circle:
1. The Federal government and/or Supreme Court legalizes increasingly bad forms of state governance. Want to have no schools at all? Completely ban abortion and birth control? Go for it!
2. Red states hop on board and turn themselves into ever-starker wastelands. Come to Kansas, where we don't have taxes and don't have roads!
3. Sane red state denizens head to well-governed blue states; Mad Max enthusiasts stay behind.
4. Red state Senators move further right, the Electoral College skews harder in favor of the depopulated middle, Overton window shifts.
5. Repeat step 1 with more intensity.
All three branches, including both chambers of Congress, are skewed toward privileging the opinions of underpopulated districts. Without some body of government being controlled by a strict popular vote, there's no relief valve for this. We could be heading toward a country where a majority control of the Senate only represents 20% of the population, the Presidency can be won with 40% of the vote, and the House can be held with 46% of the vote. At that point the government is completely illegitimate. There's no way out of it unless Republicans specifically are willing to give up some power to acknowledge that people who live in nice places to live should have some influence on the direction of the country.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
We're facing a potential vicious circle:
1. The Federal government and/or Supreme Court legalizes increasingly bad forms of state governance. Want to have no schools at all? Completely ban abortion and birth control? Go for it!
2. Red states hop on board and turn themselves into ever-starker wastelands. Come to Kansas, where we don't have taxes and don't have roads!
3. Sane red state denizens head to well-governed blue states; Mad Max enthusiasts stay behind.
4. Red state Senators move further right, the Electoral College skews harder in favor of the depopulated middle, Overton window shifts.
5. Repeat step 1 with more intensity.
All three branches, including both chambers of Congress, are skewed toward privileging the opinions of underpopulated districts. Without some body of government being controlled by a strict popular vote, there's no relief valve for this. We could be heading toward a country where a majority control of the Senate only represents 20% of the population, the Presidency can be won with 40% of the vote, and the House can be held with 46% of the vote. At that point the government is completely illegitimate. There's no way out of it unless Republicans specifically are willing to give up some power to acknowledge that people who live in nice places to live should have some influence on the direction of the country.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2018 [53 favorites]
Reason isn't "going after" Ocasio-Cortez -- they don't agree with her ideologically, but they seem impressed by her. And FWIW there's been a lot of internal Libertarian Party chatter about what an amazing campaign she ran and how we'd love to get a peek inside to see exactly how she pulled it off because WOW. While I've seen a bunch of obligatory "ugh, socialism" Facebook posts, I've also seen Libertarians openly drooling with envy over her social media and ground game.
So I'd say the Libertarian consensus on her seems to be "wrong but strategically brilliant." Her victory in the primary is a wake-up call that we can't blame our electoral failures on the excuse that voters will reject ideologically radical candidates because she just proved that assumption false.
Anyhow, the point of the article is less about Ocasio-Cortez herself and more that the DSA shouldn't get overconfident after one breakthrough victory. You can't assume the majority are starting to come around to your point of view because voters are fickle as fuck. Our various attempts to mainstream the libertarian movement can be looked to as a cautionary tale.
I think the article was written with kind intent and I certainly posted it here with kind intent. We have a sense of camaraderie with others trying to break through the old two-party establishment because we face the same challenges. For example, here in Richmond, the solidarity between Greens and Libertarians is so strong that we even coordinate on logistical tasks like post-election yard sign cleanup because there's not that many of us in either group so it makes sense to divide the work instead of duplicating efforts.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
So I'd say the Libertarian consensus on her seems to be "wrong but strategically brilliant." Her victory in the primary is a wake-up call that we can't blame our electoral failures on the excuse that voters will reject ideologically radical candidates because she just proved that assumption false.
Anyhow, the point of the article is less about Ocasio-Cortez herself and more that the DSA shouldn't get overconfident after one breakthrough victory. You can't assume the majority are starting to come around to your point of view because voters are fickle as fuck. Our various attempts to mainstream the libertarian movement can be looked to as a cautionary tale.
I think the article was written with kind intent and I certainly posted it here with kind intent. We have a sense of camaraderie with others trying to break through the old two-party establishment because we face the same challenges. For example, here in Richmond, the solidarity between Greens and Libertarians is so strong that we even coordinate on logistical tasks like post-election yard sign cleanup because there's not that many of us in either group so it makes sense to divide the work instead of duplicating efforts.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yeah, sorry but this comes across as conservative white people shouldn't be inconvenienced. POC, women, urban, Ds, etc. have been disenfranchised pretty much for the entirety of US history.
This is a really easy gotcha that completely ignores both the context of what I was saying, and the fact that I am a woman of color with citizenship that may be up for grabs in Trump’s America, and far from ignorant of that history.
I was talking specifically in response to a comment about what circumstances give rise to violent revolutions, which referenced people feeling they had zero chance of achieving their goals through peaceful processes. Not just whether people have been disenfranchised before. Nor was I talking about people’s feelings of inconvenience - I was specifically talking about the likelihood of people taking up arms to kill people. And again, remember - my family experienced violent revolution from the disenfranchised, specifically because they felt that there was no way of achieving their goals through peaceful processes. It’s not a moral judgment on whether it’s right for people to feel they have no chance of achieving their will in a democracy - it was a purely practical assessment of how likely people are to be dragging people out of cars and shooting people in the streets like the country my family came from.
Five years ago I believed American exceptionalism made that unlikely. I no longer believe in American exceptionalism, and thus, as a Hispanic woman surrounded by Trump voters, it really fucking matters to me whether or not people take up guns to go hunting people they think are part of the enemy, and I don’t think that I deserve to be sneered at for caring about that.
posted by corb at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
This is a really easy gotcha that completely ignores both the context of what I was saying, and the fact that I am a woman of color with citizenship that may be up for grabs in Trump’s America, and far from ignorant of that history.
I was talking specifically in response to a comment about what circumstances give rise to violent revolutions, which referenced people feeling they had zero chance of achieving their goals through peaceful processes. Not just whether people have been disenfranchised before. Nor was I talking about people’s feelings of inconvenience - I was specifically talking about the likelihood of people taking up arms to kill people. And again, remember - my family experienced violent revolution from the disenfranchised, specifically because they felt that there was no way of achieving their goals through peaceful processes. It’s not a moral judgment on whether it’s right for people to feel they have no chance of achieving their will in a democracy - it was a purely practical assessment of how likely people are to be dragging people out of cars and shooting people in the streets like the country my family came from.
Five years ago I believed American exceptionalism made that unlikely. I no longer believe in American exceptionalism, and thus, as a Hispanic woman surrounded by Trump voters, it really fucking matters to me whether or not people take up guns to go hunting people they think are part of the enemy, and I don’t think that I deserve to be sneered at for caring about that.
posted by corb at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
FWIW I would characterize handing them DACA with a bow on it in exchange for a worthless Mitch promise as “not fighting” rather than “tactics”.
posted by Artw at 11:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:02 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Federal agents have been harassing protesters for the last few days (and particularly nights), playing Metallica at volume (what's been described as angry-sounding dad rock), using lights and drones to disrupt the camp, mocking protesters from the roof, making 'I am shooting at you' finger gestures at protesters, and other super mature and important uses of their taxpayer-funded salaries.
This is your periodic reminder that armed right-wing militants were allowed to occupy federal lands without such threats and harrassment.
posted by TwoStride at 11:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [116 favorites]
This is your periodic reminder that armed right-wing militants were allowed to occupy federal lands without such threats and harrassment.
posted by TwoStride at 11:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [116 favorites]
Without some body of government being controlled by a strict popular vote, there's no relief valve for this. We could be heading toward a country where a majority control of the Senate only represents 20% of the population, the Presidency can be won with 40% of the vote, and the House can be held with 46% of the vote. At that point the government is completely illegitimate
Yeah this is why I think the current state of the union is not sustainable. Either we win big enough in 2020 — both federally and on the state level — to permanently fix these things, or things start to look very, very dark.
Mad Max enthusiasts
Immortan Joe Blows?
posted by schadenfrau at 11:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Yeah this is why I think the current state of the union is not sustainable. Either we win big enough in 2020 — both federally and on the state level — to permanently fix these things, or things start to look very, very dark.
Mad Max enthusiasts
Immortan Joe Blows?
posted by schadenfrau at 11:08 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
FWIW I would characterize handing them DACA with a bow on it in exchange for a worthless Mitch promise as “not fighting” rather than “tactics”.
Yes, so would I. That would be a third of the 5,000 wrong ways to handle this. Would you like to go through the other 4997 one by one? The point is, odds are pretty strongly in favor of Schumer getting it wrong, so it's highly probable that at the end of this, everyone will like him even less than they do now. Hence my prediction that this is his last term.
Are you under the impression that I'm sympathetic to Chuck or something? because I'm not.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:15 AM on June 28, 2018
Yes, so would I. That would be a third of the 5,000 wrong ways to handle this. Would you like to go through the other 4997 one by one? The point is, odds are pretty strongly in favor of Schumer getting it wrong, so it's highly probable that at the end of this, everyone will like him even less than they do now. Hence my prediction that this is his last term.
Are you under the impression that I'm sympathetic to Chuck or something? because I'm not.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:15 AM on June 28, 2018
This is your periodic reminder that armed right-wing militants were allowed to occupy federal lands without such threats and harrassment.
And another periodic reminder that they were ultimately found not guilty -- say yes to jury duty whenever you can! (You can't volunteer for federal jury duty, but you may be able to at the state level.)
posted by melissasaurus at 11:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
And another periodic reminder that they were ultimately found not guilty -- say yes to jury duty whenever you can! (You can't volunteer for federal jury duty, but you may be able to at the state level.)
posted by melissasaurus at 11:18 AM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
Are you under the impression that I'm sympathetic to Chuck or something? because I'm not.
Just not seeing the complexity. He either fights or he doesn’t. And yes, people should absolutely light a fire under his ass to incline him towards fighting, that’s not armchair quarterbacking that’s encouraging him to go against his natural state and actually fucking do something.
posted by Artw at 11:28 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Just not seeing the complexity. He either fights or he doesn’t. And yes, people should absolutely light a fire under his ass to incline him towards fighting, that’s not armchair quarterbacking that’s encouraging him to go against his natural state and actually fucking do something.
posted by Artw at 11:28 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's a whole new vista of DGAF ahead. Fired up, ready to go.
Case in point: even more than usual, Rep. Adam Schiff has zero fucks to give [video, via Twitter]
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:31 AM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
Case in point: even more than usual, Rep. Adam Schiff has zero fucks to give [video, via Twitter]
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:31 AM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
And FWIW there's been a lot of internal Libertarian Party chatter about what an amazing campaign she ran and how we'd love to get a peek inside to see exactly how she pulled it off because WOW.
There was no special sauce in her win. She ran a solid locally driven campaign focusing on local issues, against an incumbent who never had to compete for his seat before.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
There was no special sauce in her win. She ran a solid locally driven campaign focusing on local issues, against an incumbent who never had to compete for his seat before.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
And FWIW there's been a lot of internal Libertarian Party chatter about what an amazing campaign she ran and how we'd love to get a peek inside to see exactly how she pulled it off because WOW.
okay, im gonna give them the recipe, but it's gonna be pretty hard for them to replicate:
1.) have good, practical policy positions that people like
posted by entropicamericana at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [83 favorites]
okay, im gonna give them the recipe, but it's gonna be pretty hard for them to replicate:
1.) have good, practical policy positions that people like
posted by entropicamericana at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [83 favorites]
It's unbelievably tone deaf of libertarians to warn democratic socialists that they might only get a fraction of what they want, as if most democratic socialists wouldn't be happy with a fraction of that fraction. The Tea Party / Freedom Caucus has a giant seat at the table within the party that has unilateral control of government. Just because they're enabling Trump and doing some things that some of the more principled libertarians might view as regrettable doesn't mean they haven't been successful.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [31 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 11:34 AM on June 28, 2018 [31 favorites]
okay, im gonna give them the recipe, but it's gonna be pretty hard for them to replicate:
1.) have good, practical policy positions that people like
2) give a shit about the well-being of other humans
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
1.) have good, practical policy positions that people like
2) give a shit about the well-being of other humans
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:36 AM on June 28, 2018 [40 favorites]
Why hello there 40,000 members
Did all 40,000 members pay dues or do y'all have a free membership level?
IIRC, we have about 15,000 who are current on their dues ($25/year), probably at least a hundred thousand who have paid dues at some point but not necessarily in the past year, and over half a million registered Libertarians in the states that do party registration.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:51 AM on June 28, 2018
Did all 40,000 members pay dues or do y'all have a free membership level?
IIRC, we have about 15,000 who are current on their dues ($25/year), probably at least a hundred thousand who have paid dues at some point but not necessarily in the past year, and over half a million registered Libertarians in the states that do party registration.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:51 AM on June 28, 2018
Those are dues paying members (we have a reduced and student rates available)
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
> Why hello there 40,000 members
Everyone loves a winner.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:54 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Everyone loves a winner.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:54 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I need email addresses for these people so I can send them a snotty message about being latecomers (I joined last week because of y'all and their mexican restaurant nazi-taunting)
posted by phearlez at 11:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by phearlez at 11:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
HuffPo has a story about Rosenstein's hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
“If you have any evidence against the Trump campaign, present it to the damn grand jury,” Gowdy continued. “If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people. ... Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart.”
posted by Twain Device at 11:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
“If you have any evidence against the Trump campaign, present it to the damn grand jury,” Gowdy continued. “If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people. ... Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart.”
posted by Twain Device at 11:55 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mass arrest of civil immigration protesters about to go down inside Hart Senate Office Building. Police have kicked media out.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
That's from 3 years and 17 investigations into Benghazi, Trey Gowdy.
posted by yesster at 12:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by yesster at 12:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
No one’s picking up in Schumer’s New York office; I got through to someone in Albany.
She didn’t sound particularly happy or interested to hear from me.
I really, really want to sic Cynthia Nixon on him.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
She didn’t sound particularly happy or interested to hear from me.
I really, really want to sic Cynthia Nixon on him.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Does anybody ever throw that back in Gowdy's face? Why do the Repubs always get to go on the attack but never get any shit thrown back at them?
posted by gucci mane at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
They're immune to hypocrisy, they don't actually believe in anything real other than causing as much harm as possible in ways that financially benefit them the most, so pointing out the things they've said or done in the past which utterly contradict things they are now saying or doing has literally no meaning to them. You might as well ask a dog to do calculus.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
Those are dues paying members (we have a reduced and student rates available)
NICE! I think that might be better than us at our peak back around 1999-2000.
I hope y'all got a good member/donor retention professional on staff because it's a LOT less expensive to keep getting money from someone you've gotten money from before than to acquire a new member/donor. If you don't, definitely looking into hiring someone with a record of successfully growing a dues-based organization ASAP.
The LP was chugging along nicely and then the LNC just ... stopped ... doing what had been working. They've been getting their shit together again under Chairman Sarwark but we lost over a decade of potential growth. (Again, we make for a good cautionary tale.)
posted by Jacqueline at 12:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
NICE! I think that might be better than us at our peak back around 1999-2000.
I hope y'all got a good member/donor retention professional on staff because it's a LOT less expensive to keep getting money from someone you've gotten money from before than to acquire a new member/donor. If you don't, definitely looking into hiring someone with a record of successfully growing a dues-based organization ASAP.
The LP was chugging along nicely and then the LNC just ... stopped ... doing what had been working. They've been getting their shit together again under Chairman Sarwark but we lost over a decade of potential growth. (Again, we make for a good cautionary tale.)
posted by Jacqueline at 12:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's a whole new vista of DGAF ahead. Fired up, ready to go.
ICE Protesters Shut Down Kent County [Michigan] Commission Meeting -- with GLORIOUS angry video
This is boring-ass Republican Calvinist west-central Michigan, folks. Can't wait for Saturday.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [56 favorites]
ICE Protesters Shut Down Kent County [Michigan] Commission Meeting -- with GLORIOUS angry video
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A group of about 100 people commandeered Kent County's commission meeting Thursday morning, demanding an end to the county's contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.7 Arrested in Protest Against Immigration-Enforcement Contract -- also with video!
This is boring-ass Republican Calvinist west-central Michigan, folks. Can't wait for Saturday.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [56 favorites]
I don't even expect them to be like "oh I'm a hypocrite", I just want somebody to talk shit back to them.
"If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people. ... Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart."
"That's funny coming from a guy who ran 3 years of investigations and found nothing."
posted by gucci mane at 12:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
"If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people. ... Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart."
"That's funny coming from a guy who ran 3 years of investigations and found nothing."
posted by gucci mane at 12:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
Looking for a link on the Hart Bldg immigration protests. Protesters appear to be almost entirely women. Many have those (Mylar?) tarps to echo the conditions of the kids in camps.
CNN was covering it live until they cut to a shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis MD.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
CNN was covering it live until they cut to a shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis MD.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 12:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
CNN was civeringbit love until they cut to a Hooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis MD.
The WH has been spending the last couple of weeks attacking the press as enemies of the state, and Milo Yiannoupolis encouraged his followers to shoot journalists two days ago.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
The WH has been spending the last couple of weeks attacking the press as enemies of the state, and Milo Yiannoupolis encouraged his followers to shoot journalists two days ago.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
Former ICE Chief Counsel Facing Prison Time For Stealing Immigrants' Identities.
Raphael A. Sanchez, was chief counsel at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Seattle when he opened credit cards and took out loans using the personal information of vulnerable immigrants.
Sanchez "claimed three aliens as relative dependents on his tax returns for 2014 through 2016."
posted by adamvasco at 12:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [54 favorites]
Raphael A. Sanchez, was chief counsel at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Seattle when he opened credit cards and took out loans using the personal information of vulnerable immigrants.
Sanchez "claimed three aliens as relative dependents on his tax returns for 2014 through 2016."
posted by adamvasco at 12:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [54 favorites]
Looking for a link on the Hart Bldg immigration protests. Protesters appear to be almost entirely women. Many have those (Mylar?) tarps to echo the conditions of the kids in camps.
Yep, it's Women's March (Twitter)
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yep, it's Women's March (Twitter)
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
News outlets join forces to track down children separated from their parents by the U.S.
"We're inviting people to use the online tool, which ProPublica designed, or to reach out to us through our tips line or secure messaging, to help us tell the stories of people who are affected by this policy and to hold accountable those who oversee it," says Ariel Kaminer, also a senior investigations editor at BuzzFeed News.posted by jgirl at 12:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
The ProPublica tool identifies facilities where children may be held. The news outlets are asking anyone who has direct knowledge about a family that has been separated or a facility where children are being held to tell them what they know.
"... Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart.”
Does he think that the investigation is the instigator of this 'tearing apart'? Like, if the investigation just wraps up, then everything goes back to normal and quiet? Does he not understand that all these protests and reactions are to specific actions done by his party's administration, and that even if Trump gets off scott free, it's not going to stop happening unless Trump stops Trumping? Does this elected representative not understand the basics of civil disobedience?
'Cause that's currently, and in the future going to be, very problematic - as in Marie Antoinette levels of problematic.
posted by eclectist at 12:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Does he think that the investigation is the instigator of this 'tearing apart'? Like, if the investigation just wraps up, then everything goes back to normal and quiet? Does he not understand that all these protests and reactions are to specific actions done by his party's administration, and that even if Trump gets off scott free, it's not going to stop happening unless Trump stops Trumping? Does this elected representative not understand the basics of civil disobedience?
'Cause that's currently, and in the future going to be, very problematic - as in Marie Antoinette levels of problematic.
posted by eclectist at 12:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Texas detention officer charged with 'super aggravated sexual assault' of a 4-year-old girl after authorities say her mother, an undocumented immigrant, was being blackmailed to stay silent about the abuse — or face deportation
posted by jgirl at 12:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by jgirl at 12:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
@BowieIrene: "Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is the only senator to go down and show support for those protesters being arrested. Mazie is the true spirit of aloha."
Also, some staffers did put an ACLU anti-Muslim Ban placard in a window facing the atrium.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
Also, some staffers did put an ACLU anti-Muslim Ban placard in a window facing the atrium.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
Planning for Trump's military parade finally getting underway
Four months after President Donald Trump directed the Defense Department to organize a military parade, planning is just beginning but no budget has been assigned yet.posted by kirkaracha at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Pentagon officials told NBC News that they will be able to pull off the extravaganza, but the lack of momentum is notable — and possibly indicative of low enthusiasm for the event outside the Oval Office.
"There is only one person who wants this parade," a senior U.S. official said, referring to Trump.
Even some White House officials are uninterested in planning the parade and are dragging their feet, according to a senior administration official.
What the Libertarians did or didn't do is a frankly exhausting thing to read about even here, because what the Libertarians did in PA is siphon off votes for HRC/diminish enthusiasm for her candidacy.
The LP has a role in bringing this nightmare to pass. The Socialists who are telling Bernie Sanders to shut up and are pushing for his progressive policies regardless are part of the solution. What are the LP luminaries doing in this horrible time again?
posted by angrycat at 12:42 PM on June 28, 2018 [49 favorites]
The LP has a role in bringing this nightmare to pass. The Socialists who are telling Bernie Sanders to shut up and are pushing for his progressive policies regardless are part of the solution. What are the LP luminaries doing in this horrible time again?
posted by angrycat at 12:42 PM on June 28, 2018 [49 favorites]
What are the LP luminaries doing in this horrible time again?
I dunno what the rest of them are up to but personally I'm poaching every non-bigoted Republican I can. The Virginia GOP is dying and a lot of the Never Stewart Republicans are jumping ship to us.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I dunno what the rest of them are up to but personally I'm poaching every non-bigoted Republican I can. The Virginia GOP is dying and a lot of the Never Stewart Republicans are jumping ship to us.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
"There is only one person who wants this parade," a senior U.S. official said, referring to Trump
So, I know that the president is technically the big boss of all branches of the military, but does that actually mean that they have to do anything he says, no matter what, assuming it's Constitutional?
Like, if a president demanded that all members of the U.S. Army switch to wearing pink polka-dot uniforms, they really couldn't refuse?
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
So, I know that the president is technically the big boss of all branches of the military, but does that actually mean that they have to do anything he says, no matter what, assuming it's Constitutional?
Like, if a president demanded that all members of the U.S. Army switch to wearing pink polka-dot uniforms, they really couldn't refuse?
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, The Guardian corroborates an earlier scoop by Axios: Trump Trashed NATO at G7, Calling It ‘As Bad As NAFTA’, Officials Confirm—President’s remarks were confirmed by European officials, adding to jitters among allies about what will happen at July NATO summit
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
At the tense G7 meeting in Quebec, Trump berated his six fellow leaders of major industrialised democracies for taking advantage of the US, in trade relations and in defence spending. Of the looming Nato summit, he said: “It will be an interesting summit. Nato is as bad as Nafta. It’s much too costly for the US.”Senator Chris Murphy was not reassured by Sec. Pompeo about the Trump administration's attitudes toward Crimea and Ukraine either:
Asked for comment, a national security council spokesperson did not deny Trump made the remarks but said: “The president is committed to the alliance, as he has stated repeatedly. The president has also been clear we expect our allies to shoulder their fair share of our common defense burden and to do more in areas that most affect them.
“There is no better way to signal Nato’s resolve than for each and every ally to allocate the resources necessary to share their burden of our collective defense,” the NSC spokesperson added.
Governments in London, Paris and Berlin, as well as Ottawa, fear that Trump could lambast his Nato partners and then flatter Putin in Helsinki, triggering a crisis in confidence in the transatlantic alliance.[...]
According to BuzzFeed, Trump told leaders at the G7 summit that Crimea was Russian because everyone there speaks Russia.
1/ Lost in yesterday's news din was an exchange I had with Pompeo that should concern every Democrat and Republican that cares about Ukraine and/or worries about a bad deal being cut at the newly announced Putin-Trump meetingThe only officially announced agenda for the Trump-Putin summit from the US side is that "the two leaders will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national-security issues". A former DoD official tells the Atlantic's Natasha Bertrand, "There’s been no consultation on the issues that Trump wants to address with Putin—is it nuclear arms control, which NATO members would support, or is it selling our friends in Ukraine upriver and promising to lift sanctions?"
2/ I asked him whether Trump would cut a deal with Putin to bring Russia back into the G7 even if Putin didn't start pulling out of Ukraine. Basically, will we sell out Ukraine to get something else from Russia?
3/ Pompeo's answer: "I’m confident that I could identify a set of tradeoffs for you where you’d agree that that was the right outcome as well." That sounds like the sovereignty of Ukraine is on the table, a total reversal of US policy.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Jeez, I coulda swore we won WWII and the Cold War.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
> Doktor Zed:
"Lost in yesterday's news din was an exchange I had with Pompeo that should concern every Democrat and Republican that cares about Ukraine and/or worries about a bad deal being cut at the newly announced Putin-Trump meeting"
Trump only makes bad deals. Literally.
posted by rhizome at 12:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Lost in yesterday's news din was an exchange I had with Pompeo that should concern every Democrat and Republican that cares about Ukraine and/or worries about a bad deal being cut at the newly announced Putin-Trump meeting"
Trump only makes bad deals. Literally.
posted by rhizome at 12:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
You might as well ask a dog to do calculus.
This is offensive to dogs
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
This is offensive to dogs
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 12:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
So if he said "I'm going to nuke North Korea tomorrow," we still have to do it?
posted by Melismata at 12:52 PM on June 28, 2018
posted by Melismata at 12:52 PM on June 28, 2018
Well, he has to write something down in order to tell someone else to do it.
posted by rhizome at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2018
posted by rhizome at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2018
So if he said "I'm going to nuke North Korea tomorrow," we still have to do it?
Fun fact: Near the end, Richard Nixon got drunk and tried to order a nuclear attack on North Korea. Everybody just ignored him and then pretended it didn't happen.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:55 PM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
Fun fact: Near the end, Richard Nixon got drunk and tried to order a nuclear attack on North Korea. Everybody just ignored him and then pretended it didn't happen.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:55 PM on June 28, 2018 [34 favorites]
I can't decide if this is paranoid or not.
I hate this timeline.
posted by phearlez at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
@seldo: This is an actual story on an official government website with a 14-word headline starting with "we must secure". This is not an accident. There are actual Nazis-who-call-themselves-Nazis at DHS. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/02/15/we-must-secure-border-and-build-wall-make-america-safe-againIs the fact that it starts with those three words, given the organization's supposed mission, and counts 14 words enough to make this more likely than not? Is the 88 thing really a reference or is this Bible Code sort of coincidence? Is this trolling? An effort at creating a plausibly deniable thing to discredit anyone who notices it?
I hate this timeline.
posted by phearlez at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
Senator Gillibrand’s office was, in contrast to Chuck the Shmuck’s, very happy and interested to hear from me.
I told them both that there shouldn’t be any court appointments until after the independent counsel’s investigation is completed.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
I told them both that there shouldn’t be any court appointments until after the independent counsel’s investigation is completed.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
The DHS website is troubling because, on its face, it is racist as fuck. Not because it contains any kind of secret Nazi number code.
posted by neroli at 1:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by neroli at 1:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
This is an actual story on an official government website with a 14-word headline starting with "we must secure". This is not an accident. There are actual Nazis-who-call-themselves-Nazis at DHS.
It gets worse:
It gets worse:
There are 14 points in the article, and the final point contains the number "88" for no good reason -- 88 is also a Nazi dog whistle for "Heil Hitler"[...]There is absolutely no doubt now that this article is intentionally a signal to Nazis.posted by zombieflanders at 1:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [72 favorites]
@DavidNakamura: I asked Paul Ryan in Wisc. about Trump’s meeting with Putin. “Dude, you know me better than that,” he replied.
That the Speaker of the House thinks he's trained journalists to not ask him about what the President from his own party is doing is disturbing.
posted by zachlipton at 1:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [37 favorites]
That the Speaker of the House thinks he's trained journalists to not ask him about what the President from his own party is doing is disturbing.
posted by zachlipton at 1:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [37 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments removed, please reload and stop replying up a chain of deleted comments.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
White male in custody after shooting several at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. Police report multiple casualties. NYPD is sending additional security to New York newspaper offices “out of an abundance of caution.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
The Baltimore Sun is taking additional police security as well.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yup. If you do the 14/88 shit you are 1000% a Nazi giving the wink to other Nazis. That’s a positive ID.
posted by Artw at 1:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
There are 14 points in the article, and the final point contains the number "88" for no good reason -- 88 is also a Nazi dog whistle for "Heil Hitler"[...]There is absolutely no doubt now that this article is intentionally a signal to Nazis.
It looks to me like there are 13 points in the article. Gotta be accurate or people will use minor inconsistencies like this to ignore the larger point. Which is that a 14 word headline starting with "We must secure..." plus the completely gratuitous use of 88 is fucking scary.
posted by Justinian at 1:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
It looks to me like there are 13 points in the article. Gotta be accurate or people will use minor inconsistencies like this to ignore the larger point. Which is that a 14 word headline starting with "We must secure..." plus the completely gratuitous use of 88 is fucking scary.
posted by Justinian at 1:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
Planning for Trump's military parade finally getting underway
Four months after President Donald Trump directed the Defense Department to organize a military parade, planning is just beginning but no budget has been assigned yet.
So, military exercises to actually allow the military to maintain their readiness are too expensive, but a vanity parade is okey-dokey.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Four months after President Donald Trump directed the Defense Department to organize a military parade, planning is just beginning but no budget has been assigned yet.
So, military exercises to actually allow the military to maintain their readiness are too expensive, but a vanity parade is okey-dokey.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is the only senator to go down and show support for those protesters being arrested.
Mazie Hirono has not one single fuck left to give and it is a thing of great and incandescent beauty. Every single time I see her name crop up lately, it's because of something righteous she's done. It's glorious.
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
Mazie Hirono has not one single fuck left to give and it is a thing of great and incandescent beauty. Every single time I see her name crop up lately, it's because of something righteous she's done. It's glorious.
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [42 favorites]
White male in custody after shooting several at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. Police report multiple casualties. NYPD is sending additional security to New York newspaper offices “out of an abundance of caution.”
On the heels of the GOP-allied “alt-right”’s calls for shooting journalists
Can we stop arguing about whether it’s happening here now?
It’s fucking happening
posted by schadenfrau at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [63 favorites]
On the heels of the GOP-allied “alt-right”’s calls for shooting journalists
Can we stop arguing about whether it’s happening here now?
It’s fucking happening
posted by schadenfrau at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [63 favorites]
White male in custody after shooting several at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.
Wonder if this is related to Milo telling people to start gunning journalists down? Maybe they can finally prosecute him for inciting violence. I hate him so very much.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
Wonder if this is related to Milo telling people to start gunning journalists down? Maybe they can finally prosecute him for inciting violence. I hate him so very much.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [20 favorites]
The 14/88 thing is absolutely not conspiracy bible code stuff. It's... uh... real as fuck with the people who look for those things.
Oh I know it's a real thing. I meant in the sense that the whole reason they can make that Bible Code thing work is they're forcing a system onto a large enough corpus so that it'll work somewhere, not that the codes the nazis use to signal at each other aren't real and out there.
I saw the bit about the 88 in the last point but somehow missed the 14 points count claim. That seems unlikely to be a coincidence once you add it all up, even if it's actually 13 points with a graf stuck in the middle. I wonder if the writer bothered to find an actual stat with an out-of-88 sample so they could make this all plausible, like the video game tat thing. 13 out of 88 isn't the previously mentioned 30%.
posted by phearlez at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018
Oh I know it's a real thing. I meant in the sense that the whole reason they can make that Bible Code thing work is they're forcing a system onto a large enough corpus so that it'll work somewhere, not that the codes the nazis use to signal at each other aren't real and out there.
I saw the bit about the 88 in the last point but somehow missed the 14 points count claim. That seems unlikely to be a coincidence once you add it all up, even if it's actually 13 points with a graf stuck in the middle. I wonder if the writer bothered to find an actual stat with an out-of-88 sample so they could make this all plausible, like the video game tat thing. 13 out of 88 isn't the previously mentioned 30%.
posted by phearlez at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018
... aaaand just when you were sure it couldn't possibly get any weirder ...
Billionaire Koch brothers take on Trump over tariffs
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Billionaire Koch brothers take on Trump over tariffs
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Reason Hit & Run: Dear Democratic Socialists Who Think You’re Having a Moment: It’s Me, a Libertarian, Who’s Been Through This.
Perhaps democratic socialism's ideas benefit a wider population than libertariaism's do, and it will be -- or rather, is -- accordingly more popular.
posted by Gelatin at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Perhaps democratic socialism's ideas benefit a wider population than libertariaism's do, and it will be -- or rather, is -- accordingly more popular.
posted by Gelatin at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Well, the last two weeks have really taken the wind out of my sails. I knew that Saint Mueller was not going to save us, but this last round of Supreme court decisions and the Kennedy retirement have really rubbed my nose in it, and hard. (And I was even expecting the Kennedy retirement.)
I would like to be talking about Harley Davidson reducing US manufacturing as the foreign response to Trump's trade war starts to build. I would like to comment on the gall of this Russian agent dissing NATO and setting up a summit with his handler in Helsinki right after the NATO summit. I would like to check in on Paul Manafort, who is still in jail, and Michael Cohen, who has resigned from the RNC deputy chairmanship because of Trump's mistreatment of refugee kids - if my eyes rolled any harder, they'd fall out.
Instead, we are talking about kids in concentration camps. We were discussing "civility" and whether or not private restaurants have an obligation to host traitors even if they don't have to bake gay wedding cakes. And the current NYT headlines:
Washington Girds for Battle Over Kennedy’s Replacement
Retirement Injects Inflammatory New Issue Into Midterms
Elated v. Scared: Americans Are Divided on Justice Kennedy’s Retirement
This Is the World Mitch McConnell Gave Us
Departure of Kennedy Could End Roe v. Wade
I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off.
(Our young Democratic mayor posted on his Facebook page:
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would like to be talking about Harley Davidson reducing US manufacturing as the foreign response to Trump's trade war starts to build. I would like to comment on the gall of this Russian agent dissing NATO and setting up a summit with his handler in Helsinki right after the NATO summit. I would like to check in on Paul Manafort, who is still in jail, and Michael Cohen, who has resigned from the RNC deputy chairmanship because of Trump's mistreatment of refugee kids - if my eyes rolled any harder, they'd fall out.
Instead, we are talking about kids in concentration camps. We were discussing "civility" and whether or not private restaurants have an obligation to host traitors even if they don't have to bake gay wedding cakes. And the current NYT headlines:
Washington Girds for Battle Over Kennedy’s Replacement
Retirement Injects Inflammatory New Issue Into Midterms
Elated v. Scared: Americans Are Divided on Justice Kennedy’s Retirement
This Is the World Mitch McConnell Gave Us
Departure of Kennedy Could End Roe v. Wade
I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off.
(Our young Democratic mayor posted on his Facebook page:
Bad news everywhere today. I can't take one more piece of bad news. So I've decided to turn off the news and get into this World Cup thing. So what time does the USA play?Ha.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
@BowieIrene: "Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is the only senator to go down and show support for those protesters being arrested. Mazie is the true spirit of aloha."
Sen. Duckworth (and her daughter) came as well.
(adding even more awesome pictures)
posted by zachlipton at 1:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
Sen. Duckworth (and her daughter) came as well.
(adding even more awesome pictures)
posted by zachlipton at 1:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [28 favorites]
...Departure of Kennedy Could End Roe v. Wade...
You forgot "there's an active shooter who has killed several people at a local Maryland newspaper."
posted by Melismata at 1:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
You forgot "there's an active shooter who has killed several people at a local Maryland newspaper."
posted by Melismata at 1:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
... aaaand just when you were sure it couldn't possibly get any weirder ...
Billionaire Koch brothers take on Trump over tariffs
Oh yay I guess that means there's gonna be phonebanking parties with dinner and beer at my local Americans for Prosperity office soon!
I love eating the delicious Koch dollars. The GOP may have stolen the Kochs from the LP, but I am determined to leech back their money one free meal at a time.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Billionaire Koch brothers take on Trump over tariffs
Oh yay I guess that means there's gonna be phonebanking parties with dinner and beer at my local Americans for Prosperity office soon!
I love eating the delicious Koch dollars. The GOP may have stolen the Kochs from the LP, but I am determined to leech back their money one free meal at a time.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I feel like if you're writing PR for the Department of Homeland Security and you "accidentally" write a fucking Nazi statement like that and it's exactly 14 words long and starts with the same phrasing as Nazis, well, that's not really that much better than having done it intentionally
With Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller in the mix I'm voting for "triggering the libs." I mean, this and the Annapolis thing are not unrelated, but I'm trying to figure out if I have a responsibility to react to everything that comes out, regardless if it appears to be designed only to increase my anxiety.
posted by rhizome at 1:20 PM on June 28, 2018
With Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller in the mix I'm voting for "triggering the libs." I mean, this and the Annapolis thing are not unrelated, but I'm trying to figure out if I have a responsibility to react to everything that comes out, regardless if it appears to be designed only to increase my anxiety.
posted by rhizome at 1:20 PM on June 28, 2018
The GOP may have stolen the Kochs from the LP, but I am determined to leech back their money one free meal at a time.
I hope you have a large stomach, then, eat a few dozen meals a day, and plan on living several thousand years. ("Americans For Prosperity"? God help us.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I hope you have a large stomach, then, eat a few dozen meals a day, and plan on living several thousand years. ("Americans For Prosperity"? God help us.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
That DHS headline is no goddamn accident:
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [43 favorites]
We Must Secure The Border And Build The Wall To Make America Safe Again We Must Secure The Existence of Our People And a Future For White ChildrenThe arbitrary selection of 88 as a denominator for an average is... not subtle.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [43 favorites]
I'm trying to figure out if I have a responsibility to react to everything that comes out, regardless if it appears to be designed only to increase my anxiety.
Take a deep breath or 10. Take care of yourself, continue the fight tomorrow. This is a long game we are in, per Rep. John Lewis.
posted by Harry Caul at 1:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Take a deep breath or 10. Take care of yourself, continue the fight tomorrow. This is a long game we are in, per Rep. John Lewis.
posted by Harry Caul at 1:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
@BowieIrene: "Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is the only senator to go down and show support for those protesters being arrested. Mazie is the true spirit of aloha."
Sen. Duckworth (and her daughter) came as well.
Also Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Jayapal. [tweet]
posted by melissasaurus at 1:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
Sen. Duckworth (and her daughter) came as well.
Also Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Jayapal. [tweet]
posted by melissasaurus at 1:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
Gillibrand and Jayapal got arrested, as well.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [50 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [50 favorites]
It says not-good things about the state of our country that I have no idea if the Capital Gazette shooting is scarier if its politically motivated or if its another white dude running amok for non-political reasons.
posted by Justinian at 1:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Gillibrand and Jayapal got arrested, as well.
What?!
posted by mumimor at 1:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
What?!
posted by mumimor at 1:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii is the only senator to go down and show support
So did Senator Duckworth, Markey, Gillibrand and Rep. Jayapal
Nice picture of Sen Duckworth
On preview I see I'm late posting.
posted by yyz at 1:30 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
So did Senator Duckworth, Markey, Gillibrand and Rep. Jayapal
Nice picture of Sen Duckworth
On preview I see I'm late posting.
posted by yyz at 1:30 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Much of the progressive base is inevitably going to take out their rage not on Trump, but on Democrats for not being able to make the right tactical choices to block him.
I worry about this a lot, especially because most people don't realize that Democrats cannot block Trump's Supreme Court nominee the same way Republicans blocked Obama's. Almost no one understands this, I find myself forgetting, and the media is doing nothing to correct the misunderstanding.
posted by xammerboy at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
I worry about this a lot, especially because most people don't realize that Democrats cannot block Trump's Supreme Court nominee the same way Republicans blocked Obama's. Almost no one understands this, I find myself forgetting, and the media is doing nothing to correct the misunderstanding.
posted by xammerboy at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
That right there is my party leadership. Any/all of those ladies 2020!
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [55 favorites]
Sean Hannity blames Maxine Waters for shooting at Maryland newsroom
Civility.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
Civility.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
Seriously, Emmy Rae. Duckworth, Harris, Gillibrand. Unfortunately, Jayapal wasn't born in the U.S., so she can't run for prez, but have her lead whatever the fuck she wants and I'll stand next to her.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 1:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
The Capital Gazette's crime reporter Phil Davis was there and is tweeting about the shooting if you want first-hand information.
The Capital Gazette already has an article up about their own shooting, although it appears to be written by a Baltimore Sun reporter.
Reddit news thread on the shooting. They're generally pretty good at keeping those updated with the latest info.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:44 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
The Capital Gazette already has an article up about their own shooting, although it appears to be written by a Baltimore Sun reporter.
Reddit news thread on the shooting. They're generally pretty good at keeping those updated with the latest info.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:44 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Harlan Ellison is dead and now it's just us and AM.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:56 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:56 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Gillibrand and Jayapal got arrested, as well.
Source? What I've seen reads that these senators are at risk of arrest given their participation in the protest.
posted by craven_morhead at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Source? What I've seen reads that these senators are at risk of arrest given their participation in the protest.
posted by craven_morhead at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump is very effective.
I've gone from thinking he might ruin the country accidentally, to thinking there's a small chance he'll do something unpredictable and catastrophic, to be being relatively certain he will being us to a bad, bad place purposefully and quickly. I don't think he's smart, but we've all seen him get really talented people to work as hard as they can to get what he wants at great risk to their own reputations and careers. He has the solid backing of his entire party, a media machine promoting his every action, and a rabid base. He acts first asks questions / figures out if it's legal later. He's passed massive legislation and pushed executive power to its limit. He's largely immune to criticism. Trump may have started out as a joke, but he's now officially scary as fuck, at least to me.
posted by xammerboy at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
I've gone from thinking he might ruin the country accidentally, to thinking there's a small chance he'll do something unpredictable and catastrophic, to be being relatively certain he will being us to a bad, bad place purposefully and quickly. I don't think he's smart, but we've all seen him get really talented people to work as hard as they can to get what he wants at great risk to their own reputations and careers. He has the solid backing of his entire party, a media machine promoting his every action, and a rabid base. He acts first asks questions / figures out if it's legal later. He's passed massive legislation and pushed executive power to its limit. He's largely immune to criticism. Trump may have started out as a joke, but he's now officially scary as fuck, at least to me.
posted by xammerboy at 1:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
@RepSeanMaloney: My office bought tampons for female visitors and our staff. Then we got an email from @HouseAdmnGOP telling us we couldn’t use funds to purchase a necessary hygiene product. That’s ridiculous. [video with more info at the link]
posted by melissasaurus at 1:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 1:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
[Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH)] tries to attack Rosenstein, the room erupts in laughter - Aaron Rupar, ThinkProgress.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [14 favorites]
To clarify, the point of this event was mass civil disobedience leading to arrest; hundreds of women were arrested or at least detained:
@RepJayapal: I was just arrested with 500+ women and @WomensMarch to say @RealDonaldTrump’s cruel zero-tolerance policy will not continue. Not in our country. Not in our name.posted by FelliniBlank at 2:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again. [with rousing video]
Alternet: Two Democratic Lawmakers [Jayapal and Gillibrand] Escorted Out by Police After Joining Hundreds Protesting Trump's Immigration Policies
TPM: DHS agents interrupted CBS interview with a DHS whistleblower
The whistle initially being blown seems like small potatoes, but two DHS agents showing up at the whistleblowers home during the interview sure as hell isn’t
Today is just full of Nazi shit
posted by schadenfrau at 2:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
The whistle initially being blown seems like small potatoes, but two DHS agents showing up at the whistleblowers home during the interview sure as hell isn’t
Today is just full of Nazi shit
posted by schadenfrau at 2:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
It's a bit up there, but I'm wondering wether the military and WH staff reluctance to go ahead with the stupid parade thing is that they expect Trump to be out and disgraced before it happens.
I know that's optimistic, but I also feel this charade can't go on for ever. With the new threats to NATO, on top of the trade war, I'm thinking some of the people who went on with the idea that Trump disrupting stuff might be a good thing are realizing this is all bad.
And with the news of a Trump tower in North Korea (and China deals, and much more), it's not only European intelligence that have something to share with Mueller, there must be all fresh news from Asia too.
Finally, the Trump base is less than 40%. I know there are many ways the US system benefits the Republicans, but I don't think a president with a less than 40% approval rate has succeeded historically? Obviously, don't relax. But don't despair, either.
posted by mumimor at 2:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know that's optimistic, but I also feel this charade can't go on for ever. With the new threats to NATO, on top of the trade war, I'm thinking some of the people who went on with the idea that Trump disrupting stuff might be a good thing are realizing this is all bad.
And with the news of a Trump tower in North Korea (and China deals, and much more), it's not only European intelligence that have something to share with Mueller, there must be all fresh news from Asia too.
Finally, the Trump base is less than 40%. I know there are many ways the US system benefits the Republicans, but I don't think a president with a less than 40% approval rate has succeeded historically? Obviously, don't relax. But don't despair, either.
posted by mumimor at 2:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Alternet: Two Democratic Lawmakers [Jayapal and Gillibrand] Escorted Out by Police After Joining Hundreds Protesting Trump's Immigration Policies
They should all be out there. This is what leadership looks like.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
They should all be out there. This is what leadership looks like.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
If the Capital Gazette shooting turns out to be motivated by Milo and/or Trump's rhetoric against journalists, do we want to discuss that here or start a new post just on that?
I vote for a new post so that discussion doesn't overwhelm the catch-all thread, but last time I made a post about a mass shooting people complained about my framing, so someone else should probably make it.
I'm hoping it turns out to be "just" a workplace/domestic violence incident, but I'm bracing myself for the horrifying possibility that we now live in a country where people are mass-murdering journalists at politicians' bidding. Sorry, Central American refugees, I know you just fled that shit. :(
posted by Jacqueline at 2:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I vote for a new post so that discussion doesn't overwhelm the catch-all thread, but last time I made a post about a mass shooting people complained about my framing, so someone else should probably make it.
I'm hoping it turns out to be "just" a workplace/domestic violence incident, but I'm bracing myself for the horrifying possibility that we now live in a country where people are mass-murdering journalists at politicians' bidding. Sorry, Central American refugees, I know you just fled that shit. :(
posted by Jacqueline at 2:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I will be very interested to find out details about the shooter.
posted by mazola at 2:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mazola at 2:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
If the Capital Gazette shooting turns out to be motivated by Milo and/or Trump's rhetoric against journalists, do we want to discuss that here or start a new post just on that?
Milo already pulling the "I'm just trolling and it's actually the fault of the reporters for publishing what I said" card.
posted by PenDevil at 2:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Milo already pulling the "I'm just trolling and it's actually the fault of the reporters for publishing what I said" card.
posted by PenDevil at 2:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to server Sarah Sanders
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
That's what the headline says. In the article he says that he has a lot of respect for the restaurant owner and his respect towards Sanders is for "how she handled herself" in that situation.
Actual quote from the interview; “But, you know, a lot of poison has been poured down America’s throat since that 2016 campaign,” Clinton said, adding that it started with Trump called Mexicans “rapists and murderers.” So, he said, “It’s hard to pour poison down other people’s throat and not have some of it come back up and bubble up.”
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
That's what the headline says. In the article he says that he has a lot of respect for the restaurant owner and his respect towards Sanders is for "how she handled herself" in that situation.
Actual quote from the interview; “But, you know, a lot of poison has been poured down America’s throat since that 2016 campaign,” Clinton said, adding that it started with Trump called Mexicans “rapists and murderers.” So, he said, “It’s hard to pour poison down other people’s throat and not have some of it come back up and bubble up.”
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
milo has blood on his hands - he is no longer ...
civil
posted by pyramid termite at 2:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
civil
posted by pyramid termite at 2:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
White male in custody after shooting several at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis.
OK, so not a terrorist attack, just one of those mysterious things that sometimes happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by kirkaracha at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
OK, so not a terrorist attack, just one of those mysterious things that sometimes happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by kirkaracha at 2:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
This is going to be a hard summer.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 2:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
Bernie Sanders slams restaurant for refusing to server Sarah Sanders
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
That's what the headline says. In the article he says that he has a lot of respect for the restaurant owner and his respect towards Sanders is for "how she handled herself" in that situation.
Oh ffs! Siddown and shaddap, you old white guys! The era for "comity" and "civility" is dead and gone. It's gloves-off time. Take a cue from Gillibrand, Jayapal, Hirono, and Duckworth (and Ted Lieu, Eric Swalwell, and Jeff Merkley). I am so glad to see awesome women, lionesses of the Senate and House, stepping up. #electwomen #electsocialists
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
Bill Clinton Defends Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I Have ‘a Lot of Respect’ for Her
That's what the headline says. In the article he says that he has a lot of respect for the restaurant owner and his respect towards Sanders is for "how she handled herself" in that situation.
Oh ffs! Siddown and shaddap, you old white guys! The era for "comity" and "civility" is dead and gone. It's gloves-off time. Take a cue from Gillibrand, Jayapal, Hirono, and Duckworth (and Ted Lieu, Eric Swalwell, and Jeff Merkley). I am so glad to see awesome women, lionesses of the Senate and House, stepping up. #electwomen #electsocialists
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [22 favorites]
[Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH)] tries to attack Rosenstein, the room erupts in laughter
Watching that, I wonder if some "life-long Republicans" are beginning to revise their allegiance. If so, it must be a painful process and we are not going to see results just now. But I think there could be a huge turn-around. Law-enforcement tend to be conservative, but if you push them enough, they can change. And when they change, they will also change their views on other stuff.
posted by mumimor at 2:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Watching that, I wonder if some "life-long Republicans" are beginning to revise their allegiance. If so, it must be a painful process and we are not going to see results just now. But I think there could be a huge turn-around. Law-enforcement tend to be conservative, but if you push them enough, they can change. And when they change, they will also change their views on other stuff.
posted by mumimor at 2:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.
@realDonaldTrump
The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.
@realDonaldTrump
The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Milo already pulling the "I'm just trolling and it's actually the fault of the reporters for publishing what I said" card.
I only support one deportation.
posted by The Whelk at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
I only support one deportation.
posted by The Whelk at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
It's not really hypocrisy since two different people wrote those tweets...
posted by 0xFCAF at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by 0xFCAF at 2:28 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
We are 24 hours from Trump implying reporters are bringing this upon themselves.
posted by chris24 at 2:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 2:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
Chris Hayes pushes back on the 14 word headline thing.
A pretty significant counterpoint.
posted by Justinian at 2:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
A pretty significant counterpoint.
posted by Justinian at 2:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
From the r/news thread, the Capital shooter is in custody and:
posted by schadenfrau at 2:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
Multiple news reports: suspect is a white male in 20s, had a shotgun. Refusing to cooperate with police and did not have ID on his personI'm trying not to jump to conclusions, but this is barely a hop.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
Please don't give Milo a bigger megaphone. He was almost totally gone from public discourse. He is not a figure of note, even for Nazis. No one would order a sandwich because Milo told them to. Do not give him the attention he very desperately wants. There are so many assholes of actual consequence to worry about.
posted by neroli at 2:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by neroli at 2:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
Multiple news reports: suspect is a white male in 20s, had a shotgun. Refusing to cooperate with police and did not have ID on his person
And he's done something to his fingers to remove his prints.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
And he's done something to his fingers to remove his prints.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
“Mr. Jordan, I am the deputy attorney general of the United States. I’m not the person doing the redacting,” he said.
As schadenfrau put it, today is indeed full of Nazi shit, but thanks, ZeusHumms for the giggle.
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
As schadenfrau put it, today is indeed full of Nazi shit, but thanks, ZeusHumms for the giggle.
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Let's see them try to find a way not to call this one terrorism.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 2:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Following up on the suggestions from last year this morning to pack the supreme court, I think the focus is a bit off. I mean, yes, the next Democratic president absolutely should pack the courts, but that's really only a short-term fix. A longer-term fix would be to eliminate lifetime appointments and use fixed-length terms, staggered so justices are replaced at regular intervals that coincide with presidential terms. Germany uses a system like that with 16 justices and 12-year terms, but I don't think the exact numbers matter nearly as much as the principle of keeping things predictable rather than allowing major political decisions to be decided based on when a justice dies or retires.
Another issue that needs to be resolved is how to prevent a hostile senate from ratfucking the nomination process. I haven't heard any suggestions yet, so I'll improvise here. Suppose there are two appointments in each presidential term, and the president gets two years to fill each appointment. The senate has 60 days to vote on each nominee, at which point the president can nominate someone else. If, after two years, no nominee is approved, we go back to the previous nominees, and whoever came closest to being approved gets the appointment. That would prevent a situation where, for instance, every member of a Republican majority rejects every nominee, because if they did that, they'd effectively cede control of the confirmation process to the Democrats.
posted by shponglespore at 2:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Another issue that needs to be resolved is how to prevent a hostile senate from ratfucking the nomination process. I haven't heard any suggestions yet, so I'll improvise here. Suppose there are two appointments in each presidential term, and the president gets two years to fill each appointment. The senate has 60 days to vote on each nominee, at which point the president can nominate someone else. If, after two years, no nominee is approved, we go back to the previous nominees, and whoever came closest to being approved gets the appointment. That would prevent a situation where, for instance, every member of a Republican majority rejects every nominee, because if they did that, they'd effectively cede control of the confirmation process to the Democrats.
posted by shponglespore at 2:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Erik Wemple (WaPo)
Fox News's Trace Gallagher says they checked into Capital Gazette's ideological bent and concluded that it was very much a local newspaper.
Dana Schwartz (EW)
Retweeted ErikWemple
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [98 favorites]
Fox News's Trace Gallagher says they checked into Capital Gazette's ideological bent and concluded that it was very much a local newspaper.
Dana Schwartz (EW)
Retweeted ErikWemple
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [98 favorites]
I'm trying not to jump to conclusions, but this is barely a hop.
A law enforcement source tells one of my CBS News colleagues that the Annapolis shooting suspect damaged his finger tips so law enforcement cannot identify him that way.
Is someone with a workplace dispute or a domestic violence situation going to burn off his fingerprints?
posted by Justinian at 3:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
A law enforcement source tells one of my CBS News colleagues that the Annapolis shooting suspect damaged his finger tips so law enforcement cannot identify him that way.
Is someone with a workplace dispute or a domestic violence situation going to burn off his fingerprints?
posted by Justinian at 3:12 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Bloomberg: The biggest private prison operators, which have poured money into Republican coffers, stand to make a windfall from President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration
posted by duoshao at 3:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by duoshao at 3:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
What's the overlap like for Maganauts and sovereign citizen types?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
He also had flashbangs and I think smoke bombs in his bag. He planned to sow confusion and kill as many people as he could. With this level of preparation and militarization (even if it's of the mall ninja variety), I'm guessing he scouted security beforehand. I would also guess that a local paper doesn't have security, at least compared to a big media liberal paper.
The other tell that this is terrorism targeted at journalists is that the police provided security at other media establishments.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
The other tell that this is terrorism targeted at journalists is that the police provided security at other media establishments.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
What's the overlap like for Maganauts and sovereign citizen types?
one shitty circle inside a bigger, shittier circle?
posted by schadenfrau at 3:22 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
one shitty circle inside a bigger, shittier circle?
posted by schadenfrau at 3:22 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Erik Wemple (WaPo): Fox News's Trace Gallagher says they checked into Capital Gazette's ideological bent and concluded that it was very much a local newspaper.
---
Dana Schwartz (EW) - Retweeted ErikWemple: Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or no
VIDEO of it. They kept harping on it.
posted by chris24 at 3:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
---
Dana Schwartz (EW) - Retweeted ErikWemple: Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or no
VIDEO of it. They kept harping on it.
posted by chris24 at 3:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
He is not a figure of note, even for Nazis. No one would order a sandwich because Milo told them to.
A large group of online nazis spent 2014-2016 harassing the shit out of women involved with games or hames journalism because he told them to, with death threats being made multiple times. That one was “ironic” and “a joke” too. He may have lost some of that audience after getting kicked off Twitter but maybe not all of them.
posted by Artw at 3:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
A large group of online nazis spent 2014-2016 harassing the shit out of women involved with games or hames journalism because he told them to, with death threats being made multiple times. That one was “ironic” and “a joke” too. He may have lost some of that audience after getting kicked off Twitter but maybe not all of them.
posted by Artw at 3:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [65 favorites]
This has got to be a wake up call for the press, right? No more bullshit about civility? Maybe calling this Nazi stochastic terrorism stuff what it is?
I still...fuck. I think after this people might still be afraid to actually name what’s happening. Because once you name it, then you have to confront it. And if you confront it, and it does nothing? Then what? It is way easier to check out, dissociate, live in denial as long as possible.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
I still...fuck. I think after this people might still be afraid to actually name what’s happening. Because once you name it, then you have to confront it. And if you confront it, and it does nothing? Then what? It is way easier to check out, dissociate, live in denial as long as possible.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Pretending these people don't exist is how we got here. Evil is out there. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Pointing it out doesn't worsen it. He already has an audience. If we pretend he's not here, he doesn't have opposition.
posted by chris24 at 3:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 3:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
Video (SLYT) -- Trump walks away silently as reporters forcefully press him to comment on the shooting: "Any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President? Why won't you come and talk to us about that?"
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
I wonder about Fox. So many of these people (politicians and journalists) are chummy off camera with their "opponents." I truly believe most Fox News people are very bad people. Curious if any of them are capable of concern for people they actually know who could be at risk.
posted by Mavri at 3:41 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Mavri at 3:41 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
it is implicit that, but for its local character and lack of "polarizing" content, Trace Gallagher of FoxNews might understand why the Capital Gazette should be a target for violent carnage.
hmm. what are you trying to say, Trace Gallagher of FoxNews? are you suggesting that a national outlet steeped in polarization might be ok to target, Trace?
is that the official message of FoxNews?
posted by 20 year lurk at 3:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
hmm. what are you trying to say, Trace Gallagher of FoxNews? are you suggesting that a national outlet steeped in polarization might be ok to target, Trace?
is that the official message of FoxNews?
posted by 20 year lurk at 3:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
WaPo, How the ‘Bad Boys of Brexit’ forged ties with Russia and the Trump campaign — and came under investigators’ scrutiny
Less than a week after the meeting with the Russian envoy, Banks and firebrand Brexit politician Nigel Farage — by then a cult hero among some anti-establishment Trump supporters — were huddling privately with the Republican nominee in Jackson, Miss., where Farage wowed a foot-stomping crowd at a Trump rally.CNN, Trump privately floats plan to make a deal with Putin on Syria
Banks’s journey from a lavish meal with a Russian diplomat in London to the raucous heart of Trump country was part of an unusual intercontinental charm offensive by the wealthy British donor and his associates, a hard-partying lot who dubbed themselves the “Bad Boys of Brexit.” Their efforts to simultaneously cultivate ties to Russian officials and Trump’s campaign have captured the interest of investigators in the United Kingdom and the United States, including special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Both inquiries center on questions of Russia’s involvement in seismic political events that have shaken the world order, with the European Union losing a key member and U.S. voters electing a president critical of Washington’s traditional alliances.
...
During their visit [4 days after the election], the Brexiteers got a glimpse of Trump’s chaotic operation, listening with amusement as harried staffers argued over who should be named White House chief of staff, Banks said.
At one point, Wigmore said, a secretary standing outside the office blurted out: “You’re British. Do you have a number for Number 10?” — a reference to the British prime minister’s home at 10 Downing Street. In fact, Banks did. But he wanted something in return, and Trump’s staff was happy to oblige: a good telephone number for Trump’s presidential transition office.
A few days later, after Banks had returned to London, he and Wigmore sat down again for tea with Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador — their fourth meeting in a year.
The Russians “were utterly gobsmacked that Trump had won,” Banks said.
Wigmore had been handing out the Trump transition team’s telephone number to all sorts of diplomats from various countries, he said. So when the Russian ambassador asked for the number, he said he happily obliged.
Wigmore said he was “not thinking there was anything remotely sinister” in sharing information he had learned at Trump Tower with the Russian diplomat. “Why would I?”
President Donald Trump once again raised the idea of pulling the US out of Syria this week -- this time privately during a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House, according to two diplomatic sources familiar with the sit-down.posted by zachlipton at 4:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
The two leaders discussed Syria at length. One source told CNN that Trump believes he can strike a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a so-called exclusion zone in southwest Syria that will allow the US to "get out ASAP."
...
According to these sources, Trump's plan would allow the Russians to help Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad take back an area along the Jordanian border where the US-led coalition and its military partners are experiencing increased opposition from "an unidentified hostile force" in recent days despite a previous ceasefire.
So, IOW, flat out treason.
posted by ocschwar at 4:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 4:36 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
As in, US soldiers are fighting Russian Green Men and Trump is arranging the Green Men's victory.
posted by ocschwar at 4:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 4:38 PM on June 28, 2018 [27 favorites]
I went with a group to Doug Lamborn's (CO-5 R) office to talk to staff about reuniting immigrant families and it was pretty terrible. His "Senior Advisor for Faith Based Outreach" met us to talk and was dismissive, called for "civility," kept changing the subject. We were eventually put on to a conference call with one of his legislative staffers in DC, who talked about the House immigration bills, had no answers for what the Rep is willing to do to reunite children with parents, and blamed Chuck Schumer for not working with Republicans. I wanted to throw things. Instead I left 4 pages of Bible verses about immigrants and refugees on the conference room table with a note expressing hope the Rep's heart would be softened by the plight of the vulnerable and he would do everything in his power to reunite the children with their families. We're going to Gardner's office tomorrow.
posted by danielleh at 4:39 PM on June 28, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by danielleh at 4:39 PM on June 28, 2018 [51 favorites]
Daily Beast, GOP Senator on Russian Election Hack: Hey, Everyone Does It
And we're so fucking bad at exploiting this stuff. If know we're all tired of the "can you imagine if Patrick Leahy said this?" game, but we shouldn't just say that and despair that there's a double-standard, we actually should do what Republicans do. A million dollars worth of ads declaring Shelby and his party are giving aid and comfort to our enemies. Make his name synonymous with traitor. Flood his office phones. He doesn't walk five steps in the Capitol complex without a tracker demanding to know why he's Putin's best friend.
Republicans want to publicly claim treason? Let's let them own it.
posted by zachlipton at 4:43 PM on June 28, 2018 [82 favorites]
Shortly before traveling to Moscow with several colleagues, a senior Republican senator all but gave Russia a green light for future interference in U.S. elections.THEY. ARE. ALL. COMPLICIT. IN. ACTIVELY. SELLING. OUT. THE. COUNTRY. TO. RUSSIA.
"Most countries would meddle and play in our domestic elections if they could, and some of them have," the Washington Examiner quoted Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, as saying.
"We have to be realistic nations are going to do what is in their next [sic] interest; we’ve done a lot of things too."
Shelby, a former chairman of the Senate’s intelligence committee, is leading a delegation of Republican senators to Russia for nine days to meet with Russian officials. It’s unclear if they will meet with Vladimir Putin or his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
And we're so fucking bad at exploiting this stuff. If know we're all tired of the "can you imagine if Patrick Leahy said this?" game, but we shouldn't just say that and despair that there's a double-standard, we actually should do what Republicans do. A million dollars worth of ads declaring Shelby and his party are giving aid and comfort to our enemies. Make his name synonymous with traitor. Flood his office phones. He doesn't walk five steps in the Capitol complex without a tracker demanding to know why he's Putin's best friend.
Republicans want to publicly claim treason? Let's let them own it.
posted by zachlipton at 4:43 PM on June 28, 2018 [82 favorites]
From an outgoing company-chair “Thrilled to report that the attendees of tonight's @UptownBronxDSA Meeting is 50% brand-new, first meeting folks. I'm not exaggerating.”
posted by The Whelk at 4:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:46 PM on June 28, 2018 [41 favorites]
I just deleted a long and boring comment about my research on right-wing media. tl;dr: I don't find it the least bit shocking that they felt the need to check into the bona fides of the Capital Gazette. This has become their role, and part of what their viewers expect from them. While they assume all institutions (especially media organizations) are ideological, they want gatekeepers to vet the relative value of other sources based on that ideology.
posted by Superplin at 4:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Superplin at 4:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mark Murray (NBC)
For all the attention on polls showing Trump retaining 85%-90% support of his own party, don't lose sight of Trump and the GOP's standing with independents. Here's a look at the recent NBC/Marist polls of AZ, FL and OH. NBC/Marist polls: Independents break away from Trump, GOP 1/
2/ For starters:
-- in AZ, Sinema leads McSally by 17pts among indies
-- in OH, Brown is up 21pts among indies
-- in FL, Nelson is up 9pts among indies
3/ And it’s not just the horserace numbers: Trump’s job rating among independent adults is below 40% in Arizona (36%), Ohio (37%) and Florida (39%).
4/ Maybe most significantly of all, indie voters by double-digit margins — 14pts in FL, 21pts in AZ, and 29pts in OH — say their vote in November will be a message to check and balance Trump rather than to pass his agenda
posted by chris24 at 4:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
For all the attention on polls showing Trump retaining 85%-90% support of his own party, don't lose sight of Trump and the GOP's standing with independents. Here's a look at the recent NBC/Marist polls of AZ, FL and OH. NBC/Marist polls: Independents break away from Trump, GOP 1/
2/ For starters:
-- in AZ, Sinema leads McSally by 17pts among indies
-- in OH, Brown is up 21pts among indies
-- in FL, Nelson is up 9pts among indies
3/ And it’s not just the horserace numbers: Trump’s job rating among independent adults is below 40% in Arizona (36%), Ohio (37%) and Florida (39%).
4/ Maybe most significantly of all, indie voters by double-digit margins — 14pts in FL, 21pts in AZ, and 29pts in OH — say their vote in November will be a message to check and balance Trump rather than to pass his agenda
posted by chris24 at 4:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
She came out of nowhere and people are making a big deal that she’s a socialist and socialists can win. That is absolutely irrelevant and I wish people would stop saying it immediately.
This is a fascinating analysis of how AOC beat the Queens Machine, New York, and politics in general from a former Obama organizer and Senate staffer who is currently running for...Democratic state committee? I don’t know enough to evaluate it on the merits, but maybe someone here does.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
She came out of nowhere and people are making a big deal that she’s a socialist and socialists can win. That is absolutely irrelevant and I wish people would stop saying it immediately.
This is a fascinating analysis of how AOC beat the Queens Machine, New York, and politics in general from a former Obama organizer and Senate staffer who is currently running for...Democratic state committee? I don’t know enough to evaluate it on the merits, but maybe someone here does.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
WaPo, Josh Rogin (who the entire EU apparently has on speed dial these days), Trump is trying to destabilize the European Union
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [76 favorites]
During a private meeting at the White House in late April, Trump was discussing trade with French President Emmanuel Macron. At one point, he asked Macron, “Why don’t you leave the E.U.?” and said that if France exited the union, Trump would offer it a bilateral trade deal with better terms than the E.U. as a whole gets from the United States, according to two European officials. The White House did not dispute the officials’ account, but declined to comment.You know who else is trying to destabilize the European Union? *gestures to the last three news stories I've posted over the past 25 minutes, all of which are actually the same story*
Let’s set aside for a moment the point that Trump’s proposal reveals a basic lack of understanding of Macron’s views and those of the people who elected him. This is an instance of the president of the United States offering an incentive to dismantle an organization of America’s allies, against stated U.S. government policy.
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [76 favorites]
I say this after I signed up for the DSA, because I think no matter what happens next we’re going to need the work they’re doing and I actually am that lefty on most domestic questions? And, as I discovered when they asked that stupid survey question, literally Bernie Sanders was actively repelling me from the DSA. I had to sort of growl as I clicked through. ANYWAY. Benjamin Yee’s political analysis comes with whatever grains of salt, I guess, and I definitely picked the most inflammatory pull quote. Still fascinating. And possibly relevant for other places with political machines.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:04 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 5:04 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
> Maybe most significantly of all, indie voters by double-digit margins — 14pts in FL, 21pts in AZ, and 29pts in OH — say their vote in November will be a message to check and balance Trump rather than to pass his agenda
Better too late than never, I guess!
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Better too late than never, I guess!
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
At one point, he asked Macron, “Why don’t you leave the E.U.?” and said that if France exited the union, Trump would offer it a bilateral trade deal with better terms than the E.U. as a whole gets from the United States, according to two European officials.
I'm sure Macron gave this offer grave and thorough consideration, seeing as how it comes from such a solidly reliable ally. What could possibly go wrong?
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm sure Macron gave this offer grave and thorough consideration, seeing as how it comes from such a solidly reliable ally. What could possibly go wrong?
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
She came out of nowhere and people are making a big deal that she’s a socialist and socialists can win. That is absolutely irrelevant and I wish people would stop saying it immediately. Of course socialists can win, anyone can win. Donald Trump can win. The trick there is to be aligned with the voters of your district, to do what it takes to make them think you care about them.
The full paragraph from that link. This writer has a different definition of irrelevant than than me I think. It absolutely is relevant that she ran as a socialist Democrat, because socialist policy positions and the socialist label did align with the voters in her district. He goes on to make the point that her personal traits and her campaigning were key to winning, but the first paragraph from that whole section I quoted here is contradictory on its face. I think what he meant to say is that being a socialist isn't some new key to victory unless the district you're running in likes that label and/or those policies.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
The full paragraph from that link. This writer has a different definition of irrelevant than than me I think. It absolutely is relevant that she ran as a socialist Democrat, because socialist policy positions and the socialist label did align with the voters in her district. He goes on to make the point that her personal traits and her campaigning were key to winning, but the first paragraph from that whole section I quoted here is contradictory on its face. I think what he meant to say is that being a socialist isn't some new key to victory unless the district you're running in likes that label and/or those policies.
posted by runcibleshaw at 5:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Annapolis shooting suspect Jarrod Ramos has interesting things to say about Trump and the Capital Gazette. (Twitter)
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:17 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah he seems to see it as mostly significant as a way to break a machine, which he is super excited about, and which is super exciting on a national level.
But it also made me think of those statistics we see in the threads every once in a while about how unreliable voters are when it comes to issues and platforms. Like most people aren’t rational actors; they vote with how they feel. But then the argument is people get excited about stuff that speaks to them! Chicken, egg.
Whether or not the DSA’s platform will resonate with people nationwide is one thing. But this analysis made me think they can break machines in a lot of places, even if they can’t win majorities. And that would be enough to bend the Democratic Party leftward while at the same time givin them a spine made of...socialists. The metaphor got away from me, but you know what I mean.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
But it also made me think of those statistics we see in the threads every once in a while about how unreliable voters are when it comes to issues and platforms. Like most people aren’t rational actors; they vote with how they feel. But then the argument is people get excited about stuff that speaks to them! Chicken, egg.
Whether or not the DSA’s platform will resonate with people nationwide is one thing. But this analysis made me think they can break machines in a lot of places, even if they can’t win majorities. And that would be enough to bend the Democratic Party leftward while at the same time givin them a spine made of...socialists. The metaphor got away from me, but you know what I mean.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:20 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
NYT, Agents Seek to Dissolve ICE in Immigration Policy Backlash
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [45 favorites]
At least 19 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators are seeking to dissolve the agency, concerned that the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants has limited their ability to pursue national security threats, child pornography and transnational crime.This isn't actually "abolish ICE" so much as "ICE's brand is so toxic that it's screwing up our department." Is there a compelling reason why HSI should exist at all, let alone have 6,000 people? We already have an agency, a Bureau if you will, devoted to conducting Federal Investigations. That said, there's an important underlying point even amid this nonsense, which is that law enforcement professionals are repeatedly explaining that Trump's immigration enforcement interferes with their ability to investigate serious crime (see also: why hundreds of police chiefs support sanctuary city policies).
In a letter sent last week to Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, the special agents proposed creating a stand-alone investigations unit and another agency to handle immigration detention and deportation. The request was sent as a growing number of Democrats and immigration-rights advocates have called for eliminating ICE.
Investigations “have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security,” wrote the agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which is a branch of ICE. The Texas Observer first reported the letter.
posted by zachlipton at 5:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [45 favorites]
His twitter feed is that of a crazy person, but ends in 2016. I...don’t believe they’ll tell us if they find MAGA gear at his house.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 5:25 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
So yeah it seems like this was yet another white dude who was terrible and abusive to women who goes amok. But keep in mind that culture absolutely influences actions of even those people. A culture of misogyny contributes to the murder of women. A culture of racism and police militarism contributes to the murder of black men. And, yes, a culture of hostility to the press from the very top contributes to the murder of journalists even if the shooter had other motives too.
Lots of people have beefs with specific journalists or specific papers. Mostly they don't start shooting. When the President declares journalists an Enemy of the People it can absolutely shift an unstable person from one category into the other.
posted by Justinian at 5:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
Lots of people have beefs with specific journalists or specific papers. Mostly they don't start shooting. When the President declares journalists an Enemy of the People it can absolutely shift an unstable person from one category into the other.
posted by Justinian at 5:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
I mean. Being an abusive misogynist does not exclude being a right wing terrorist. I’d say they’re often comorbid.
But yeah, I’d like to see “stochastic terrorism” enter the mainstream, but most people don’t know what stochastic means.
Idk puppet terrorism?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
But yeah, I’d like to see “stochastic terrorism” enter the mainstream, but most people don’t know what stochastic means.
Idk puppet terrorism?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
His twitter feed is that of a crazy person, but ends in 2016.There's actually a last tweet from six hours ago. Before that, he hadn't posted since January, 2016.
Honestly, I don't know that this is related to Tump's attacks on journalists, although it certainly could be. It is definitely related to the fact that even violent, scary people have easy access to guns.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
So the shooter filed a defamation suit against the paper because they reported on him for...wait for it...stalking a woman.
Holy crap. This guy, really? I remember the Capital Gazette's coverage of this story and what I saw as its implication that the victim was at fault for insufficient skepticism of "the false intimacy the Internet can offer" -- when in fact she didn't even meet her stalker on the Internet, she knew him from high school.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 5:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Holy crap. This guy, really? I remember the Capital Gazette's coverage of this story and what I saw as its implication that the victim was at fault for insufficient skepticism of "the false intimacy the Internet can offer" -- when in fact she didn't even meet her stalker on the Internet, she knew him from high school.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 5:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
This is your regular reminder that the Supreme Court is entirely composed of people who went to either Harvard or Yale law school (and if you want to quibble, Ginsburg finished her law degree at Columbia).
It’s pretty galling to see Very Serious Commentators pretend that the Supreme Court is a bulwark of democracy when they have never represented anything but the 1% of higher education.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
It’s pretty galling to see Very Serious Commentators pretend that the Supreme Court is a bulwark of democracy when they have never represented anything but the 1% of higher education.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:35 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
When the President declares journalists an Enemy of the People it can absolutely shift an unstable person from one category into the other.
Trump regularly calls the media the enemy of the people. This asshole threatens the newspaper for disparaging Trump, then murders a bunch of people there. Fuckin' Trump has those people's blood on his hands.
Lordy, I hope that didn't sound uncivil.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
Trump regularly calls the media the enemy of the people. This asshole threatens the newspaper for disparaging Trump, then murders a bunch of people there. Fuckin' Trump has those people's blood on his hands.
Lordy, I hope that didn't sound uncivil.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:37 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
This asshole threatens the newspaper for disparaging Trump, then murders a bunch of people there.That tweet is from 2015.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:42 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
He's clearly been crazy since at least 2015... Stew that in the broth of the last few years and who knows what'll happen!
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:45 PM on June 28, 2018
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:45 PM on June 28, 2018
It’s pretty galling to see Very Serious Commentators pretend that the Supreme Court is a bulwark of democracy when they have never represented anything but the 1% of higher education.
Oh please. The problem isn't that the justices only went to the best law schools in the world, its how the majority are voting.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
Oh please. The problem isn't that the justices only went to the best law schools in the world, its how the majority are voting.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
Washington Post: Rep. Maxine Waters cancels events due to ‘very serious death threat’
civility
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [63 favorites]
civility
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [63 favorites]
I’d like to see “stochastic terrorism” enter the mainstream, but most people don’t know what stochastic means.
Idk puppet terrorism?
Statistical terrorism?
posted by contraption at 5:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Idk puppet terrorism?
Statistical terrorism?
posted by contraption at 5:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Will Sommer (Daily Beast)
Emotional Capital Gazette staffer interview just now on CNN: "Thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else."
posted by chris24 at 5:54 PM on June 28, 2018 [97 favorites]
Emotional Capital Gazette staffer interview just now on CNN: "Thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else."
posted by chris24 at 5:54 PM on June 28, 2018 [97 favorites]
Senator Cory Booker: "The president of the United States is a subject of an ongoing criminal investigation...that could end up before the Supreme Court," so any Trump SCOTUS nomination should be "delayed until the Mueller investigation is concluded."
posted by gwint at 6:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [146 favorites]
posted by gwint at 6:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [146 favorites]
Committee to Protect Journalists donation page: https://donate.cpj.org
Their payment process allowed me to send an emailed note of condolences as part of it; I plugged in communitynews@capitalgazette.com
CPJ publishes a yearly Global Impunity Index report each year on November 2nd, based on the number of unsolved murders of journalists. Hopefully the United States won't be appearing on the list any time soon.
posted by XMLicious at 6:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Their payment process allowed me to send an emailed note of condolences as part of it; I plugged in communitynews@capitalgazette.com
CPJ publishes a yearly Global Impunity Index report each year on November 2nd, based on the number of unsolved murders of journalists. Hopefully the United States won't be appearing on the list any time soon.
posted by XMLicious at 6:08 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
It’s pretty galling to see Very Serious Commentators pretend that the Supreme Court is a bulwark of democracy when they have never represented anything but the 1% of higher education.
Yeah, Robert George (twitter link) thinks the same thing. The immediate beneficiaries of this kind of "diversity" will be right wing Catholics who convince themselves that they didn't want to go to Harvard or Yale anyway because those schools are too liberal and secular. (I say this as an ex-Catholic and ex-lawyer who heard this *a lot.*) It's basically the heterodox academy complaint. Mediocre White Guys should count toward diversity because they didn't go to Harvard or Yale? Please.
The diversity problem is with the entire path that sifts out everyone else faster than it sifts out white guys. If you don't go to the right undergrad, it's harder to get into a top law school (all else being equal). If you don't get into a top law school, it's harder to get a clerkship with the right judges. If you don't get a clerkship with the right judge, it's harder to (eventually) get a the sort of judicial appointment that would set you up (years later) to be a credible SCOTUS nominee. AND if you if you don't have the right political connections, it's impossible.
The smallest change that would make the biggest difference would probably be changing the (ridiculous) process for getting a clerkship. In any case, the problem isn't that only folks who get the best preparation have a shot, but that the opportunities for the best preparation are very unevenly distributed. Once Harvard and Yale have classes that mirror the demographics of the country at large, I'll be ready to worry about whether Notre Dame is being unfairly underrated.
posted by This time is different. at 6:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yeah, Robert George (twitter link) thinks the same thing. The immediate beneficiaries of this kind of "diversity" will be right wing Catholics who convince themselves that they didn't want to go to Harvard or Yale anyway because those schools are too liberal and secular. (I say this as an ex-Catholic and ex-lawyer who heard this *a lot.*) It's basically the heterodox academy complaint. Mediocre White Guys should count toward diversity because they didn't go to Harvard or Yale? Please.
The diversity problem is with the entire path that sifts out everyone else faster than it sifts out white guys. If you don't go to the right undergrad, it's harder to get into a top law school (all else being equal). If you don't get into a top law school, it's harder to get a clerkship with the right judges. If you don't get a clerkship with the right judge, it's harder to (eventually) get a the sort of judicial appointment that would set you up (years later) to be a credible SCOTUS nominee. AND if you if you don't have the right political connections, it's impossible.
The smallest change that would make the biggest difference would probably be changing the (ridiculous) process for getting a clerkship. In any case, the problem isn't that only folks who get the best preparation have a shot, but that the opportunities for the best preparation are very unevenly distributed. Once Harvard and Yale have classes that mirror the demographics of the country at large, I'll be ready to worry about whether Notre Dame is being unfairly underrated.
posted by This time is different. at 6:10 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
If they want academic diversity, they should appoint Elizabeth Warren, who went to law school at Rutger's-Newark.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:16 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:16 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
SCOTUS candidates like Gruender and Kavanaugh were essentially manufactured in a Federalist Society test tube and led their entire lives as Westworld hosts according to the Federalist Society's script. Yes, the legal profession has a problem with elitism and credentialism, but the problem here is that there's been a 50 year project on the right to create right wing judges literally from birth to overturn Roe. They literally bred for it. Then spent billions to fund those right wing automaton's entire education and profession careers, and did this with hundreds or thousands of right wing lawyers to cast a wide enough net to get to today.
And all the while liberals said, nah we don't care about the courts, we're not inspired by any of that.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
And all the while liberals said, nah we don't care about the courts, we're not inspired by any of that.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [35 favorites]
It’s pretty galling to see Very Serious Commentators pretend that the Supreme Court is a bulwark of democracy when they have never represented anything but the 1% of higher education.
Hey, even mediocre people need representation.
Or so said Senator Hruska in defense of the nomination of mediocre judge Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon.
Hruska: "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos."
Not even some Republicans were buying that argument as the nomination went down in flames. I doubt if the same would happen today.
posted by JackFlash at 6:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Hey, even mediocre people need representation.
Or so said Senator Hruska in defense of the nomination of mediocre judge Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon.
Hruska: "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos."
Not even some Republicans were buying that argument as the nomination went down in flames. I doubt if the same would happen today.
posted by JackFlash at 6:21 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Kaitlan Collins of CNN: News — Sens. Murkowski, Collins and Heitkamp were all at the White House tonight meeting with President Trump, along with Sens. Manchin and Donnelly. Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly are the three Dems who voted for Gorsuch.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:31 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Why is Heitkamp lumped in with Murkowski and Collins there rather than her colleagues Manchin and Donnelly? I mean, obviously it's because she's a woman but that still seems... weird. It seems to imply her gender is the most important thing about her, even above the fact that she's a sitting Democratic Senator.
posted by Justinian at 6:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [21 favorites]
as I discovered when they asked that stupid survey question, literally Bernie Sanders was actively repelling me from the DSA. I had to sort of growl as I clicked through.
That question made me briefly consider un-joining. It asks how Bernie Sanders affected your decision to join the DSA, without any way to indicate if his influence was positive or negative. It's an incredibly dishonest and manipulative question. My very first experience as a DSA member reinforced all the reasons I have avoided joining. Perfect is the enemy of the good and all that, but DSA needs to fix their gender and race issues and that question is about as tone deaf as any I can imagine.
posted by Mavri at 6:40 PM on June 28, 2018 [43 favorites]
That question made me briefly consider un-joining. It asks how Bernie Sanders affected your decision to join the DSA, without any way to indicate if his influence was positive or negative. It's an incredibly dishonest and manipulative question. My very first experience as a DSA member reinforced all the reasons I have avoided joining. Perfect is the enemy of the good and all that, but DSA needs to fix their gender and race issues and that question is about as tone deaf as any I can imagine.
posted by Mavri at 6:40 PM on June 28, 2018 [43 favorites]
Donnelly will continue to be disappointing. Donnelly will vote for a conservative nom and it won't hurt him in Indiana. In fact, it might help him get some R votes. I am so pissed nobody even tried to primary him.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:40 PM on June 28, 2018
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:40 PM on June 28, 2018
as I discovered when they asked that stupid survey question, literally Bernie Sanders was actively repelling me from the DSA. I had to sort of growl as I clicked through.
That question made me briefly consider un-joining. It asks how Bernie Sanders affected your decision to join the DSA, without any way to indicate if his influence was positive or negative. It's an incredibly dishonest and manipulative question. My very first experience as a DSA member reinforced all the reasons I have avoided joining. Perfect is the enemy of the good and all that, but DSA needs to fix their gender and race issues and that question is about as tone deaf as any I can imagine.
When I joined I selected "other" as the answer to that question because it gives you a field you can fill out. I told them that if anything their association with Bernie was a turn off and the only reason I joined was because of their protests recently, their platform, and of course... Rob Delaney.
posted by runcibleshaw at 6:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
In terms of Trump's nominee I think this is one of those cases where, if the nominee gets every Republican and therefore will be confirmed, you'll see the Usual Suspects defect from the Democrats. If one or two Republicans vote NO I think the Democratic caucus would hold firm. The outrage if they didn't would be staggering.
But they are never going to walk that plank if the Republicans have the votes. It just doesn't work that way.
posted by Justinian at 6:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
But they are never going to walk that plank if the Republicans have the votes. It just doesn't work that way.
posted by Justinian at 6:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
My very first experience as a DSA member reinforced all the reasons I have avoided joining.
YUP. Like I do not have the spoons for another toxic boys club or a place where I have to explain, over and over again, why Bernie Sanders is toxic as fuck to the majority of left-voting people. So, take my money this year, organize. Whether I actually go to stuff regularly will really depend on the sexism and gaslighting spoons required.
That they still have that question up strikes me as...not great, but we’ll see.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
YUP. Like I do not have the spoons for another toxic boys club or a place where I have to explain, over and over again, why Bernie Sanders is toxic as fuck to the majority of left-voting people. So, take my money this year, organize. Whether I actually go to stuff regularly will really depend on the sexism and gaslighting spoons required.
That they still have that question up strikes me as...not great, but we’ll see.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:51 PM on June 28, 2018 [24 favorites]
“Ironically, we can learn a valuable lesson from the anti-abortion movement, which was preparing to undermine and eventually overturn Roe long before the Supreme Court ever even made its landmark ruling. The time to get to work is right this second, while we wait for a new nominee to be announced, and prepare for a midterm battle for control of the Senate that is now guaranteed to reach epic proportions.
If we wait until Roe is gone, it will be long past too late.” - What to do when - not if - Roe vanishes
posted by supercrayon at 6:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
If we wait until Roe is gone, it will be long past too late.” - What to do when - not if - Roe vanishes
posted by supercrayon at 6:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I have friends who were big Sanders supporters. I get it. And also, I think Sanders made Hillary a better candidate ("It's my turn" just isn't enough). Beyond that, I think the sour-grapes feelings of Sanders supporters and, apparently, Sanders himself are counterproductive.
AOC is amazing, and I want a hundred more candidates like her.
posted by sjswitzer at 6:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
AOC is amazing, and I want a hundred more candidates like her.
posted by sjswitzer at 6:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
The backstage GOP campaign to coax Justice Kennedy to retire. Handing his seat to Trump wasn't a concession. It was the whole idea.
Inside the White House’s Quiet Campaign to Create a Supreme Court Opening
Kennedy retired because Trump would select his replacement. That was the entire goal. If Clinton was in office, he would've held on. His last public act was to intentionally set his entire legacy on fire for Donald Trump.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [72 favorites]
Inside the White House’s Quiet Campaign to Create a Supreme Court Opening
Kennedy retired because Trump would select his replacement. That was the entire goal. If Clinton was in office, he would've held on. His last public act was to intentionally set his entire legacy on fire for Donald Trump.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:00 PM on June 28, 2018 [72 favorites]
DSA needs to fix their gender and race issues and that question is about as tone deaf as any I can imagine.
Agreed. I joined the DSA after Charlottesville, because I respected their involvement in the counter-protests there and because they're very active generally. Bernie Sanders was the stumbling block to me joining earlier, though, and the issues that I had with him and his campaign in the '16 primaries are the same issues that still keep me from being more involved in DSA now. I respect the organization, but don't feel particularly welcome or comfortable there. Frankly, I'm still torn about what my involvement with the DSA should be.
posted by rue72 at 7:01 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Agreed. I joined the DSA after Charlottesville, because I respected their involvement in the counter-protests there and because they're very active generally. Bernie Sanders was the stumbling block to me joining earlier, though, and the issues that I had with him and his campaign in the '16 primaries are the same issues that still keep me from being more involved in DSA now. I respect the organization, but don't feel particularly welcome or comfortable there. Frankly, I'm still torn about what my involvement with the DSA should be.
posted by rue72 at 7:01 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
posted by yesster at 7:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [109 favorites]
posted by yesster at 7:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [109 favorites]
I joined the DSA about six months ago after Lee Carter's statehouse win in Virginia. I'll admit, I voted for Bernie in the primary and Clinton in the general (though being in NY, I wasn't that important in the larger scheme). I've grown more and more comfortable with radical positions, and I've come to think of myself more as a democratic socialist rather than a social democrat. Asking about Bernie probably makes sense as that was a big element in 2016, but as time goes by, people like Lee Carter, Summer Lee, Sara Innamorato, and now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be the figures that inspire people to join DSA, and I hope they adjust their questions accordingly.
I also think my local DSA is a little bit young white male right now (I say this as a young white man), though I'm hoping to build bridges with the BLM and the local LGBTQ+ groups to create fusions of radical social(ist) activists. I just wish I had more time to organize. At least my donation helps, I hope.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 7:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I also think my local DSA is a little bit young white male right now (I say this as a young white man), though I'm hoping to build bridges with the BLM and the local LGBTQ+ groups to create fusions of radical social(ist) activists. I just wish I had more time to organize. At least my donation helps, I hope.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 7:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you are DSA-curious, ignore Bernie Sanders. He did some good stuff and some bad stuff, but as of now he is irrelevant. Join DSA.
posted by sjswitzer at 7:16 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by sjswitzer at 7:16 PM on June 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Donnelly will continue to be disappointing. Donnelly will vote for a conservative nom and it won't hurt him in Indiana. In fact, it might help him get some R votes. I am so pissed nobody even tried to primary him.
I'm in Indiana, and I agree. Dude drives me nuts. I'll be hate-voting for him in November, but I left his spot on my primary ballot blank (he was unopposed on the D ticket) out of sheer petty spite.
posted by Rykey at 7:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm in Indiana, and I agree. Dude drives me nuts. I'll be hate-voting for him in November, but I left his spot on my primary ballot blank (he was unopposed on the D ticket) out of sheer petty spite.
posted by Rykey at 7:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump
Wait. Fucking really?
posted by schadenfrau at 7:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
Wait. Fucking really?
posted by schadenfrau at 7:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [48 favorites]
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
Wait. Fucking really?
I....how did I just hear about this? According to a snippet in the Financial Times, yes.
posted by Room 101 at 7:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [30 favorites]
Wait. Fucking really?
I....how did I just hear about this? According to a snippet in the Financial Times, yes.
posted by Room 101 at 7:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [30 favorites]
Trump’s hidden back channel to Justice Kennedy: Their kids
posted by peeedro at 7:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [31 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 7:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [31 favorites]
Wait. Fucking really?
Good timing.
That DHS headline is no goddamn accident
So, I get that it's more than frowned upon here, and why, but at some point it will probably be important connect dots that aren't necessarily on CNN. A hypothesis of palavering, if you will. A premise of connivance.
posted by petebest at 7:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Good timing.
That DHS headline is no goddamn accident
So, I get that it's more than frowned upon here, and why, but at some point it will probably be important connect dots that aren't necessarily on CNN. A hypothesis of palavering, if you will. A premise of connivance.
posted by petebest at 7:53 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Inside the White House’s Quiet Campaign to Create a Supreme Court Opening
nice reputation you got there, tony. it'd be a shame if something happened to it...
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:56 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
nice reputation you got there, tony. it'd be a shame if something happened to it...
posted by 20 year lurk at 7:56 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
petebest ...at some point it will probably be important connect dots...
don't go out of my way to expose myself to that narcissist's speechifyin' too much (tho will on occasion compare professional, journalistic transcription with attempts at transcribing passages of what i hear--pet peeve rant omitted; another time maybe), but have heard him making enough statements lately beginning with "we must secure..." and generally followed by some word salad about great, beautiful borders, that i had to count the words in the sentence. thankfully (?) that time it wasn't fourteen. nevertheless, the frequent phrase is suggestive, and, to me, not a little unsettling. of course, on reflection, the ... yes persons ... couldn't convince that loon to say, much less could he deliver, those precise fourteen words in that precise order and then stop talking (or, whatever, go full racist invective on script).
anyway, suspect best-case deniability yields a tale of an expendable state department drafter whose ... instagram history suggests too-close a familiarity with white supremacist slogans on cursory inspection which was never done for some inexplicable reason. with the cover of the president's recent repetition of "we must secure [something something borders]," itself, of course, carefully encouraged by the bannon miller types specifically to trigger the libs (&, y'know, foster terror among the marginalized, to whatever degree that isn't already covered by "trigger the libs").
posted by 20 year lurk at 8:28 PM on June 28, 2018
don't go out of my way to expose myself to that narcissist's speechifyin' too much (tho will on occasion compare professional, journalistic transcription with attempts at transcribing passages of what i hear--pet peeve rant omitted; another time maybe), but have heard him making enough statements lately beginning with "we must secure..." and generally followed by some word salad about great, beautiful borders, that i had to count the words in the sentence. thankfully (?) that time it wasn't fourteen. nevertheless, the frequent phrase is suggestive, and, to me, not a little unsettling. of course, on reflection, the ... yes persons ... couldn't convince that loon to say, much less could he deliver, those precise fourteen words in that precise order and then stop talking (or, whatever, go full racist invective on script).
anyway, suspect best-case deniability yields a tale of an expendable state department drafter whose ... instagram history suggests too-close a familiarity with white supremacist slogans on cursory inspection which was never done for some inexplicable reason. with the cover of the president's recent repetition of "we must secure [something something borders]," itself, of course, carefully encouraged by the bannon miller types specifically to trigger the libs (&, y'know, foster terror among the marginalized, to whatever degree that isn't already covered by "trigger the libs").
posted by 20 year lurk at 8:28 PM on June 28, 2018
the justices only went to the best law schools in the world
While it's obviously not the main issue here, it's important to stress how wrong and dangerous this is. There is very little evidence (I'm not actually aware of any) that institutions like Yale and Harvard Law provide objectively superior legal education. Instead, they maintain their status as the "best" law schools by attracting the "best" students, i.e. those with the kinds of backgrounds, connections and priorities that will enable them to attain the "best" career outcomes. And they achieve that, of course, by showing that they successfully attracted the "best" law students from the previous generation and sent them to the "best" careers as well. The people who attend these schools, in my limited experience, are often burdened for life with the toxic, hierarchical worldview on which these schools' continued existence depends.
There are certainly some great jurists who overcame the handicap of attending elite schools. But judges and justices from such backgrounds should always be met with deep skepticism as to their ability to defend (or in many cases even understand) democratic values.
posted by shenderson at 8:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [32 favorites]
While it's obviously not the main issue here, it's important to stress how wrong and dangerous this is. There is very little evidence (I'm not actually aware of any) that institutions like Yale and Harvard Law provide objectively superior legal education. Instead, they maintain their status as the "best" law schools by attracting the "best" students, i.e. those with the kinds of backgrounds, connections and priorities that will enable them to attain the "best" career outcomes. And they achieve that, of course, by showing that they successfully attracted the "best" law students from the previous generation and sent them to the "best" careers as well. The people who attend these schools, in my limited experience, are often burdened for life with the toxic, hierarchical worldview on which these schools' continued existence depends.
There are certainly some great jurists who overcame the handicap of attending elite schools. But judges and justices from such backgrounds should always be met with deep skepticism as to their ability to defend (or in many cases even understand) democratic values.
posted by shenderson at 8:29 PM on June 28, 2018 [32 favorites]
What do you propose he do with a minority in the senate and no filibuster? What do you think he can do that Trump and McConnell would say, "Boy, I was going to appoint someone who'd favor my politics, but this isn't worth it! I'll appoint someone more like Garland instead." There's nothing worth as much to McConnell, Trump, and his supporters as a SCOTUS appointment. They'd rip children from their parents and put them in cages to get it.
We've lost this fight. Promises to block the nominee are empty. Worse, they let members sidestep non-empty promises like impeaching Gorsuch or adding justices should we ever get the numbers.
posted by This time is different. at 8:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
We've lost this fight. Promises to block the nominee are empty. Worse, they let members sidestep non-empty promises like impeaching Gorsuch or adding justices should we ever get the numbers.
posted by This time is different. at 8:48 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
So it seems...likely (?) that Kennedy Jr. is under investigation by the special council, right? Meaning Kennedy (presumably) would've had to recuse himself from any Trump case that comes before SCOTUS? So how much did this figure into his choice to retire, if at all?
posted by triggerfinger at 8:49 PM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by triggerfinger at 8:49 PM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
So Gillibrand is the first sitting Senator to call to abolish ICE.
posted by asteria at 9:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by asteria at 9:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [62 favorites]
So it seems...likely (?) that Kennedy Jr. is under investigation by the special council, right? Meaning Kennedy (presumably) would've had to recuse himself from any Trump case that comes before SCOTUS?
Yeah this whole thing just got a whole lot messier. Because sure, why not involve a family member of a Supreme Court Justice in your money laundering operation?
So how much did this figure into his choice to retire, if at all?
There's more than enough incentive in the flattery campaign but only Kennedy himself knows for sure.
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah this whole thing just got a whole lot messier. Because sure, why not involve a family member of a Supreme Court Justice in your money laundering operation?
So how much did this figure into his choice to retire, if at all?
There's more than enough incentive in the flattery campaign but only Kennedy himself knows for sure.
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
If I were a Democrat congressman I would put on my tinfoil hat and be all over this on television. If the son was involved in helping with a Russian money transfer, than he must be at least a potential subject for investigation. If Russian money was being given to Trump, the circumstances are bound to be fishy. I'm sorry, but Republicans have stopped the train / started an investigation over a lot less than this.
posted by xammerboy at 9:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
If I were a Democrat congressman I would put on my tinfoil hat and be all over this on television. If the son was involved in helping with a Russian money transfer, than he must be at least a potential subject for investigation. If Russian money was being given to Trump, the circumstances are bound to be fishy. I'm sorry, but Republicans have stopped the train / started an investigation over a lot less than this.
posted by xammerboy at 9:13 PM on June 28, 2018 [52 favorites]
Or it might be that someone has kompromat on the Kennedy's son and they're blackmailing Kennedy to retire.
posted by lumnar at 9:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by lumnar at 9:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Schumer has to go in to full nomination block mode or else he is fully guilty.
Schumer doesn't even have control over the whole caucus, the Trumpjudge will draw minimum of 3 Democrats no matter what. Maybe as many as 8. Gorsuch got 3, and the names this time are if anything slightly less egregious than Gorsuch. That's the floor. There's nothing Schumer can do. The traitor caucus wouldn't let him even if he wanted to. The only people that could conceivably do anything are Collins and Murkowski, and they won't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Schumer doesn't even have control over the whole caucus, the Trumpjudge will draw minimum of 3 Democrats no matter what. Maybe as many as 8. Gorsuch got 3, and the names this time are if anything slightly less egregious than Gorsuch. That's the floor. There's nothing Schumer can do. The traitor caucus wouldn't let him even if he wanted to. The only people that could conceivably do anything are Collins and Murkowski, and they won't.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:18 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
If I knew my son was involved in a shady Russian transaction with Trump that might actually color my decision to retire from the Supreme Court. Right off the bat it looks like money laundering any banker would suspect was money laundering.
posted by xammerboy at 9:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 9:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Impeaching Trump or adding justices, while worthy objectives, are not things which require effort in Congress at the moment. Especially since this now appears to be the replacement of a SCOTUS justice who would need to recuse from Trump-Russia matters, with a justice who does not need to, this is worth burning short-term Congressional resources on fighting tooth and nail. Mea maxima culpa, It was premature and despairing of me up above to discount the importance of stonewalling of the nomination.
posted by XMLicious at 9:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 9:23 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
If I were a Democrat congressman I would put on my tinfoil hat and be all over this on television.
Ah, but there's the rub. Even if there were a sitting Democratic politician who would be interested in pushing on this point, the media outlets where they could get traction are simply not there. Maybe they'd sit down one night on MSNBC for an interview, maybe they'd get a below-the-fold article in the Times. But after that, unless there's real meat in the story, it'd likely just recede into the background. There simply isn't any equivalent of the right wing noise machine -- centered around Fox News, but by no means exclusively them -- that would keep hammering at it day and night, week after week, month after month, regardless of how thin the story (c.f. Benghazi or basically anything else they talk about obsessively). That's one of the fundamental asymmetries in the media environment.
posted by mhum at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Ah, but there's the rub. Even if there were a sitting Democratic politician who would be interested in pushing on this point, the media outlets where they could get traction are simply not there. Maybe they'd sit down one night on MSNBC for an interview, maybe they'd get a below-the-fold article in the Times. But after that, unless there's real meat in the story, it'd likely just recede into the background. There simply isn't any equivalent of the right wing noise machine -- centered around Fox News, but by no means exclusively them -- that would keep hammering at it day and night, week after week, month after month, regardless of how thin the story (c.f. Benghazi or basically anything else they talk about obsessively). That's one of the fundamental asymmetries in the media environment.
posted by mhum at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
The worse case scenario is Schumer and gang put up enough tricks to hold out tll the election, which fires up the republican base. Then after the election McConnell stops playing games and rams through the nom regardless of the election results.
I'd rather it just gets rammed through in the next month.
posted by localhuman at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd rather it just gets rammed through in the next month.
posted by localhuman at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
One quick 3-D chess reason for Dems to go all-out on this Supreme Court nomination: If they emphasize Cory Booker's reasoning that Trump can't nominate another justice while under a very serious independent investigation, Mueller will feel increasing pressure on both sides to start showing his hand. And let's be real, by Nixon-era standards, Mueller has Trump 100% dead-to-rights like fifty times over (I know, I know, even Nixon-era standards is a pipe dream, but still.)
I mistakenly hoped? assumed? the Special Counsel would provide a backstop to the worst-case scenarios. *self-loathing headdesk* I'd love for Mueller to have the time to gather all his best ammunition, but his investigation is a powerful piece that needs to join the battle ASAP. I think we have better odds at the Constitutional Crisis now rather than later.
(edit: the Kennedy Deutsche Bank connection only adds to this argument)
posted by johnny jenga at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
I mistakenly hoped? assumed? the Special Counsel would provide a backstop to the worst-case scenarios. *self-loathing headdesk* I'd love for Mueller to have the time to gather all his best ammunition, but his investigation is a powerful piece that needs to join the battle ASAP. I think we have better odds at the Constitutional Crisis now rather than later.
(edit: the Kennedy Deutsche Bank connection only adds to this argument)
posted by johnny jenga at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Maybe as many as 8
I would wager virtually any amount that 8 Democrats wouldn't defect if any Republican votes NO. I wouldn't wager anything if every Republican votes YES since at that point it makes no difference what the Democrats do. In my opinion every ounce of pressure we can muster should be directed at Collins first, Murkowski second, and that's the list. Flake is a fucking coward so forget him.
The amount of pressure a Republican defection would put on the D caucus far surpasses any pressure we can bring to bear absent such a defection.
posted by Justinian at 9:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
I would wager virtually any amount that 8 Democrats wouldn't defect if any Republican votes NO. I wouldn't wager anything if every Republican votes YES since at that point it makes no difference what the Democrats do. In my opinion every ounce of pressure we can muster should be directed at Collins first, Murkowski second, and that's the list. Flake is a fucking coward so forget him.
The amount of pressure a Republican defection would put on the D caucus far surpasses any pressure we can bring to bear absent such a defection.
posted by Justinian at 9:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
With this revelation about Kennedy's son, forget future cases; I'm slightly suspicious about the cases they just ruled on....
(I know, it might be tinfoil hat time, but I'm just saying.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
(I know, it might be tinfoil hat time, but I'm just saying.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [44 favorites]
For what it's worth, on Vox's podcast the lawyer they interviewed said the tone of Kennedy's letter to Trump indicated a "staggering" level of trust in Trump's ability to replace him. She also said she found the tone incredibly surprising, having followed Kennedy's career closely for years. I personally wouldn't have made anything of it, but I'm not a legal scholar specializing in Kennedy.
My dear Mr. President, This letter is a respectful and formal notification... to end my regular active status as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court... Please permit me by this letter to express my profound gratitude... Respectfully and sincerely, Anthony M. Kennedyposted by xammerboy at 9:39 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
There simply isn't any equivalent of the right wing noise machine -- centered around Fox News, but by no means exclusively them -- that would keep hammering at it day and night, week after week, month after month, regardless of how thin the story (c.f. Benghazi or basically anything else they talk about obsessively). That's one of the fundamental asymmetries in the media environment.
It's the repetition that does it, not just within an outlet but between them. They reinforce stories picked up by each other, mutually amplifying the signals for all participants. Very effective tool for creating an alternate reality in service of a corrupt ideology. Even if you started a truth-based alternative self-reinforcing network, over time it would tend to become corrupted because that's the nature of things.
posted by scalefree at 9:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's the repetition that does it, not just within an outlet but between them. They reinforce stories picked up by each other, mutually amplifying the signals for all participants. Very effective tool for creating an alternate reality in service of a corrupt ideology. Even if you started a truth-based alternative self-reinforcing network, over time it would tend to become corrupted because that's the nature of things.
posted by scalefree at 9:45 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
If this is the case, he had a moral duty to resign, but also to recuse himself from the travel ban case.
posted by corb at 9:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
If this is the case, he had a moral duty to resign, but also to recuse himself from the travel ban case.
posted by corb at 9:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
whether by canon or convention, i thought those justices each exercised absolute authority to evaluate his or her own putative conflicts and make recusal decisions accordingly. probably read that in earlier editions of this very thread. there was that notable case of cheney having gone duck hunting with scalia way back round gush v. bore. see e.g., memorandum of justice scalia.
on edit: ... not to dispute moral duty.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
on edit: ... not to dispute moral duty.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Josh Marshall sums up the Kennedy/Deutsche Bank situation: “Say Hello to Your Boy. A Special Guy.”
posted by zachlipton at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
Kennedy has already hired four law clerks for the October 2018 term. So what made him change his mind so suddenly that he has to jettison law clerks that were already counting on a job. Seems highly unusual.
posted by JackFlash at 9:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [68 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 9:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [68 favorites]
Some DSA meeting footage, from Bronx/Upper Manhattan, City Council Votes and Luxury Housing, community garden program , Save the Allen Psych Unit, announcing the 'Black Jacobins' reading group
posted by The Whelk at 10:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
TPM: The Financial Times says Kennedy was “one of Mr Trump’s most trusted associates over a 12-year spell at Deutsche.” A review of Kennedy’s bio suggests those twelve years were 1997 through 2009 – key years for Trump.
Uh.... Yeah, he would definitely be someone Mueller is looking at.
posted by xammerboy at 10:15 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
Uh.... Yeah, he would definitely be someone Mueller is looking at.
posted by xammerboy at 10:15 PM on June 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
It was just three days ago this was reported "Senator Mark Warner reportedly hints at ‘wild stuff’ coming from Mueller probe" and we didn't even have to wait for Mueller to divulge the Justice Kennedy connection to Russian Money Laundering to Trump....I can only imagine what could be coming.....
posted by W Grant at 10:22 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by W Grant at 10:22 PM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
… 18 months ago.Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.If this is the case, he had a moral duty to resign …
posted by Pinback at 10:32 PM on June 28, 2018 [19 favorites]
"You know what happened to "civility"? You called it "political correctness", and mocked it."
The ever brilliant Emma Hart
posted by mbo at 10:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [107 favorites]
The ever brilliant Emma Hart
posted by mbo at 10:59 PM on June 28, 2018 [107 favorites]
Tonight's democracy fun fact. @dataandpolitics: Los Angeles County Supervisors have more constituents than senators from 25 states.
posted by zachlipton at 11:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 11:02 PM on June 28, 2018 [51 favorites]
I wonder if the WH Press Corps will finally get the balls to just boycott press briefings entirely now.
posted by PenDevil at 12:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 12:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Thank you to The Whelk for those links to DSA meetings. Watching them pushed me over the threshold from "I should really look into joining this group" to actually paying dues. I'm looking forward to rounding up some of my Women's March friends to attend meetings when I get back to NY.
posted by antinomia at 3:13 AM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by antinomia at 3:13 AM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
The rough and the smooth - here's my son being interviewed about writing letters to caged children.
Also, turns out I now have a picture of a mass shooter in my high school yearbook.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
Also, turns out I now have a picture of a mass shooter in my high school yearbook.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
I was at the uptown/Bronx dsa meeting last night (w/ sweetdefenestration and others) - it was great! About 75% of the people there were first-timers; I recognized a number of folks from the neighborhood and other local actions; lots of women. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Definitely go to your next local meeting!
NYC folks - there's an abolish ice rally today at city hall starting at 4pm (in addition to the end family separation march on Saturday).
posted by melissasaurus at 3:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
NYC folks - there's an abolish ice rally today at city hall starting at 4pm (in addition to the end family separation march on Saturday).
posted by melissasaurus at 3:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
Los Angeles County Supervisors have more constituents than senators from 25 states.
This is wrong and/or misleading. Each LA County Supervisor has a district of approximately 2 million. There are 14 states with a population under 2 million (estimated, as of 2017), plus New Mexico is right on the line of 2 million. If you count each Senator as representing half of their state (which is wrong), you’re looking at 23 or 24.
And regardless, what they mean is that each Supervisor represents more people than each of the Senators of that number of states. Stating it the way that tweet does is like saying my household has more members than 65 million other households because there are three of us and the median is 2.54.
posted by Etrigan at 3:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is wrong and/or misleading. Each LA County Supervisor has a district of approximately 2 million. There are 14 states with a population under 2 million (estimated, as of 2017), plus New Mexico is right on the line of 2 million. If you count each Senator as representing half of their state (which is wrong), you’re looking at 23 or 24.
And regardless, what they mean is that each Supervisor represents more people than each of the Senators of that number of states. Stating it the way that tweet does is like saying my household has more members than 65 million other households because there are three of us and the median is 2.54.
posted by Etrigan at 3:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
So.
Did Anthony Kennedy just become a subject of the Mueller investigation?
Further: we can’t stop a SC appointment. But we can make it absolutely politically toxic for the GOP for the four months leading up to the midterms. Hammer the corruption angle all day, every day.
He muscled a Justice into retirement using dirt he had on the Justice and his family so that he could appoint a Justice who would exonerate him.
This is a simple story. It doesn’t require detailed or complicated knowledge of the state of the investigation. This is a story anyone can understand, that can be told in a 10 second sound bite on television, over and over and over again.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [93 favorites]
Did Anthony Kennedy just become a subject of the Mueller investigation?
Further: we can’t stop a SC appointment. But we can make it absolutely politically toxic for the GOP for the four months leading up to the midterms. Hammer the corruption angle all day, every day.
He muscled a Justice into retirement using dirt he had on the Justice and his family so that he could appoint a Justice who would exonerate him.
This is a simple story. It doesn’t require detailed or complicated knowledge of the state of the investigation. This is a story anyone can understand, that can be told in a 10 second sound bite on television, over and over and over again.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [93 favorites]
Kennedy retired because Trump would select his replacement. That was the entire goal. If Clinton was in office, he would've held on. His last public act was to intentionally set his entire legacy on fire for Donald Trump.
May his legacy always be tarnished by his association with Trump, like all Republicans.
But I take some comfort from the fact that he retired this year -- it's a tell that the Republicans don't think they'll have a Senate majority after November.
There's little we can do about SCOTUS except expand the number of justices after 2020. And there won't be enough patriotic Senators to remove Trump. But Democratic control over even one house of Congress spells the end of Trump's legacy (and it'd be nice if the Democrats use the power of the purse to choke off funding for the more overtly fascist parts of Trump's agenda).
posted by Gelatin at 4:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
May his legacy always be tarnished by his association with Trump, like all Republicans.
But I take some comfort from the fact that he retired this year -- it's a tell that the Republicans don't think they'll have a Senate majority after November.
There's little we can do about SCOTUS except expand the number of justices after 2020. And there won't be enough patriotic Senators to remove Trump. But Democratic control over even one house of Congress spells the end of Trump's legacy (and it'd be nice if the Democrats use the power of the purse to choke off funding for the more overtly fascist parts of Trump's agenda).
posted by Gelatin at 4:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
Woke up to the news about Kennedy’s son and Deustche Bank. Trying hard not to fall down a conspiracist rabbit hole on this one, so I’d appreciate it if anyone has links to credible others exploring this. (Thanks for the TPM link, above, Zach.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
Because of course that’s the deal with Kennedy. It’s just money, corruption, and realpolitik all the way down. Fucking hell.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:37 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 5:37 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
NY Magazine : Trump's Odd Supreme Court Strategy Was Calculated, With None of His Trademark Chaos
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:39 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:39 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
I... I can't...
Alan Rappeport:
Alan Rappeport:
Mnuchin says it is “very unfair” that the EU has put tariffs on other things in response to US steel and aluminum tariffs, calls it politically motivated.posted by PontifexPrimus at 5:42 AM on June 29, 2018 [43 favorites]
We're all gonna have a big laugh when Trump pardons Kennedy's son.
posted by chris24 at 5:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
He muscled a Justice into retirement using dirt he had on the Justice and his family so that he could appoint a Justice who would exonerate him.
Unfortunately, hyperbole and reckless extrapolation often serve opposite interests if the claims aren't able to be matched by evidence. Jumping to the worst possible interpretation leaves the claims open to blanket denial and ignoration if anything less proves closer to the mark the evidence provides. if the goal is to persuade, which the post seems to suggest, it's better to undermine the best possible interpretation by raising reasonable doubts over the actions or motivations for any open to being persuaded.
The ready jump to "Nazis", for example, has largely numbed people to the meaning of the term since it's been so readily applied to all sorts of actions that failed to match the claimed end state. Using the term carries a sense of prediction to it, saying this person will act as the Nazis did. If they do anything less, than the predictive quality is shown as empty and the whole of the argument is easier to dismiss. Bush was a terrible president, but the OMG martial law! Dictatorship! yells failed to hold true and now make the same claims over Trump also seem weaker for their false reading. That leaves those who supported Bush able to believe Trump is the same and the cries over his violations of law are equally empty of predictive value.
Spreading hyperbole is as easily accomplished by those who people are already aligned with, which is who will be listened to since self-interest biases people to being quicker to believe what matches their thinking more than what doesn't. Spreading hyperbole makes it more difficult for anyone trying to adhere to the known facts to make their arguments since they are going to be tainted by those who are aiming for the same result as the exaggerated claims are used as buffers against the more moderate ones and will thereby require those trying to reason to fall on the defensive in explaining the difference between the exaggerations and the known facts weakening their position. Exaggerated claims seek to intensify anxiety and fear, but claims not proven serve to dull those same instincts for failing to "come true" as society sees it. It colors the whole group with the exaggerations of the few and reinforces an adversarial "team sport" position to politics and society rather than emphasizing a shared need for improvement.
I'm trying to address this dispassionately, but some of the stuff being "claimed" in the thread really bothers me. Trump is awful and lord only knows what is going on behind the scenes, and while preparing for the worst certainly has some sense, claiming the worst as real is dangerous and unhelpful. It isn't just in how it sows division in troubling ways, but in how it can lead the more impressionable one "the same side" to accept the claim as reality and act on that belief. We've seen this dynamic lead to people picking up guns before, so maybe we should be a little more circumspect about repeating that pattern. These kinds of claims are happening in this thread far too often. Fighting Trump and his cronies is of the utmost importance, but that doesn't make any action in taking up that fight of equal merit.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Unfortunately, hyperbole and reckless extrapolation often serve opposite interests if the claims aren't able to be matched by evidence. Jumping to the worst possible interpretation leaves the claims open to blanket denial and ignoration if anything less proves closer to the mark the evidence provides. if the goal is to persuade, which the post seems to suggest, it's better to undermine the best possible interpretation by raising reasonable doubts over the actions or motivations for any open to being persuaded.
The ready jump to "Nazis", for example, has largely numbed people to the meaning of the term since it's been so readily applied to all sorts of actions that failed to match the claimed end state. Using the term carries a sense of prediction to it, saying this person will act as the Nazis did. If they do anything less, than the predictive quality is shown as empty and the whole of the argument is easier to dismiss. Bush was a terrible president, but the OMG martial law! Dictatorship! yells failed to hold true and now make the same claims over Trump also seem weaker for their false reading. That leaves those who supported Bush able to believe Trump is the same and the cries over his violations of law are equally empty of predictive value.
Spreading hyperbole is as easily accomplished by those who people are already aligned with, which is who will be listened to since self-interest biases people to being quicker to believe what matches their thinking more than what doesn't. Spreading hyperbole makes it more difficult for anyone trying to adhere to the known facts to make their arguments since they are going to be tainted by those who are aiming for the same result as the exaggerated claims are used as buffers against the more moderate ones and will thereby require those trying to reason to fall on the defensive in explaining the difference between the exaggerations and the known facts weakening their position. Exaggerated claims seek to intensify anxiety and fear, but claims not proven serve to dull those same instincts for failing to "come true" as society sees it. It colors the whole group with the exaggerations of the few and reinforces an adversarial "team sport" position to politics and society rather than emphasizing a shared need for improvement.
I'm trying to address this dispassionately, but some of the stuff being "claimed" in the thread really bothers me. Trump is awful and lord only knows what is going on behind the scenes, and while preparing for the worst certainly has some sense, claiming the worst as real is dangerous and unhelpful. It isn't just in how it sows division in troubling ways, but in how it can lead the more impressionable one "the same side" to accept the claim as reality and act on that belief. We've seen this dynamic lead to people picking up guns before, so maybe we should be a little more circumspect about repeating that pattern. These kinds of claims are happening in this thread far too often. Fighting Trump and his cronies is of the utmost importance, but that doesn't make any action in taking up that fight of equal merit.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Oh give me a fucking break. Concern trolling that our comments / claims in these threads are going to lead to "picking up guns" and so we should be more circumspect about who we call Nazis while actual Nazis are actually shooting people is bullshit of the highest order.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [130 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 6:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [130 favorites]
I blocked traffic in an Abolish Ice, Free Franco protest yesterday, and if you're physically able I highly recommend it for the sense of purpose and power it will give you. We were not arrested (Milwaukee police are surprisingly chill during protests), but I was prepared for it. Now is the time to build connections with your Latinx community.
posted by AFABulous at 6:09 AM on June 29, 2018 [54 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 6:09 AM on June 29, 2018 [54 favorites]
Unfortunately, hyperbole and reckless extrapolation often serve opposite interests if the claims aren't able to be matched by evidence. Jumping to the worst possible interpretation leaves the claims open to blanket denial and ignoration if anything less proves closer to the mark the evidence provides. if the goal is to persuade, which the post seems to suggest, it's better to undermine the best possible interpretation by raising reasonable doubts over the actions or motivations for any open to being persuaded.
That's quite the bit of concern-trolling you're doing there. There are plenty of links to support all the parts of this conclusion located further upthread; maybe you should read them before you accuse us of making up stories about Trump? He very clearly has engaged in financial dealings with the younger Kennedy, under some (and I'm being charitable here) suspicious circumstances. And now Kennedy has announced his retirement, there's a seat to fill, and Trump has publicly toyed with the idea of pardoning himself, a decision that would almost certainly bring the Supreme Court into the fray. What part of that series of events are you disputing?
We've seen this dynamic lead to people picking up guns before, so maybe we should be a little more circumspect about repeating that pattern.
Uh. Surely you wouldn't be suggesting that commenters in a politics thread on MetaFilter, pointing out the brazen, flagrant corruption in the executive branch, are driving conservatives to gun violence? Because that would disingenuous as fuck, and some pretty tortured logic to boot.
posted by Mayor West at 6:11 AM on June 29, 2018 [82 favorites]
That's quite the bit of concern-trolling you're doing there. There are plenty of links to support all the parts of this conclusion located further upthread; maybe you should read them before you accuse us of making up stories about Trump? He very clearly has engaged in financial dealings with the younger Kennedy, under some (and I'm being charitable here) suspicious circumstances. And now Kennedy has announced his retirement, there's a seat to fill, and Trump has publicly toyed with the idea of pardoning himself, a decision that would almost certainly bring the Supreme Court into the fray. What part of that series of events are you disputing?
We've seen this dynamic lead to people picking up guns before, so maybe we should be a little more circumspect about repeating that pattern.
Uh. Surely you wouldn't be suggesting that commenters in a politics thread on MetaFilter, pointing out the brazen, flagrant corruption in the executive branch, are driving conservatives to gun violence? Because that would disingenuous as fuck, and some pretty tortured logic to boot.
posted by Mayor West at 6:11 AM on June 29, 2018 [82 favorites]
You know, back when this was ramping up in 2014 I worried a little that I might be too readily identifying people as nazis. Haven’t worried about it since, on account of them all turning out to be nazis.
posted by Artw at 6:12 AM on June 29, 2018 [131 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:12 AM on June 29, 2018 [131 favorites]
Or maybe those things are more like the Y2K bug. It was NOT hyperbole and it really was a BIG deal heading towards to some potentially apocalyptically bad outcomes.
It only seems like hyperbole in retrospect because a ton of people worked really really hard to solve or mitigate the problem. It's like Chicken Little was right on the money, the sky WAS falling, some folks payed attention and did something about it to prevent, and now everyone is mocking Chicken Little for raising the alarm in the first place because they didn't see (or maybe they just don't remember) all the people that worked to keep the sky up where it belongs.
posted by VTX at 6:16 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
It only seems like hyperbole in retrospect because a ton of people worked really really hard to solve or mitigate the problem. It's like Chicken Little was right on the money, the sky WAS falling, some folks payed attention and did something about it to prevent, and now everyone is mocking Chicken Little for raising the alarm in the first place because they didn't see (or maybe they just don't remember) all the people that worked to keep the sky up where it belongs.
posted by VTX at 6:16 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
Just out of curiosity, what hyperbole? What evil, greedy, soul-bereft motivation or action that has been imputed to Trump and his band of hobgoblins has yet been disproven? What pie have they not had a thumb in? What policy have they not looked at and said either "This is a good thing; I must destroy it" or "This is insufficiently evil; I must make it worse"?
Sure, the Mensch brigade is idiots with their Marshal Of The Supreme Court Arrest Warrant nonsense, but who's been proven wrong about any bad thing attributed to or predicted of Trump and Trumpists? If anything, people have been far too generous in saying, "No, that is too stupid, venal, or rapacious for even him."
posted by Etrigan at 6:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
Sure, the Mensch brigade is idiots with their Marshal Of The Supreme Court Arrest Warrant nonsense, but who's been proven wrong about any bad thing attributed to or predicted of Trump and Trumpists? If anything, people have been far too generous in saying, "No, that is too stupid, venal, or rapacious for even him."
posted by Etrigan at 6:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
@shaunking
1. Let's be clear here.
The NRA's @DLoesch has absolutely called for journalists to be beaten to death.
She denies it, but the record is clear.
It's just that she's so flippant with such violent threats that she has perhaps lost touch with what she has said.
And that’s just what conservatives are up to in public channels.
posted by Artw at 6:21 AM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
1. Let's be clear here.
The NRA's @DLoesch has absolutely called for journalists to be beaten to death.
She denies it, but the record is clear.
It's just that she's so flippant with such violent threats that she has perhaps lost touch with what she has said.
And that’s just what conservatives are up to in public channels.
posted by Artw at 6:21 AM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
What part of calling them Nazis is too much?
a) That ethnic children are torn from parents and put in concentration camps.
b) That they banned a religion that is 95+% POC.
c) That Trump and other R pols defended the murderous Nazis at Charlottesville.
d) That multiple overt Nazis are running as Rs and winning primaries.
e) That Seb Gorka, a "former" member of a neo-Nazi group, was a Senior White House Advisor and now works for Fox News.
f) That Steve King retweets overt Nazis and refuses to delete or apologize because he believes in their message. And was never rebuked or disciplined by his party.
g) That Trump's campaign manager and Senior White House advisor Steve Bannon had a close personal and working relationship with overt Nazi Milo.
h) That Trump's campaign manager and Senior White House advisor Steve Bannon said his publication Breitbart was the media arm of the alt-right.
And this is just off the top of my head.
posted by chris24 at 6:24 AM on June 29, 2018 [93 favorites]
a) That ethnic children are torn from parents and put in concentration camps.
b) That they banned a religion that is 95+% POC.
c) That Trump and other R pols defended the murderous Nazis at Charlottesville.
d) That multiple overt Nazis are running as Rs and winning primaries.
e) That Seb Gorka, a "former" member of a neo-Nazi group, was a Senior White House Advisor and now works for Fox News.
f) That Steve King retweets overt Nazis and refuses to delete or apologize because he believes in their message. And was never rebuked or disciplined by his party.
g) That Trump's campaign manager and Senior White House advisor Steve Bannon had a close personal and working relationship with overt Nazi Milo.
h) That Trump's campaign manager and Senior White House advisor Steve Bannon said his publication Breitbart was the media arm of the alt-right.
And this is just off the top of my head.
posted by chris24 at 6:24 AM on June 29, 2018 [93 favorites]
Unfortunately, hyperbole and reckless extrapolation often serve opposite interests if the claims aren't able to be matched by evidence
You poor time traveler from the golden past. We have some bad news.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [81 favorites]
You poor time traveler from the golden past. We have some bad news.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [81 favorites]
Exclusive: Trump administration plan would bar people who enter illegally from getting asylum - A sweeping regulation being considered by the Department of Justice would likely stop most Central Americans from winning asylum in the US. [Vox]
posted by Buntix at 6:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
Under the plan, people would be barred from getting asylum if they came into the US between ports of entry and were prosecuted for illegal entry. It would also add presumptions that would make it extremely difficult for Central Americans to qualify for asylum, and codify — in an even more restrictive form — an opinion written by Sessions in June that attempted to restrict asylum for victims of domestic and gang violence.So, essentially making it impossible/delayed-to-the-point-of-standstill to enter legally, and barring anyone who is forced to try misdemeanor entry (which presumably all other entry-while-not-white will be classed as).
posted by Buntix at 6:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
@kfile
Oh wow, Ken Isaacs, the Trump administration candidate whose rapidly anti-Muslim, conspiracy theory, and anti-refugee tweets I dug up was rejected by the UN to handle the billion dollar budget agency handling migration.
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
Oh wow, Ken Isaacs, the Trump administration candidate whose rapidly anti-Muslim, conspiracy theory, and anti-refugee tweets I dug up was rejected by the UN to handle the billion dollar budget agency handling migration.
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
This lady apparently goes around in a MAGA hat yelling racial epithets at 14 year old protestors.
If you read the thread it’s not just a one off, it’s like a hobby for her. She appears to be fairly well off, and a business owner, so plenty of time to don the red baseball hat and yell hate at some kids at a moments notice.
Sadly she’s on the wrong coast to get together with the NY lawyer dude who does the same and live together in a castle of hate.
posted by Artw at 6:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [16 favorites]
If you read the thread it’s not just a one off, it’s like a hobby for her. She appears to be fairly well off, and a business owner, so plenty of time to don the red baseball hat and yell hate at some kids at a moments notice.
Sadly she’s on the wrong coast to get together with the NY lawyer dude who does the same and live together in a castle of hate.
posted by Artw at 6:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [16 favorites]
On Colbert: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Doesn't Think Trump 'Knows How To Deal With A Girl From The Bronx'.
When Colbert asked her what Democratic socialism means, the 28-year-old explained, "I believe that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live."
*hearteyes*
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [123 favorites]
When Colbert asked her what Democratic socialism means, the 28-year-old explained, "I believe that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live."
*hearteyes*
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [123 favorites]
Yabbut are there any people in this here thread that need convincing of what's really going on?
No?
Then let's carry on in this space, shall we?
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
No?
Then let's carry on in this space, shall we?
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
NY Magazine : Trump's Odd Supreme Court Strategy Was Calculated, With None of His Trademark Chaos
Team Trump's strategically executed campaign to open up another Supreme Court nomination is not odd or exceptional. Trump's perfectly capable of Machiavellian planning and Nixonian plotting when there's a particular goal that suits his interests, such as locking in another Justice who'll hear cases about his policies and the Mueller investigation.
Trump embraces chaos when he doesn't have a plan or know what he's doing but thinks he can benefit by throwing everything around him into confusion, which admittedly is much of the time. For example, this morning Axios Trump whisperer Jonathan Swan published a scoop about Trump's private threat to upend global trade
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 AM on June 29, 2018 [17 favorites]
Team Trump's strategically executed campaign to open up another Supreme Court nomination is not odd or exceptional. Trump's perfectly capable of Machiavellian planning and Nixonian plotting when there's a particular goal that suits his interests, such as locking in another Justice who'll hear cases about his policies and the Mueller investigation.
Trump embraces chaos when he doesn't have a plan or know what he's doing but thinks he can benefit by throwing everything around him into confusion, which admittedly is much of the time. For example, this morning Axios Trump whisperer Jonathan Swan published a scoop about Trump's private threat to upend global trade
President Trump has repeatedly told top White House officials he wants to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization, a move that would throw global trade into wild disarray, people involved in the talks tell Axios.In the meantime, though, Trump continues to block appointments of WTO judges, as part of his ongoing campaign to sabotage the organization.
“He’s [threatened to withdraw] 100 times. It would totally [screw] us as a country,” said a source who’s discussed the subject with Trump. The source added that Trump has frequently told advisers, "We always get fucked by them [the WTO]. I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States."[...]
Sources with knowledge of the situation say the Trump administration will continue to call attention to various ways in which the U.S. encounters what some Trump advisers perceive is unfair and unbalanced treatment within framework of the WTO.
The administration will likely continue to push the envelope on all its trade policies, fully expecting its actions will be challenged within the WTO.
But if Trump continues to feel as if he’s being unfairly stymied by the international body, you’d be a fool to confidently declare that he won’t follow through on his desires at some point.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:23 AM on June 29, 2018 [17 favorites]
Kennedy: "I really don't care do you?" (Trevor Irvin)
posted by pjenks at 7:38 AM on June 29, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by pjenks at 7:38 AM on June 29, 2018 [18 favorites]
The Late Show had a special guest last night, Jon Stewart Is Ready To Negotiate With Donald Trump, illustrating Republican's performative cruelty.
posted by mikelieman at 7:39 AM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 7:39 AM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
There's a word for people who are more inclined to support Nazis when you call out Nazis.
Nazis.
This whole 'you made them hit you' argument is bullshit. They are what they are. 'I'm not really a racist/Nazi, I just support them because you were mean to the racists/Nazis' is a helluva argument.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [64 favorites]
Nazis.
This whole 'you made them hit you' argument is bullshit. They are what they are. 'I'm not really a racist/Nazi, I just support them because you were mean to the racists/Nazis' is a helluva argument.
posted by chris24 at 7:50 AM on June 29, 2018 [64 favorites]
@abogada_laura
My 5-yr-old client can’t tell me what country she is from. We prepare her case by drawing pictures with crayons of the gang members that would wait outside her school. Sometimes she wants to draw ice cream cones and hearts instead. She is in deportation proceedings alone.
posted by Artw at 8:04 AM on June 29, 2018 [90 favorites]
My 5-yr-old client can’t tell me what country she is from. We prepare her case by drawing pictures with crayons of the gang members that would wait outside her school. Sometimes she wants to draw ice cream cones and hearts instead. She is in deportation proceedings alone.
posted by Artw at 8:04 AM on June 29, 2018 [90 favorites]
Hillary Clinton: 'What is more uncivil than taking children away?' - Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian
She has made peace with losing the election – but not with Donald Trump. Now she is fighting to undo the damage of the president’s child-separation policy – and has no time for debates over civilityposted by ZeusHumms at 8:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [62 favorites]
...
When Hillary Clinton made her first public appearance after losing the 2016 election, it was her admission that she had felt like “never leaving the house again” that made headlines. Twenty months later, other details of the speech seem much more significant. That Clinton had left her house to address the Children’s Defense Fund, a child advocacy organisation, said a lot about where the defeated candidate saw her future. Her warning about “the little girl I met in Nevada who started to cry when she told me how scared she was that her parents would be taken away from her and be deported”, told us more about her country’s future than we knew. But when I quote her words back to her, it’s not the accuracy of her prescience that makes her shudder, but its inadequacy.
“I was hopeful that I wouldn’t see the worst of my fears come true. But it has been worse. I have to tell you, even I did not believe this would happen.”
Susan Sarandon Arrested at Protest Against Trump’s Immigration Policy: 'Keep Fighting'
Demonstrated direct action, plus Susan Sarandon in jail? It's a twofer!
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [38 favorites]
Demonstrated direct action, plus Susan Sarandon in jail? It's a twofer!
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [38 favorites]
Trump administration plan would bar people who enter illegally from getting asylum ... Under the plan, people would be barred from getting asylum if they came into the US between ports of entry and were prosecuted for illegal entry.
This is contrary to existing law. It's unclear whether Trump can legally change it by regulation. I'm sure it will be challenged in court -- unfortunately a court with five Republican judges.
Here is 8 U.S. Code § 1158 - Asylum.
First paragraph: "Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable, section 1225(b) of this title."
The law states that a person has a right to apply for asylum regardless of how they arrived and regardless of whether they arrived through a legal entry port. Any alien setting foot on U.S. soil is allowed to apply for asylum. Of course, whether their asylum is approved is up to the whims of Jeff Sessions, but they at least have the right to due process.
posted by JackFlash at 8:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [38 favorites]
This is contrary to existing law. It's unclear whether Trump can legally change it by regulation. I'm sure it will be challenged in court -- unfortunately a court with five Republican judges.
Here is 8 U.S. Code § 1158 - Asylum.
First paragraph: "Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable, section 1225(b) of this title."
The law states that a person has a right to apply for asylum regardless of how they arrived and regardless of whether they arrived through a legal entry port. Any alien setting foot on U.S. soil is allowed to apply for asylum. Of course, whether their asylum is approved is up to the whims of Jeff Sessions, but they at least have the right to due process.
posted by JackFlash at 8:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [38 favorites]
This lady apparently goes around in a MAGA hat yelling racial epithets at 14 year old protestors.
If you google "RC Design Construction in Woodland Hills" the photo of her screaming at the kid shows up in the Google infobox on the right. I don't know if that's algorithmic serendipity or if someone put their thumb on the scale, but either way .... :fingerkiss:
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [24 favorites]
If you google "RC Design Construction in Woodland Hills" the photo of her screaming at the kid shows up in the Google infobox on the right. I don't know if that's algorithmic serendipity or if someone put their thumb on the scale, but either way .... :fingerkiss:
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [24 favorites]
Trump's Shameful Response to the Killing of Journalists Stands in Stark Contrast to Justin Trudeau's Solemn Statement - Cody Fenwick, AlterNet
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement Thursday night, emphasizing the importance of community journalism and the media's role in democracy. It stood in stark contrast to Trump's rote remarks.posted by ZeusHumms at 8:32 AM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
"Journalists tell the stories of our communities, protect democracy, & often put their lives on the line just to do their jobs," Trudeau said on Twitter. "Today’s attack in Annapolis is devastating. Our hearts go out to all the victims & their families."
Mod note: Reload the page, please.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:36 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:36 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
My short Kennedy argument:
We've all been told by reputable sources that Cohen is a nexus point for a tsunamis of illegal activity as Trump's lawyer. We've all also heard that another key to uncovering Trump's illegal activities is to follow the money. Well, Kennedy's son was Trump's banker. Not a banker. His closest banker working to facilitate Russian loans over a 12 year period working on transactions too toxic for other banks to handle. A banker who works for a bank that is currently under investigation and has been fined to the tune of $500 million for failing to screen suspicious Russian transactions. If Trump was involved in illegal activity involving Russian money, Kennedy's kid was at the center of that. That's a fact.
The Supreme Court position isn't a parlor game. This seat, as the swing seat, is arguably the most powerful position on the face of the planet as argued by the New York Times. As such, its appointment must be beyond reproach for Americans to have faith in the law and their judicial system. From what we know already it sounds like the president was having inappropriate contact with Kennedy, constantly referencing his "special boy", which alone could be construed as a threat. The need to ensure American trust in its government overrides any partisan desire to immediately fill this seat. This matter must be investigated before this seat is filled.
posted by xammerboy at 8:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [124 favorites]
We've all been told by reputable sources that Cohen is a nexus point for a tsunamis of illegal activity as Trump's lawyer. We've all also heard that another key to uncovering Trump's illegal activities is to follow the money. Well, Kennedy's son was Trump's banker. Not a banker. His closest banker working to facilitate Russian loans over a 12 year period working on transactions too toxic for other banks to handle. A banker who works for a bank that is currently under investigation and has been fined to the tune of $500 million for failing to screen suspicious Russian transactions. If Trump was involved in illegal activity involving Russian money, Kennedy's kid was at the center of that. That's a fact.
The Supreme Court position isn't a parlor game. This seat, as the swing seat, is arguably the most powerful position on the face of the planet as argued by the New York Times. As such, its appointment must be beyond reproach for Americans to have faith in the law and their judicial system. From what we know already it sounds like the president was having inappropriate contact with Kennedy, constantly referencing his "special boy", which alone could be construed as a threat. The need to ensure American trust in its government overrides any partisan desire to immediately fill this seat. This matter must be investigated before this seat is filled.
posted by xammerboy at 8:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [124 favorites]
xammerboy, I would take it farther. All Roberts' opinions and votes during Trump's tenure should be under scrutiny in light of this, and possibly re-litigated in front of an uncompromised court - i.e. one with no Trump appointees.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:57 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:57 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
Lately, however, Democrats have been provoked to condemn the president with a passion some on the left warn is becoming “uncivil”. I’m curious to know what [Hillary] Clinton thinks of this."What is more uncivil than taking children away?" by Decca Aitkenhead in the Guardian.
“Oh, give me a break,” she erupts, eyes widening into indignation. “Give me a break! What is more uncivil and cruel than taking children away? It should be met with resolve and strength. And if some of that comes across as a little uncivil, well, children’s lives are at stake; their futures are at stake. That is that ridiculous concept of bothsideism.” She adopts a mockingly prim voice. “‘Well, you know, somebody made an insulting, profane remark about President Trump, and he separated 2,300 children from their families, that’s both sides, and we should stop being uncivil – oh and, by the way, he should stop separating children.’ Give me a break, really,” she growls, rolling her eyes. “I mean, this is a crisis of his making that will damage kids for no good reason at all, and I think everybody should be focused on that until the children are reunited.”
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [87 favorites]
Missed edit window - I meant Kennedy!
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:02 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:02 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'd like people to look at Roberts too, tho. The hypothesis that they wouldn't put someone in power unless they had a handhold is worth investigating. I thought I had Kennedy's number.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:13 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:13 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Give me a break, really,” she growls, rolling her eyes
This is why I voted for her in ‘08. The growl. The fight. The not being snowed by Republican bullshit.
My heart hurts.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:15 AM on June 29, 2018 [61 favorites]
This is why I voted for her in ‘08. The growl. The fight. The not being snowed by Republican bullshit.
My heart hurts.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:15 AM on June 29, 2018 [61 favorites]
The Guardian, Cas Mudde: Why is Trump still so popular? He gives his base what they want
[...] if things continue this way, Trump will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.posted by monospace at 9:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Of course, the main reason for Trump’s re-election, as well as his election, is the dysfunctional political practice and system of the United States. Like in other western democracies, the white majority is overrepresented because minorities vote at much lower levels. However, unlike in most other democracies, various types of old and new acts of voter suppression actively discourage the electoral participation of non-white minorities. On top of that, gerrymandering further strengthens the disproportionate power of the white electorate, particularly in the conservative rural areas of the individual states and the country as a whole.
Today, Trump’s approval ratings are at 42%, which is a mere 3% lower than when he started. But more importantly, he is extremely popular among his core electorate, ie Republicans. A recent Gallup poll showed that, at the 500 days mark, Trump was the second most popular US president among his own constituency (87% support), only topped by President George W Bush (96% support), who was at that time profiting from the rally around the flag response to the 9/11 terrorist attack.
I'm so old I remember when civility was called Political Correctness & conservatives were against it.
posted by scalefree at 9:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [64 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 9:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [64 favorites]
2% of NYC towers produce over 50% of the CO2 pollution, they’re all luxury towers, most of them are Trump related
posted by The Whelk at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [60 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [60 favorites]
This Kennedy / Deutsche Bank connection is red meat! Has Metafilter been all over this and I just missed it? Or is the world just waking up to it and if so, while I understand why now, I am just wondering why not much sooner?
posted by M-x shell at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you know anything about Kennedy, you know that it was his chief concern that the law promote civility. In the recent cake baking case, chief among his concerns was avoiding a future where there would be signs in shops reading "I don't bake cake for gays". His support of Trump is a very odd match. Trump publicly threatens judges. I don't care how conservative you are, it is downright strange Kennedy is deferring to the living embodiment of the incivility he has spent his entire life fighting tooth and nail.
posted by xammerboy at 9:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 9:22 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
if things continue this way, Trump will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.
He wasn't even comfortably elected in 2016. I'm all for realism, but doomsaying based on bullshit like the Tax Cuts Are Popular and the inevitable Dems in Disarray conclusion, well...
posted by chris24 at 9:23 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
He wasn't even comfortably elected in 2016. I'm all for realism, but doomsaying based on bullshit like the Tax Cuts Are Popular and the inevitable Dems in Disarray conclusion, well...
posted by chris24 at 9:23 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
The weirdest fucking thing: Trump is just now speaking about the newspaper shooting, and when he came to the podium he got a standing ovation with multiple rounds of cheering. Did I miss something?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
The president just sent “our warmest best wishes and regrets” to the victims of the Annapolis shooting. [real]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:26 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 9:26 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
“I was hopeful that I wouldn’t see the worst of my fears come true. But it has been worse. I have to tell you, even I did not believe this would happen.”
Honestly, I didn't think Trump would start building internment camps, etc., until the second half of his first term. The only surprising aspect about his policies in general is how quickly he's enacting extreme ones. (His Twitter feed, though incoherent from tweet to tweet, has been as transparent in the aggregate about his intentions as Hitler was in Mein Kampf.) Either this is Trump's blitzkrieg before he's shellacked in the mid-terms, or he has worse planned for 2019–20.
And speaking of accelerated schedules, Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs reports:
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:26 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Honestly, I didn't think Trump would start building internment camps, etc., until the second half of his first term. The only surprising aspect about his policies in general is how quickly he's enacting extreme ones. (His Twitter feed, though incoherent from tweet to tweet, has been as transparent in the aggregate about his intentions as Hitler was in Mein Kampf.) Either this is Trump's blitzkrieg before he's shellacked in the mid-terms, or he has worse planned for 2019–20.
And speaking of accelerated schedules, Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs reports:
TIMELINE FOR TRUMP SUPREME COURT PICK, per Marc Short:* c.f. this exchange during this morning's press gaggle: Fox News, "Will he make Supreme Court pick decision before the summit with Putin?" Kellyanne Conway, “He may.”
-Expectation is to nominate "in the near future."*
-Aim to have person confirmed in time to join the court's new term in October.
-Ideally, nominee in confirmation process through August
-Full Senate vote after Labor Day.
HOW TRUMP WILL QUIZ CANDIDATES, per Marc Short:
-Will ask about their history, academic credentials, things they’ve written.
-But he won’t ask about specific cases or decisions such as Roe v. Wade.
“There’s not a litmus test or particular questions about x, y or z case.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:26 AM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
He wasn't comfortably elected in 2016. I'm all for realism, but doomsaying based on bullshit like the Tax Cuts Are Popular and the inevitable Dems in Disarray conclusion, well...
Any article that talks about a presidential election and a percentage approval rating among a party without talking about the electoral college apportionment and the party identification apportionment is an offensive waste of electrons. Looking at you, Cas.
posted by phearlez at 9:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Any article that talks about a presidential election and a percentage approval rating among a party without talking about the electoral college apportionment and the party identification apportionment is an offensive waste of electrons. Looking at you, Cas.
posted by phearlez at 9:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
[...] if things continue this way, Trump will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.
A politically astute friend of mine pointed something out to me in 1996, when Bill Clinton's campaign had a bit of a bobble: "We are five months away from election day. That is a very long time, and a lot can happen between now and Election Day." Sure enough, another scuttlebutt thing about Bob Dole cropped up a few months later and everyone forgot about the Bill Clinton thing I'd been fretting about.
We are five months and two years away from Election Day 2020. A lot can happen in those two years. And - another reminder, some of the things that will happen in the next two years will be initiated by Robert Mueller.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 AM on June 29, 2018 [22 favorites]
A politically astute friend of mine pointed something out to me in 1996, when Bill Clinton's campaign had a bit of a bobble: "We are five months away from election day. That is a very long time, and a lot can happen between now and Election Day." Sure enough, another scuttlebutt thing about Bob Dole cropped up a few months later and everyone forgot about the Bill Clinton thing I'd been fretting about.
We are five months and two years away from Election Day 2020. A lot can happen in those two years. And - another reminder, some of the things that will happen in the next two years will be initiated by Robert Mueller.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 AM on June 29, 2018 [22 favorites]
HOW TRUMP WILL QUIZ CANDIDATES, per Marc Short:
-Will ask about their history, academic credentials, things they’ve written.
Pull the other one.
posted by BS Artisan at 9:33 AM on June 29, 2018 [40 favorites]
-Will ask about their history, academic credentials, things they’ve written.
Pull the other one.
posted by BS Artisan at 9:33 AM on June 29, 2018 [40 favorites]
He’ll be presented with a candidate. He’ll ask them for their personal loyalty, they’ll have been picked to either give it or not ray him out for having asked for it, he’ll get bored of the process and they’ll be rubber stamped.
posted by Artw at 9:40 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:40 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
In better news..
"The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion.
The court ruled that the law violates the Iowa Constitution, siding with a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Iowa and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. The organizations sued the state over the law approved by lawmakers last year."
posted by chris24 at 9:42 AM on June 29, 2018 [51 favorites]
"The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion.
The court ruled that the law violates the Iowa Constitution, siding with a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Iowa and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. The organizations sued the state over the law approved by lawmakers last year."
posted by chris24 at 9:42 AM on June 29, 2018 [51 favorites]
This is your regularly scheduled plea:
Please call your representatives and tell them that they need to do everything in their power to publicly fight any Supreme Court appointment until the independent counsel’s investigation is concluded, and pending the results of that investigation.
If you’re a journalist, or have a platform, or whatever, please be as loud about this as you can be.
We need people on television constantly talking about corruption and theft. We need to fight this so hard that we motivate people to elect a Democratic Congress in November.
Or...I don’t even know what comes after that. But it’s not good.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
Please call your representatives and tell them that they need to do everything in their power to publicly fight any Supreme Court appointment until the independent counsel’s investigation is concluded, and pending the results of that investigation.
If you’re a journalist, or have a platform, or whatever, please be as loud about this as you can be.
We need people on television constantly talking about corruption and theft. We need to fight this so hard that we motivate people to elect a Democratic Congress in November.
Or...I don’t even know what comes after that. But it’s not good.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
if things continue this way, Trump will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.
He wasn't even comfortably elected in 2016. I'm all for realism, but doomsaying based on bullshit like the Tax Cuts Are Popular and the inevitable Dems in Disarray conclusion, well...
I'm surprised that the Guardian is bringing the Dems!In!DISARRAY! narrative. Cas, quit Mudde-ing the waters. The tax cut is not popular, certainly no other bit of legislation is popular, and while Trump may be popular with his base, hasn't that always been so?
Trump will only be re-elected, let alone "comfortably," if the Democrats stay home, and they seem motivated to vote, as far as I can see.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
Would not rule out combined effort of republican and Russian vote rigging either. Even if he gets a victory with any kind of margin nobody is going to consider it clean or legitimate.
posted by Artw at 9:59 AM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:59 AM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
-But he won’t ask about specific cases or decisions such as Roe v. Wade.
“There’s not a litmus test..."
If you are preaching to anyone outside of the choir here, please emphasize that this is complete bullshit. He is pulling nominees pre-vetted by The Heritage Foundation. They've clearly been assessed as to their stance on Roe. Also Trump said in one of his debates with HRC that he would appoint pro-life justices. "No litmus test" is another lie.
posted by puddledork at 10:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
“There’s not a litmus test..."
If you are preaching to anyone outside of the choir here, please emphasize that this is complete bullshit. He is pulling nominees pre-vetted by The Heritage Foundation. They've clearly been assessed as to their stance on Roe. Also Trump said in one of his debates with HRC that he would appoint pro-life justices. "No litmus test" is another lie.
posted by puddledork at 10:01 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
We are five months and two years away from Election Day 2020. A lot can happen in those two years. And - another reminder, some of the things that will happen in the next two years will be initiated by Robert Mueller.
And, one hopes, at least a few Democratic Congressional committees more interested in holding the president accountable that participating in a cover-up.
posted by Gelatin at 10:02 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
And, one hopes, at least a few Democratic Congressional committees more interested in holding the president accountable that participating in a cover-up.
posted by Gelatin at 10:02 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump is finally going to embrace that Russians interfered in the election... of 2018 if Ds take the House or Senate.
posted by chris24 at 10:03 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 10:03 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
Newsweek: Giant inflatable Trump balloon in KKK robes greets Melania to Phoenix immigration center
posted by porn in the woods at 10:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [43 favorites]
posted by porn in the woods at 10:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [43 favorites]
Trump's already published a list of the judges he's considering appointing. He did this during the campaign. Think Clarence Thomas but more conservative.
I've said this before, but I'm not sure they can overturn Roe v. Wade. It's just a very difficult legal argument to make. It's more likely they will starve it, force hospitals that provide it to make signs, force people getting the procedure to wear a scarlet letter, etc. I could be wrong because I definitely thought the gag rule against doctors telling people they could get an abortion was unconstitutional, but I also heard this on conservative radio.
posted by xammerboy at 10:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
I've said this before, but I'm not sure they can overturn Roe v. Wade. It's just a very difficult legal argument to make. It's more likely they will starve it, force hospitals that provide it to make signs, force people getting the procedure to wear a scarlet letter, etc. I could be wrong because I definitely thought the gag rule against doctors telling people they could get an abortion was unconstitutional, but I also heard this on conservative radio.
posted by xammerboy at 10:08 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Once again, the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale is taking one for the team by live-tweeting/fact-checking one of Trump's speeches. Here are some highlights, if that's the word:
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
—Trump, speaking on his tax cuts, says Ivanka wanted the child tax credit expansion, asks her to stand up to be applauded, then says, "She got a bigger hand than the politicians. You better be careful."While this is just a sample of his nonsense, it's more than just the sum of his lies, misremembered facts, made-up statistics, and general assaults on the truth—it's an attack on the very concept of knowing or understanding anything. Trump's style of bullshitting is like a hybrid of Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" and Putin aide Vladislav Surkov's Post-Modernist propaganda.
—In May, Trump told a story about an unnamed friend who hired "3" ex-prisoners and said "2" are incredible. Today he made it an unnamed friend who hired "10" ex-prisoners and said "7" are incredible.
—Trump: "Common sense is being restored in Washington."
—LOL. Trump first claimed nine days ago that the "head of U.S. Steel" had called him "the other day." He just said the call happened "two days ago."
—Trump: "We're going to be the smart country again. Not the stupid country that was taken advantage of by everybody."
—Trump says "Make America Great Again" is a better slogan than "America First," which is also his slogan, because: "America First is very threatening to others. We don't want to be threatening."
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
Just out of curiosity, what hyperbole? What evil, greedy, soul-bereft motivation or action that has been imputed to Trump and his band of hobgoblins has yet been disproven?
I’m not sure Trump hyperbole exists, honestly - but I do agree, with the benefit of hindsight, that we used hyperbole about Bush that makes it harder for people to hear the truth about Trump now. However, any lesson we learn from that will have to wait for a President that isn’t actually acting as the id for some of the worst people. Right now, believe the dictator.
posted by corb at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
I’m not sure Trump hyperbole exists, honestly - but I do agree, with the benefit of hindsight, that we used hyperbole about Bush that makes it harder for people to hear the truth about Trump now. However, any lesson we learn from that will have to wait for a President that isn’t actually acting as the id for some of the worst people. Right now, believe the dictator.
posted by corb at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Are people seriously saying it's impossible Trump will be re-elected? Because I've already been on that train.
posted by xammerboy at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
We used hyperbole about Bush that makes it harder for people to hear the truth about Trump
Maybe the Hitler analogy isn't useful anymore, but everything else that was said about Bush was true. The war was a lie, they were incompetent, they tanked the economy, he was the worst president ever, and I'm just listing the stuff Trump said about him on the campaign trail.
posted by xammerboy at 10:24 AM on June 29, 2018 [42 favorites]
Maybe the Hitler analogy isn't useful anymore, but everything else that was said about Bush was true. The war was a lie, they were incompetent, they tanked the economy, he was the worst president ever, and I'm just listing the stuff Trump said about him on the campaign trail.
posted by xammerboy at 10:24 AM on June 29, 2018 [42 favorites]
Are people seriously saying it's impossible Trump will be re-elected? Because I've already been on that train.
No, we're saying writing that it's a fait accompli that he'll be reelected comfortably for reasons that are either factually incorrect or bullshit opinions is doomsaying and more apt to disillusion and hurt the cause than its supposed mission to motivate and help. Yes, it's very possible he'll be reelected. As I said I'm all for realism, but making the argument that it's hopeless unless we agree and follow that pundit's prejudices and opinions requires better arguments and evidence.
posted by chris24 at 10:33 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
No, we're saying writing that it's a fait accompli that he'll be reelected comfortably for reasons that are either factually incorrect or bullshit opinions is doomsaying and more apt to disillusion and hurt the cause than its supposed mission to motivate and help. Yes, it's very possible he'll be reelected. As I said I'm all for realism, but making the argument that it's hopeless unless we agree and follow that pundit's prejudices and opinions requires better arguments and evidence.
posted by chris24 at 10:33 AM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
The Paradox of Trump's Populism - David A. Graham, The Atlantic
There are many things that Trump seems not to understand, but he clearly has a strong grasp on using populist grievance as a political tool. In fact, the president’s remarks illuminate how his particular brand of populism works. Trump trades on cultural and economic grievances, and he uses his own status to prove his credibility. During the GOP primary, for example, he turned his past donations to politicians, including Hillary Clinton, from a weakness into an asset, saying it showed how corrupt the campaign-finance system was.posted by ZeusHumms at 10:33 AM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
...
The nice homes and nice boats Trump conjured [at a recent rally] in Fargo might seem to be at odds with cultural and economic grievance, but that misunderstands who really voted for Trump. Contrary to the superficial glosses that have circulated since November 2016, most members of the white-working class actually voted for Hillary Clinton, according to a poll by The Atlantic and the Public Religion Research Institute. The truly poor voted for the Democrat. The people who voted for Trump are not those with no economic status—it is those who are worried they could lose the status they already hold.
As my colleague Olga Khazan reported, Trump voters had a “desire for their group to be dominant... Trump supporters were also more likely than Clinton voters to feel that ‘the American way of life is threatened,’ and that high-status groups, like men, Christians, and whites, are discriminated against.”
Are people seriously saying it's impossible Trump will be re-elected? Because I've already been on that train.
We’re also saying that stressing out over something years in the future is counterproductive when there are more immediate fights to be won.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:38 AM on June 29, 2018 [23 favorites]
We’re also saying that stressing out over something years in the future is counterproductive when there are more immediate fights to be won.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:38 AM on June 29, 2018 [23 favorites]
In that TPM link about Kennedy’s son being Trump’s loan facilitator:
posted by gucci mane at 10:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Days after Trump became President, New York State announced a $425 million fine Deutsche Bank had agreed to pay over a $10 billion Russian money laundering scheme, one of many investigations the bank is still embroiled in.Is it just me or is that a ridiculously low fine? What percentage of 10,000,000,000 is 425,000,000?
posted by gucci mane at 10:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also, how did everybody miss the Justin Kennedy connection before?! I feel like everybody figured out Wilbur Ross immediately! (“Everybody” being the amorphous group of nerds that scope out the Russian ties incessantly, of which I include myself)
posted by gucci mane at 10:48 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 10:48 AM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
Oh geez I never even got any of the Wilbur Ross stuff onto my site. And I still have no idea how to explain the Brexit stuff clearly. I barely even mention the Deutsche Bank background. And now the Kennedy stuff, which I just have no idea what to make of... I need more red string.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:51 AM on June 29, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:51 AM on June 29, 2018 [40 favorites]
Axios: Prank caller patched through to Trump on Air Force One
The host of "The Stuttering John" podcast, John Melendez, got President Trump on the phone yesterday by pretending he was New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. "This is how easy it is to infiltrate the administration." Melendez said in the podcast episode. [...]
President Trump picked up the phone congratulating who he thought was Sen. Menendez and telling him he "went through a very tough situation." He also talked about immigration. "Bob, let me just tell you I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anybody else at the top level. I'd rather do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution." He said the North Dakota Senate race is "a tough race." Regarding his SCOTUS nominee, he said they'll be done making a decision in 12 to 14 days.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:53 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
The host of "The Stuttering John" podcast, John Melendez, got President Trump on the phone yesterday by pretending he was New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. "This is how easy it is to infiltrate the administration." Melendez said in the podcast episode. [...]
President Trump picked up the phone congratulating who he thought was Sen. Menendez and telling him he "went through a very tough situation." He also talked about immigration. "Bob, let me just tell you I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anybody else at the top level. I'd rather do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution." He said the North Dakota Senate race is "a tough race." Regarding his SCOTUS nominee, he said they'll be done making a decision in 12 to 14 days.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:53 AM on June 29, 2018 [46 favorites]
Can I simplify it for you by lopping off zeros and ask what percentage of 100 4.25 is?
posted by achrise at 10:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by achrise at 10:58 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well, it helps if the snark is accurate - Correct snark would be more like "what percentage of 10000 4.25 is" or "what percentage of 100 .0425 is" Just a few insignificant powers of 10, I suppose....
Snark aside, it's 0.0425 percent. Which is as trivial as it sounds in this context.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:04 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Snark aside, it's 0.0425 percent. Which is as trivial as it sounds in this context.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:04 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is it just me or is that a ridiculously low fine? What percentage of 10,000,000,000 is 425,000,000?
0.425%
I don't know if it's ridiculously low or not but keep in mind that the $10 billion is the amount of funds that flowed through the bank and not how much money they made laundering it which is certainly an order of magnitude smaller number. If the amount of the fine is anything close to fair, that number is far south of 0.425% which seems totally plausible to me.
posted by VTX at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
0.425%
I don't know if it's ridiculously low or not but keep in mind that the $10 billion is the amount of funds that flowed through the bank and not how much money they made laundering it which is certainly an order of magnitude smaller number. If the amount of the fine is anything close to fair, that number is far south of 0.425% which seems totally plausible to me.
posted by VTX at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
For example, this morning Axios Trump whisperer Jonathan Swan published a scoop about Trump's private threat to upend global trade
Apparently not such a scoop. According to @JuliaDavisNews, Russian state TV had the story 9 days ago...
posted by Buntix at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Apparently not such a scoop. According to @JuliaDavisNews, Russian state TV had the story 9 days ago...
posted by Buntix at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
OK. As the Justin Kennedy story begins to sink into my addled brain, I realize that Justice Kennedy absolutely had to resign before it all got out, and also, that the Trump administration is desperate to get some control of the situation and the messaging. I don't think the Trumps are blackmailing Kennedy. I think they, and the Kennedys together are feeling the heat and trying to get on safely. And since I am optimistic, I think this won't work for them. I think the crimes they are covering are too immense for even Republicans to deal with.Obviously, I can't know how idiotic the Trump cult is. Even so, the cult is only 40'ish percent of the American population, and if you can get out the vote, they can be defeated.
If you are inside politics, now is the time to explain to your political friends that Republicans can't survive this unless they distance themselves from Trump and the Trumpists. Don't be afraid of a minority. If you are anyone else: GOTV!!!
posted by mumimor at 11:07 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
If you are inside politics, now is the time to explain to your political friends that Republicans can't survive this unless they distance themselves from Trump and the Trumpists. Don't be afraid of a minority. If you are anyone else: GOTV!!!
posted by mumimor at 11:07 AM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
wow my snark upon snark was inaccurate. I don't know what I was thinking there. Guess I missed a few insignificant decimals myself.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:08 AM on June 29, 2018
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:08 AM on June 29, 2018
I joined the DSA today. If that makes me a seditionist, so be it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:10 AM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:10 AM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
Interior Dept. reviewing Zinke ties to Halliburton head (WaPo). Zinke is accused of using government time and resources to promote a real estate development on property owned by a foundation controlled by Ryan and Lola Zinke, which is adjacent to property personally owned by Zinke. The property is being developed by a company co-owned by Halliburton chairman David Lesar, Halliburton has a financial interest in Department of Interior policies concerning increase drilling on public lands and Zinke has already been criticized for providing Lesar a private tour of the off-limits parts of the Lincoln Memorial.
Coverage from the AP and Politico to get around the paywall.
Also, Trump’s top economic adviser says deficit ‘is coming down rapidly,’ contradicting virtually all available data.
Coverage from the AP and Politico to get around the paywall.
Also, Trump’s top economic adviser says deficit ‘is coming down rapidly,’ contradicting virtually all available data.
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said on Fox Business that stronger economic growth was creating enough new tax revenue to bring down the deficit.posted by peeedro at 11:13 AM on June 29, 2018 [16 favorites]
“The deficit — which was one of the other criticisms [of the GOP tax law] — is coming down, and it's coming down rapidly,” Kudlow said. “It's throwing up enormous amounts of new tax revenue.”
Fines for large institutions need to be a percentage of their gross. Not net, **GROSS**. That way it really hurts. With the absolute, rock bottom, minimum being two times whatever profit they made illegally and no maximum.
For extra goodness take X% of that out of C level executive bank accounts, and/or directly out of the executive retirement fund. I get the concept is to have a limited liability company for good reasons, but what we've got now works out to a zero liability company and that's not so great.
Dollar amount fines always get whittled down to nothing, and for big companies expressing it in dollar amounts tends to sound big even when, to the company, it's chump change.
For completely morally awful stuff like money laundering I'd argue the fine should be equal to the amount laundered, or maybe twice the amount laundered. Not the profit they made on that, but the full amount they passed through, just to really make it hurt and provide some deterrence.
We've had far too long where companies get to break the law and pay nothing for doing it.
posted by sotonohito at 11:15 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
For extra goodness take X% of that out of C level executive bank accounts, and/or directly out of the executive retirement fund. I get the concept is to have a limited liability company for good reasons, but what we've got now works out to a zero liability company and that's not so great.
Dollar amount fines always get whittled down to nothing, and for big companies expressing it in dollar amounts tends to sound big even when, to the company, it's chump change.
For completely morally awful stuff like money laundering I'd argue the fine should be equal to the amount laundered, or maybe twice the amount laundered. Not the profit they made on that, but the full amount they passed through, just to really make it hurt and provide some deterrence.
We've had far too long where companies get to break the law and pay nothing for doing it.
posted by sotonohito at 11:15 AM on June 29, 2018 [29 favorites]
Fuck fines. People are losing their kids for misdemeanors. People need to go to jail for laundering billions for Russia or, say, ripping off $25+ million from online students.
posted by chris24 at 11:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [76 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 11:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [76 favorites]
About abolishing ICE -
First of all it warms my cynical little heart that "Abolish ICE: yes/no" is the debate now. Even getting there is a huge victory. Even both-sides-ing that question is a victory, because it implies the "Abolish ICE" side is valid and has serious arguments and serious supporters.
Secondly, I think Senator Gillibrand has the right rhetorical approach to it:
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
First of all it warms my cynical little heart that "Abolish ICE: yes/no" is the debate now. Even getting there is a huge victory. Even both-sides-ing that question is a victory, because it implies the "Abolish ICE" side is valid and has serious arguments and serious supporters.
Secondly, I think Senator Gillibrand has the right rhetorical approach to it:
I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn’t doing that. It has become a deportation force. We need to separate immigration issues from criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works.Basically: (1) ICE is failing to do ___ [good thing that we need]. (2) instead, ICE is doing ___ [bad thing]. (3) So abolish ICE. (4) Instead, get [good thing] done by ___ [new approach]. This kind of syllogism demonstrates that "abolish ICE" is not some sort of extremist idea or poorly thought out slogan. Obviously it's too long for a protest sign or a bumper sticker, where plain old "Abolish ICE!" is just fine. But for people with a platform in the political arena, anyone who goes on the Sunday talk shows, I hope they learn from Gillibrand and adopt a similar rhetorical approach.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 11:17 AM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
Is it just me or is that a ridiculously low fine? What percentage of 10,000,000,000 is 425,000,000?
425,000,000 is 4.25% of 10,000,000,000, not 0.0425% or 0.425%.
posted by OntologicalPuppy at 11:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [17 favorites]
425,000,000 is 4.25% of 10,000,000,000, not 0.0425% or 0.425%.
posted by OntologicalPuppy at 11:25 AM on June 29, 2018 [17 favorites]
(425,000,000/10,000,000,000)*100 = 4.25%
posted by everythings_interrelated at 11:27 AM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by everythings_interrelated at 11:27 AM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
math owie.
posted by erisfree at 11:27 AM on June 29, 2018 [54 favorites]
posted by erisfree at 11:27 AM on June 29, 2018 [54 favorites]
Thanks everybody, and sorry for the derail. I’ve failed every math class I’ve been in until I quit taking them after sophomore year of high school :( I was just asking because it seemed like a particularly low number to me. (As far as math goes, the most complicated mathematical thing I can do in my head is calculate a tip, and I guess this is just a backward version of that? Sorry, I’m just super terrible at math.)
posted by gucci mane at 11:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 11:30 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
yeah, i gotta say i was hoping for a mercy delete there.... let's just be glad i'm not in the business of calculating poll statistics.
to the actual point, whatever the number is, not only is it too low, but this sort of deed deserves something beyond a fine to the company. Even if the individuals were held accountable, the company should feel a penalty - and this level of criminality is the sort of thing that should destroy a company.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:34 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
to the actual point, whatever the number is, not only is it too low, but this sort of deed deserves something beyond a fine to the company. Even if the individuals were held accountable, the company should feel a penalty - and this level of criminality is the sort of thing that should destroy a company.
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:34 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
@arappeport: Kevin Brady acknowledges that the international side of the tax code is still broken, says there wasn’t as much time to analyze and model the major changes they made.
@jleibenluft: Cool use of passive voice here from the chief Republican tax policymaker in the House
The extent to which these assholes will openly acknowledge how badly they screwed over the country by rushing to give tax cuts to billionaires and will face no personal consequences is disturbing.
posted by zachlipton at 11:40 AM on June 29, 2018 [44 favorites]
@jleibenluft: Cool use of passive voice here from the chief Republican tax policymaker in the House
The extent to which these assholes will openly acknowledge how badly they screwed over the country by rushing to give tax cuts to billionaires and will face no personal consequences is disturbing.
posted by zachlipton at 11:40 AM on June 29, 2018 [44 favorites]
The extent to which these assholes will openly acknowledge how badly they screwed over the country by rushing to give tax cuts to billionaires and will face no personal consequences is disturbing.
And yet so very, very expected.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:44 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
And yet so very, very expected.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:44 AM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
> Axios: Prank caller patched through to Trump on Air Force One
YouTube version (audio)
posted by christopherious at 11:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
YouTube version (audio)
posted by christopherious at 11:45 AM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Ocasio-Cortez scored a victory — for well-designed campaign posters — The smart typography and a radical color palette are a rare example of good design on the campaign trail.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 11:52 AM on June 29, 2018 [42 favorites]
You know who else had good campaign art design?
Obama did!
posted by notyou at 11:57 AM on June 29, 2018 [27 favorites]
Obama did!
posted by notyou at 11:57 AM on June 29, 2018 [27 favorites]
How about
"Immigration should be neat"
Or,
"I'll take my immigrants neat"
Though that one is a little weird. I'm sure there are other variants.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Immigration should be neat"
Or,
"I'll take my immigrants neat"
Though that one is a little weird. I'm sure there are other variants.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wanted to post some snark with jokes about Comic Sans or Papyrus (I assume y'all have seen the video of Ryan Gosling and the Avatar font which basically is my life) but then I clicked the link and... yeah those are some well designed campaign posters. Really quite excellent. Whoever designed her posters should be hired by all the people.
posted by Justinian at 12:03 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 12:03 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh look, news about the tax cuts the Guardian assured me were popular and said would help reelect Trump comfortably.
WaPo: ‘Not what we expected’: Trump’s tax bill is losing popularity
WaPo: ‘Not what we expected’: Trump’s tax bill is losing popularity
American families are unsure whether they are benefiting from the tax cut, and small businesses say they are confused by the complex changes affecting them. A recent poll from Monmouth University found 34 percent of adults approve of the tax cut now, a slide from January when adults were about evenly split between approving and disapproving.posted by chris24 at 12:07 PM on June 29, 2018 [19 favorites]
Fuck fines. People are losing their kids for misdemeanors. People need to go to jail for laundering billions for Russia or, say, ripping off $25+ million from online students.
It's called piercing the corporate veil, and it should totally be on the table during these days of terminal-stage capitalism.
What a great protest chant - "Pierce the veil!'
posted by eclectist at 12:16 PM on June 29, 2018 [32 favorites]
It's called piercing the corporate veil, and it should totally be on the table during these days of terminal-stage capitalism.
What a great protest chant - "Pierce the veil!'
posted by eclectist at 12:16 PM on June 29, 2018 [32 favorites]
The problem with corporations is that society has never come up with any effective method to punish them, either the individuals who make decisions in the corporation or the corporate entity itself.
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
White House lawyer Uttam Dhillon expected to be named new head of DEA. The WaPo reports that while he is qualified for the job, the White House plans to circumvent the Senate confirmation process:
Dhillon probably will be moved into a Justice Department job so that he can be named DEA administrator without a presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. The department is facing a quick deadline to fill the post, as Patterson’s departure is imminent.They might be doing this to protect Trump from any confirmation hearing questions about the firing of Comey. The NYTimes reported in January that Dhillon intentionally misled Trump last year to protect him from blowback:
A senior administration official said that when [current DEA Acting Administrator Robert] Patterson leaves his post, Preston Grubbs, the current principal deputy administrator, would lead the agency on a temporary basis, with a formal announcement on Dhillon coming later. Dhillon is also expected to serve in an acting capacity, but by being a Justice Department employee before he goes to DEA, he will avoid the time limits placed on other acting heads of agencies.
After that hearing, Mr. Trump began to discuss openly with White House officials his desire to fire Mr. Comey. This unnerved some inside the White House counsel’s office, and even led one of Mr. McGahn’s deputies to mislead the president about his authority to fire the F.B.I. director.As he would be the head of a quasi-militarized law enforcement agency, his opinions on congressional oversight are noteworthy:
The lawyer, Uttam Dhillon, was convinced that if Mr. Comey was fired, the Trump presidency could be imperiled, because it would force the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Mr. Trump was trying to derail the Russia investigation.
Longstanding analysis of presidential power says that the president, as the head of the executive branch, does not need grounds to fire the F.B.I. director. Mr. Dhillon, a veteran Justice Department lawyer before joining the Trump White House, assigned a junior lawyer to examine this issue. That lawyer determined that the F.B.I. director was no different than any other employee in the executive branch, and that there was nothing prohibiting the president from firing him.
But Mr. Dhillon, who had earlier told Mr. Trump that he needed cause to fire Mr. Comey, never corrected the record, withholding the conclusions of his research.
Dhillon has worked all over the federal government, including stints at the Justice Department, the Hill, the Department of Homeland Security and private practice. According to a The National Law Journal report Jan. 5, Dhillon values executive oversight: As oversight counsel for the House Financial Services Committee in 2014, Dhillon told The National Law Journal his main mission was to help provide a check on the executive branch’s authority. “Oversight is a critical constitutional function,” he said.posted by peeedro at 12:20 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
“But as part of Trump’s White House “compliance team”, Dhillon had a slightly different take on oversight, the journal noted. Dhillon reportedly told top officials at various federal agencies last spring that they don’t need to respond to oversight requests for information from Democratic lawmakers, the journal added.
I imagine this is the first and last time I'll be linking to a TMZ clip, but these are strange times:
John Legend: “I don’t care about fucking Sarah Sanders. Reunite the fucking kids with their families, then we’ll talk about Sarah Sanders and her fucking dinners.”
posted by gwint at 12:23 PM on June 29, 2018 [69 favorites]
John Legend: “I don’t care about fucking Sarah Sanders. Reunite the fucking kids with their families, then we’ll talk about Sarah Sanders and her fucking dinners.”
posted by gwint at 12:23 PM on June 29, 2018 [69 favorites]
What a great protest chant - "Pierce the veil!'
Woah there, are we trying to hold people accountable, or summon the Hidden Old Ones, Hallowed in the Deep Earth?
Kidding, I'm in either way.
posted by mrgoat at 12:24 PM on June 29, 2018 [72 favorites]
Woah there, are we trying to hold people accountable, or summon the Hidden Old Ones, Hallowed in the Deep Earth?
Kidding, I'm in either way.
posted by mrgoat at 12:24 PM on June 29, 2018 [72 favorites]
“He’s [threatened to withdraw] 100 times. It would totally [screw] us as a country,” said a source who’s discussed the subject with Trump. The source added that Trump has frequently told advisers, "We always get fucked by them [the WTO]. I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States."[...]
This story caused Marco Rubio to finally grow a spine and take a strong stand...against the use of profanity in news stories. There was widespread confusion because people naturally thought he was criticizing a Capital Gazette reporter who said "Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else" on CNN, so they've come up with this explanation).
This story, of course, gave the Miami Herald the occasion to use the word 'fuck' three times in their article, and I hope that twists up Rubio's insides even more.
posted by zachlipton at 12:30 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
This story caused Marco Rubio to finally grow a spine and take a strong stand...against the use of profanity in news stories. There was widespread confusion because people naturally thought he was criticizing a Capital Gazette reporter who said "Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else" on CNN, so they've come up with this explanation).
This story, of course, gave the Miami Herald the occasion to use the word 'fuck' three times in their article, and I hope that twists up Rubio's insides even more.
posted by zachlipton at 12:30 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
Lawyers among us:
If it turns out Anthony Kennedy is as corrupt as he looks right now, do we get to revisit all his bullshit votes that resulted in 5-4 decisions with a new court?
posted by schadenfrau at 12:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
If it turns out Anthony Kennedy is as corrupt as he looks right now, do we get to revisit all his bullshit votes that resulted in 5-4 decisions with a new court?
posted by schadenfrau at 12:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
What's funny is that while Rubio is wailing about encountering fuck on twitter or something, John Legend says that thing about Sanders in the most polite way. It sounds venomous transcribed, but it says it in this sweet dad voice, if uh, your dad said fuck all the time I guess
posted by angrycat at 12:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 12:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
A federal district court just struck down Kentucky's medicaid work requirements.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [88 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [88 favorites]
Trade wars are good and easy to win.
Daniel Dale
GM issues lengthy criticism of Trump's proposal for broad tariffs on imported cars and auto parts, saying they "could lead to a smaller GM, a reduced presence at home and abroad for this iconic American company, and risk less — not more — U.S. jobs."
STATEMENT
posted by chris24 at 12:38 PM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
Daniel Dale
GM issues lengthy criticism of Trump's proposal for broad tariffs on imported cars and auto parts, saying they "could lead to a smaller GM, a reduced presence at home and abroad for this iconic American company, and risk less — not more — U.S. jobs."
STATEMENT
posted by chris24 at 12:38 PM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
If it turns out Anthony Kennedy is as corrupt as he looks right now, do we get to revisit all his bullshit votes that resulted in 5-4 decisions with a new court?
A lawyer friend of mine says no, because the SC didn't hear any cases that were directly related to Trump or any of his businesses, and there were no financial benefits, social advancement, or something else that Kennedy could possibly have gained by voting a certain way.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:38 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
A lawyer friend of mine says no, because the SC didn't hear any cases that were directly related to Trump or any of his businesses, and there were no financial benefits, social advancement, or something else that Kennedy could possibly have gained by voting a certain way.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:38 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
A lawyer friend of mine says no, because the SC didn't hear any cases that were directly related to Trump or any of his businesses, and there were no financial benefits, social advancement, or something else that Kennedy could possibly have gained by voting a certain way.
And even if it did, Thomas would be the first to go not Kennedy. He is corrupt af.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:48 PM on June 29, 2018
And even if it did, Thomas would be the first to go not Kennedy. He is corrupt af.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:48 PM on June 29, 2018
Lolno. Who do you think would enforce that? Mitch McConnell? John Roberts? Jeff Sessions?
I was thinking more about 2020, when the Dems hopefully get control of the executive and the legislative branches, and those decisions can be revisited with a liberal packed Court of 13 or whatever. I mean, at this point we might as well aim for the stars.
A lawyer friend of mine says no, because the SC didn't hear any cases that were directly related to Trump or any of his businesses
Damn it. Although: it would certainly justify investigating the hell out of him. And other justices. I remember some grumbling about Scalia, and Thomas clearly lied in his confirmation hearings.
Of course in this fantasy it might make more sense to just throw new test cases at a Dream Court who can be like, "those dudes were corrupt as fuck, let's have a do over."
posted by schadenfrau at 12:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
I was thinking more about 2020, when the Dems hopefully get control of the executive and the legislative branches, and those decisions can be revisited with a liberal packed Court of 13 or whatever. I mean, at this point we might as well aim for the stars.
A lawyer friend of mine says no, because the SC didn't hear any cases that were directly related to Trump or any of his businesses
Damn it. Although: it would certainly justify investigating the hell out of him. And other justices. I remember some grumbling about Scalia, and Thomas clearly lied in his confirmation hearings.
Of course in this fantasy it might make more sense to just throw new test cases at a Dream Court who can be like, "those dudes were corrupt as fuck, let's have a do over."
posted by schadenfrau at 12:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
American Democracy on the Brink
Jun 29, 2018 JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
In just the past few days, the US Supreme Court has handed down a series of rulings favoring corporations over workers, and right-wing extremists over the majority of Americans. With the Court following Donald Trump down the path of racism, misogyny, nativism, and deepening inequality, it would appear that yet another pillar of American democracy has crumbled.
posted by infini at 12:56 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
Jun 29, 2018 JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
In just the past few days, the US Supreme Court has handed down a series of rulings favoring corporations over workers, and right-wing extremists over the majority of Americans. With the Court following Donald Trump down the path of racism, misogyny, nativism, and deepening inequality, it would appear that yet another pillar of American democracy has crumbled.
posted by infini at 12:56 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
Not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure a case is never overturned except by a court, right? (Or the passage of new laws, but that doesn't change the prior decision.) The other branches' power over the Supreme Court is nomination, confirmation, and impeachment, but they can't impeach-plus-order-different-judgments.
So future Supreme Courts might overturn past decisions (and maybe a conflict of interest can be taken into account?) but it will always be some kind of court doing so.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:56 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
So future Supreme Courts might overturn past decisions (and maybe a conflict of interest can be taken into account?) but it will always be some kind of court doing so.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:56 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
My question for lawyers is more generic: say someone managed to successfully bribe or threaten a Supreme Court Justice to decide one or more cases a certain way. The decision comes down 5-4 because of their corrupted decision. After they retire, or die, solid evidence comes out that they did this. Perhaps a recorded video confession that they were too cowardly to release while they were on the court or a letter or something.
Is there any precedent at all for what happens to that decision or would that be uncharted territory where the court can decide whatever they want to do about it?
posted by Green With You at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Is there any precedent at all for what happens to that decision or would that be uncharted territory where the court can decide whatever they want to do about it?
posted by Green With You at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
BREAKING: Federal Court Strikes Down Kentucky’s Medicaid Work Requirement
The Trump administration’s approval of Kentucky’s strict Medicaid work requirement, set to go into effect July 1, was vacated on Friday by a federal judge in Washington D.C. and sent back to the Department of Health and Human Services for reconsideration.posted by chris24 at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2018 [31 favorites]
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sided with the dozen-plus low-income Kentuckians who challenged the new rules, and said that the Trump administration acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner by approving them. “The Secretary never adequately considered whether Kentucky HEALTH would in fact help the state furnish medical assistance to its citizens, a central objective of Medicaid,” Boasberg wrote.
Kentucky was the first state in the nation, and in the nation’s history, to win permission from the federal government to implement Medicaid work requirements. Three other states have since followed: Indiana, Arkansas and New Hampshire. Nearly a dozen are currently awaiting approval from the Trump administration.
Kentucky’s waiver, had it been allowed to go into effect, would have denied coverage to non-disabled state residents who could not prove they were working at least 80 hours per month. It would also have charged low-income Medicaid recipients health care premiums, eliminated full coverage of dental care, vision services, and over-the-counter medications for many adults, ended retroactive Medicaid coverage, and implemented a six-month lockout period for people who failed to re-enroll in time or report a change in income.
Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has repeatedly threatened to abolish his state’s Medicaid expansion entirely if the work requirements waiver was struck down in court. Attorneys for his administration even brought this threat into Judge Boasberg’s courtroom, arguing that any harm done to the plaintiffs was not “redressable” because they would lose their Medicaid either way, and warning the judge that his ruling could cause widespread damage in Kentucky and in other states considering expanding Medicaid. Judge Boasberg appeared uninterested in that line of argument.
The ruling comes on the heels of a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that found that as many as four million people would lose their coverage if similar rules were adopted nationwide. The majority of those people, Kaiser found, would be people who are working but who have difficulty navigating the system of documenting and reporting that work to the state.
“Most disenrollment would be among individuals who would remain eligible but lose coverage due to new administrative burdens or red tape versus those who would lose eligibility due to not meeting new work requirements,” the study found.
Reporting from the VA courthouse, Buzzfeed : Paul Manafort Is Running Out Of Options To Stop A Trial From Starting Next Month—A judge said Friday that Manafort's allegations of leaks by special counsel Robert Mueller's office wouldn't be enough to get the charges tossed out. (Bonus schadenfreude: "Manafort did not attend Friday's hearing; he waived his appearance, citing the long trip from Northern Neck Regional Jail".)
Speaking of leaks, Just Security's Ryan Goodman @ rgoodlaw tweeted some potential scoops* about further behind-the-scenes fuckery with the GOP 2016 platform:
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:04 PM on June 29, 2018 [26 favorites]
Speaking of leaks, Just Security's Ryan Goodman @ rgoodlaw tweeted some potential scoops* about further behind-the-scenes fuckery with the GOP 2016 platform:
Leaked emails between UAE Ambassador and “Barrack, a longstanding friend of Trump and billionaire fundraiser. It reveals...how the Republican platform for 2016 was altered to remove a call for the publication of 28 pages of allegedly incriminating documents from the 9/11 inquiry”*Middle East Eye Revealed: How Trump Confidant Was Ready To Share Inside Information With Uae—Emails will be of interest to Mueller investigation, which is looking at whether the UAE and Saudi funnelled payments to Trump’s campaign
Email from GOP source to Manafort:
“Paul. Something you can pass along to your friend Tom Barrack. I made certain that language that was anti the Saudi Royal Family was removed from the platform. It was inserted by AIPAC lobbyists and would have been a part of the 2016 Platform”
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:04 PM on June 29, 2018 [26 favorites]
There were no financial benefits, social advancement, or something else that Kennedy could possibly have gained by voting a certain way.
How about preventing his son's misdeeds from being exposed and the ensuing harm to his own reputation? That seems like a significant benefit.
About the medicaid ruling, I'm nostalgic for the days when a federal district or circuit court win seemed at least moderately optimistic rather than just 100% setting up a slam-dunk Fuck All Y'all reversal for HELLSCOTUS.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
How about preventing his son's misdeeds from being exposed and the ensuing harm to his own reputation? That seems like a significant benefit.
About the medicaid ruling, I'm nostalgic for the days when a federal district or circuit court win seemed at least moderately optimistic rather than just 100% setting up a slam-dunk Fuck All Y'all reversal for HELLSCOTUS.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
The problem with corporations is that society has never come up with any effective method to punish them, either the individuals who make decisions in the corporation or the corporate entity itself.
To the corporatists, this has always been a feature, not a bug.
posted by mabelstreet at 1:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
To the corporatists, this has always been a feature, not a bug.
posted by mabelstreet at 1:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
More Mueller legal developments, per Courthouse News: New Delay Sought for Michael Flynn Sentencing
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:15 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Prosecutors and defense attorneys both recommended a two-month delay Friday in the sentencing of President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn.And yesterday in D.C., U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss set George Papadopoulos' sentencing for Sept. 7 and ordered prosecutors to file their recommendation for punishment by Aug. 17 (Reuters).
“Due to the status of the special counsel’s investigation, the parties do not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time,” the status report says.
The request comes two months after the parties submitted a nearly identical status report on May 1 that sought a 60-day extension. Like the May status report, Friday’s is short on details about why sentencing should be delayed yet again.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:15 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Corporations are people and Americans by and large support capital punishment.
Do to corporate people what we do to small fry people: execute them and seize their shit. Maybe even use those proceeds to offer restitution to victims.
posted by absalom at 1:16 PM on June 29, 2018 [30 favorites]
Do to corporate people what we do to small fry people: execute them and seize their shit. Maybe even use those proceeds to offer restitution to victims.
posted by absalom at 1:16 PM on June 29, 2018 [30 favorites]
The import of Mueller seeking another delay in Flynn's sentencing is that it means Flynn is still providing relevant information to Mueller's probe, and that information has not yet ripened. Meaning it is about people or situations that have not yet been charged or at least fully investigated.
posted by Justinian at 1:17 PM on June 29, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:17 PM on June 29, 2018 [25 favorites]
While we're talking about Medicaid work requirements, check out this KFF study: Implications of a Medicaid Work Requirement: National Estimates of Potential Coverage Losses. There's a wide range of outcomes modeled, but this is a key conclusion: "Specifically, under all scenarios, most disenrollment would be among individuals who would remain eligible but lose coverage due to new administrative burdens or red tape versus those who would lose eligibility due to not meeting new work requirements."
In other words, the majority of people who would lose their insurance would actually be working or exempt, but would get lost somewhere in the new red tape to have to constantly report and verify their hours or other details. They find that there's a whopping 6% of non-elderly non-SSI Medicaid recipients who are "not working for other reasons", while 62% are working full or part time, and the rest are sick, in school, or not working because they're caregivers. So to penalize the less than 6% who are deemed supposedly too idle to deserve health insurance, millions of workers will lose coverage because of the paperwork requirements to prove eligibility.
Dave Guarino had a great twitter thread on a related topic last week. He runs GetCalFresh.org at Code For America, a program to streamline the enrollment process for food stamps in California so it's like they actually want you to enroll rather than they set out to Do a Bureaucracy:
But while Guarino views this as layers of complexity caused by decades of moral panics and "reforms," Republicans have come to view this situation as a feature: impose requirements intended to target a small population, but will actually cause a much larger group to lose benefits because of administrative nonsense. Drug tests are another example: besides being awful because drug users deserve to eat too, they catch almost nobody on drugs and often cost more than they "save" in kicking drug users off the rolls, but they impose a burden that's another way to slam the door in non-drug users' faces: don't have transportation, child care, free time, the physical and mental health spoons, full bladder, etc... to get yourself to an office at a certain time and be tested? Too bad. Can't deal with an endless application form full of asinine questions even though you're completely eligible? Too bad. Can't report your work hours to the state of Kentucky every month and follow-up to make sure they handled the paperwork correctly? Too bad. These laws are really about being enough of a pain in the ass that eligible people will give up.
Anyway, the Kentucky judge was pissed, and those quotes are everything, especially ""... imagine that the Secretary could exercise his waiver authority solely to promote health, rather than cover
healthcare costs. Nothing could stop him from conditioning Medicaid coverage on consuming more broccoli (at least on an experimental basis)."
posted by zachlipton at 1:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
In other words, the majority of people who would lose their insurance would actually be working or exempt, but would get lost somewhere in the new red tape to have to constantly report and verify their hours or other details. They find that there's a whopping 6% of non-elderly non-SSI Medicaid recipients who are "not working for other reasons", while 62% are working full or part time, and the rest are sick, in school, or not working because they're caregivers. So to penalize the less than 6% who are deemed supposedly too idle to deserve health insurance, millions of workers will lose coverage because of the paperwork requirements to prove eligibility.
Dave Guarino had a great twitter thread on a related topic last week. He runs GetCalFresh.org at Code For America, a program to streamline the enrollment process for food stamps in California so it's like they actually want you to enroll rather than they set out to Do a Bureaucracy:
Okay I'm going to go on a bit of a rant about complexity in public policy. Working on SNAP (food stamps) for a number of years now I've seen just how complex this program is, but also how that complexity creates significant costs to the people whose lives it seeks to improve.He goes on to cite a particularly egregious example from the SNAP application: "Have you or any member of your household been found guilty of trading SNAP benefits for guns, ammunition, or explosives after September 22, 1996." Everybody who wants food stamps has to answer that asinine question, and we know exactly how many otherwise eligible people drop out of the funnel as the form gets longer, and it's particularly dumb because there are like a handful of people who could possibly answer yes to that question, and the government already knows exactly who they are.
Many public programs—but particularly social safety net ones—are deeply, deeply complex. Handbooks for administrators run in the thousands of pages. The laws governing themselves are hundreds of pages. This complexity has a number of sources.
First, it's important to remember public programs are changed over time: new laws are passed, new rules promulgated, new edge cases and problems found that require changes. But almost all these changes are ADDITIVE: making the program *more* complex to accommodate an outlier. Recently a human services administrator said to me, "when you look at the rules, you can almost see the history: 'Oh, here's the 70s. Now here's the 80s and the War on Drugs. Ah this bit is the 90s and Welfare Reform...'" Public policy ends up like the rock layers in the ground. And this additive process of amending public policy means it grows sprawlingly complex: X person isn't eligible, though they SHOULD be. So we add an exception! But not everyone in that bucket should be eligible, so there are exceptions to the exceptions. Now: verify it all.
So you end up with hard ethical and distributional questions in public policy/ program design: We are adding complexity to increase eligibility for a program, *but* that complexity will be borne by *every* client who now, say, has to answer that additional question. And the thing is, the more complex a program is, the larger the *hidden* cost of people simply getting overwhelmed and giving up even through they're otherwise eligible. So you can make more people eligible but also drop previously-eligible people by creating a friction barrier.
But while Guarino views this as layers of complexity caused by decades of moral panics and "reforms," Republicans have come to view this situation as a feature: impose requirements intended to target a small population, but will actually cause a much larger group to lose benefits because of administrative nonsense. Drug tests are another example: besides being awful because drug users deserve to eat too, they catch almost nobody on drugs and often cost more than they "save" in kicking drug users off the rolls, but they impose a burden that's another way to slam the door in non-drug users' faces: don't have transportation, child care, free time, the physical and mental health spoons, full bladder, etc... to get yourself to an office at a certain time and be tested? Too bad. Can't deal with an endless application form full of asinine questions even though you're completely eligible? Too bad. Can't report your work hours to the state of Kentucky every month and follow-up to make sure they handled the paperwork correctly? Too bad. These laws are really about being enough of a pain in the ass that eligible people will give up.
Anyway, the Kentucky judge was pissed, and those quotes are everything, especially ""... imagine that the Secretary could exercise his waiver authority solely to promote health, rather than cover
healthcare costs. Nothing could stop him from conditioning Medicaid coverage on consuming more broccoli (at least on an experimental basis)."
posted by zachlipton at 1:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [28 favorites]
My question for lawyers is more generic: say someone managed to successfully bribe or threaten a Supreme Court Justice to decide one or more cases a certain way. The decision comes down 5-4 because of their corrupted decision. After they retire, or die, solid evidence comes out that they did this. Perhaps a recorded video confession that they were too cowardly to release while they were on the court or a letter or something.
Is there any precedent at all for what happens to that decision or would that be uncharted territory where the court can decide whatever they want to do about it?
It's uncharted territory. It's not clear what the Court could do about it. One could think up various mechanisms (a declaratory action by the AG under the courts original jurisdiction seeking to reclassify them all as split decisions, and thereby reviving certiain older precedents perhaps) but it's kinda like trying to peer across the event horizon. What do you do about Bush v. Gore?
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:24 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is there any precedent at all for what happens to that decision or would that be uncharted territory where the court can decide whatever they want to do about it?
It's uncharted territory. It's not clear what the Court could do about it. One could think up various mechanisms (a declaratory action by the AG under the courts original jurisdiction seeking to reclassify them all as split decisions, and thereby reviving certiain older precedents perhaps) but it's kinda like trying to peer across the event horizon. What do you do about Bush v. Gore?
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:24 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
The import of Mueller seeking another delay in Flynn's sentencing is that it means Flynn is still providing relevant information to Mueller's probe, and that information has not yet ripened.
Exactly. Flynn's continuing cooperation is going to mean more sleepless nights for Trump and his legal team. On the other hand, that the Sept. 7 sentencing date for George Papadopoulos suggests Mueller's more or less done with his cooperation and whatever information he could provide.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:26 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Exactly. Flynn's continuing cooperation is going to mean more sleepless nights for Trump and his legal team. On the other hand, that the Sept. 7 sentencing date for George Papadopoulos suggests Mueller's more or less done with his cooperation and whatever information he could provide.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:26 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
This is a fun detail in the Manafort case: Associated Press may have led FBI to Manafort storage locker.
And unsurprisingly, the reason illegal entry is a federal crime while overstaying your visa isn't turns out to have been really racist, How Crossing the Border Became a Crime
BuzzFeed's David Mack (author of The President and the Big Boy Truck), wrote Marco Rubio Is Offended As Fuck By Your Fucking Vulgar Language And Honestly What The Fuck, and it's pretty fucking great.
posted by zachlipton at 1:29 PM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
And unsurprisingly, the reason illegal entry is a federal crime while overstaying your visa isn't turns out to have been really racist, How Crossing the Border Became a Crime
BuzzFeed's David Mack (author of The President and the Big Boy Truck), wrote Marco Rubio Is Offended As Fuck By Your Fucking Vulgar Language And Honestly What The Fuck, and it's pretty fucking great.
posted by zachlipton at 1:29 PM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
Food stamp applications, like hypothetical tax returns, should fit on a postcard. And, considering how much produce and food goes to waste in general, I'm happy to give anyone who walks into a welfare office and says "My kids are hungry" $100 in food stamps no questions asked. They can take this, go buy some food, and then fill out a (short) application for long-term aid.
If only we went after rich white fraudsters and thieves the way we do poor moms on welfare and low-level, first-time poor criminals, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm just boggled at the depths of grift and fraud and malfeasance in the Republican ranks - now a Supreme Court Judge compromised? President Gillibrand and AG Harris are going to have one hell of a mop-up operation after 2020.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:33 PM on June 29, 2018 [47 favorites]
If only we went after rich white fraudsters and thieves the way we do poor moms on welfare and low-level, first-time poor criminals, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm just boggled at the depths of grift and fraud and malfeasance in the Republican ranks - now a Supreme Court Judge compromised? President Gillibrand and AG Harris are going to have one hell of a mop-up operation after 2020.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:33 PM on June 29, 2018 [47 favorites]
I heard RIPR (Rhode Island Public Radio) announce the locations of tomorrow's protests. I don't believe I have ever heard them do this ahead of schedule. I also don't know if this is significant but maybe...
posted by Botanizer at 1:39 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Botanizer at 1:39 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
T. D. Strange, thank you for linking to the PDF of the decision to strike down Kentucky's work requirements for Medicaid.
One of my favorite things about the internet is the ready availability of court decisions. I learn so much from these things. Today I learned:
I know it's tempting to imagine that the courts are suddenly all completely useless as of this week, but I'm so happy for the 95,000 people in Kentucky who will not be thrown off Medicaid in the immediate future, and for whatever impact this decision will have on other cases in other states - and for the civics lesson I got, the new-to-me knowledge that courts have jurisdiction over policies that deviate from the laws Congress passed.
As of today, some courts in America are working, and working well, to protect individuals - even in red states! - from the arbitrary and capricious policies of this administration. I don't immediately see who litigated this on behalf of the individual plaintiffs, but I see that the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the AARP, Justice in Aging, and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund signed an amicus brief. There are lots of good organizations fighting in the courts for what's right. I do know the ACLU worked on the case that resulted in this week's ruling that immigrant children must be reunited with their parents.
The Supreme Court situation looks very bleak, but they're not the only court in the land, and for today - for these Kentucky residents, and everyone else this case might help - this is a reprieve, and a blow to the side that thinks they can just do what they want, regardless of the law.
Maybe this case will eventually end up at the Supreme Court and be overturned. Maybe the fine folks in Kentucky will lose out anyway, because their governor's threatened to ditch the Medicaid expansion completely if the court overturned their horrible work requirements waiver. But it's a ray of hope for me that there are good court decisions coming out, right now, that affect people today, and even if they get overturned eventually (not guaranteed - the Supreme Court doesn't have TIME to hear every single case the anti-Americans would like to bring), this is a good thing for today.
The courts will not always save us, but they're not all disempowered yet.
posted by kristi at 1:39 PM on June 29, 2018 [31 favorites]
One of my favorite things about the internet is the ready availability of court decisions. I learn so much from these things. Today I learned:
The Administrative Procedure Act “sets forth the full extent of judicial authority to review executive agency action for procedural correctness.” FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502, 513 (2009). It requires courts to “hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions” that are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).In other words (detailed extensively in the ruling), Trump appointees can't just make up whatever policy they want; policy has to at least arguably implement the law as Congress passed it. This decision finds that Congress clearly wanted not only to improve people's health, but also to reduce the cost of health care for people. The laughable administration argument that putting people to work will make them healthier and therefore the waiver fulfills the "make them healthier" intent of the law falls down when you also look at the fact that Congress clearly also wanted to reduce costs for individuals, and people who lose Medicaid are NOT getting their costs reduced.
I know it's tempting to imagine that the courts are suddenly all completely useless as of this week, but I'm so happy for the 95,000 people in Kentucky who will not be thrown off Medicaid in the immediate future, and for whatever impact this decision will have on other cases in other states - and for the civics lesson I got, the new-to-me knowledge that courts have jurisdiction over policies that deviate from the laws Congress passed.
As of today, some courts in America are working, and working well, to protect individuals - even in red states! - from the arbitrary and capricious policies of this administration. I don't immediately see who litigated this on behalf of the individual plaintiffs, but I see that the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the AARP, Justice in Aging, and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund signed an amicus brief. There are lots of good organizations fighting in the courts for what's right. I do know the ACLU worked on the case that resulted in this week's ruling that immigrant children must be reunited with their parents.
The Supreme Court situation looks very bleak, but they're not the only court in the land, and for today - for these Kentucky residents, and everyone else this case might help - this is a reprieve, and a blow to the side that thinks they can just do what they want, regardless of the law.
Maybe this case will eventually end up at the Supreme Court and be overturned. Maybe the fine folks in Kentucky will lose out anyway, because their governor's threatened to ditch the Medicaid expansion completely if the court overturned their horrible work requirements waiver. But it's a ray of hope for me that there are good court decisions coming out, right now, that affect people today, and even if they get overturned eventually (not guaranteed - the Supreme Court doesn't have TIME to hear every single case the anti-Americans would like to bring), this is a good thing for today.
The courts will not always save us, but they're not all disempowered yet.
posted by kristi at 1:39 PM on June 29, 2018 [31 favorites]
Uhhhhhh. WaPo, U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe
The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany, amid growing tensions between President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to people familiar with the work.posted by zachlipton at 1:43 PM on June 29, 2018 [27 favorites]
The effort follows Trump’s expression of interest in removing the troops, made during a meeting earlier this year with White House and military aides, U.S. officials said. Trump was said to have been taken aback by the size of the U.S. presence, which includes about 35,000 active-duty troops, and complained that other countries were not contributing fairly to joint security or paying enough to NATO.
Word of the assessment has alarmed European officials, who are scrambling to determine whether Trump actually intends to reposition U.S. forces or whether it is merely a negotiating tactic ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels, where Trump is again likely to criticize U.S. allies for what he deems insufficient defense spending.
The Administrative Procedure Act “sets forth the full extent of judicial authority to review executive agency action for procedural correctness.”
Yes. The APA is the bulwark of the administrative state, and it protects anyone with a justiciable interest who would be affected by a rule change by the federal government. It's the legal basis for most challenges to environmental decisions, for instance.
That said, the GOP (unsurprisingly) wants to gut the APA, and make it easier for corporate interests to prevail in rulemaking, and harder for individuals and non-profits to get their voices heard. Watch for changes to the APA, and make sure your congressional representatives know you're concerned about this.
posted by suelac at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yes. The APA is the bulwark of the administrative state, and it protects anyone with a justiciable interest who would be affected by a rule change by the federal government. It's the legal basis for most challenges to environmental decisions, for instance.
That said, the GOP (unsurprisingly) wants to gut the APA, and make it easier for corporate interests to prevail in rulemaking, and harder for individuals and non-profits to get their voices heard. Watch for changes to the APA, and make sure your congressional representatives know you're concerned about this.
posted by suelac at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
American Democracy on the Brink
Jun 29, 2018 JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
In just the past few days, the US Supreme Court has handed down a series of rulings favoring corporations over workers, and right-wing extremists over the majority of Americans. With the Court following Donald Trump down the path of racism, misogyny, nativism, and deepening inequality, it would appear that yet another pillar of American democracy has crumbled.
I'm always puzzled by articles like this one. Were the people who wrote them asleep during the entire 2000 election?
The idea of the US Supreme Court as a pillar of American democracy didn't just crumble, it was subject to a deliberate detonation by the Republican Justices on 12 December 2000.
The fact that the Court is a tool of Republican power grabbing isn't even old news, it's not news of any sort it's just a long established fact. The US Supreme Court is a blatantly political organization and the Republican Justices act to increase Republican power without the slightest hint of shame and they've been doing it openly for 18 years.
The fact that the US Supreme Court fell as a pillar of American democracy is now old enough to have its vote suppressed, not counted, and gerrymandered.
I don't know what it's going to take to repair things, but the very least is an honest recognition of just how badly things are broken and how long they've been broken.
It has now been 18 years since a Republican President was legitimately elected to office, yet out of those 18 years 10 have been under a Republican President.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice that a few of the pundit class are finally waking up to the fact that the Republicans on the Court abandoned any and all pretense of being anything but partisan hacks, but dude, seriously it ain't new.
posted by sotonohito at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [50 favorites]
Jun 29, 2018 JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
In just the past few days, the US Supreme Court has handed down a series of rulings favoring corporations over workers, and right-wing extremists over the majority of Americans. With the Court following Donald Trump down the path of racism, misogyny, nativism, and deepening inequality, it would appear that yet another pillar of American democracy has crumbled.
I'm always puzzled by articles like this one. Were the people who wrote them asleep during the entire 2000 election?
The idea of the US Supreme Court as a pillar of American democracy didn't just crumble, it was subject to a deliberate detonation by the Republican Justices on 12 December 2000.
The fact that the Court is a tool of Republican power grabbing isn't even old news, it's not news of any sort it's just a long established fact. The US Supreme Court is a blatantly political organization and the Republican Justices act to increase Republican power without the slightest hint of shame and they've been doing it openly for 18 years.
The fact that the US Supreme Court fell as a pillar of American democracy is now old enough to have its vote suppressed, not counted, and gerrymandered.
I don't know what it's going to take to repair things, but the very least is an honest recognition of just how badly things are broken and how long they've been broken.
It has now been 18 years since a Republican President was legitimately elected to office, yet out of those 18 years 10 have been under a Republican President.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice that a few of the pundit class are finally waking up to the fact that the Republicans on the Court abandoned any and all pretense of being anything but partisan hacks, but dude, seriously it ain't new.
posted by sotonohito at 1:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [50 favorites]
One the one hand it's great that American Hegemony is being dismantled.
On the other, the way we're dismantling it.
posted by notyou at 1:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the other, the way we're dismantling it.
posted by notyou at 1:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the other, the way we're dismantling it.
Well, we're not dismantling it. Putin is.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [26 favorites]
Well, we're not dismantling it. Putin is.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [26 favorites]
"We've always been at war with NATO,
Mr. Gorbachev, build that wall!" [fake]
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 1:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Mr. Gorbachev, build that wall!" [fake]
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 1:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Buzzfeed: The White House Is Becoming a Ghost Town. Trump Loyalists Worry It's Going to Get Worse.
Of course, as the Trump Org is a boutique family business, not a large corporation, Trump has always preferred a small staff and tight inner circle for his businesses. You know, like a crime family.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [41 favorites]
The ever-growing number of departures and existing vacancies is worrying Trump loyalists and establishment Republicans alike — many of whom have previously raged about the growing size of the federal government — as the office in charge of hiring and vetting candidates continues to struggle, several sources told BuzzFeed News.[...]Fun fact, per a Brookings Institution study: "Of [the “Tier One”] positions within the Trump Administration, a full two-thirds have left the White House, and with the recent revelation that the Legislative Affairs Director, Marc Short, will be leaving this summer, 75 percent of the president’s most senior aides will have departed within the first 18 months of the administration."
The Presidential Personnel Office has not improved much, those sources say, since the Washington Post revealed its problems in March and detailed the happy hours the leaders hosted at work.
“Instead of being preoccupied with drinking games, they should be concerned with the alarming number of vacancies that threaten our national security and economic stability,” said a former White House official.[...]
In the coming weeks, White House legislative director Marc Short is expected to leave; deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin has already announced his retirement from government; and Trump loyalist Dan Scavino, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and deputy press secretary Raj Shah are also reportedly eyeing the exits. It's also unclear how much longer Kelly will stay at the White House, given that he’s been losing influence with the president.[...]
Many of the departures within the communications shop, too, were planned by the White House in an effort to stymie unflattering leaks. But it’s unclear whether that has solved or compounded the problem.
“People there couldn’t handle their workload before the mass exodus that’s left the comms shop a barren wasteland occupied by frazzled junior staffers,” said a former White House official. “You can almost hear the tumbleweed in the hallways rustle in between groans as the senior staff ultimately gets what they wanted and now has to live with the increased scrutiny and pressure to make zero mistakes.
“On top of all this, they’ve convinced themselves they’ve ridded all the leakers, but the building continues to leak like a sieve.”
Of course, as the Trump Org is a boutique family business, not a large corporation, Trump has always preferred a small staff and tight inner circle for his businesses. You know, like a crime family.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [41 favorites]
Axios: Prank caller patched through to Trump on Air Force One
They've come up with a suitable response to this: throw Jared under the bus.
@anniekarni: More on sloppy protocol: Legislative affairs was notified of call, checked with Mendendez COS, who said he was not trying to reach POTUS. Leg affairs said kill the call. It was patched through, however, reportedly by Kushner.
On what is surely a completely unrelated note, Kushner Company Sues Jersey City, Claiming ‘Anti-Trump’ Bent Stalled Project, in which Jared's family is mad that the mayor didn't approve a 30-year tax break on a project they couldn't manage to finance.
posted by zachlipton at 2:07 PM on June 29, 2018 [18 favorites]
They've come up with a suitable response to this: throw Jared under the bus.
@anniekarni: More on sloppy protocol: Legislative affairs was notified of call, checked with Mendendez COS, who said he was not trying to reach POTUS. Leg affairs said kill the call. It was patched through, however, reportedly by Kushner.
On what is surely a completely unrelated note, Kushner Company Sues Jersey City, Claiming ‘Anti-Trump’ Bent Stalled Project, in which Jared's family is mad that the mayor didn't approve a 30-year tax break on a project they couldn't manage to finance.
posted by zachlipton at 2:07 PM on June 29, 2018 [18 favorites]
Trump’s top economic adviser says deficit ‘is coming down rapidly,’ contradicting virtually all available data.
Nick Timiraos (WSJ)
Reached by phone, Kudlow told me his comment was meant prospectively.
It reflects his view not that deficits have come down sharply, but that they will be coming down as growth rises "faster than virtually any forecasters think."
---
I wasn't lying, I was predicting. I just like to use the present progressive tense for future events.
posted by chris24 at 2:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [20 favorites]
Nick Timiraos (WSJ)
Reached by phone, Kudlow told me his comment was meant prospectively.
It reflects his view not that deficits have come down sharply, but that they will be coming down as growth rises "faster than virtually any forecasters think."
---
I wasn't lying, I was predicting. I just like to use the present progressive tense for future events.
posted by chris24 at 2:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [20 favorites]
NYT, ‘Shaken’ Rosenstein Felt Used by White House in Comey Firing
Speaking of the law, the judge in the NY AG's Trump Foundation case suggested the Trump kids just accept the one-year ban on serving on nonprofit boards sought by the AG's office, because she'll probably make them do it anyway and giving up now would be a lot less trouble. Trump's lawyer can't say whether he'll take the position that he can't be sued while he's President, but the judge thinks Trump could be called to testify if this goes forward.
posted by zachlipton at 2:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [30 favorites]
Mr. Rosenstein did not engage with Mr. Sessions as he deliberated whether to appoint a special counsel.Jeff Sessions, material witness.
On the afternoon that Mr. Mueller’s appointment was announced, Mr. Sessions was in the Oval Office with the president discussing candidates to be F.B.I. director when they both learned that Mr. Rosenstein had made his decision. Mr. Trump erupted in anger, saying he needed someone overseeing the investigation who would be loyal to him. Mr. Sessions offered to resign.
Mr. Sessions felt blindsided by Mr. Rosenstein’s decision. After leaving the White House, Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff, Jody Hunt, confronted Mr. Rosenstein, demanding to know why he had not given them advance warning, according to a lawyer briefed on the exchange. Mr. Rosenstein has told others that he was worried at the time he would be fired by the president.
Speaking of the law, the judge in the NY AG's Trump Foundation case suggested the Trump kids just accept the one-year ban on serving on nonprofit boards sought by the AG's office, because she'll probably make them do it anyway and giving up now would be a lot less trouble. Trump's lawyer can't say whether he'll take the position that he can't be sued while he's President, but the judge thinks Trump could be called to testify if this goes forward.
posted by zachlipton at 2:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [30 favorites]
And it’s not just mainstream Democrats who are getting their boxers in a knot. On Wednesday, Vermont Independent and left-wing hero Bernie Sanders came out on the side of civility, arguing that Trump officials had “a right to go into a restaurant and have dinner” without being harassed. That Sanders, a man who made his name by channeling the righteous rage of the 99 percent, a politician who was credited, along with Donald Trump, in 2016 for his ability to hear, respect, and channel the fury of the electorate — where Hillary Clinton could not — is now throwing water on another kind of righteous rage, is pretty rich.Rebecca Traister, Summer of Rage
These people had nice dinners in restaurants interrupted. They did not have their children pulled from their arms, perhaps forever; they were not refused refuge based on their country of origin or their religion or the color of their skin; they were not denied due process; nor were they denied a full range of health-care options, forced to carry a baby against their will, separated from their families via the criminal justice system, or shot in the back by police for the mere act of being young and black.
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:22 PM on June 29, 2018 [70 favorites]
And Minority Leader Pelosi has a good angle on the Supreme Court:
Not everybody sees how Supreme Court decisions affect their daily lives. Even fewer people probably know about the lawsuit - I think I'm reasonably well-informed, but I had to go look up the details. I did not realize it was 20 states (TWENTY!) that are suing to overturn Obamacare. I didn't even know exactly what the argument was (that the individual mandate is unconstitutional), or its ramifications (therefore, they say, the whole ACA is unconstitutional).
We know that protection for those with pre-existing conditions (pretty much all of us) is extremely popular, even among Republican voters, and removing it is extremely unpopular. This is a great way to show people who don't think about the Supreme Court very often that it really could protect them - and that whether it will comes down to who fills that seat.
I encourage sharing that point with anyone you can think of who hasn't thought about it already.
posted by kristi at 2:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
This week marked six years since the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act as the law of the land, ensuring quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans. But with the chance to rewrite the Court, Republicans could now even succeed in their vicious lawsuit to strike down life-saving protections for people with pre-existing conditions.(from today's email newsletter)
If they get their way, they will drag us back to the dark days of discrimination against the 130 million Americans who have a pre-existing medical condition. At least 68 million women and girls would face a future of higher costs and worse care, and little children could be deprived of affordable care for their entire lives, just for being born with a health condition.
Not everybody sees how Supreme Court decisions affect their daily lives. Even fewer people probably know about the lawsuit - I think I'm reasonably well-informed, but I had to go look up the details. I did not realize it was 20 states (TWENTY!) that are suing to overturn Obamacare. I didn't even know exactly what the argument was (that the individual mandate is unconstitutional), or its ramifications (therefore, they say, the whole ACA is unconstitutional).
We know that protection for those with pre-existing conditions (pretty much all of us) is extremely popular, even among Republican voters, and removing it is extremely unpopular. This is a great way to show people who don't think about the Supreme Court very often that it really could protect them - and that whether it will comes down to who fills that seat.
I encourage sharing that point with anyone you can think of who hasn't thought about it already.
posted by kristi at 2:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
When I call my senators I will take everyone's pointers here about no confirmation until after the current investigation. But as a Texan, both mine are on the Senate Judiciary Committee so I'm going to request that per the McConnell rule, Ted Cruz is not eligible to make decisions on this because he is in the middle of an election year. Beto For Texas, y'all.
posted by dog food sugar at 2:57 PM on June 29, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by dog food sugar at 2:57 PM on June 29, 2018 [21 favorites]
U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe
I certainly don't agree with his reasons or approach, but I would like to see the American empire of military bases get smaller.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
I certainly don't agree with his reasons or approach, but I would like to see the American empire of military bases get smaller.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Foreign Policy, U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Resigns in Disgust After Trump Anti-Europe Rants
posted by zachlipton at 3:08 PM on June 29, 2018 [33 favorites]
The U.S. ambassador to Estonia, James D. Melville Jr., a career diplomat and member of the senior foreign service ranks, announced to friends Friday that he was resigning amid a string of controversial comments President Donald Trump made about U.S. allies in Europe.Daily Beast, Ackerman, NSA Admits It Improperly Collected a Huge Amount of Americans’ Call Records
Melville, who has served as a diplomat for 33 years and as ambassador to Estonia since 2015, was due to retire soon but said in a private Facebook post announcing his retirement that Trump’s behavior and comments accelerated his decision.
“A Foreign Service Officer’s DNA is programmed to support policy and we’re schooled right from the start, that if there ever comes a point where one can no longer do so, particularly if one is in a position of leadership, the honorable course is to resign. Having served under six presidents and 11 secretaries of state, I never really thought it would reach that point for me,” he wrote in the post, which was obtained by Foreign Policy.
“For the President to say the EU was ‘set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank,’ or that ‘NATO is as bad as NAFTA’ is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it’s time to go,” he wrote, citing Trump’s reported comments in recent weeks that have unnerved U.S. allies.
The National Security Agency has admitting to improperly collecting what appears to be hundreds of millions of phone records from Americans, casting doubt that the principal restriction Congress imposed after Edward Snowden’s revelations has significantly inhibited the surveillance behemoth.Strange how often this keeps happening, isn't it?
In a statement released Thursday saying it has deleted the data wholesale, the agency said it had on its own discovered that telecommunications firms had been providing NSA with records of Americans’ phone calls or texts that it “was not authorized to receive.” The discovery occurred “several months ago.” Echoing previous explanations for overcollection, NSA said unspecified “technical irregularities” were to blame.
Citing similarly unspecified technical reasons why it cannot distinguish between legally and illegally acquired phone data, NSA opted to delete “all” such data “acquired since 2015” under a post-Snowden update to a crucial surveillance law.
...
A purge of three years of call data was “so radical” a solution, Sanchez said, that it raised questions over the resemblance the post-2015 phone records program has had, in practice, to what the Obama and Trump administrations have portrayed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) overseeing it.
...
Surveillance experts said the mass deletion also raised questions about the national-security significance of the call records in the first place. “Either there was a violation of massive proportions, or this data wasn’t of much value anyway, or both,” said Liza Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
posted by zachlipton at 3:08 PM on June 29, 2018 [33 favorites]
Can Snowden come home now?
posted by M-x shell at 3:12 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 3:12 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
The fact that the US Supreme Court fell as a pillar of American democracy is now old enough to have its vote suppressed, not counted, and gerrymandered.
QFTMFT
posted by 20 year lurk at 3:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
QFTMFT
posted by 20 year lurk at 3:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
More corporate tax cuts coming in October, per WaPo.
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
posted by greermahoney at 3:15 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
posted by greermahoney at 3:15 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe
I certainly don't agree with his reasons or approach, but I would like to see the American empire of military bases get smaller.
Like with all policy decisions, how you back up from a difficult situation is as important as doing so. Germany, Japan, South Korea . . . if we suddenly and poorly withdraw these forces, we will not be serving either ourselves or the people of those countries, and might just spur a mad dash of militarism from some of those countries instead, leading to worse outcomes. If another party is armed, it doesn't make sense to unilaterally disarm. Now, if the US wants to create a world where those military bases can be safely reduced and removed and that serve everyone, I'm all ears.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 3:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
I certainly don't agree with his reasons or approach, but I would like to see the American empire of military bases get smaller.
Like with all policy decisions, how you back up from a difficult situation is as important as doing so. Germany, Japan, South Korea . . . if we suddenly and poorly withdraw these forces, we will not be serving either ourselves or the people of those countries, and might just spur a mad dash of militarism from some of those countries instead, leading to worse outcomes. If another party is armed, it doesn't make sense to unilaterally disarm. Now, if the US wants to create a world where those military bases can be safely reduced and removed and that serve everyone, I'm all ears.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 3:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
I visited Senator Gardner's (R-CO) office today to press his staff about reuniting families who've been separated at the border. I told his staffer that I'd already reached out to the Senator about this last week and got a response detailing the Senator's very brave action of sending a sternly worded letter to AG Sessions and here I'll quote from Gardner's email, "I believe that the Federal Government is ultimately responsible for the security of our nation’s borders, but the policy of separating minor children from their families is not required to achieve that security." There was nothing at all about how inhumane or brutal this is, only that it doesn't make anything safer to tear children from their parents' arms. His letter then executed the deft Republican pivot to talking about comprehensive immigration reform (the same tactic Lamborn's staffers used during yesterday's meeting) rather than family reunification.
I told his staffer Rebecca that I had read the Senator's response and wanted to reiterate my initial question which is what Gardner will be doing to reunite these traumatized children with their families, asked that he co-sponsor S 3036 and finally that he not vote in favor or any additional funding for ICE, or tent cities, or putting immigrants on military bases. She said she would pass along my remarks. The other adults spoke and then my 10-year-old son read her excerpts from Home by Warsan Shire and I completely lost my shit. Rebecca asked if she could keep the poster I had written parts of the poem on and I don't know what she's going to do with it, but my Senator now has an 11x17 poster with the words of a brilliant British-Somali poet on one side and "Families Belong Together" on the other.
posted by danielleh at 3:20 PM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
I told his staffer Rebecca that I had read the Senator's response and wanted to reiterate my initial question which is what Gardner will be doing to reunite these traumatized children with their families, asked that he co-sponsor S 3036 and finally that he not vote in favor or any additional funding for ICE, or tent cities, or putting immigrants on military bases. She said she would pass along my remarks. The other adults spoke and then my 10-year-old son read her excerpts from Home by Warsan Shire and I completely lost my shit. Rebecca asked if she could keep the poster I had written parts of the poem on and I don't know what she's going to do with it, but my Senator now has an 11x17 poster with the words of a brilliant British-Somali poet on one side and "Families Belong Together" on the other.
posted by danielleh at 3:20 PM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
@GlobeMCramer: Awful scene on the orange line. A woman’s leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. It was twisted and bloody. Skin came off. She’s in agony and weeping. Just as upsetting she begged no one call an ambulance. “It’s $3000,” she wailed. “I can’t afford that.”
@abogada_laura: My 5-yr-old client can’t tell me what country she is from. We prepare her case by drawing pictures with crayons of the gang members that would wait outside her school. Sometimes she wants to draw ice cream cones and hearts instead. She is in deportation proceedings alone.
This is a really fucked up country.
posted by zachlipton at 3:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [92 favorites]
@abogada_laura: My 5-yr-old client can’t tell me what country she is from. We prepare her case by drawing pictures with crayons of the gang members that would wait outside her school. Sometimes she wants to draw ice cream cones and hearts instead. She is in deportation proceedings alone.
This is a really fucked up country.
posted by zachlipton at 3:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [92 favorites]
More corporate tax cuts coming in October, per WaPo.
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
posted by greermahoney at 3:15 PM on June 29 [+] [!]
They just want to leave the incoming Democrats a shit sandwich to eat.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:27 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
posted by greermahoney at 3:15 PM on June 29 [+] [!]
They just want to leave the incoming Democrats a shit sandwich to eat.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:27 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Where would they get the revenue for another permanent tax cut? Or would this one sunset after 10 years like the personal income cuts? I suppose going from 21 to 20% "only" costs a hundred billion or so, they can find that in the cushions or kill some poor people for it or something. But they're talking like it would be only part of a tax cut package. And they already took the "easy" money like eliminating SALT deductions to do the first round with reconciliation. Are they seriously planning to cut Medicaid or the like to pay for the next round? (Since obviously they won't cut the military.)
posted by Justinian at 3:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
More corporate tax cuts coming in October, per WaPo.
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
It's the only thing their caucus can agree on.
posted by notyou at 3:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
It's the only thing their caucus can agree on.
posted by notyou at 3:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Per the WaPo, which was light on details, they plan to roll out several bills, one of them the 1 percent corporate cut, another that makes permanent the middle class cuts from last year's travesty that expire in 2025 or whenever.
I don't think they are over-concerned with pay-fors because they'll just ram this up against the Democratic filibuster in the Senate. If the filibuster holds, campaign trail fodder; if it doesn't, campaign trail fodder and maybe depressed turnout on the other side.
posted by notyou at 3:40 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't think they are over-concerned with pay-fors because they'll just ram this up against the Democratic filibuster in the Senate. If the filibuster holds, campaign trail fodder; if it doesn't, campaign trail fodder and maybe depressed turnout on the other side.
posted by notyou at 3:40 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ah, gotcha. Yeah this was easy to see coming. If Democrats vote to make permanent the middle class tax cuts it gives Trump a bipartisan victory and something to campaign on. Plus it explodes the deficit and makes gutting entitlements much more likely. But if Democrats filibuster it Trump and the Republicans get handed a different issue to campaign on; DEMOCRATS FILIBUSTERED A TAX CUT FOR YOU.
Win/win for the Republicans. Lose/lose for the Democrats.
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Win/win for the Republicans. Lose/lose for the Democrats.
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
For my part, if you're going to lose either way you might as well lose while doing the right thing and filibuster this bullshit.
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [34 favorites]
Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler won a civil suit against someone for calling him a murderer during the rally. Virginia has a bunch of dumb laws on "Action for insulting words", built on the theory that insulting someone could incite them to violence. He won $5.
In other words:
@EmilyGorcenski: Bad news, it's no longer possible to call neo-Nazi lying basement-dwelling incel crybaby scumfucker Jason Kessler a neo-Nazi lying basement-dwelling incel crybaby scumfucker to his face for free. Good news: it only costs $5.
posted by zachlipton at 3:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [63 favorites]
In other words:
@EmilyGorcenski: Bad news, it's no longer possible to call neo-Nazi lying basement-dwelling incel crybaby scumfucker Jason Kessler a neo-Nazi lying basement-dwelling incel crybaby scumfucker to his face for free. Good news: it only costs $5.
posted by zachlipton at 3:46 PM on June 29, 2018 [63 favorites]
We are 24 hours from Trump implying reporters are bringing this upon themselves.
posted by chris24 at 5:31 PM on June 28
Daniel Dale
Trump on the Capital Gazette shooting, per pool: "Nobody has the full story yet, but what happened there is a disgrace."
- Also Trump: "Obviously, the press has treated me very badly, in the meantime I'm president, so, I guess they didn't treat me badly enough...Some of the greatest people I know are reporters and people in the media. But also you have, like anything else, people that are bad."
5:41 PM - June 29
---
I was off by 10 minutes.
posted by chris24 at 3:54 PM on June 29, 2018 [70 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:31 PM on June 28
Daniel Dale
Trump on the Capital Gazette shooting, per pool: "Nobody has the full story yet, but what happened there is a disgrace."
- Also Trump: "Obviously, the press has treated me very badly, in the meantime I'm president, so, I guess they didn't treat me badly enough...Some of the greatest people I know are reporters and people in the media. But also you have, like anything else, people that are bad."
5:41 PM - June 29
---
I was off by 10 minutes.
posted by chris24 at 3:54 PM on June 29, 2018 [70 favorites]
Where would they get the revenue for another permanent tax cut?
They don't care. They get to cut funding for things they hate, and if this bodes poorly for the country, that's just one step closer to Gilead.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
They don't care. They get to cut funding for things they hate, and if this bodes poorly for the country, that's just one step closer to Gilead.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
NBC News, North Korea has increased nuclear production at secret sites, say U.S. officials
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea has increased its production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months — and that Kim Jong Un may try to hide those facilities as he seeks more concessions in nuclear talks with the Trump administration, U.S. officials told NBC News.posted by zachlipton at 4:03 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
The intelligence assessment, which has not previously been reported, seems to counter the sentiments expressed by President Donald Trump, who tweeted after his historic June 12 summit with Kim that "there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea."
Analysts at the CIA and other intelligence agencies don't see it that way, according to more than a dozen American officials who are familiar with their assessments and spoke on the condition of anonymity. They see a regime positioning itself to extract every concession it can from the Trump administration — while clinging to nuclear weapons it believes are essential to survival.
NYT, David D. Kirkpatrick and Matthew Rosenberg, Russians Offered Business Deals to Brexit’s Biggest Backer. It's amazing how much this parallels the Trump story, down to the whole pattern of "nothing happened. Ok maybe there was a meeting but it was nothing. Maybe there were three meetings but one was just a cup of tea. Ok fine there was a fourth meeting but what I said before was 'relatively accurate.'" And then there's this, which is HOLY CRAP WTF WORTHY and buried the third paragraph from the bottom on a Friday afternooon:
In August, Mr. Banks had lunch with the Russian ambassador and discussed the Trump campaign. At their lunch after Mr. Trump’s victory in November, the two men discussed what role Jeff Sessions, then a senator, might play in the cabinet, according to people who have reviewed the records of his emails.posted by zachlipton at 4:04 PM on June 29, 2018 [38 favorites]
Ok I just asked Matt Rosenberg to confirm I didn't lose my mind and he's really saying Banks and the Russian ambassador discussed Jeff Sessions in November 2016. The response: "Yes, that's what is says. We'll share more when we know more."
That seems like a boom, no?
posted by zachlipton at 4:12 PM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
That seems like a boom, no?
posted by zachlipton at 4:12 PM on June 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
Some of the greatest people I know are reporters and people in the media. But also you have, like anything else, people that are bad.
"You also had some very fine people on both sides" again?!?
Lets' try this again:
Going-about-your-business side: good
Murdering side: bad
posted by kirkaracha at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
"You also had some very fine people on both sides" again?!?
Lets' try this again:
Going-about-your-business side: good
Murdering side: bad
posted by kirkaracha at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
Between the earlier Rosenstein story and now this Banks/Brexit story, Sessions is having a fantastic Friday. The Nazi elf implicated in obstruction and collusion is one beautiful TGIF.
posted by chris24 at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
A bit of much needed levity: Dispatches from the Civility War (McSweeney's, but funny)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:35 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Not sure what the boom is - a lot of Twitter pundits etc. were speculating what role Jeff Sessions might have in the cabinet. You need to spell it out.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:39 PM on June 29, 2018
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:39 PM on June 29, 2018
I don't think they are over-concerned with pay-fors because they'll just ram this up against the Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
No filibuster allowed. They are going to do it with a budget reconciliation bill, just like the last tax cut. New year, new budget. 50 votes will do it.
Another gimmick is that last year's tax cut sets a new baseline for deficits, so this new tax cut stands on its own as far as pay-fors go. The fact that is simply adds to last years deficit bill is irrelevant.
posted by JackFlash at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
No filibuster allowed. They are going to do it with a budget reconciliation bill, just like the last tax cut. New year, new budget. 50 votes will do it.
Another gimmick is that last year's tax cut sets a new baseline for deficits, so this new tax cut stands on its own as far as pay-fors go. The fact that is simply adds to last years deficit bill is irrelevant.
posted by JackFlash at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have nothing to add to the discussion except Friday, drunken, incoherent rage at the current state of things...
That and a Trump story from a friend/horse's mouth. Another data point if you will.
Friend of mine's dad and I were talking recently and he related the story of talking to someone on a small ferry coming back from an exclusive dinner location on a nearby island. This was during the Republican Presidential primary cycle. The friend's dad, upon learning that this guy standing next to him was from NYC and also a very wealthy real estate investor type, asked him his opinion on Trump as a candidate/person.
Long story short, friend's dad had to eventually walk away from this guy to get relief from the anti-Trump diatribe that spewed forth from, and this was his impression anyway, what anyone would characterize as a similar type person that ran in Trump's circles. Layers upon layers of hated and contempt, you might say.
Sheezus. Effing. Christ. I'm. Off. To. Drink more. And. Donate. Some. Monies. To. Something..that is. Anti. All of this.
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
That and a Trump story from a friend/horse's mouth. Another data point if you will.
Friend of mine's dad and I were talking recently and he related the story of talking to someone on a small ferry coming back from an exclusive dinner location on a nearby island. This was during the Republican Presidential primary cycle. The friend's dad, upon learning that this guy standing next to him was from NYC and also a very wealthy real estate investor type, asked him his opinion on Trump as a candidate/person.
Long story short, friend's dad had to eventually walk away from this guy to get relief from the anti-Trump diatribe that spewed forth from, and this was his impression anyway, what anyone would characterize as a similar type person that ran in Trump's circles. Layers upon layers of hated and contempt, you might say.
Sheezus. Effing. Christ. I'm. Off. To. Drink more. And. Donate. Some. Monies. To. Something..that is. Anti. All of this.
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [13 favorites]
Not sure what the boom is
I can't speak for Zach and obviously could be innocent speculation between friends. But when the "friends" are the Russian ambassador and a British national who came to the US to help Trump's campaign immediately after colluding with Russia on Brexit, I'm curious to see if there is more than just idle speculation and perhaps some suggestions/recommendations in those emails. Or hints of or details about previous contact with Sessions that triggered the conversation. I mean, it's just an odd detail that of all the things that could be in casual emails between them, it's the future role in the We'reOpenToColluding administration of a guy who lied multiple times about Russian contacts.
posted by chris24 at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
I can't speak for Zach and obviously could be innocent speculation between friends. But when the "friends" are the Russian ambassador and a British national who came to the US to help Trump's campaign immediately after colluding with Russia on Brexit, I'm curious to see if there is more than just idle speculation and perhaps some suggestions/recommendations in those emails. Or hints of or details about previous contact with Sessions that triggered the conversation. I mean, it's just an odd detail that of all the things that could be in casual emails between them, it's the future role in the We'reOpenToColluding administration of a guy who lied multiple times about Russian contacts.
posted by chris24 at 4:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
A lot of Twitter pundits are not the same thing as a representative of the Russian government. Note how many times Sessions appears on All the known times the Trump campaign met with Russians and the extent to which Sessions denied such contacts. For example,
Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show:
I don't know what happened in that meeting, and I'd sure as hell like to see the email that was described to the Times. But the fact that the parties involved here are directly connected to the events in question makes me think they weren't just generally prognosticating cabinet posts in the manner of a pundit: the Russians and Banks and Sessions are all tied up in this.
posted by zachlipton at 5:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [33 favorites]
Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show:
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s accounts of two conversations with Sessions — then a top foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Donald Trump — were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies, which monitor the communications of senior Russian officials in the United States and in Russia. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak and then said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign.So Sessions is clearly of interest to the Russian government throughout the Trump campaign. And Banks is clearly of interest to the Russian government throughout the Brexit campaign, as he's repeatedly offered Russian business deals. Trump gets elected, and Banks and Farage are having a long meeting with Trump four days later, without an appointment or invitation. Now we learn Banks is discussing US cabinet posts for Sessions with the Russian government around the same time.
One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he had no recollection of an April encounter — has provided “misleading” statements that are “contradicted by other evidence.” A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.
I don't know what happened in that meeting, and I'd sure as hell like to see the email that was described to the Times. But the fact that the parties involved here are directly connected to the events in question makes me think they weren't just generally prognosticating cabinet posts in the manner of a pundit: the Russians and Banks and Sessions are all tied up in this.
posted by zachlipton at 5:02 PM on June 29, 2018 [33 favorites]
No filibuster allowed. They are going to do it with a budget reconciliation bill, just like the last tax cut. New year, new budget. 50 votes will do it.
Then they have to find pay-fors. If you've seen more details on this plan that includes the GOPs intention to use reconciliation, can you share? All the reporting I've seen is that they intend to do it without reconciliation.
posted by notyou at 5:04 PM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
Then they have to find pay-fors. If you've seen more details on this plan that includes the GOPs intention to use reconciliation, can you share? All the reporting I've seen is that they intend to do it without reconciliation.
posted by notyou at 5:04 PM on June 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
the parties involved here are directly connected to the events in question
Banks is the guy who gave that same Russian ambassador a contact number for someone on the Trump transition team.
So when those two guys are sitting around chatting about the role of Sessions on the Trump cabinet... They have the ability to call up someone on the Trump transition team and make their suggestions.
And neither one of them is American.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:07 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
Banks is the guy who gave that same Russian ambassador a contact number for someone on the Trump transition team.
So when those two guys are sitting around chatting about the role of Sessions on the Trump cabinet... They have the ability to call up someone on the Trump transition team and make their suggestions.
And neither one of them is American.
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:07 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
And as should be apparent from the last series of comments an easy way to think of it is this: If they use reconciliation it means they are serious about ramming it through and they want it to pass. They prefer the cuts to making political hay. If they don't use reconciliation they don't care as much if it passes (though if it did that would be great) and it's mostly about political optics.
posted by Justinian at 5:09 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:09 PM on June 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
@BeauBieniek
@DonCheadle since your up, seriously, how the fuck can we as a country come back from where we are now?
@DonCheadle
vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. and vote in numbers too big to manipulate.
posted by Artw at 5:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [89 favorites]
@DonCheadle since your up, seriously, how the fuck can we as a country come back from where we are now?
@DonCheadle
vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. vote in numbers too big to manipulate. and vote in numbers too big to manipulate.
posted by Artw at 5:14 PM on June 29, 2018 [89 favorites]
This June 20, 2018 Roll Call report on the FY2019 budget process notes that the included reconciliation instructions in the resolution that recently cleared committee cover proposed entitlement cuts, but nobody is really paying it much attention because:
There is no logistical reason for GOP leaders to make adopting a budget a priority this year; February’s budget deal set statutory discretionary spending caps, obviating the need for a budget blueprint’s enforcement tools. Many Republicans don’t necessarily want to use reconciliation procedures to jam through entitlement program cuts on a party-line vote that the GOP would own politically.posted by notyou at 5:19 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
And House leaders this fall are already planning a show vote this fall to extend the tax overhaul’s cuts for individuals in order to put Democrats on record opposing them — the tax cuts don’t expire until 2025, so there is no overriding reason to actually push through an extension this year.
Even if it gets out of committee as expected, with perhaps a few GOP defections, Republicans are downplaying the resolution’s chances on the House floor. That’s because many don’t want to vote for a politically toxic document that Democrats will surely campaign on given the appearance of trillions of dollars in cuts over a decade to social programs. In addition, the numbers will incorporate the February budget deal, which increases fiscal 2019 nondefense spending by 13 percent over what it would have been under the previous statutory caps.
“It’s not going to pass,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina said. “I have complete support for Chairman Womack’s willingness to go forward, but I don’t think it’s anything that will be supported by conservatives.”
vote in numbers that are too big to manipulate and throw as many spanners in the works as needed in order to shut the bastards down.
posted by nikaspark at 5:22 PM on June 29, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 5:22 PM on June 29, 2018 [16 favorites]
Exclusive: State Department risks China's ire with request for US Marines in Taiwan
posted by Artw at 5:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:55 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
WaPo, Trump administration plans to detain migrant families for months
Texas Tribune, In El Paso shelter, a group of undocumented immigrant parents now know where their children are
The Appeal, Mayors Who Care About Child Separation Should Look in Their Own Backyards:
Families are torn apart by the criminal justice system every day.
The Trump administration plans to detain migrant families together in custody rather than release them, according to a new court filing that suggests such detentions could last longer than the 20 days envisioned by a court settlement.Texas Monthly, An Immigrant Teen Describes Life in Detention After Being Separated From His Mother
“The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a legal notice to a federal judge in California who has been overseeing long-running litigation about the detention of illegal immigrants.
On an unusually muggy night in August 2017, a Brazilian woman and her fourteen-year-old son crossed into the United States just west of El Paso, in the northern part of the vast Chihuahuan Desert. They were quickly apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol. If they had crossed almost anywhere else along the U.S.-Mexico border, or at any other time, they might have stayed together while an immigration judge decided whether they would be deported. But Jocelyn and James (their last name is not being used because they have applied for asylum and are fearful for their safety) entered in the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which was then secretly testing a new border security tactic being pushed by some in the Trump administration: the forcible separation of immigrant children from their parents, which they believed would send a message to other would-be border crossers.An underappreciated part of this is that it's clear that the government ran a pilot test of family separation in a part of Texas late last year. This wasn't some hastily thrown together plan they implemented now; this is something they've been explicitly working towards. Which makes it all the more appalling that they planned all this without any functioning mechanism to reunite families.
When Border Patrol agents came to their holding cell to tell Jocelyn they were taking her son, she struggled for words. “She wouldn’t say much because she cried most of the time,” James said. “So she just said goodbye the last time we were together at the prison, and said to take all my stuff because she didn’t know what was going to happen to her. I was scared because I didn’t know what was happening—what was going to happen.”
Key voices have been missing from the debate about family separation in recent weeks: the more than 2,000 children taken from their parents. James broke that silence Thursday in El Paso, in what may be the first in-depth interview with a child taken from a parent by the Border Patrol. Until this week, Jocelyn prevented the media from talking to James. But the teenager was eager to tell his story, and Jocelyn relented
...
When asked if he had a message for the American people about his separation from his mother, James said: “This shouldn’t be done to a person. There were kids younger than me. There was a person with serious mental problems. He almost couldn’t walk. If you haven’t had the experience you cannot imagine how awful it is to be there.”
Texas Tribune, In El Paso shelter, a group of undocumented immigrant parents now know where their children are
But before he can be reunited with his daughter, Mario — who asked to be identified only by his first name to avoid the possibility of jeopardizing his asylum claim — needs the Honduran government to fax a copy of his birth certificate to the legal representatives who are helping him while he’s at the shelter.So ICE takes away all your identity documents, but then ORR won't let you see your kids without them. Hell of a system.
Garcia said the birth certificate is one of the documents that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has custody of the children, asks to see before approving reunifications, but those aren't returned to the parents after they are released from federal custody.
“And so when you talk to ORR, you say, ‘ICE took my birth certificate,’ and they’ll say that ICE and ORR don’t talk to each other,” Garcia said. “It’s just a problematic system.”
The Appeal, Mayors Who Care About Child Separation Should Look in Their Own Backyards:
Families are torn apart by the criminal justice system every day.
The idea of separating a parent from their child over a mere misdemeanor offense—whether marijuana possession or illegally crossing a border—is reminiscent of authoritarian regimes, not a free democracy. And yet, it happens every day. Perhaps next, de Blasio can go to Rikers Island and ask about the children of those inmates. What he despises in Texas, he encourages in New York.posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on June 29, 2018 [41 favorites]
Mayors all have the ability to speak out about the policies that exist in their jurisdiction, and call for reform. They know how many children are parentless in Torillo. But what about their own hometowns?
Surprise [edit: what zachlipton said above], Trump administration plans to detain migrant families for months (WaPo):
In other fascist news:
Trump eyes executive order expanding power to block deals between U.S., foreign telecom firms:
The Trump administration plans to detain migrant families together in custody rather than release them, according to a new court filing that suggests such detentions could last longer than the 20 days envisioned by a court settlement.Trump is saying to the judiciary: you made your Flores settlement, now enforce it.
“The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a legal notice to a federal judge in California who has been overseeing long-running litigation about the detention of illegal immigrants.
The filing comes as the Justice Departments seeks to navigate two different court edicts — an injunction issued earlier this week by a federal judge in San Diego that required the government to begin reuniting the roughly 2,000 migrant children still separated from their families, and an older court settlement in Los Angeles federal court that requires the immigration agencies to release minors in their custody if they are held for more than 20 days.
In other fascist news:
Trump eyes executive order expanding power to block deals between U.S., foreign telecom firms:
Trump administration officials are debating whether to declare a “national emergency” to protect U.S. telecommunications networks in a move that would give the federal government broad powers to prevent American companies from doing business with foreign suppliers, according to a White House document and officials familiar with the matter.U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe
Under a draft executive order reviewed by The Washington Post, the president would authorize the commerce secretary to block transactions involving U.S. and foreign telecommunications equipment makers on national security grounds. U.S. networks, which underpin the day-to-day running of the economy and vital public services, are “attractive targets for espionage, sabotage and foreign interference activity,” the order says.
The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany, amid growing tensions between President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to people familiar with the work.posted by peeedro at 6:34 PM on June 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
An underappreciated part of this is that it's clear that the government ran a pilot test of family separation in a part of Texas late last year. This wasn't some hastily thrown together plan they implemented now; this is something they've been explicitly working towards. Which makes it all the more appalling that they planned all this without any functioning mechanism to reunite families.
These people are the monsters of nightmares.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:42 PM on June 29, 2018 [27 favorites]
These people are the monsters of nightmares.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:42 PM on June 29, 2018 [27 favorites]
The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany,
putin isnt even trying to be subtle anymore is he
posted by entropicamericana at 6:53 PM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
putin isnt even trying to be subtle anymore is he
posted by entropicamericana at 6:53 PM on June 29, 2018 [14 favorites]
Is it just me or this news actually speeding up? North Korea resuming its nuclear operations is just a blip.
posted by xammerboy at 6:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 6:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
U.S. assessing cost of keeping troops in Germany as Trump battles with Europe.
So how many Trump military parades in a US military base in Germany? What's the unit cost for each? If saving money's the issue (it's not the issue) why is he pushing for one but not the other? (narcissism is why)
posted by scalefree at 6:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
So how many Trump military parades in a US military base in Germany? What's the unit cost for each? If saving money's the issue (it's not the issue) why is he pushing for one but not the other? (narcissism is why)
posted by scalefree at 6:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Congress can easily and quickly be seen as feckless. All of this is happening right under our noses.
posted by rhizome at 6:59 PM on June 29, 2018
posted by rhizome at 6:59 PM on June 29, 2018
I no longer have hope in white America by Karen Attiah (Chicago Tribune OpEd):
I have reached a regrettable conclusion in the era of President Donald Trump. I no longer have hope in white America.posted by peeedro at 7:28 PM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
After White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was politely asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia, discussion among the largely white political and media classes erupted into a firestorm over "civility" in the Trump era. Those of us whose identities have made us the direct targets of the Trump administration's hateful rhetoric and discriminatory policies are told to not stoop to Trump's level. We are then fed cherry-picked quotes from black luminaries, often King — “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars” — or a favorite from Michelle Obama's convention speech: "When they go low, we go high."
The whitewashed version of a heroic, nonconfrontational King ignores the fact that he favored direct action and confrontation, and was painted as an extremist in his time. White Americans hated and jailed him. And ultimately, it was a white American who murdered him in broad daylight.
As for going high? Trump rose to power in no small part due to his promises to bury the political accomplishments of the first black president. It is easy for those who have privilege — the privilege of never being denied the opportunity to serve in the military because of their gender identity, of never being afraid of police brutality, of never facing anti-Muslim animus, of never being a migrant forcibly separated from his or her children — to lecture those of us who do not enjoy such privileges to conduct peaceful resistance in a way that doesn't make others uncomfortable. But these demands for civility from the privileged, largely white political class who claim a desire to oppose Trumpism and injustice sound very much like the stumbling block of white moderates that King wrote about 55 years ago.
WSJ, Son of U.S. Envoy to China Used Trump Ties to Lure Business
posted by zachlipton at 7:31 PM on June 29, 2018 [21 favorites]
A son of the U.S. ambassador to Beijing used his connections to President Donald Trump this week to drum up business for his public-relations firm."Everybody's doing it. Why not me?" is what I presume he said before jumping in.
Eric Branstad, a son of Ambassador Terry Branstad, and the U.S. Commerce Department’s liaison to the White House until January, spoke on Thursday in Shanghai to more than 100 lawyers, bankers and advisers at a seminar titled “How to React To (Potential) US-China Trade War?”
Mr. Branstad highlighted his personal relationship with Mr. Trump and plans for his firm to open a China office, attendees said.
...
In an invitation to the Shanghai event, Mr. Branstad’s bio suggests in both English and Chinese that he continues to have a role with the U.S. government. It describes him as “the main point of contact and chief aid” to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Commerce Department didn’t respond to a request to comment. The bio also says “he works as a partner and senior adviser directly with” the secretary and other officials.
posted by zachlipton at 7:31 PM on June 29, 2018 [21 favorites]
Well, Kennedy's son was Trump's banker. Not a banker. His closest banker working to facilitate Russian loans over a 12 year period working on transactions too toxic for other banks to handle.
Well put. Corporate news media? Phone's ringin', dude.
Talk About 'The Appearance of Corruption'
Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump had a special relationship.
". . . During Mr. [Justin] Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history."
In truth, though, this gives me the best reason I ever had to print again one of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy’s greatest hits.
"We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. …The fact that speakers [i.e., donors] may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that these officials are corrupt. … The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy."
Of course, it won’t.
Say hello to your boy. I hear he’s a special guy.
Forgot Tony was "corporations are people, my friend" Kennedy.
posted by petebest at 7:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [23 favorites]
Well put. Corporate news media? Phone's ringin', dude.
Talk About 'The Appearance of Corruption'
Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump had a special relationship.
". . . During Mr. [Justin] Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history."
In truth, though, this gives me the best reason I ever had to print again one of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy’s greatest hits.
"We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. …The fact that speakers [i.e., donors] may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that these officials are corrupt. … The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy."
Of course, it won’t.
Say hello to your boy. I hear he’s a special guy.
Forgot Tony was "corporations are people, my friend" Kennedy.
posted by petebest at 7:37 PM on June 29, 2018 [23 favorites]
Politico: Obama: ‘You Are Right to Be Concerned’—In his first public comments in months, the former president talks about anger, regrets — and what the Republicans are doing right.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
Barack Obama’s message to Democrats: Stop dreaming of him.Admittedly, he's addressing DNC donors and not a Metafilter megathread, but nonetheless, he's trying to instil some urgency to their political participation.
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday here in the lush backyard of two party megadonors, Obama warned of a country and world on the brink — “you are right to be concerned,” he told the crowd — but said they’d flub their chance to change that if they kept pining for a magical savior.
“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,’” Obama said in his first public comments in months, which only a few reporters and no cameras were allowed in for. “Because that’s part of what happened in the last election. I heard that too much.”
“Boil it down,” Obama said, reiterating an argument he made on the campaign trail for Ralph Northam in 2017 about the existential challenge Trump poses to America. “If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.”[...]
“I’ll be honest with you, if I have a regret during my presidency, it is that people were so focused on me and the battles we were having, particularly after we lost the House, that folks stopped paying attention up and down the ballot,” Obama said.[...]Meanwhile, this DNC fête comes off as a parody of itself: "The event stuck to the focus-on-the-midterms message, with Christina Aguilera performing Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom” (“You better think / Think about what you’re trying to do to me”) and the hosts handing out gift bags in the end with a big red bag of Intelligentsia coffee beans inside and a “Stay Energized for November” sticker on front."
The event was the first of three fundraisers Obama is doing in California this week, with two scheduled Friday in San Francisco for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Thursday night’s event was to boost a DNC that is still struggling to reassert and refinance itself a year and a half into the chairmanship of Perez and with the massive undertaking of the 2020 election looming just behind the midterms. On that front, Obama said, Democrats could learn from Republicans, who have continued rapidly building out their infrastructure and fundraising despite Trump’s daily pummeling of the GOP to reshape it in his image.
“They don’t worry about inspiration,” Obama said. “They worry about winning the seat and they are very systematic about work not just at the presidential level but at the congressional and state legislative levels.”[...]
Obama mocked Trump and others for being among the angry: “They’re mad even when they win.”
“I am not surprised that instead of replacing what we had done with something better, they just have done their best to undermine and erode what’s already in place,” he said. “Of course people are going to be angry about that, because if you had health care and suddenly somebody who says they’re going to make it better comes in and makes it worse, you’ll be pissed. You should go out and vote.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:45 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
Trump Will Announce Supreme Court Pick on July 9
President Trump said that he has narrowed his Supreme Court shortlist to five people, including two women.
He told reporters that he’ll be interviewing candidates this weekend at his golf club in New Jersey and that he’ll announce the pick on Monday, July 9.
Wow, women even. Being interviewed at the golf club. For the Supreme Court. Sure. Whynot.
posted by petebest at 7:54 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
President Trump said that he has narrowed his Supreme Court shortlist to five people, including two women.
He told reporters that he’ll be interviewing candidates this weekend at his golf club in New Jersey and that he’ll announce the pick on Monday, July 9.
Wow, women even. Being interviewed at the golf club. For the Supreme Court. Sure. Whynot.
posted by petebest at 7:54 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
Ran across this very timely & practical but somewhat lengthy Twitter thread & felt the best way to share it & facilitate discussion is to de-thread & post the whole thing. So here it is.
@CindyOtis_ Today seems like the right time to do a thread I've been thinking about for a while on how to handle the seemingly never-ending deluge of depressing and disturbing news. My tips are based on my time as a CIA military analyst in which I dealt daily with disturbing content.posted by scalefree at 8:58 PM on June 29, 2018 [123 favorites]
There are several risks to being overloaded with disturbing/negative content.
✔️ Complacency - becoming so used to the deluge that it all starts to seem normal.
✔️ Paralysis - that is, being so overwhelmed, you can't figure out what to do/how to move forward.
✔️ Crisis perspective - you get trapped in the Breaking News cycle where everything seems like a potentially world-ending crisis to you.
✔️ Depression/PTSD - you don't have to be on the frontline of a war have either/both. Disturbing content is absolutely a trigger.
There are also serious physical consequences to living a negative content overloaded life. I had a colleague who didn't know he had stage 4 brain cancer because the symptoms were the same as our very stressful careers--exhaustion, random fevers, stress, and dizziness.
So, what do you do? First, I strongly urge you not to ignore the news/current events. Ignorance is one reason we have this society. It won't make the problems go away & contributes nothing to their solving. Now that that's established, here's how to make it easier to handle:
1. TAKE ACTION. Volunteer for a food pantry, canvass for a political candidate, donate to a NGO, visit a sick friend. Seriously. Service of some kind in your community lets you be part of SOLUTIONS. You will see RESULTS when otherwise you'd feel helpless.
2. Conversely, for those who may take tip #1 to the extreme--know that you alone can't save the world. Accept your limits. You aren't a 7/11. You can't always be open. At the end of every day when I reached my limit, I silently told myself, "I've done what I can today."
(Note: Repeating that to myself did not stop me from feeling like I could have done more most days. But it was important to tell myself anyway because I am human. We are human. It's good we *feel* things.)
3. RESEARCH BEFORE PANICKING. Easier said than done, but everything will seem like crisis/earth-ending if you don’t know what has/hasn't happened before. If it has happened before, it's can be hugely comforting to know how it was resolved and/or what might happen next.
4. GET UP & MOVE. Put the phone away, turn off the TV, log out of Twitter. Go for a walk, sit outside, get some coffee, call a friend. CIA is full of ppl walking the building with a colleague/friend. There's a reason. Our brains & bodies need breaks from stressful content.
5. SET RULES. Because of my work at CIA, I had a rule--I only read fiction at home. I had enough reality at work. In the civilian world, I set blocks of time each day where I turn everything off--no news or social media. Let yourself recharge so you can keep fighting later.
6. AVOID DARK HOLES. (I'm sure there's a joke to be made about that.) It's easy to get sucked into the swirl of bad news. You watch a gruesome YouTube video and the next one is all queued up to play right after it. Focus on one issue at a time. Deal w/ it before moving on.
7. YOU NEED FUN. When there is suffering, war, despair, etc. around you, it's easy to feel guilty when you have fun, feel happy, have a good meal with friends. You NEED these things. You will be better able to do good in the world if you let yourself have these things.
8. TALK TO SOMEONE. Often, we curl inward socially when overwhelmed w/ negative content. It's a means of protection. One of the great things at CIA was that everyone else knew what you were going through. Whether it's therapy or talking to your person, talking helps.
None of this is easy. I got burned out a lot in my career & many days recently, I've felt overloaded by the barrage. I'm sure you have too. But you and I can't check out. We can't give up & we need to stay engaged, but we can't do that if we get overloaded. Keep going.
Shout out to @Celeste_pewter who forces me to get out of the house when I start sounding especially doom and gloom!
“Don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote."
I've slowly become convinced over the years this doesn't work. I've seen people try and motivate voters who weren't interested in Gore or Kerry to vote against Bush, because Bush was bad. It didn't work. The Democrats have for too long invested in a centrist strategy and simply expected their members to come along for the ride. It's time for free healthcare, education, welfare, and a living wage for all. Pull out the stops already.
posted by xammerboy at 9:00 PM on June 29, 2018 [25 favorites]
I've slowly become convinced over the years this doesn't work. I've seen people try and motivate voters who weren't interested in Gore or Kerry to vote against Bush, because Bush was bad. It didn't work. The Democrats have for too long invested in a centrist strategy and simply expected their members to come along for the ride. It's time for free healthcare, education, welfare, and a living wage for all. Pull out the stops already.
posted by xammerboy at 9:00 PM on June 29, 2018 [25 favorites]
I'm kinda eh on Obama's message at that fundraiser and it definitely doesn't change anything for me. I'm going to do what I've been planning to do since the terrible night of November 8, 2016, which is to work my ass off to get Dems elected and resist this administration as hard as I can. The results in CO from the primary aren't certified yet, but turnout was record-breaking. Higher than the primary in 2016, even before you count the unaffiliated voters who were able to vote in this primary for the first time. Over 130,000 more votes were cast for the Democratic governor candidates than the Republican ones. There are strong campaigns already harnessing energy to turn out the vote. Folks are focused on the state legislature as well as the state executive, the secretary of state, the treasurer, the attorney general, on electing an entire slate of Dem candidates as whatever protection we can have against the malfeasance and fuckery of this administration, but not only that. Candidates are talking about universal healthcare, affordable housing, protecting the state retirement fund, renewable energy, reforms to the criminal justice system, and a central plank in Polis's education platform is free, full-day kindergarten for all kids (lots of districts can only afford to offer half-day kinder). Maybe Obama's message is necessary or helpful in other places, but I feel good about what we're doing here.
posted by danielleh at 9:18 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by danielleh at 9:18 PM on June 29, 2018 [12 favorites]
Christina Aguilera performing Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom”
It's not "Freedom," it's "Think."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's not "Freedom," it's "Think."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:21 PM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]
Wow, two useful tweets in one day. Who'da thunk it?
@Johngcole Dear Liberals & independents:
In 2020, there will be a candidate competing against Donald Trump for President. It is very likely this candidate:
1) Isn't your first choice
2) Isn't 100% ideologically pure
3) Has made mistakes in their life
4) Might not excite you all that much
5) Has ideas you are uncomfortable with
Please start the process of getting over that shit now, instead of waiting until 2020.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [101 favorites]
@Johngcole Dear Liberals & independents:
In 2020, there will be a candidate competing against Donald Trump for President. It is very likely this candidate:
1) Isn't your first choice
2) Isn't 100% ideologically pure
3) Has made mistakes in their life
4) Might not excite you all that much
5) Has ideas you are uncomfortable with
Please start the process of getting over that shit now, instead of waiting until 2020.
posted by scalefree at 9:50 PM on June 29, 2018 [101 favorites]
Obama articulating his regrets and vaguely blaming the people instead of lingering over his many many shortcomings as a president is kind of infuriating (still best president of my lifetime but jeez)
posted by dis_integration at 10:28 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 10:28 PM on June 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
From the "who could have predicted it?" department:
Top Supreme Court prospect has argued presidents should not be distracted by investigations and lawsuits.
Top Supreme Court prospect has argued presidents should not be distracted by investigations and lawsuits.
U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who is viewed as one of the leading contenders to replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.posted by scalefree at 10:29 PM on June 29, 2018 [17 favorites]
Kavanaugh had direct personal experience that informed his 2009 article for the Minnesota Law Review: He helped investigate President Bill Clinton as part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s team and then served for five years as a close aide to President George W. Bush.
Having observed the weighty issues that can consume a president, Kavanaugh wrote, the nation’s chief executive should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”
If a president were truly malevolent, Kavanaugh wrote, he could always be impeached.
Obama articulating his regrets and vaguely blaming the people instead of lingering over his many many shortcomings as a president is kind of infuriating (still best president of my lifetime but jeez)
FFS, his entire presidency was nothing but a daily microscope on his shortcomings as a president, real or imagined. We don’t need to spend one more second on that subject. The relevant topic is the many shortcomings of the current president. Obama on his worst day would still be orders of magnitude better than Trump on his best day.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:40 PM on June 29, 2018 [59 favorites]
Paul Manafort, unclear on the concept.
@ZoeTillman Just in: Paul Manafort is asking the DC Circuit to let him out of jail while his appeal is pending
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4567283-6-28-18-Manafort-Motion-Release-DC-Circuit.html
posted by scalefree at 12:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
@ZoeTillman Just in: Paul Manafort is asking the DC Circuit to let him out of jail while his appeal is pending
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4567283-6-28-18-Manafort-Motion-Release-DC-Circuit.html
posted by scalefree at 12:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
well, first you must understand he is a white man
posted by salix at 1:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by salix at 1:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [29 favorites]
With the last couple of days (or months? I'm confused) news, I'm thinking that the reason the Mueller investigation is taking so long is not so much that he needs the documentation that Trump is a crook to be very accurate. It's all out in the public already. We all know Trump is a crook, including all the Republican lawmakers.
The reason this is taking a long time is that Mueller and his team need to thoroughly document how far-reaching and catastrophic this real life conspiracy is, as it includes the AG (obviously), the Republican leadership in congress, an effing member of the SCOTUS (!!!!), and dog knows who else.
As many here have written, this didn't just happen with Trump, it was there already, otherwise Trump couldn't ever have gotten to where he is. But Trump let it loose on a whole new scale. It's another example of believing what the authoritarian says: he said loud and clear that he knew the corruption better than anyone else.
posted by mumimor at 2:29 AM on June 30, 2018 [17 favorites]
The reason this is taking a long time is that Mueller and his team need to thoroughly document how far-reaching and catastrophic this real life conspiracy is, as it includes the AG (obviously), the Republican leadership in congress, an effing member of the SCOTUS (!!!!), and dog knows who else.
As many here have written, this didn't just happen with Trump, it was there already, otherwise Trump couldn't ever have gotten to where he is. But Trump let it loose on a whole new scale. It's another example of believing what the authoritarian says: he said loud and clear that he knew the corruption better than anyone else.
posted by mumimor at 2:29 AM on June 30, 2018 [17 favorites]
In 2020, the Electoral College will still be employed.
posted by Harry Caul at 3:51 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 3:51 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is anyone hearing anything about a full court press against this SC pick?
I feel like I’m losing my mind. The dictator has literally just announced that he’s going to fully corrupt the court, bringing every branch of government under his control. This is it. And...crickets.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:28 AM on June 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
I feel like I’m losing my mind. The dictator has literally just announced that he’s going to fully corrupt the court, bringing every branch of government under his control. This is it. And...crickets.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:28 AM on June 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
One the one hand it's great that American Hegemony is being dismantled.
Is it? 45 is known to be a fan of a globe divided between Russia and America, and I expect him to come back from Helsinki with a plan to dismantle NATO and move towards exactly that. Europe will be forced to exchange American protection for Russian, Asia will become the new battleground to suppress China, and the southern hemisphere will be split up for resources. All while climate change imposes ever more catastrophe to power the authoritarians.
Or. y'know, the GOP could grow a spine
posted by Devonian at 4:31 AM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
Is it? 45 is known to be a fan of a globe divided between Russia and America, and I expect him to come back from Helsinki with a plan to dismantle NATO and move towards exactly that. Europe will be forced to exchange American protection for Russian, Asia will become the new battleground to suppress China, and the southern hemisphere will be split up for resources. All while climate change imposes ever more catastrophe to power the authoritarians.
Or. y'know, the GOP could grow a spine
posted by Devonian at 4:31 AM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
Or. y'know, the GOP could grow a spine
The GOP is literally evil. They CHOSE Donald J. Trump -- despite everything known about him -- including raping a 13 year old girl in 1994. The GOP didn't do this accidentally.
They don't need a spine. They need a moral conscience. ( See also, Secret Baby Jails )
posted by mikelieman at 4:35 AM on June 30, 2018 [19 favorites]
The GOP is literally evil. They CHOSE Donald J. Trump -- despite everything known about him -- including raping a 13 year old girl in 1994. The GOP didn't do this accidentally.
They don't need a spine. They need a moral conscience. ( See also, Secret Baby Jails )
posted by mikelieman at 4:35 AM on June 30, 2018 [19 favorites]
As an indicator of public mood, the DC mass mobilization is going to draw ten times as many people as expected.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:04 AM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:04 AM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
gwint: Senator Cory Booker: "The president of the United States is a subject of an ongoing criminal investigation...that could end up before the Supreme Court," so any Trump SCOTUS nomination should be "delayed until the Mueller investigation is concluded."
This video is really good.
Also, I'd been planning to write my senators today but was having a hard time coming up with the best way to frame these arguments in a way that might actually be persuasive. Now I can just say "I agree 100% with what Senator Booker said, specifically the following points:" and just reiterate the highlights.
And then throw this in of course
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
This is fine
posted by robotdevil at 5:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [19 favorites]
This video is really good.
Also, I'd been planning to write my senators today but was having a hard time coming up with the best way to frame these arguments in a way that might actually be persuasive. Now I can just say "I agree 100% with what Senator Booker said, specifically the following points:" and just reiterate the highlights.
And then throw this in of course
Justice Kennedy's son was the loan facilitator at Deutsche Bank who gave Donald Trump his real estate loans when nobody else was lending to him. They were routing Russian money to Trump.
This is fine
posted by robotdevil at 5:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [19 favorites]
More corporate tax cuts coming in October, per WaPo.
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
They're scared that the tax cuts they did pass aren't popular. Maybe because they massively benefited the rich, and the middle class not so much, and even Trump's base can see that.
I'm off to the march in Indianapolis. See y'all later.
posted by Gelatin at 5:24 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
Scared they won’t be able pass any more after November?
They're scared that the tax cuts they did pass aren't popular. Maybe because they massively benefited the rich, and the middle class not so much, and even Trump's base can see that.
I'm off to the march in Indianapolis. See y'all later.
posted by Gelatin at 5:24 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
@danniaskini
There's more info in her other tweets.
posted by Buntix at 5:54 AM on June 30, 2018 [68 favorites]
Today I was denied a renewal of my US Passport and told I would need to get a judge to unseal child welfare records from Foster care in order to "prove" my US Citizenship. Despite having had all "Female" ID since 1999, they are now demanding "Proof of Transition" for the 1st timeIn an earlier time it may have been possible to chalk it up to bureaucratic incompetence and unpreparedness, but now it looks a lot more like a trial balloon for a de-citizening process deliberately targeting a known activist.
Other important notes: 1. I have already showed them a birth certificate with my current legal name (which it has been since 1999) and my legal gender as "Female". They claim this is not the "original" because I had previous names. The "original" documents no longer exist.
It is also worth noting: 1. I am a survivor of stalking with felony charges still pending - State Dept. has seen this. 2. I am actively fleeing threats of violence, 3. I have sought official US government protection for #2 and was told to buy a gun and hire private security.
My job is dangerous enough. Being trapped in a country where other people who want to do harm to me for my work as a human rights defender can operately freely and unhindered by State Actors is reason to seek Assylum in another country. I refuse to live in terror and fear.
There's more info in her other tweets.
posted by Buntix at 5:54 AM on June 30, 2018 [68 favorites]
The next step after today is a general strike. SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:00 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:00 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
You can’t just declare a general strike and expect everything to shut down, Michael.
posted by EarBucket at 6:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by EarBucket at 6:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
I recently got my passport updated with my married name and I was granted a provisional 2 year passport even though I’ve had my gender marker and name legally changed since 2014. I mean not that I believe surgeries should even fucking matter at all but how ridiculous is it that I’ve fucking had GRS even and I still couldn’t get a 10 year passport until I go back and get all new letters from doctors that state some magic combination of words that will convince the state to grant me the same passport everyone else gets.
I think is more the state department having a separate set of rules that give nary a fuck what your state records and birth certificate say, which honestly is more of a critique on the state of how absolutely chaotic and unevenly applied the state by state laws are in the US which requires the state department to require their own set of rules just to achieve some level of consistency. Which is like that XKCD comic on standards.
ENDA in 2004 would have been nice but that ship has sailed y’all. And like Danni Askini I am also making plans to leave the US because let’s get real here even after Trump is deposed this place is still going to be fucked up for people like me for a long time to come.
posted by nikaspark at 6:10 AM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
I think is more the state department having a separate set of rules that give nary a fuck what your state records and birth certificate say, which honestly is more of a critique on the state of how absolutely chaotic and unevenly applied the state by state laws are in the US which requires the state department to require their own set of rules just to achieve some level of consistency. Which is like that XKCD comic on standards.
ENDA in 2004 would have been nice but that ship has sailed y’all. And like Danni Askini I am also making plans to leave the US because let’s get real here even after Trump is deposed this place is still going to be fucked up for people like me for a long time to come.
posted by nikaspark at 6:10 AM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
@mtbindurham
On the one hand, this article and takes from @yfreemark and others are very correct, and it's a trend I wish had been better recognized before.
But there's some technological fatalism here that doesn't recognize how Democratic strategies have helped create this alignment
(long thread on Democratic campaigning organization follows. tl;dr: it’s far too top-down, prioritizes things in weird clumps and ignores feedback from on-the-ground-canvassers.)
posted by Artw at 6:14 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
On the one hand, this article and takes from @yfreemark and others are very correct, and it's a trend I wish had been better recognized before.
But there's some technological fatalism here that doesn't recognize how Democratic strategies have helped create this alignment
(long thread on Democratic campaigning organization follows. tl;dr: it’s far too top-down, prioritizes things in weird clumps and ignores feedback from on-the-ground-canvassers.)
posted by Artw at 6:14 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
GOP legislative candidate in North Carolina: ‘God is racist,’ Jews are descended from Satan
Utterly destroyed his opponent in the primary, though the incumbent is Democrat so maybe this is one of those ones where nobody has their eye on it because they don’t expect him to win.
posted by Artw at 6:22 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Utterly destroyed his opponent in the primary, though the incumbent is Democrat so maybe this is one of those ones where nobody has their eye on it because they don’t expect him to win.
posted by Artw at 6:22 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
The Department of Defense under President Donald Trump has quietly changed its public mission statement, altering a decades-old stated goal.
The change occurred sometime this year, according to a column in the veterans-focused news outlet Task & Purpose, and was altered to exclude the directive to “deter war”, while adding a goal to “sustain American influence abroad”.
Rogue State.
posted by adamvasco at 6:36 AM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
The change occurred sometime this year, according to a column in the veterans-focused news outlet Task & Purpose, and was altered to exclude the directive to “deter war”, while adding a goal to “sustain American influence abroad”.
Rogue State.
posted by adamvasco at 6:36 AM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
If a president were truly malevolent, Kavanaugh wrote, he could always be impeached.
Well that's some quality logic there, judge. We'll be on the lookout for such planet-shattering evil that even the fucking GOP pinhead so-called justices can identify it! Let's keep glued to The News to see when that happens. Hooray checks and balances.
posted by petebest at 6:39 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well that's some quality logic there, judge. We'll be on the lookout for such planet-shattering evil that even the fucking GOP pinhead so-called justices can identify it! Let's keep glued to The News to see when that happens. Hooray checks and balances.
posted by petebest at 6:39 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
If you’re hearing crickets maybe you need to join an activist group and get on an email and text list?
I’m on a lot of lists. I mean crickets from Democratic leadership.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I’m on a lot of lists. I mean crickets from Democratic leadership.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Accused Annapolis shooter had deep, dark links to the alt-right
The only two politicians Ramos had tweeted about, according to Hutson, were Donald Trump and Michael Peroutka, a wealthy neo-Confederate funder turned Maryland county councilman. Hutson has written about Peroutka, as have I. Peroutka had major funding ties to former Alabama judge and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, as well to the League of the South, whose leader, Michael Hill, had written approvingly about plans to form paramilitary groups to fight a militarized “fourth generation” culture war, one of whose targets would be the media.
posted by Artw at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
The only two politicians Ramos had tweeted about, according to Hutson, were Donald Trump and Michael Peroutka, a wealthy neo-Confederate funder turned Maryland county councilman. Hutson has written about Peroutka, as have I. Peroutka had major funding ties to former Alabama judge and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, as well to the League of the South, whose leader, Michael Hill, had written approvingly about plans to form paramilitary groups to fight a militarized “fourth generation” culture war, one of whose targets would be the media.
posted by Artw at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
I have been banging the drum for trans people to get their passports since the election, because I am terrified they will be taken away or fucked with. Looks like this may be starting to happen. I got all my ID changed to male in Dec 2015 except my passport, which I changed in July 2017. (I actually got an entirely new one because my old one had expired long ago and was 2 names and 1 gender ago. I hope that in itself doesn't fuck things up.
Anyway I have half-serious plans to walk across the Canadian border someday. Today there are a lot fewer people telling me I'm exaggerating the threat.
posted by AFABulous at 6:58 AM on June 30, 2018 [26 favorites]
Anyway I have half-serious plans to walk across the Canadian border someday. Today there are a lot fewer people telling me I'm exaggerating the threat.
posted by AFABulous at 6:58 AM on June 30, 2018 [26 favorites]
Well that's some quality logic there, judge.
The judge isn't wrong, he's just an asshole.
Let's face it. The constitution was written under the assumption that Congress weren't power craving partisans and that the people would punish arrogance and intransigence. Hell, Washington noticed this over two hundred years ago and warned about this exact situation.
The judge isn't wrong, he's just an asshole.
Let's face it. The constitution was written under the assumption that Congress weren't power craving partisans and that the people would punish arrogance and intransigence. Hell, Washington noticed this over two hundred years ago and warned about this exact situation.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:59 AM on June 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
maybe this is one of those ones where nobody has their eye on it because they don’t expect him to win
Yup. This is a district Republicans typically don't contest at all, and the doofus handily won his primary by getting all of 824 votes instead of his opponent's 447. It's not crazy-high Democratic -- about 63% Clinton in 2016 -- but would be pretty out of reach for serious Republican candidates.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yup. This is a district Republicans typically don't contest at all, and the doofus handily won his primary by getting all of 824 votes instead of his opponent's 447. It's not crazy-high Democratic -- about 63% Clinton in 2016 -- but would be pretty out of reach for serious Republican candidates.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who is viewed as one of the leading contenders to replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.
It doesn't take a genius to see how attractive this would be to Trump, who's facing multiple lawsuits, including a defamation suit by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, the notorious NDA declaratory relief suit by Stormy Daniels, the anti-emoluments federal case by the Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general and, of course, a civil case from the state of New York against his piggy-bank "charity" foundation.
Regarding that last one, the New Yorker provides some updates: The Inconvenient Legal Troubles That Lie Ahead for the Trump Foundation
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:20 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
It doesn't take a genius to see how attractive this would be to Trump, who's facing multiple lawsuits, including a defamation suit by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, the notorious NDA declaratory relief suit by Stormy Daniels, the anti-emoluments federal case by the Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general and, of course, a civil case from the state of New York against his piggy-bank "charity" foundation.
Regarding that last one, the New Yorker provides some updates: The Inconvenient Legal Troubles That Lie Ahead for the Trump Foundation
Barring an unexpected change, the Donald J. Trump Foundation will be defending itself in a New York courtroom shortly before this fall’s midterm elections. The proceedings seem unlikely to go well for the institution and its leadership; President Trump and his elder children, Ivanka, Donald, Jr., and Eric, are being sued by New York’s attorney general, Barbara Underwood, for using the charity to enrich and benefit the Trump family. On Tuesday, the judge in the case, Saliann Scarpulla, made a series of comments and rulings from the bench that hinted—well, all but screamed—that she believes the Trump family has done some very bad things.Author Adam Davidson zeroes in on how this case could be more than just politically damaging, as it reveals the incompetence and corruption at the heart of the Trump Org and tests the loyalties of longtime members of its inner circle:
The judge seemed frustrated, even confused, that the Trumps were fighting the case at all. At one point, she told a lawyer for the Trump children that they should just settle out of court and voluntarily agree to one of the sanctions: a demand by the Attorney General that they not serve on the boards of any nonprofits for one year.[...] Judge Scarpulla made clear that she felt the children should agree to the sanction now, and that, if they don’t, she will probably impose a similar restriction “with or without your agreement.”[...]
During Tuesday’s hearing, the Trump Foundation’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, asked that the trial not commence in October, because it was so close to the midterms. Judge Scarpulla laughed in response, did not change the trial date, and hinted that she is likely to require the President to testify.
A series of subpoenaed e-mails and a fascinating deposition offer a glimpse into the work of a mysterious figure, Allen Weisselberg, who has handled Donald Trump’s finances for as long as he’s had any. First hired by the President’s father, Fred Trump, Weisselberg has been the one steady presence in the Trump Organization for the entire period that Donald Trump has run the company.[...] I heard, repeatedly, that there were only two people who knew about every deal the company made: Trump himself and Allen Weisselberg.[...]It's particularly damning since federal campaign finance law prohibits the Foundation from participating in any political campaign, certainly not Trump’s own. Trump dispatching his senior Trump Org executive to Iowa—just before the caucuses—to coordinate a nationally televised charity fundraiser and to funnel the proceeds back into the campaign, on Trump's orders, could put Weisselberg in the type of awkward spot that Michael Cohen finds himself now.
The Trump Foundation case may have already revealed a potential rift between Weisselberg and the family. His deposition in the case is fascinating reading. Weisselberg makes it quite clear just how sloppy an operation the foundation was, with no meetings and no careful accounting. In a compelling exchange, Weisselberg describes how he flew to Iowa with a checkbook to give money to political allies of Trump, then a Presidential candidate, and he makes it clear that he did this because his boss told him to. It is a damning statement, and the first evidence I have seen that Weisselberg, when cornered, may be willing to shift blame to the President.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:20 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
Suspect swore 'oath' to kill Capital staff years ago, had restraining orders — but bought gun legally
Maryland shooting: NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said journalists 'need to be curb-stomped', in resurfaced footage
Neo-nazis seem to love that phrase. Here's a peice on a recent high profile joiner od League of the South, the group the shooter might have some links to:
Now, Buckles, a former touring musician with Bite the Curb — a term associated with Edward Norton’s character in the movie American History X in which someone is attacked and their face is forced to the curb of a street, then stomped on — and American Outlaws, runs Mesa Kinetic Research, which custom builds AK-47s and other firearms for customers like ATAT Development Group and Khyber Pass Tactical, a retail gun outlet in Gonzales, Louisiana.
posted by Artw at 7:21 AM on June 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
Maryland shooting: NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said journalists 'need to be curb-stomped', in resurfaced footage
Neo-nazis seem to love that phrase. Here's a peice on a recent high profile joiner od League of the South, the group the shooter might have some links to:
Now, Buckles, a former touring musician with Bite the Curb — a term associated with Edward Norton’s character in the movie American History X in which someone is attacked and their face is forced to the curb of a street, then stomped on — and American Outlaws, runs Mesa Kinetic Research, which custom builds AK-47s and other firearms for customers like ATAT Development Group and Khyber Pass Tactical, a retail gun outlet in Gonzales, Louisiana.
posted by Artw at 7:21 AM on June 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
Obama articulating his regrets and vaguely blaming the people instead of lingering over his many many shortcomings as a president is kind of infuriating (still best president of my lifetime but jeez).
Jeez, indeed.
Maybe Obama’s comments there are a bit more strident than usual, but it’s basically been his whole deal throughout this catastrophe (and before); the system works when we get out there and do something and it doesn’t when we don’t.
posted by notyou at 8:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
Jeez, indeed.
Maybe Obama’s comments there are a bit more strident than usual, but it’s basically been his whole deal throughout this catastrophe (and before); the system works when we get out there and do something and it doesn’t when we don’t.
posted by notyou at 8:08 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
Dave Eggers: A Cultural Vacuum in Trump’s White House / NYTImes opinion piece
posted by mumimor at 8:29 AM on June 30, 2018 [20 favorites]
One night in 1982, the White House hosted Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Stan Getz. When Reagan visited Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in 1988, he brought along the Dave Brubeck Quartet.I'm not with the author on heralding Reagan. Reagan was a bad guy. But the lack of culture in the current White House is indeed unusual and suspect.
But that kind of thing is inconceivable now. Admittedly, at a time when Mr. Trump’s policies have forcibly separated children from their asylum-seeking parents — taking the most vulnerable children from the most vulnerable adults — the White House’s attitude toward the arts seems relatively unimportant. But with art comes empathy. It allows us to look through someone else’s eyes and know their strivings and struggles. It expands the moral imagination and makes it impossible to accept the dehumanization of others. When we are without art, we are a diminished people — myopic, unlearned and cruel.
posted by mumimor at 8:29 AM on June 30, 2018 [20 favorites]
That quote says to me not that Reagan was a good guy but that in the past even the Presidents who were bad guys had some humanity which the current President Asterisk lacks.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2018 [48 favorites]
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2018 [48 favorites]
The one thing that might have averted this shitstorm was bankers going to jail after the financial crisis. That is purely on Rahm Emanuel and Obama.
I guess not enough people got out there demanding action. /sarcasm
posted by benzenedream at 8:39 AM on June 30, 2018 [15 favorites]
I guess not enough people got out there demanding action. /sarcasm
posted by benzenedream at 8:39 AM on June 30, 2018 [15 favorites]
Okie doke. Let’s pin this on Obama and call it a day.
posted by notyou at 9:00 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by notyou at 9:00 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
from all i have seen of him i am confident asserting donald trump is considering more than two women.
for whatever his consideration is worth.
...which raises the question: which federal jurist or legalish talk show host most resembles ivanka?
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:18 AM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
for whatever his consideration is worth.
...which raises the question: which federal jurist or legalish talk show host most resembles ivanka?
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:18 AM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
which federal jurist or legalish talk show host most resembles ivanka?
Amy Coney Barrett.
posted by Emera Gratia at 9:42 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Amy Coney Barrett.
posted by Emera Gratia at 9:42 AM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Amy Coney Barrett.
Who, since she's part of a bizzare religious cult (and I don't mean the catholic church, natch), should absolutely be barred from consideration. Nobody should be allowed to join the supreme court who has sworn an oath of loyalty to anything but the US constitution.
posted by dis_integration at 10:05 AM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
Who, since she's part of a bizzare religious cult (and I don't mean the catholic church, natch), should absolutely be barred from consideration. Nobody should be allowed to join the supreme court who has sworn an oath of loyalty to anything but the US constitution.
posted by dis_integration at 10:05 AM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
Live CBS video of Families Belong Together rallies. Emotional DACA speaker right now in DC.
posted by AFABulous at 10:06 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 10:06 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Actually fairly impressed at the level of coverage this is getting, seems like the sort of thing that would usually get buried.
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can we not play Trump's reality-show game of "guess what I'm thinking about nominees"? His playbook isn't going to change from past announcements. He'll try to whip up as much speculation as possible as a smokescreen and to tease out hints gradually (look for leaks to the Trump Whisperer troika), then finally do what he's been planning all along. He pays attention to public reaction only inasmuch as it reflects his base or presents opportunities to attack the opposition. Just this morning, he tweeted, "I will be making my choice for Justice of the United States Supreme Court on the first Monday after the July 4th Holiday, July 9th!" in order to drum up interest, even though he already announced this to the press yesterday.
In any case, Kavanaugh aligns so closely with so many Trump's personal interests that at present—he loves executive prerogative, believes a sitting president can't be subpoenaed or indicted, hates international law, and defends the prosecution of accused terrorists through the military, not civilian courts, for instance—it's hardly worth considering other candidates, not even theocrat-favorite Amy Barrett (Pence doesn't have enough pull to promote her).
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
In any case, Kavanaugh aligns so closely with so many Trump's personal interests that at present—he loves executive prerogative, believes a sitting president can't be subpoenaed or indicted, hates international law, and defends the prosecution of accused terrorists through the military, not civilian courts, for instance—it's hardly worth considering other candidates, not even theocrat-favorite Amy Barrett (Pence doesn't have enough pull to promote her).
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
Amy Coney Barrett.
I know the early favorite is Kavanaugh, but I'm increasingly worried it'll be Barrett. She's one of the only ones officially on record calling Roe "wrongly decided", and what better cover than having Aunt Lydia be the one to overturn Roe? Plus Tim Kaine already betrayed us once to vote for her, he may do it again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:11 AM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
I know the early favorite is Kavanaugh, but I'm increasingly worried it'll be Barrett. She's one of the only ones officially on record calling Roe "wrongly decided", and what better cover than having Aunt Lydia be the one to overturn Roe? Plus Tim Kaine already betrayed us once to vote for her, he may do it again.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:11 AM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Warren joins calls to get rid of ICE
“The president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works,” Warren said during a rally in Boston.
OK, Overton Window's officially in place for "Abolish ICE."
Prosecute ICE.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:14 AM on June 30, 2018 [95 favorites]
“The president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works,” Warren said during a rally in Boston.
OK, Overton Window's officially in place for "Abolish ICE."
Prosecute ICE.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:14 AM on June 30, 2018 [95 favorites]
People of Praise ( the cult Barrett is a part of ) is a truly terrifying crazy-pants organization.
I know this since I was raised in it until my parents left in the mid 80's due to realizing it was a cult. Half of my mother's siblings are still members. Speaking in tongues, slaying by the spirit, having young women live-in with established families and.. you get the picture. 100% handmaids tale. I'm truly terrified it will be her because in this timeline the worst always happens.
posted by localhuman at 10:30 AM on June 30, 2018 [55 favorites]
I know this since I was raised in it until my parents left in the mid 80's due to realizing it was a cult. Half of my mother's siblings are still members. Speaking in tongues, slaying by the spirit, having young women live-in with established families and.. you get the picture. 100% handmaids tale. I'm truly terrified it will be her because in this timeline the worst always happens.
posted by localhuman at 10:30 AM on June 30, 2018 [55 favorites]
100% handmaids tale.
NYT:
posted by flabdablet at 10:35 AM on June 30, 2018 [33 favorites]
NYT:
Mr. Lent said the group’s system of heads and handmaids promotes “brotherhood,” not male dominance. He said the group recently dropped the term “handmaid” in favor of “woman leader.”nothing to see here move along mkay
posted by flabdablet at 10:35 AM on June 30, 2018 [33 favorites]
Prosecute ICE.
Yep. Throw the book at ‘em. Civil rights violations, wrongful imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, battery, manslaughter, murder; conspiracy to commit same. A proper shoe for every foot.
posted by obliviax at 10:42 AM on June 30, 2018 [24 favorites]
Yep. Throw the book at ‘em. Civil rights violations, wrongful imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, battery, manslaughter, murder; conspiracy to commit same. A proper shoe for every foot.
posted by obliviax at 10:42 AM on June 30, 2018 [24 favorites]
Well the kid in my life is of Latino descent. He works at a pizza parlor. Last night a cop from a town about forty miles outside Philly 'joked' that he was going to arrest the kid because of his ethnicity. The kid's not neurotypical, and when he didn't show stress/fear/whatever bullshit the cop was going for, the cop got angry.
My SO and I are ready to kill.
posted by angrycat at 11:01 AM on June 30, 2018 [88 favorites]
My SO and I are ready to kill.
posted by angrycat at 11:01 AM on June 30, 2018 [88 favorites]
I didn't have particularly high turnout expectations for this protest (10am on a Saturday is not a time San Francisco does well), but oh my god I just ran up to a high point I have access to along the route, and there are a fuck ton of people here.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on June 30, 2018 [37 favorites]
as one sign from the protest today said, 'my rage is too great to fit on this sign'
posted by angrycat at 11:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 11:03 AM on June 30, 2018 [39 favorites]
Last night a cop from a town about forty miles outside Philly 'joked' that he was going to arrest the kid because of his ethnicity.
What happened to cops being held up to a greater fucking standard? I swear Andy Taylor would be rolling in his grave right now. It's all about defending police like a fucking cult when there should be a magnifying glass on them 24/7 looking for and rooting out corruption.
Hell I remember once when I was in a DD, some guy paid for a cop's donuts and coffee and there was some idle conversation of some informal quid pro quo. I thought the fact that the cop accepted and didn't decline profusely should have gotten him fired.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 11:21 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
What happened to cops being held up to a greater fucking standard? I swear Andy Taylor would be rolling in his grave right now. It's all about defending police like a fucking cult when there should be a magnifying glass on them 24/7 looking for and rooting out corruption.
Hell I remember once when I was in a DD, some guy paid for a cop's donuts and coffee and there was some idle conversation of some informal quid pro quo. I thought the fact that the cop accepted and didn't decline profusely should have gotten him fired.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 11:21 AM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
How's this for enthusiasm, Head of Virginia GOP steps down amid Corey Stewart’s Senate campaign (WaPo). Since Stewart won the nomination, the head of the Richmond GOP and a Koch-employed member of the executive committee of the state party's governing board have also stepped down.
posted by peeedro at 11:22 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 11:22 AM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
My wife went to the protest in Atlanta today while I kept Fleebnork Jr. home. She said there were at least four city blocks full of people.
posted by Fleebnork at 11:27 AM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Fleebnork at 11:27 AM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
White House scrambles to figure out how prankster got on the phone with Trump
The person inside the White House said the call was routed to the president by the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and that it was not routed through the office of legislative affairs, which had no record of Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, trying to connect with the president.
Just a reminder that Kushner has Top Secret security clearance and meets regularly with various non-idiot foreign diplomats. The classified info he's probably left behind in meeting rooms must be quite a stash.
posted by PenDevil at 11:30 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
The person inside the White House said the call was routed to the president by the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and that it was not routed through the office of legislative affairs, which had no record of Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, trying to connect with the president.
Just a reminder that Kushner has Top Secret security clearance and meets regularly with various non-idiot foreign diplomats. The classified info he's probably left behind in meeting rooms must be quite a stash.
posted by PenDevil at 11:30 AM on June 30, 2018 [30 favorites]
Mod note: Couple deleted. Let's leave it there on nth round of general "cops bad"; let's keep the thread for news and updates. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:37 AM on June 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:37 AM on June 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
Just a reminder that Kushner has Top Secret security clearance and meets regularly with various non-idiot foreign diplomats. The classified info he's probably left behind in meeting rooms must be quite a stash.
There are at least five intelligence services who have people dedicated to watching live feeds from Trump's and Kushner's cell phone cameras, and at least a dozen more that have people dedicated to listening to every conversation they have via the microphones.
posted by Etrigan at 11:53 AM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
There are at least five intelligence services who have people dedicated to watching live feeds from Trump's and Kushner's cell phone cameras, and at least a dozen more that have people dedicated to listening to every conversation they have via the microphones.
posted by Etrigan at 11:53 AM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
I know the early favorite is Kavanaugh, but I'm increasingly worried it'll be Barrett. She's one of the only ones officially on record calling Roe "wrongly decided", and what better cover than having Aunt Lydia be the one to overturn Roe? Plus Tim Kaine already betrayed us once to vote for her, he may do it again.
John Dean
The late Sen. Barry Goldwater, who had no problem with Roe, once told me any woman who approves of the government regulating her uterus is not a true conservative; rather she is a religious ideologue who doesn’t belong on any court anywhere because she can’t do justice.
posted by chris24 at 11:59 AM on June 30, 2018 [65 favorites]
John Dean
The late Sen. Barry Goldwater, who had no problem with Roe, once told me any woman who approves of the government regulating her uterus is not a true conservative; rather she is a religious ideologue who doesn’t belong on any court anywhere because she can’t do justice.
posted by chris24 at 11:59 AM on June 30, 2018 [65 favorites]
Can we not play Trump's reality-show game of "guess what I'm thinking about nominees"?
This. It’s only going to mean stress for a week and a half followed by the announcement of who he’s already going to select anyway.
posted by corb at 12:06 PM on June 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
This. It’s only going to mean stress for a week and a half followed by the announcement of who he’s already going to select anyway.
posted by corb at 12:06 PM on June 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
Especially since it’s basically debating whether it will be like...the three headed gorgon, a giant sentient asshole that farts fire and eats babies, or literal zombie Hitler. It hardly fucking matters.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2018 [31 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2018 [31 favorites]
Man in custody after pulling out a gun at immigration policy protest in Huntsville, AL
Police say an agitator came to the rally in counter-protest when he got into a verbal confrontation with someone at the protest. The two got in an argument and the man pulled out a gun according to officials.
ytilivic
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:22 PM on June 30, 2018 [28 favorites]
Police say an agitator came to the rally in counter-protest when he got into a verbal confrontation with someone at the protest. The two got in an argument and the man pulled out a gun according to officials.
ytilivic
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:22 PM on June 30, 2018 [28 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
Trump, from literally Wednesday, which he didn't even delete: HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
It took him a couple days to go from all caps pass the bill to I never said to vote for it and btw I control the votes in Congress.
posted by zachlipton at 12:44 PM on June 30, 2018 [65 favorites]
Trump, from literally Wednesday, which he didn't even delete: HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
It took him a couple days to go from all caps pass the bill to I never said to vote for it and btw I control the votes in Congress.
posted by zachlipton at 12:44 PM on June 30, 2018 [65 favorites]
I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
We have the best and greatest immigration laws planned that everybody loves. But I need to let people vote against it so they can actually win elections, since in reality the laws are really fucking unpopular.
posted by chris24 at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
We have the best and greatest immigration laws planned that everybody loves. But I need to let people vote against it so they can actually win elections, since in reality the laws are really fucking unpopular.
posted by chris24 at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
I went to the Families Belong Together march today in NYC. It seemed to us that it was a sizable and diverse crowd. It took a long time to release everyone from the overflowing Foley Park to the route over Brooklyn Bridge.
I set up a backdrop in the craziness and crowd and took a bunch of portraits of the protestors. It was especially heartening to see all the kids who had made their own signs. You can see a big gallery of the portraits here to get a feel for the event. (and mods feel free to delete this self-link if needed.)
Portraits of Protest - Families Belong Together.
posted by chris24 at 1:31 PM on June 30, 2018 [107 favorites]
I set up a backdrop in the craziness and crowd and took a bunch of portraits of the protestors. It was especially heartening to see all the kids who had made their own signs. You can see a big gallery of the portraits here to get a feel for the event. (and mods feel free to delete this self-link if needed.)
Portraits of Protest - Families Belong Together.
posted by chris24 at 1:31 PM on June 30, 2018 [107 favorites]
He's been at it for years but every time I'm still amazed at Trump's uncanny ability to own himself, over & over & over.
@realDonaldTrump I never fall for scams. I am the only person who immediately walked out of my ‘Ali G’ interview
posted by scalefree at 1:46 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump I never fall for scams. I am the only person who immediately walked out of my ‘Ali G’ interview
posted by scalefree at 1:46 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
Portraits of Protest - Families Belong Together.
posted by chris24 at 1:31 PM on June 30 [11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Really well done, Chris. Thank you for sharing.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:53 PM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:31 PM on June 30 [11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Really well done, Chris. Thank you for sharing.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:53 PM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
chris24, love your portraits. The violent Jesus sign made me laugh, and I needed a laugh. Thank you.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:54 PM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:54 PM on June 30, 2018 [9 favorites]
Kids Describe the Fear of Separation at the Border - Jeremy Raff, The Atlantic.
Short article with video at the end.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:55 PM on June 30, 2018
Short article with video at the end.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:55 PM on June 30, 2018
A lot of Twitter pundits are not the same thing as a representative of the Russian government. Note how many times Sessions appears on All the known times the Trump campaign met with Russians and the extent to which Sessions denied such contacts.
Under oath, during his confirmation hearing, no less.
posted by Gelatin at 2:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
Under oath, during his confirmation hearing, no less.
posted by Gelatin at 2:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
From buzzfeed, tens of thousands are marching towards an ICE detention center in LA
posted by supercrayon at 2:01 PM on June 30, 2018 [44 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 2:01 PM on June 30, 2018 [44 favorites]
“The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a legal notice to a federal judge in California who has been overseeing long-running litigation about the detention of illegal immigrants.
At ports of entry? That's the Justice Department admitting it treats asylum seekers as illegal immigrants, even though they are permitted to seek asylum under US law. That's Jeff Sessions' Justice Department admitting it's willing to break the law to keep brown-skinned Spanish-speaking refugees out.
At today's rally in Indianapolis, we stood in the heat to deride these people. May all of us find 100 new voters to join us.
posted by Gelatin at 2:06 PM on June 30, 2018 [20 favorites]
At ports of entry? That's the Justice Department admitting it treats asylum seekers as illegal immigrants, even though they are permitted to seek asylum under US law. That's Jeff Sessions' Justice Department admitting it's willing to break the law to keep brown-skinned Spanish-speaking refugees out.
At today's rally in Indianapolis, we stood in the heat to deride these people. May all of us find 100 new voters to join us.
posted by Gelatin at 2:06 PM on June 30, 2018 [20 favorites]
chris24, that's some gorgeous portrait photography you've got there.
Thanks for documenting this day.
(Also thanks for all the great sign ideas; my rage has been acting as a creative block lately)
posted by mabelstreet at 2:07 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Thanks for documenting this day.
(Also thanks for all the great sign ideas; my rage has been acting as a creative block lately)
posted by mabelstreet at 2:07 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm watching the Buzzfeed stream - awesome! I don't see tens of thousands though. Are the people we see the first to arrive and a large group is en route?
posted by lazaruslong at 2:09 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by lazaruslong at 2:09 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Manchin warns Trump against picking court nominee who will overturn Roe v. Wade.
Is... is he not going to be shitty?
posted by Justinian at 2:45 PM on June 30, 2018 [17 favorites]
Is... is he not going to be shitty?
posted by Justinian at 2:45 PM on June 30, 2018 [17 favorites]
Evnn he knows how unpopular overturning Roe is. 70% oppose that. Every demo but Rs oppose overwhelmingly. Like 80-20 or more. And even Rs only support it 55-45. And that's when it was hypothetical.
posted by chris24 at 2:49 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 2:49 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
All Manchin means is "Don't nominate someone who explicitly promises to overturn Roe, I need plausible deniability."
posted by tau_ceti at 2:50 PM on June 30, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by tau_ceti at 2:50 PM on June 30, 2018 [26 favorites]
Thank's chris24. I really particularly love: stop pretending that your racism is patriotism... gives me hope.
posted by pjenks at 3:11 PM on June 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by pjenks at 3:11 PM on June 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
Foundation Scandal: Judge recommended the Trumps just settle out of court and voluntarily agree to one of the sanctions: a demand by the Attorney General that they not serve on the boards of any nonprofits for one year.
Excuse me?! You couldn't have more egregiously broken the law here. We've had multiple experts quoted on these threads saying these offenses merit serious jail time. Don't write about this like this judge is playing hardball while handing out a sentence that's a huge exception case slap on the wrist punishment no one else would get for this crime.
posted by xammerboy at 3:15 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
Excuse me?! You couldn't have more egregiously broken the law here. We've had multiple experts quoted on these threads saying these offenses merit serious jail time. Don't write about this like this judge is playing hardball while handing out a sentence that's a huge exception case slap on the wrist punishment no one else would get for this crime.
posted by xammerboy at 3:15 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
@StetsonCooper
Woman attempted to plow her car into protestors at an anti-ICE demonstration at the Baker County Florida Sheriff's Office. It hit one young woman. The police arrested the injured girl and took the driver who swerved into us in for protection. Will update, please signal boost.
The victim, who is still in custody, is currently in the process of attaining citizenship. This means that she is now at risk for deportation, for the crime of being hit by a car.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:16 PM on June 30, 2018 [83 favorites]
Woman attempted to plow her car into protestors at an anti-ICE demonstration at the Baker County Florida Sheriff's Office. It hit one young woman. The police arrested the injured girl and took the driver who swerved into us in for protection. Will update, please signal boost.
The victim, who is still in custody, is currently in the process of attaining citizenship. This means that she is now at risk for deportation, for the crime of being hit by a car.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:16 PM on June 30, 2018 [83 favorites]
It's absolutely worth fighting any Trump appointment to the Supreme Count, but my dark suspicion is that any substantial opposition to Trump's choice for Kennedy's successor will be resolved by allowing him to make a recess appointment. That way Trump gets his friendly justice and the very-concerned Republicans don't need to vote on something that's potentially divisive. After the midterms (but before the new senators are seated) the appointee can resign and be formally reappointed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:33 PM on June 30, 2018
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:33 PM on June 30, 2018
That way Trump gets his friendly justice and the very-concerned Republicans don't need to vote on something that's potentially divisive. After the midterms (but before the new senators are seated) the appointee can resign and be formally reappointed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.
I don't see that this gains them anything, though. It's not like the Supreme Court can churn through a billion controversial cases in the time between such an appointment and the midterms.
posted by Justinian at 3:41 PM on June 30, 2018
I don't see that this gains them anything, though. It's not like the Supreme Court can churn through a billion controversial cases in the time between such an appointment and the midterms.
posted by Justinian at 3:41 PM on June 30, 2018
Looks like the "Abolish ICE" movement is getting noticed...
posted by gwint at 4:15 PM on June 30, 2018 [71 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: The Democrats are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen. I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13 & clean out the toughest of situations. They are great!Nevermind the nonsense lies, notice that he had to react. This is the first time since the election that I've seen the Overton Window being pushed in a non-Rightward direction.
posted by gwint at 4:15 PM on June 30, 2018 [71 favorites]
Cannot imagine just how much your average ICE guy would piss their pants if asked to do law enforcement involving actual violent criminals instead of terrorizing soft targets.
posted by Artw at 4:23 PM on June 30, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by Artw at 4:23 PM on June 30, 2018 [32 favorites]
ICE liberate towns from ms-13, get fucking real. This is what their supporters must think they do, like ride into small towns like an old west sheriff and lock up all the mean scary latinos terrifying poor white folks. What’s it like to live in such a simple fairytale land in your own mind where you jump at every nonwhite shadow?
posted by supercrayon at 4:24 PM on June 30, 2018 [59 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 4:24 PM on June 30, 2018 [59 favorites]
Sl buzzfeed: We Made A List Of All The Anti-LGBT Stuff Trump Has Done As President
posted by supercrayon at 4:26 PM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 4:26 PM on June 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
I don't see that [a recess appointment before the midterm elections] gains them anything, though.
Well, an early appointment would put a friendly justice in place before any relevant matter (e.g., Trump being indicted, or even named as a co-conspirator) could arise. I think many more people would be outraged if Trump appointed a justice when he either had been or was about to be indicted. That's the sort of thing that really might lead to a revolution or a coup.
Strategically, leaving an appointment until after midterms means that it would remain a live issue during the election. The Democratic Party could campaign on all the things that a Trump-appointed justice would be expected to support, as well as the incongruity of an (alleged) criminal appointing his own judge. Once a justice is in place, even a term-limited one, people's traditional deference to Supreme Court justices would probably quiet any criticism of the appointment.
The Republicans would still need to have the appointment confirmed in order to make it a lifetime position, but I expect voting to confirm a recess-appointed justice would be less controversial than a vote ab initio. There would be a lot of pressure to be "civil", particularly if the new justice hasn't yet shown their colours. And in any event, it will be two years before the next election and voters have short memories.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:34 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, an early appointment would put a friendly justice in place before any relevant matter (e.g., Trump being indicted, or even named as a co-conspirator) could arise. I think many more people would be outraged if Trump appointed a justice when he either had been or was about to be indicted. That's the sort of thing that really might lead to a revolution or a coup.
Strategically, leaving an appointment until after midterms means that it would remain a live issue during the election. The Democratic Party could campaign on all the things that a Trump-appointed justice would be expected to support, as well as the incongruity of an (alleged) criminal appointing his own judge. Once a justice is in place, even a term-limited one, people's traditional deference to Supreme Court justices would probably quiet any criticism of the appointment.
The Republicans would still need to have the appointment confirmed in order to make it a lifetime position, but I expect voting to confirm a recess-appointed justice would be less controversial than a vote ab initio. There would be a lot of pressure to be "civil", particularly if the new justice hasn't yet shown their colours. And in any event, it will be two years before the next election and voters have short memories.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:34 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
[real] ICE Officials Call to Abolish ICE Over Trump’s Policy [real]
Non-clickbaity explanation:
Non-clickbaity explanation:
… ICE is made up of two sub-agencies: HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) and ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations). The agents who penned this letter believe that HSI and ERO should be separated from each other so that HSI can resume their obligation of tracking down and investigating transnational criminal organizations, while ERO can fully implement their original obligation to enforce immigration policy.posted by Joe in Australia at 4:41 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler thinks Manafort may have recorded the Trump Tower meeting on an ipod touch:
We now know that most of the iPods seized would be suitable for secure texting, to say nothing of recording meetings.posted by T.D. Strange at 4:43 PM on June 30, 2018 [27 favorites]
In any case, Manafort’s focus on the iPods led to an exchange of filings where the government noted he could only suppress them if the government attempted to introduce evidence from them, which they didn’t plan to do in the cases in question (this argument started in DC and as noted got repurposed in EDVA). Manafort tried to use that language, however, to claim the government said they’d never use evidence from the iPods.
...
Perhaps, too, Mueller’s team has reason to believe that Manafort recorded the meeting, which would make the interest in iPods even more pressing.
...
There’s been a lot of talk about why Manafort doesn’t flip now, and I realized when I read Tillman’s piece that this is likely one reason why. Fourth Amendment protection is not associative: Manafort is the only person who can bitch endlessly that the FBI took his iPods. So if there’s anything on there that implicates other people as well as himself, the serial bids to undermine the condo search (which would be followed by another if Mueller ever charges the June 9 meeting) would be the only thing to keep that evidence out of any trial.
I sure do get the feeling there’s something damned incriminating on those iPods.
Elsewhere, back in Trumpland, Michael Cohen's fortunes continue to fluctuate. Following his court petition on Monday to shield 12,000 seized documents (out of 4 million) from federal prosecutors, Vanity Fair writes, “He Could Go Down In History As The Man That Saved This Country”: Freed From Trump, Michael Cohen Sees A New Identity: National Hero—As Cohen is further distanced from the president, friends have been encouraging him to change his narrative.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:58 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
“Washington is actively pushing him away,” a person close to Cohen says. “At the same time, he has all these people telling him that he could change the course of the midterms, or 2020.”[...]In public, though, Cohen tweeted on Thursday, "My family & I are owed an apology. After 2 years, 15 hours of testimony before House & Senate under oath & producing more than 1000 documents, dossier misreports 15 allegations about me. My entire statement must be quoted- I had nothing to do with Russian collusion or meddling!"
Cohen’s friends have been whispering encouragements, too, particularly after the president distanced himself from Cohen earlier this month by telling reporters that he “liked” Cohen, in the past tense. “He’s frustrated,” one person close to Cohen told me. “Washington is actively pushing him away as opposed to protecting him or welcoming him back in, when, at the same time, he has all these people telling him that he could change the course of the midterms, or 2020.”
Cohen has not yet met with federal prosecutors, according to three people familiar with the situation, and he has remained mostly quiet while the rest of the world speculates about what he has on the president, and whether or not he plans to use it. What is clear is that Cohen, after a year of scrutiny and mounting legal bills, is not the same man who once offered to be a human shield for the Trumps. “I have no one watching my back,” he has told friends. “I just did what I was told.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:58 PM on June 30, 2018 [10 favorites]
I sure do get the feeling there’s something damned incriminating on those iPods.
Fink Different.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:10 PM on June 30, 2018 [29 favorites]
Fink Different.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:10 PM on June 30, 2018 [29 favorites]
@kylegriffin1 : BuzzFeed News, ProPublica, The Intercept and Univision have announced that they're partnering to gather vital information about the children in immigration detention facilities and shelters.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:23 PM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:23 PM on June 30, 2018 [34 favorites]
Heres hoping they are keeping any sources siloed from The Intercept.
posted by Artw at 5:24 PM on June 30, 2018 [46 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:24 PM on June 30, 2018 [46 favorites]
Thousands march in Washington in wilting heat to protest Trump’s immigration policy (Marissa J. Lang, Julie Zauzmer and Hannah Natanson, WaPo)
Starting around 9 a.m., thousands had made their way to Lafayette Square, with many more filling in along 16th Street and into Farragut Square, areas that had been blocked off in anticipation of 50,000 protesters’ arrival in the District.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:27 PM on June 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
The crowd seemed somewhat shy of that, although organizers said aerial photographs indicated it was still in the tens of thousands.
I sure do get the feeling there’s something damned incriminating on those iPods.
It's trivial to jail-break the file hierarchy on an iPod's OS and use it to save any kind of data file—text, image, spreadsheets, etc. (You could save a complete Mac OS on the old FireWire ones and use them to boot a computer as an external hard drive.) Someone as half-smart as Manafort might think that it would be a super-secret storage device.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:47 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's trivial to jail-break the file hierarchy on an iPod's OS and use it to save any kind of data file—text, image, spreadsheets, etc. (You could save a complete Mac OS on the old FireWire ones and use them to boot a computer as an external hard drive.) Someone as half-smart as Manafort might think that it would be a super-secret storage device.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:47 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
Manafort isn't exactly tech-savvy, from what I've read.
posted by uosuaq at 5:59 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by uosuaq at 5:59 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Summer Brennan: "Activity at the Tornillo tent camp. Buses and long white vans going and coming. Are they moving kids?"
posted by xcasex at 6:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by xcasex at 6:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Manafort isn't exactly tech-savvy, from what I've read.
There's probably a bunch of emails from him trying to get Gates to set it up for him each time, like those damn .PDF conversions.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:14 PM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's probably a bunch of emails from him trying to get Gates to set it up for him each time, like those damn .PDF conversions.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:14 PM on June 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's trivial to jail-break the file hierarchy on an iPod's OS and use it to save any kind of data file
An iPod can do anything an older iPhone can except connect to a phone network. He would have been able to run encrypted messaging on it without the risk of his data being intercepted by cellular towers or his movements being tracked. Also, they're basically invisible: they look like a phone.
What would be really interesting is if the iPods were jailbroken and had special proprietary software installed. An encrypted messaging facility might be quite subtle, and the only obvious sign of its presence would be the fact that the OS had been compromised – and there are less incriminating explanations for that, anyway.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:18 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
An iPod can do anything an older iPhone can except connect to a phone network. He would have been able to run encrypted messaging on it without the risk of his data being intercepted by cellular towers or his movements being tracked. Also, they're basically invisible: they look like a phone.
What would be really interesting is if the iPods were jailbroken and had special proprietary software installed. An encrypted messaging facility might be quite subtle, and the only obvious sign of its presence would be the fact that the OS had been compromised – and there are less incriminating explanations for that, anyway.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:18 PM on June 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
@itsmikebivins [VIDEO]: Wild brawl, explosions, beatings at the Patriot Prayer rally and march. [Portland]
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on June 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
Six or seven Nazis, all clad in jeans, long shirts, hoodies and bright blue balaclavas and sunglasses tried to get into the Boston protest on City Hall Plaza (in the 90-degree heat, no less). They were chased off by protesters. They moved over to Boston Common when the protest marched there, but they soon found themselves surrounded by more than 100 protesters yelling anti-Nazi chants, inside two cordons: A circle of Boston bicycle cops and a circle of Veterans for Peace. After about 10 minutes, they told police they were done and the bicycle cops escorted them off the Common and onto Beacon Street, in front of the State House. The cops had them head down Bowdoin Street (side street along the State House) then used their bikes to create two ad-hoc rows of barriers to block the protesters who were following them.
After the main protest ended, several hundred people marched to the South Bay jail, where the local sheriff rents cells to ICE. Several protesters ended up getting arrested.
posted by adamg at 6:40 PM on June 30, 2018 [42 favorites]
After the main protest ended, several hundred people marched to the South Bay jail, where the local sheriff rents cells to ICE. Several protesters ended up getting arrested.
posted by adamg at 6:40 PM on June 30, 2018 [42 favorites]
The media is enjoying blowing up the headlines around the Trade Wars (or War on Trade rather) and frankly I don't trust anyone's analysis. Also, the economist gurus are seeing their theories fall flat daily. Plus, Navarre said in March taht "nobody would retaliate" ...
As the season 1 ends with the cliffhanger of Helsinki with Putin, London with the Queen, and Brussels with the EU, will the win remain pixelated on twitter and cronies, or matter if it translates into successful impact in the real world?
As immigration protests show, playing the crowds for applause in the real world, not the reality show, is a strategy taht is backfiring.
The EU is most unhappy and considers itself under direct and pointed attack.
Trump has been trying to divide European allies, offering Emmanuel Macron a favorable free trade agreement if France pulled out of the EU, a European official said, an offer he reportedly made to Angela Merkel as well, and has promised to Britain in the wake of Brexit
posted by infini at 7:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
As the season 1 ends with the cliffhanger of Helsinki with Putin, London with the Queen, and Brussels with the EU, will the win remain pixelated on twitter and cronies, or matter if it translates into successful impact in the real world?
As immigration protests show, playing the crowds for applause in the real world, not the reality show, is a strategy taht is backfiring.
The EU is most unhappy and considers itself under direct and pointed attack.
Trump has been trying to divide European allies, offering Emmanuel Macron a favorable free trade agreement if France pulled out of the EU, a European official said, an offer he reportedly made to Angela Merkel as well, and has promised to Britain in the wake of Brexit
posted by infini at 7:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
organizers said aerial photographs indicated it was still in the tens of thousands
Racist fuck Jason Kessler and the other racist fucks behind last year's Unite theReich Right rally are holding an anniversary “white civil rights” sequel in Washington DC, Lafayette Square, right across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
Racist fuck Jason Kessler and the other racist fucks tried to get a permit for a rally in Charlottesville but the park was already booked for “'Festival of the Schmestival,' a weekend event featuring a dunk tank and a petting zoo that might include a giraffe.”
posted by kirkaracha at 7:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [18 favorites]
Racist fuck Jason Kessler and the other racist fucks behind last year's Unite the
Kessler estimated in his Park Service application that the D.C. event would draw 400 people.Kessler and the other racist fucks "discussed bringing on at least one violent skinhead group, and hoped to court other far-right groups." Leaked Facebook messages show they "discussed inviting a token 'non-white' speaker with the hope that it would give them 'political cover' to bring on white supremacist speakers such as Duke."
Racist fuck Jason Kessler and the other racist fucks tried to get a permit for a rally in Charlottesville but the park was already booked for “'Festival of the Schmestival,' a weekend event featuring a dunk tank and a petting zoo that might include a giraffe.”
posted by kirkaracha at 7:00 PM on June 30, 2018 [18 favorites]
Elsewhere, back in Trumpland, Michael Cohen's fortunes continue to fluctuate.
Is "fluctuate" code or something? So far as I can tell his fortunes started nosediving the day he got raided and have done nothing but decline since. Fluctuate would seem to imply he's had a bunch of good days...
posted by Justinian at 7:17 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Is "fluctuate" code or something? So far as I can tell his fortunes started nosediving the day he got raided and have done nothing but decline since. Fluctuate would seem to imply he's had a bunch of good days...
posted by Justinian at 7:17 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
The list of Democrats calling to abolish ICE keeps growing (Ella Nielsen | Vox)
“The movement to abolish ICE is starting to go mainstream.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:50 PM on June 30, 2018 [36 favorites]
“The movement to abolish ICE is starting to go mainstream.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 7:50 PM on June 30, 2018 [36 favorites]
Damn wtf I didn’t even know there was a Patriot Prayer rally downtown today!!!! Was this sudden or had it been planned for a while?
posted by gucci mane at 7:57 PM on June 30, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 7:57 PM on June 30, 2018
Is "fluctuate" code or something?
Sarcasm, so much dry sarcasm. Mickey Cohen's teaming up with Tom Arnold! A random woman "chased him down the street, shouting at him that he could be a hero if he cooperates with the government and brings President Trump down"! "Cohen’s friends have been whispering encouragements"! He and his family are owed an apology!
The only item of value in that Vanity Fair gossip-fest—which I found amusing, for whatever reason—is that Cohen hasn't met with the feds yet. He obviously wants to get that message across to Trump's legal team, even as he publicly gives away the game by denying involvement with "Russian collusion or meddling". (Trump steadfastly refuses to acknowledge Putin's election interference because he knows that if he so much as concedes its existence, connecting it to his campaign would be a possibility even his Fox & Friends audience would have to admit in the national discussion.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:02 PM on June 30, 2018
Sarcasm, so much dry sarcasm. Mickey Cohen's teaming up with Tom Arnold! A random woman "chased him down the street, shouting at him that he could be a hero if he cooperates with the government and brings President Trump down"! "Cohen’s friends have been whispering encouragements"! He and his family are owed an apology!
The only item of value in that Vanity Fair gossip-fest—which I found amusing, for whatever reason—is that Cohen hasn't met with the feds yet. He obviously wants to get that message across to Trump's legal team, even as he publicly gives away the game by denying involvement with "Russian collusion or meddling". (Trump steadfastly refuses to acknowledge Putin's election interference because he knows that if he so much as concedes its existence, connecting it to his campaign would be a possibility even his Fox & Friends audience would have to admit in the national discussion.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:02 PM on June 30, 2018
@Two Unicorns: last year when those guys threw a rally (about 2 weeks after one of their guys stabbed 3 people on the MAX, killing 2 of them), I was standing around with a lot of the anarchist crowd in one of the parks when the cops decided the rally was over and decided to forcefully remove everybody from the park by launching tear gas. The right wing guys all got personal police escorts out from their side, with no such issues.
And these are public parks 🙄
posted by gucci mane at 8:07 PM on June 30, 2018 [22 favorites]
And these are public parks 🙄
posted by gucci mane at 8:07 PM on June 30, 2018 [22 favorites]
I was at the PP counter protest today and the one last year. This one was way worse in regards to the police response. Much more violent this time around. The police, at one point, let the PP get the upper hand, firing into the crowd of protesters instead of stopping the violence coming from PP.
posted by perhapses at 8:17 PM on June 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by perhapses at 8:17 PM on June 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
Best Signs From the Families Belong Together Marches - De Elizabeth, teen Vogue
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:20 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:20 PM on June 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
How France beat Russian meddling (and we could, too)
In a fascinating breakdown by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, we see not only exactly what France did to safeguard its democracy, but also a superlative road map for protecting ourselves.posted by euphorb at 9:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [42 favorites]
If you want to see actual news about the fash in Portland, check @rosecityantifa rather than the regular news sites.
posted by corb at 9:20 PM on June 30, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by corb at 9:20 PM on June 30, 2018 [15 favorites]
LA Times, 'Even the cops don’t like us anymore': Under Trump, ICE is despised and divided
posted by zachlipton at 10:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [74 favorites]
In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted in Union Station. Their appearance triggered a phone call to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office.*googles 'most powerful microscope in the world' to begin procuring the tools to manufacture a violin small enough for this one*
An LAPD officer reached out to David Marin, the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for ICE in L.A.
Far from any raid taking place, Marin told the officer that the agents had merely gone there to get coffee.
“I get calls regularly,” Marin said earlier this month. “It was not like that at all up until this administration.”
...
On a recent morning, fugitive operations teams with ERO fanned throughout the Los Angeles area, searching for “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives.” When the agents stopped for coffee at a Starbucks in Huntington Park, they noted that the negative opinion of the agency had recently intensified.
“Even the cops don’t like us anymore because they’re listening to the news also,” said one agent, who did not want his name included. “ ‘Oh you guys are just separating families.’ ”
As the agents prepared to leave, a Huntington Park police car pulled into the parking lot. Someone had probably seen the agents, Marin said, and called the police.
posted by zachlipton at 10:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [74 favorites]
I like the cut of his jib. Offer solutions to their problems, incentives to quit.
@pdxgdc A union carpenter is walking around camp at #OccupyICEPDX offering DHS/ICE agents jobs with the Carpenter’s Union if they turn in their badges & walk off the line.
You don’t have to kidnap children for a living. You could have a job with benefits, high pay, respect.
Just quit.
posted by scalefree at 11:09 PM on June 30, 2018 [120 favorites]
@pdxgdc A union carpenter is walking around camp at #OccupyICEPDX offering DHS/ICE agents jobs with the Carpenter’s Union if they turn in their badges & walk off the line.
You don’t have to kidnap children for a living. You could have a job with benefits, high pay, respect.
Just quit.
posted by scalefree at 11:09 PM on June 30, 2018 [120 favorites]
We must be honest, decent, loyal and comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else...What other nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take, if necessary, by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us.-- Heinrich Himmler, Posen speeches, October 1943
posted by kirkaracha at 12:15 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
Just quit.
That’s a class move, and likely to be effective for at least one or two. Just walk away.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:30 AM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
That’s a class move, and likely to be effective for at least one or two. Just walk away.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:30 AM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
I'm just going to start begging all y'all to help me. Help me. I love my adopted hometown of El Paso, I love my adopted home state of Texas. I grew up a proud Jayhawk but both of my kids were born in Texas and are Texan. They are my anchor babies. I'm Texan because of them. Please help me: help Beto O'Rouke. Give some money or phonebank(like I do) just help me. Give me something: good vibes, validation, positive reinforcement... something.
I can't keep going out to Tornillo without... something.
posted by blessedlyndie at 2:55 AM on July 1, 2018 [66 favorites]
I can't keep going out to Tornillo without... something.
posted by blessedlyndie at 2:55 AM on July 1, 2018 [66 favorites]
I can't keep going out to Tornillo without... something.
Blessed, you have my full gratitude and respect for everything you are doing and my love for the kind of person you are for the doing. I give, too, and have given more in the past when I had more. Just know it's worth it.
posted by kemrocken at 3:08 AM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
Blessed, you have my full gratitude and respect for everything you are doing and my love for the kind of person you are for the doing. I give, too, and have given more in the past when I had more. Just know it's worth it.
posted by kemrocken at 3:08 AM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
blessedlyndie you are fucking crushing it. I’ll give you the words I’ve used lately to buck myself up. I wish I could give more.
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” - Rep John Lewis
posted by supercrayon at 3:12 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” - Rep John Lewis
posted by supercrayon at 3:12 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
Far from any raid taking place, Marin told the officer that the agents had merely gone there to get coffee.
So you were just trying to go about your business and then felt scrutinized and targeted by law enforcement, yes gosh, hmm, tell me more ICE agent. 🤔
posted by supercrayon at 3:18 AM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
So you were just trying to go about your business and then felt scrutinized and targeted by law enforcement, yes gosh, hmm, tell me more ICE agent. 🤔
posted by supercrayon at 3:18 AM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
a 13-year-old asylum seeker who'd suffered in detention broke down in tears while speaking at the Philly rally. One sign was something like NOW YOU HAVE AWOKEN MAMA GRIZZLY with a picture of a roaring grizzly bear wearing a pussy hat. That is me. Give me a position show me where the ammunition is.
posted by angrycat at 4:01 AM on July 1, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 4:01 AM on July 1, 2018 [37 favorites]
New York Times (Michelle Goldberg), The millennial socialists are coming:
The young members of the D.S.A., meanwhile, are hopeful because their analysis helps them make sense of the Trump catastrophe. They often seem less panicked about what is happening in America right now than liberals are, because they believe they know why our society is coming undone, and how it can be rebuilt.
“The Trump disaster is that everyone feels threatened individually, and feels like they have to fight Trump and fight this administration,” Arielle Cohen, the Pittsburgh D.S.A.’s 29-year-old co-chair, told me as I sat with her and two other chapter leaders in a small coffee shop in the city’s East End. “And socialists are saying, this has actually been going on for a long time. It’s not just Trump. It’s not just who’s in office.”
There is a strange sort of comfort in this perspective; the socialists see themselves as building the world they want to live in decades in the future rather than just scrambling to avert catastrophe in the present.
Talking to Cohen and others from the D.S.A.’s Pittsburgh chapter, which has more than 620 members, I was struck by the work they put into building community. On some days that public schools are closed, the D.S.A.’s socialist-feminist committee puts on all-day events with child care and free lunches. Like several other chapters, the Pittsburgh D.S.A. holds clinics where members change people’s burned-out car brake lights for free, helping them avoid unnecessary police run-ins while making inroads into the community. A local mechanic named Metal Mary helped train them.
Democratic socialist chapters have constant streams of meetings and social events, creating an antidote to the isolation that’s epidemic in American life. “Everything is highly individualized, and it is isolating,” Svart said. “People are very, very lonely. Suicide rates have gone up astronomically. And we do create a community for folks.” This fusion of politics and communal life isn’t so different from what the Christian right has offered its adherents. Such social capital is something no amount of campaign spending can buy.
posted by mostly vowels at 4:14 AM on July 1, 2018 [66 favorites]
The young members of the D.S.A., meanwhile, are hopeful because their analysis helps them make sense of the Trump catastrophe. They often seem less panicked about what is happening in America right now than liberals are, because they believe they know why our society is coming undone, and how it can be rebuilt.
“The Trump disaster is that everyone feels threatened individually, and feels like they have to fight Trump and fight this administration,” Arielle Cohen, the Pittsburgh D.S.A.’s 29-year-old co-chair, told me as I sat with her and two other chapter leaders in a small coffee shop in the city’s East End. “And socialists are saying, this has actually been going on for a long time. It’s not just Trump. It’s not just who’s in office.”
There is a strange sort of comfort in this perspective; the socialists see themselves as building the world they want to live in decades in the future rather than just scrambling to avert catastrophe in the present.
Talking to Cohen and others from the D.S.A.’s Pittsburgh chapter, which has more than 620 members, I was struck by the work they put into building community. On some days that public schools are closed, the D.S.A.’s socialist-feminist committee puts on all-day events with child care and free lunches. Like several other chapters, the Pittsburgh D.S.A. holds clinics where members change people’s burned-out car brake lights for free, helping them avoid unnecessary police run-ins while making inroads into the community. A local mechanic named Metal Mary helped train them.
Democratic socialist chapters have constant streams of meetings and social events, creating an antidote to the isolation that’s epidemic in American life. “Everything is highly individualized, and it is isolating,” Svart said. “People are very, very lonely. Suicide rates have gone up astronomically. And we do create a community for folks.” This fusion of politics and communal life isn’t so different from what the Christian right has offered its adherents. Such social capital is something no amount of campaign spending can buy.
posted by mostly vowels at 4:14 AM on July 1, 2018 [66 favorites]
The Pittsburgh DSA is, honestly, killing it. They are doing great work here. And I am so, so happy that Sara Innamorato, mentioned in the article, is about to be my state rep instead of the guy she’s replacing, who held several views repugnant to me. (Full disclosure: dues paying member since 2017. I don’t generally participate beyond giving them money, but I trust them absolutely to do good things locally with my money and cheerfully send it their way.)
posted by Stacey at 5:02 AM on July 1, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Stacey at 5:02 AM on July 1, 2018 [19 favorites]
Thanks to all of you (especially The Whelk), I went to my first real meeting (not just happy hour) this week, and just became a dues-paying member of the DSA!
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 6:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by Sweetdefenestration at 6:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
Nine stabbed at Idaho apartment complex where refugee families live
The victims injured in the stabbing Saturday night included members of Boise's refugee community, Police Chief William Bones said. He declined to provide additional details on the victims. All nine victims are undergoing treatment at a hospital, four with life-threatening injuries, according to police. Detectives are interviewing the 30-year-old suspect but have yet to establish a motive for the attack, Bones said in a statement.
The suspect had apparently traveled from out of state. No established motive, my ass. It's stochastic terrorism and the blood is on their hands.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:16 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
The victims injured in the stabbing Saturday night included members of Boise's refugee community, Police Chief William Bones said. He declined to provide additional details on the victims. All nine victims are undergoing treatment at a hospital, four with life-threatening injuries, according to police. Detectives are interviewing the 30-year-old suspect but have yet to establish a motive for the attack, Bones said in a statement.
The suspect had apparently traveled from out of state. No established motive, my ass. It's stochastic terrorism and the blood is on their hands.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:16 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
Please don't despair. Even in the reddest of states, good things are happening. Last year I left NYC after 16 years to move back to my hometown of Bristol, TN (on the VA border). This is Bible-belt, gun-loving, Trump-country Appalachia. I moved back because after spending the last 20 years working on progressive causes in the Northeast, it was time for me to help support the people who were doing the work where it was needed most. And even in rural, conservative places, there are people fighting hard everyday for change. I came back not to lead or start a movement, but be of service of those already doing this important work. Even in my small conservative town, 100 people showed up for the Keep Families Together rally (and it was just one of several rallies in the area). A small group of pro-choice folks are showing up every week to counter-protest the anti-choice bullies who bring ugly signs and shout at women who are seeking care from a local abortion provider.
I've been volunteering for two congressional candidates, Marty Olsen in TN District 1 and Anthony Flaccavento in VA District 9. Both are Medicare for All, pro-environment and pro-choice. Flaccavento stands a really good chance of beating the deeply unpopular Tea Party incumbent. Olsen is running for a seat that hasn't been held by a Democrat in 140 years, but by god he's running and running hard. I'm in NY this summer trying to raise money for them, holding postcards writing parties with my friends, and looking for progressive activists groups to adopt these
candidates. Donations appreciated and if you are part of an Indivisible or other group in a blue state who wants to help red state candidates, MeMail me and I can connect you.
I work in reproductive rights, and this is still all about the midterms. When Roe goes down, everything moves back to the state level. 22 states either have plans to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned or already have pre-Roe laws on the books banning abortion. Eight have laws that protect abortion. We have to elect pro-choice candidates. We have to keep working for a blue wave.
posted by kimdog at 7:18 AM on July 1, 2018 [85 favorites]
I've been volunteering for two congressional candidates, Marty Olsen in TN District 1 and Anthony Flaccavento in VA District 9. Both are Medicare for All, pro-environment and pro-choice. Flaccavento stands a really good chance of beating the deeply unpopular Tea Party incumbent. Olsen is running for a seat that hasn't been held by a Democrat in 140 years, but by god he's running and running hard. I'm in NY this summer trying to raise money for them, holding postcards writing parties with my friends, and looking for progressive activists groups to adopt these
candidates. Donations appreciated and if you are part of an Indivisible or other group in a blue state who wants to help red state candidates, MeMail me and I can connect you.
I work in reproductive rights, and this is still all about the midterms. When Roe goes down, everything moves back to the state level. 22 states either have plans to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned or already have pre-Roe laws on the books banning abortion. Eight have laws that protect abortion. We have to elect pro-choice candidates. We have to keep working for a blue wave.
posted by kimdog at 7:18 AM on July 1, 2018 [85 favorites]
Journalist Liz Plank Believes the Media Was Baited by Melania Trump's Zara Jacket - Amira Rasool, Teen Vogue
The media's coverage of the jacket was met with strong criticism from FLOTUS Director of Communications, Stephanie Grisham, who claimed reporters were improperly focusing on the jacket instead of the migrant children. Yesterday [21 June], Grisham tweeted, "Today’s visit w the children in Texas impacted @flotus greatly. If media would spend their time & energy on her actions & efforts to help kids - rather than speculate & focus on her wardrobe - we could get so much accomplished on behalf of children. #SheCares #ItsJustAJacket."posted by ZeusHumms at 7:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
In the hours following Grisham's response, journalist Liz Plank shared a powerful message, calling the jacket a publicity stunt made by the Trump administration to bait journalists into appearing unconcerned with migrant children. Her lengthy Instagram response focused on the administration's alleged plan to discredit the media, and distract audiences from the horrors taking place at migrant centers. As an outspoken critic of Trump's administration in the past — so much so that she was blocked from Donald Trump's Twitter — Plank's message garnered a lot of support and, once again, brought up the issue of how media should responsibly report on the Trump administration."Melania’s jacket is a pristine example of how an authoritarian government operates to delegitimize the press.
Please don’t be fooled. This is 100% bait. It’s an effective strategy to get the media to criticize her wardrobe so that the government can criticize the media for criticizing her wardrobe and delegitimize us as fake news. Shortly after journalists started reporting on the jacket, FLOTUS’ director of communications tweeted a statement criticizing the media for not focusing on the children (even creating a hashtag for the jacket!), when the media is the VERY REASON we found out about the harrowing human rights abuses happening at the border in the first place. Also remember that these abuses were leveled by an administration who repeatedly lied about them with several senior officials denying they happened until the media collected irrefutable evidence that they did. Whatever rules of political discourse used to apply no longer do with this government. Be critical! Most importantly don’t underestimate this regime. Calling this administration dumb is dumb. We made that mistake in 2016. Let’s not make that mistake again. And no hate to the reporters who reported on this. It’s a trap for a reason."
--- MORE DISCUSSION OF THIS, PLEASE ---
Per euphorb's comment above, I'm having trouble wading through the sarcasm of the Engadget article linked (maybe it's my hangover), but I sure hope someone associated with election fraud prevention has been seriously studying the article that Endgadget is referring to:
The Center for Strategic and International Studies' article, Successfully Countering Russian Electoral Interference
I will happily call, email, visit whatever group is responsible for securing elections and make damn sure someone is looking at what France did. Because those fuckers are all up in our shit, and we NEED TO BE ON IT and not be hand wringing mamby pambies.
Dead. Serious.
posted by yoga at 7:27 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
Per euphorb's comment above, I'm having trouble wading through the sarcasm of the Engadget article linked (maybe it's my hangover), but I sure hope someone associated with election fraud prevention has been seriously studying the article that Endgadget is referring to:
The Center for Strategic and International Studies' article, Successfully Countering Russian Electoral Interference
I will happily call, email, visit whatever group is responsible for securing elections and make damn sure someone is looking at what France did. Because those fuckers are all up in our shit, and we NEED TO BE ON IT and not be hand wringing mamby pambies.
Dead. Serious.
posted by yoga at 7:27 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
First Manchin, now Collins. Which seems good until she says she thinks Gorsuch and Roberts wouldn't overturn Roe anyway. So clearly the sky is pink on her planet.
Collins: Won't support SCOTUS pick hostile to abortion rights
Collins: Won't support SCOTUS pick hostile to abortion rights
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a key vote in the coming Supreme Court confirmation fight, said Sunday she would not support a nominee hostile to the landmark abortion ruling in Roe v. Wade.posted by chris24 at 7:40 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
"I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade because that would mean to me that their judicial philosophy did not include a respect for established decisions, established law," Collins said on CNN's "State of the Union."
The Maine senator said when she met with President Donald Trump to discuss the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, she encouraged Trump "to broaden his list beyond" his standing list of 25 potential choices.
Collins said she is not comfortable with everyone on Trump's list of conservative names and stressed her preferences in their meeting. "The President really was soliciting my views on the type of nominee that I was looking for," Collins said. "I emphasized that I wanted a nominee who would respect precedent, a fundamental tenet of our judicial system."
Trump told CNN at the outset of his campaign that he would use Roe as a litmus test for Supreme Court choices, and Vice President Mike Pence likewise said during the campaign that they would see the abortion ruling in the "ash heap of history."
Nevertheless, Collins said Trump told her he would not ask a nominee how he or she would vote on Roe. She went on to say she did not believe Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative judge she voted to confirm last year, would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade either.
"I actually don't," she said of Gorsuch joining an opinion overturning Roe. "I had a very long discussion with Justice Gorsuch in my office and he pointed out to me that he is a co-author of a whole book on precedent."
Any article about Collins talking the talk must include context about the number of times she expressed "moderate leanings" and then just went ahead and voted lockstep Republican anyway. The ACA springs readily to mind among many others.
posted by Gelatin at 7:45 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 7:45 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
Trump's turned up on Fox in his attempt to turn the anti-child separation/anti-ICE movement into a crime F.U.D. platform for the mid-terms. In an interview on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures, he tells Fox business host Maria Bartiromo, per Axios, "you get rid of ICE you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house. I love that issue if they’re going to actually do that." (He had primed the pump on Twitter today—"The Liberal Left, also known as the Democrats, want to get rid of ICE, who do a fantastic job, and want Open Borders. Crime would be rampant and uncontrollable! ")
As ever, Daniel Dale is diligently live-tweeting the full interview, in all its bullshittery. Trump's verbally stumbling and fumbling in ways that Fox can't edit around in post: "They're flying in from bomb - from Guam." and "I have this country running like a top."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:47 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
As ever, Daniel Dale is diligently live-tweeting the full interview, in all its bullshittery. Trump's verbally stumbling and fumbling in ways that Fox can't edit around in post: "They're flying in from bomb - from Guam." and "I have this country running like a top."
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:47 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
"I actually don't," she said of Gorsuch joining an opinion overturning Roe. "I had a very long discussion with Justice Gorsuch in my office and he pointed out to me that he is a co-author of a whole book on precedent."
Collins is dumber than dirt. Gorsuch voted just last week to overturn a 41-year precedent on union representation.
Just like Collins got a promise to fix healthcare if she voted for the December tax cuts. How's that working out?
She's either profoundly stupid or profoundly dishonest. Why not both?
posted by JackFlash at 7:51 AM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
Collins is dumber than dirt. Gorsuch voted just last week to overturn a 41-year precedent on union representation.
Just like Collins got a promise to fix healthcare if she voted for the December tax cuts. How's that working out?
She's either profoundly stupid or profoundly dishonest. Why not both?
posted by JackFlash at 7:51 AM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
Trump's turned up on Fox in his attempt to turn the anti-child separation/anti-ICE movement into a crime F.U.D. platform for the mid-terms.
Honestly, fuck it, they’re going to run on that shit anyway. We need the numbers to bulldoze over them.
posted by Artw at 7:53 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Honestly, fuck it, they’re going to run on that shit anyway. We need the numbers to bulldoze over them.
posted by Artw at 7:53 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Collins said she is not comfortable with everyone on Trump's list of conservative names and stressed her preferences in their meeting. "The President really was soliciting my views on the type of nominee that I was looking for," Collins said. "I emphasized that I wanted a nominee who would respect precedent, a fundamental tenet of our judicial system."
This is the game. Collins doesn't care about saving Roe, she cares about not getting blamed when Roe is gone, and keeping her reputation as a "moderate" intact in a post-Roe world. If she did, she would say unequivocally, "my vote requires a pledge to uphold Roe" or something equally definitive. Trump's pick will come from the Federalist Society's list of groomed test tubes. They've been trained from birth not to say they would overturn Roe v. Wade in public. But behind the scenes, they've all promised both Trump and the Federalist Society, and the entire conservative movement broadly, that they would do exactly that. That's why they're on the list. Whoever he picks will get up before Congress and claim to respect precedent and stare decisis, just like Roberts and Gorsuch did. They'll be lying. Susan Collins knows they will lie to her. She knows this is the trick. She's making the mouth noises she thinks are required to keep getting booked on CNN after she knowingly votes to criminalize abortion.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:56 AM on July 1, 2018 [60 favorites]
This is the game. Collins doesn't care about saving Roe, she cares about not getting blamed when Roe is gone, and keeping her reputation as a "moderate" intact in a post-Roe world. If she did, she would say unequivocally, "my vote requires a pledge to uphold Roe" or something equally definitive. Trump's pick will come from the Federalist Society's list of groomed test tubes. They've been trained from birth not to say they would overturn Roe v. Wade in public. But behind the scenes, they've all promised both Trump and the Federalist Society, and the entire conservative movement broadly, that they would do exactly that. That's why they're on the list. Whoever he picks will get up before Congress and claim to respect precedent and stare decisis, just like Roberts and Gorsuch did. They'll be lying. Susan Collins knows they will lie to her. She knows this is the trick. She's making the mouth noises she thinks are required to keep getting booked on CNN after she knowingly votes to criminalize abortion.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:56 AM on July 1, 2018 [60 favorites]
I don't give a fuck what Collins says about her litmus tests for nominees.
The big question for all Senators is "Will you support the McConnell rule and refuse all nominations until after the election?"
posted by yesster at 7:56 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
The big question for all Senators is "Will you support the McConnell rule and refuse all nominations until after the election?"
posted by yesster at 7:56 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
Minor loony left update
Why I’m Backing Cynthia Nixon (NY Daily News)
This is my favorite story about Lopez Obrador (AMLO), the massively popular lefty expected to be elected Mexico's next president today
posted by The Whelk at 7:58 AM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
Why I’m Backing Cynthia Nixon (NY Daily News)
This is my favorite story about Lopez Obrador (AMLO), the massively popular lefty expected to be elected Mexico's next president today
posted by The Whelk at 7:58 AM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
[Collins is] either profoundly stupid or profoundly dishonest. Why not both?
Collins is dishonest. She's a Republican. But I repeat myself.
One of the things the media has missed, and missed badly, in its whole "fact check" campaign is noting that a politician said something untrue without exploring why they might say something untrue. Collins has a history of making "moderate" noises to the media and then voting lockstep with the most far-right Republicans in the country. I forget which Trump lackey said the defecits were going down when they are going up (and then claimed, unconvincingly, that he was making a prediction -- in the present tense). Sessions went out of his way to claim in his confirmation hearing that he didn't meet with any Russians, then evidence that he had emerged.
Lying and being caught in lies leads to more lies. It's one thing to exaggerate and even express doctrinaire, but historically untrue, conservative beliefs. But there's also a point at which the truth would lose a politician support, and in those cases, they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt that they "misspoke." They lie, and they lie to deceive the American people into supporting them. If they have to lie, it follows that the truth does not support them, and they know it.
posted by Gelatin at 7:59 AM on July 1, 2018 [15 favorites]
Collins is dishonest. She's a Republican. But I repeat myself.
One of the things the media has missed, and missed badly, in its whole "fact check" campaign is noting that a politician said something untrue without exploring why they might say something untrue. Collins has a history of making "moderate" noises to the media and then voting lockstep with the most far-right Republicans in the country. I forget which Trump lackey said the defecits were going down when they are going up (and then claimed, unconvincingly, that he was making a prediction -- in the present tense). Sessions went out of his way to claim in his confirmation hearing that he didn't meet with any Russians, then evidence that he had emerged.
Lying and being caught in lies leads to more lies. It's one thing to exaggerate and even express doctrinaire, but historically untrue, conservative beliefs. But there's also a point at which the truth would lose a politician support, and in those cases, they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt that they "misspoke." They lie, and they lie to deceive the American people into supporting them. If they have to lie, it follows that the truth does not support them, and they know it.
posted by Gelatin at 7:59 AM on July 1, 2018 [15 favorites]
New York Times: Has Trump ‘Watched ICE Liberate Towns From the Grasp of MS-13’?
Is there a separate term for the use of Betteridge's Law in service of the normalization of fascism?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:00 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
Is there a separate term for the use of Betteridge's Law in service of the normalization of fascism?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:00 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
The big question for all Senators is "Will you support the McConnell rule and refuse all nominations until after the election?"
That was always a bullshit exercise of pure political power, not a real reason/rule. And pretty much everybody knows it. Dems look weak and desparate pretending otherwise. The better question IMO is 'should a president under investigation be allowed to appoint someone who will probably rule on his crimes.'
posted by chris24 at 8:03 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
That was always a bullshit exercise of pure political power, not a real reason/rule. And pretty much everybody knows it. Dems look weak and desparate pretending otherwise. The better question IMO is 'should a president under investigation be allowed to appoint someone who will probably rule on his crimes.'
posted by chris24 at 8:03 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
New York Times: Has Trump ‘Watched ICE Liberate Towns From the Grasp of MS-13’?
Jesus. “This is an exaggeration.”
posted by Artw at 8:03 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
Jesus. “This is an exaggeration.”
posted by Artw at 8:03 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
At the tone, the time will be Scott "Tactical Pants" Pruitt Crime-Spree Update: *boop*
The E.P.A.’s Ethics Officer Once Defended Pruitt. Then He Urged Investigations.
In which Bush-era EPA Ethics Counsel, Kevin Minoli, can't stands no more and refers ScottPant's lavish coke-spending misdeeds to EPA's own Inspector General.
Mr. Pruitt is facing 13 federal inquiries into his spending and management practices as E.P.A. administrator, including the condo arrangement and the use of staff members for personal errands, as well as his first-class travel expenses and the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office.
Is Scott Pants the perfect Republican? Only time . . . will tell.
posted by petebest at 8:04 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
The E.P.A.’s Ethics Officer Once Defended Pruitt. Then He Urged Investigations.
In which Bush-era EPA Ethics Counsel, Kevin Minoli, can't stands no more and refers ScottPant's lavish coke-spending misdeeds to EPA's own Inspector General.
Mr. Pruitt is facing 13 federal inquiries into his spending and management practices as E.P.A. administrator, including the condo arrangement and the use of staff members for personal errands, as well as his first-class travel expenses and the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office.
Is Scott Pants the perfect Republican? Only time . . . will tell.
posted by petebest at 8:04 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
Choice Mefi Markov Chain Comment this morning:
I have a say in the world just waking up to the polls to basically vote fuck that .posted by mce at 8:04 AM on July 1, 2018 [18 favorites]
Just quit. That’s a class move, and likely to be effective for at least one or two.
I've run into a lot of people lately that aren't aware there's a toxic culture within ICE. Many of it's members fetishize illegal immigrants the same way some Marines fetishize being in the Military and kicking ass. This is the reason they won't quit, and need to be dissolved. A lot of people working for ICE have a hard on and serious hate for immigrants. It's like recruiting a police force of open racists (like things aren't bad enough).
posted by xammerboy at 8:05 AM on July 1, 2018 [26 favorites]
I've run into a lot of people lately that aren't aware there's a toxic culture within ICE. Many of it's members fetishize illegal immigrants the same way some Marines fetishize being in the Military and kicking ass. This is the reason they won't quit, and need to be dissolved. A lot of people working for ICE have a hard on and serious hate for immigrants. It's like recruiting a police force of open racists (like things aren't bad enough).
posted by xammerboy at 8:05 AM on July 1, 2018 [26 favorites]
Susan Collins insists the pick respect precedent of law.
This means nothing. It's like saying you want your pick to respect law or the judicial process or courts or freedom or something equally abstract and vague. There's plenty of precedent to invoke to overturn Roe in the standard conservative argument that the federal government should not create law related to how states govern healthcare, etc.
If a judge is not saying they won't overturn Roe, they'll overturn Roe. There's not a judge on the planet for whom this is a novel question they haven't given any thought to.
posted by xammerboy at 8:13 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
This means nothing. It's like saying you want your pick to respect law or the judicial process or courts or freedom or something equally abstract and vague. There's plenty of precedent to invoke to overturn Roe in the standard conservative argument that the federal government should not create law related to how states govern healthcare, etc.
If a judge is not saying they won't overturn Roe, they'll overturn Roe. There's not a judge on the planet for whom this is a novel question they haven't given any thought to.
posted by xammerboy at 8:13 AM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
If a judge is not saying they won't overturn Roe, they'll overturn Roe. There's not a judge on the planet for whom this is a novel question they haven't given any thought to.
That can't possible be true! Clarence Thomas testified under oath at his nomination hearing that he had never once discussed or even thought about Roe v. Wade when in law school or the years since. Note that he was in law school when Roe was decided and it was one of the most controversial and argued legal issues of the day.
posted by JackFlash at 8:34 AM on July 1, 2018 [22 favorites]
That can't possible be true! Clarence Thomas testified under oath at his nomination hearing that he had never once discussed or even thought about Roe v. Wade when in law school or the years since. Note that he was in law school when Roe was decided and it was one of the most controversial and argued legal issues of the day.
posted by JackFlash at 8:34 AM on July 1, 2018 [22 favorites]
That can't possible be true! Clarence Thomas testified under oath at his nomination hearing that he had never once discussed or even thought about Roe v. Wade when in law school or the years since. Note that he was in law school when Roe was decided and it was one of the most controversial and argued legal issues of the day.
This is the problem with arguing in good faith on one side only. It's completely fucking preposterous yet you can't prove it if you make the accusation that they're a lying piece of shit.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:39 AM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
This is the problem with arguing in good faith on one side only. It's completely fucking preposterous yet you can't prove it if you make the accusation that they're a lying piece of shit.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:39 AM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
Anyone else notice how little coverage the Families Belong Together rallies got in mainstream press today?
The Washington Post left all mention out of its A section, had a small under-the-fold article in the Metro section. I am honestly shocked. Why is there so little coverage?
posted by rue72 at 8:41 AM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
The Washington Post left all mention out of its A section, had a small under-the-fold article in the Metro section. I am honestly shocked. Why is there so little coverage?
posted by rue72 at 8:41 AM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
"The President really was soliciting my views on the type of nominee that I was looking for," Collins said. "I emphasized that I wanted a nominee who would respect precedent, a fundamental tenet of our judicial system."
If you really cared about getting Trump to make a better choice, what you say is "It's too bad they won't let you choose somebody who isn't on this list, a candidate with strong bipartisan backing would cement your legacy as a populist, but I know Mitch needs you to toe the line here."
posted by jason_steakums at 8:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
If you really cared about getting Trump to make a better choice, what you say is "It's too bad they won't let you choose somebody who isn't on this list, a candidate with strong bipartisan backing would cement your legacy as a populist, but I know Mitch needs you to toe the line here."
posted by jason_steakums at 8:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
I am honestly shocked. Why is there so little coverage?
Because they serve power. In 2003 the largest protests in modern history happened here and around the world, and the US press hardly mentioned it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:43 AM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
Because they serve power. In 2003 the largest protests in modern history happened here and around the world, and the US press hardly mentioned it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:43 AM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
[Virginia Heffernan (@page88); LA Times] We all know about Trump's war on facts, but the more vicious war is on basic notions of right and wrong
Intellectual insecurity — more even than economic insecurity — is a deeply dangerous thing to befall a people. When we’re tortured by doubts about our own wisdom and judgment, we can’t risk the humbling posture of actually learning. We become vulnerable to any nitwit belief that confirms that, whatever we lack in facts, experience or education, we make up for in innate mental firepower.posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:48 AM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
As bad money drove out good money in Weimar Germany, so bad ideas have driven out good ones in Trump’s America. The case is made ad nauseam for “critical thinking.” But that’s a luxury now. Instead it’s time for triage: We need to back off the online cacophony and trust our guts again. Clubbing Rodney King was wrong. Jailing infants is wrong. Partnering with hostile powers against American allies is wrong.
We must hold these truths to be self-evident. Or the nation will belong to a swath of cognitively vulnerable voters anxious to style themselves as stable geniuses.
Photos From the Nationwide “Families Belong Together” Marches - Alan Taylor, The Atlantic (In Focus)
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:16 AM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:16 AM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
I am honestly shocked. Why is there so little coverage?
Pretty much right as my husband and I walked back into his parents house after returning from DC, it was the lead story on the NBC nightly news, fwiw.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Pretty much right as my husband and I walked back into his parents house after returning from DC, it was the lead story on the NBC nightly news, fwiw.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:23 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Why is there so little coverage?
civility
there was a piece by mitch albom which criticized the owner of the red hen for refusing sanders a meal over political differences and the administration's views towards gay and trans people
not once did mitch see fit to mention that the major controversy was the trump administration's putting children in camps
i'm not linking to it - i don't feel that lies of omission in the name of civility should be tolerated
posted by pyramid termite at 9:25 AM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
civility
there was a piece by mitch albom which criticized the owner of the red hen for refusing sanders a meal over political differences and the administration's views towards gay and trans people
not once did mitch see fit to mention that the major controversy was the trump administration's putting children in camps
i'm not linking to it - i don't feel that lies of omission in the name of civility should be tolerated
posted by pyramid termite at 9:25 AM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
There are only three media narratives left: Horse Race, Both Sides, and Friendly Nazi. Protests don't fit into any of these slots.
posted by benzenedream at 9:29 AM on July 1, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 9:29 AM on July 1, 2018 [37 favorites]
Obviously the media has often been complicit, and I'm surprised it was below the fold in Metro, but right now the protests are the top right story on WaPo's homepage with a big video. And the #2 politics story on top of the CNN homepage.
posted by chris24 at 9:30 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 9:30 AM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Dave Weigel (WaPo)
The political fight over immigrant family separation basically began on June 4, when Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from a detention center. Since then, the generic ballot has inched up a bit for Democrats, from +5.5 to +7.2. Is the movement due to the immigration fight? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But there's a hardened consensus that any immigration fight is going to help Trump, and reality is undecided on that.
posted by chris24 at 9:33 AM on July 1, 2018 [26 favorites]
The political fight over immigrant family separation basically began on June 4, when Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from a detention center. Since then, the generic ballot has inched up a bit for Democrats, from +5.5 to +7.2. Is the movement due to the immigration fight? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But there's a hardened consensus that any immigration fight is going to help Trump, and reality is undecided on that.
posted by chris24 at 9:33 AM on July 1, 2018 [26 favorites]
there's a hardened consensus that any immigration fight is going to help Trump, and reality is undecided on that
Reminder: There was also "hardened consensus" that Trump couldn't win the presidency. And that Nazis were a thing of the past. And that socialism is evil and un-American. Fuck "hardened consensus."
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
Reminder: There was also "hardened consensus" that Trump couldn't win the presidency. And that Nazis were a thing of the past. And that socialism is evil and un-American. Fuck "hardened consensus."
posted by Lyme Drop at 9:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
There's also "hardened consensus" that abortion should be legal, in favor of universal health care, in favor of enforcing ethics rules and regulating Wall Street and all manner of liberal policy initiatives.
We don't live in a country that gives one flying fuck about the will of the people. Our "democracy" was designed as a tyranny of the minority over the majority, and it functions as that today.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:49 AM on July 1, 2018 [33 favorites]
We don't live in a country that gives one flying fuck about the will of the people. Our "democracy" was designed as a tyranny of the minority over the majority, and it functions as that today.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:49 AM on July 1, 2018 [33 favorites]
Apologies if this belongs in Ask but are there any resources akin to an AbolishICE or immigration reform or undocumented advocacy 101? Ideally just FAQ style point -> counterpoint? Do any advocacy orgs or write-ups offer this?
I find myself increasingly having conversations with moderate/centrist liberal types who are decidedly anti-Trump but also skeptical of ideas like rolling back immigration enforcement because LAWS EXIST for a REASON, etc. They are anti-baby prisons but they also hear "illegal immigration" and get hung up on the word "illegal". They hear a phrase like "abolish ICE" and dismiss it as absurd.
Endless arguments and debates can get exhausting and I'd like to point these folks toward resources like, "Look if you're actually interested in learning more about this in good faith, here is a great 101 for you" - does anyone know of anything?
posted by windbox at 10:44 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
I find myself increasingly having conversations with moderate/centrist liberal types who are decidedly anti-Trump but also skeptical of ideas like rolling back immigration enforcement because LAWS EXIST for a REASON, etc. They are anti-baby prisons but they also hear "illegal immigration" and get hung up on the word "illegal". They hear a phrase like "abolish ICE" and dismiss it as absurd.
Endless arguments and debates can get exhausting and I'd like to point these folks toward resources like, "Look if you're actually interested in learning more about this in good faith, here is a great 101 for you" - does anyone know of anything?
posted by windbox at 10:44 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
From a lawyer on FB who when I knew her knew her shit so here it is:
COPY AND PASTE
WHAT TO DO AT AN ICE CHECKPOINT: ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A WHITE CITIZEN
Hello, I saw someone on here post that they encountered an ICE checkpoint in NYC. Here's the deal
-Border Patrol can verify citizenship within 100 miles of a border or "external boundary." This includes coastlines, so NYC, Philadelphia, and all of NJ are within the 100-mile zone.
-Border patrol can only ask brief questions about citizenship, and they cannot hold you for an
extended time without cause.
-You always have the right to remain silent. You do not need to answer their questions.
-WITH THAT SAID, IF YOU ARE A BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU NEED TO SPEAK THE FUCK UP.
-The most important acts of resistance are the small ones. Make it difficult and uncomfortable for ICE agents to do their jobs. They are counting on citizens to turn a blind eye and allow them to deport undocumented citizens without challenge. Disabuse of that notion.
-If you are on a train, bus, or anything else and ICE or CBP boards, you need to stand up and loudly let everyone know that they have the right to remain silent or only answer questions in the presence of an attorney, no matter their citizenship or immigration status. There have been numerous reports that confronting the agents in this way has caused them to leave without verifying citizenship. THIS CAN SAVE LIVES.
-If you see anyone being held up by immigration, loudly ask if they are being detained and if they are free to go.
-Immigration officers cannot detain anyone without reasonable suspicion, an agent must have specific facts about you that make it reasonable to believe you are committing or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.
If an agent detains you, you can ask for their basis for reasonable suspicion, and they should tell you.
-Always say no to a search and let everyone know that they can and should refuse consent to a search.
-They cannot search or arrest anyone without facts about that make it probable that they are committing, or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.
-Silence alone meets neither of these standards. Nor does race or ethnicity alone suffice for either probable cause or reasonable suspicion
-As white citizens, we have a level of privilege which protects us from retaliation from ICE for being "rude" and making a scene, which makes it our DUTY to speak up and make sure people without the same privilege know their rights. GET LOUD. YELL. YELL IN SPANISH IF YOU KNOW IT. LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY DON'T HAVE TO SAY SHIT. MAKE ICE UNCOMFORTABLE. THROW SAND IN THE GEARS OF WHITE SUPREMACY.
Bonus info-
-It is perfectly legal to record immigration agents as long as you are not on government property or at a port of entry. If your train/bus gets board, pull your phone out and start videotaping immediately.
-If you are detained or see someone getting detained, get the agent's name, number, and any other identifying information. Get it on tape.
-Contact the ACLU if you see someone's rights being violated.
posted by angrycat at 10:55 AM on July 1, 2018 [154 favorites]
COPY AND PASTE
WHAT TO DO AT AN ICE CHECKPOINT: ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A WHITE CITIZEN
Hello, I saw someone on here post that they encountered an ICE checkpoint in NYC. Here's the deal
-Border Patrol can verify citizenship within 100 miles of a border or "external boundary." This includes coastlines, so NYC, Philadelphia, and all of NJ are within the 100-mile zone.
-Border patrol can only ask brief questions about citizenship, and they cannot hold you for an
extended time without cause.
-You always have the right to remain silent. You do not need to answer their questions.
-WITH THAT SAID, IF YOU ARE A BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU NEED TO SPEAK THE FUCK UP.
-The most important acts of resistance are the small ones. Make it difficult and uncomfortable for ICE agents to do their jobs. They are counting on citizens to turn a blind eye and allow them to deport undocumented citizens without challenge. Disabuse of that notion.
-If you are on a train, bus, or anything else and ICE or CBP boards, you need to stand up and loudly let everyone know that they have the right to remain silent or only answer questions in the presence of an attorney, no matter their citizenship or immigration status. There have been numerous reports that confronting the agents in this way has caused them to leave without verifying citizenship. THIS CAN SAVE LIVES.
-If you see anyone being held up by immigration, loudly ask if they are being detained and if they are free to go.
-Immigration officers cannot detain anyone without reasonable suspicion, an agent must have specific facts about you that make it reasonable to believe you are committing or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.
If an agent detains you, you can ask for their basis for reasonable suspicion, and they should tell you.
-Always say no to a search and let everyone know that they can and should refuse consent to a search.
-They cannot search or arrest anyone without facts about that make it probable that they are committing, or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.
-Silence alone meets neither of these standards. Nor does race or ethnicity alone suffice for either probable cause or reasonable suspicion
-As white citizens, we have a level of privilege which protects us from retaliation from ICE for being "rude" and making a scene, which makes it our DUTY to speak up and make sure people without the same privilege know their rights. GET LOUD. YELL. YELL IN SPANISH IF YOU KNOW IT. LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY DON'T HAVE TO SAY SHIT. MAKE ICE UNCOMFORTABLE. THROW SAND IN THE GEARS OF WHITE SUPREMACY.
Bonus info-
-It is perfectly legal to record immigration agents as long as you are not on government property or at a port of entry. If your train/bus gets board, pull your phone out and start videotaping immediately.
-If you are detained or see someone getting detained, get the agent's name, number, and any other identifying information. Get it on tape.
-Contact the ACLU if you see someone's rights being violated.
posted by angrycat at 10:55 AM on July 1, 2018 [154 favorites]
Apologies if this belongs in Ask but are there any resources akin to an AbolishICE or immigration reform or undocumented advocacy 101?
There's this Facebook note about Abolish ICE, which is a bit casual in tone but informative.
posted by sunset in snow country at 11:17 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
There's this Facebook note about Abolish ICE, which is a bit casual in tone but informative.
posted by sunset in snow country at 11:17 AM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
I don't know how anyone can look at those photos on the Atlantic of the marches and not think this was protest was huge. WTf media?
posted by yoga at 11:39 AM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by yoga at 11:39 AM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Caroline Orr @RVAwonk on Twitter last night:
* I'm trying to find independent confirmation about a report from yesterday of a woman at the Baker County Florida Sheriff's Office anti-ICE demonstration who drove her car into protestors and hit at least one person (apparently not severely injured). That's all that's shown up on my radar with respect to the immigration protests.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:58 AM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
People protesting Trump's immigration policies marched in 50 states today. There are no reports of violence*.Trump in this morning's Fox interview: "I hope the other side realizes that they better just take it easy. They better just take it easy because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas I really think they are very bad for the country. I think they're actually very dangerous for the country."
Trump-supporting far-right protesters rallied in one city today. It was declared a riot & violence was everywhere.
... so don't even start with the "both sides" BS.
* I'm trying to find independent confirmation about a report from yesterday of a woman at the Baker County Florida Sheriff's Office anti-ICE demonstration who drove her car into protestors and hit at least one person (apparently not severely injured). That's all that's shown up on my radar with respect to the immigration protests.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:58 AM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
I don't know how anyone can look at those photos on the Atlantic of the marches and not think this was protest was huge. WTf media?
Feb 15, 2003 was the date of the largest protest in human history, against the war about to happen in Iraq. Estimates vary from 6-30 million worldwide; 3 million in Rome & 1.5 million in Madrid alone. There were even 15 protesters in Antarctica, making it possibly the first ever truly global protest. Made barely a ripple in the US. The media has as much power to shape events through what it ignores as what it publishes. It's not always fair in how it chooses which to apply.
posted by scalefree at 12:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [44 favorites]
Feb 15, 2003 was the date of the largest protest in human history, against the war about to happen in Iraq. Estimates vary from 6-30 million worldwide; 3 million in Rome & 1.5 million in Madrid alone. There were even 15 protesters in Antarctica, making it possibly the first ever truly global protest. Made barely a ripple in the US. The media has as much power to shape events through what it ignores as what it publishes. It's not always fair in how it chooses which to apply.
posted by scalefree at 12:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [44 favorites]
The protest in Indianapolis, like the Women's March and several others, was confined to the plaza on the west side of the Statehouse. It wasn't a march, then or now. While the facility was more than adequate, the State house itself shields the rally from view by many passersby despite being in the middle of downtown. By contrast, when the gun violence protest in the month of March was moved inside due to snowfall, the lines to get in -- because you have to pass thru a metal detector to enter the State house -- wrapped around the block and along busy streets.
I have little doubt that poor visibility was intentional in the other cases.
posted by Gelatin at 12:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have little doubt that poor visibility was intentional in the other cases.
posted by Gelatin at 12:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
At each march I am asking myself why I am there and what I really hope to accomplish. I really OD'd on protests in the 70s and vowed I would never do it again. The march against the war in Iraq in Feb 2003 was in fact my first march since college.
I was thinking that the protests are getting much better than they used to be - there are a lot less fringe people with wacky agendas that have little to do with the focus of the march, making everyone else feel they're being used. There were a lot of families, a lot of people with petitions to get candidates on the ballot, leafleting about candidates, getting people registered to vote. There was still the good feeling of camaraderie, and, I hope for this particular march, showing immigrants they have support in their community, but also I hope a lot of information about how to channel the energy constructively ( and I hope it's not too late for that...)
posted by maggiemaggie at 12:38 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
I was thinking that the protests are getting much better than they used to be - there are a lot less fringe people with wacky agendas that have little to do with the focus of the march, making everyone else feel they're being used. There were a lot of families, a lot of people with petitions to get candidates on the ballot, leafleting about candidates, getting people registered to vote. There was still the good feeling of camaraderie, and, I hope for this particular march, showing immigrants they have support in their community, but also I hope a lot of information about how to channel the energy constructively ( and I hope it's not too late for that...)
posted by maggiemaggie at 12:38 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
@waldojaquith
When somebody survives a mass shooting now, they are subjected to weeks or months of death threats. This shows that the shooters aren’t really lone attackers, but part of a network of perhaps-unwitting coconspirators, collectively commuting acts of terrorism, a societal cancer.
posted by Artw at 12:57 PM on July 1, 2018 [86 favorites]
When somebody survives a mass shooting now, they are subjected to weeks or months of death threats. This shows that the shooters aren’t really lone attackers, but part of a network of perhaps-unwitting coconspirators, collectively commuting acts of terrorism, a societal cancer.
posted by Artw at 12:57 PM on July 1, 2018 [86 favorites]
Marches are for morale and support - look how many supporters My Cause has!
Direct action gets the goods.
posted by The Whelk at 12:57 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
Direct action gets the goods.
posted by The Whelk at 12:57 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
windbox: Apologies if this belongs in Ask but are there any resources akin to an AbolishICE or immigration reform or undocumented advocacy 101? Ideally just FAQ style point -> counterpoint? Do any advocacy orgs or write-ups offer this?
Your question is so good I posted it to Ask Metafilter
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:06 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Your question is so good I posted it to Ask Metafilter
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:06 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Hundreds of thousands of people showed up in sweltering heat across all 50 states in rallies organized in a week and a half to help the helpless. And this is after 18 months of obscenities and protests to get weary from. It was a huge success regardless of press coverage. These protests were orders of magnitude bigger than the tea party protests in 2010. And we know how that played out in midterms. The engagement, outrage and energy bodes well for a mass protest that will definitely get press; Election Day November 2018.
posted by chris24 at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [46 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [46 favorites]
I was at the march in Raleigh yesterday. It was barely a blip on WRAL, and now it's not even on the front page. There were about 5k people there by my estimate (I'm comparing to being on the ground for Woman's Marches 1 & 2, Tax March, MLK March, and probably something else I can't remember because there've been so many.)
It did make the N&O, so there's that, locally.
Everyone here was peaceful. I did notice a distinct change in tenor with the signage. It was much more serious, very few jokey signs, which helped drive home that this shit is serious. I talked with a woman from Honduras. She said she crossed the border in 2003 with her 5 year old son at the time. They did detain her, but did not separate them. Obviously she has a lot of empathy for the TX folks, and still worries every day when her husband (he is from Mexico) leaves the house if she'll see him again.
It's interesting that you guys mentioned the 2003 anti Iraq war march. I went to that one here in Raleigh also, & had no idea how huge worldwide it was until you guys enlightened me in this thread.
posted by yoga at 1:14 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
It did make the N&O, so there's that, locally.
Everyone here was peaceful. I did notice a distinct change in tenor with the signage. It was much more serious, very few jokey signs, which helped drive home that this shit is serious. I talked with a woman from Honduras. She said she crossed the border in 2003 with her 5 year old son at the time. They did detain her, but did not separate them. Obviously she has a lot of empathy for the TX folks, and still worries every day when her husband (he is from Mexico) leaves the house if she'll see him again.
It's interesting that you guys mentioned the 2003 anti Iraq war march. I went to that one here in Raleigh also, & had no idea how huge worldwide it was until you guys enlightened me in this thread.
posted by yoga at 1:14 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
This was my first march. I've been cynical in thinking they're mostly to make the marchers feel better. But visibility is important, especially when these immigrant children have been hidden away by our government. We got many cars honking in support. The organization and community building is important too. Our march had a voter registration booth and people actively asking people if they were registered in the crowd.
There was a moment where I felt a deep feeling of sadness and power in my gut. Our marchers were mostly white, so our chants were in English. We were slowly passing an active construction site. The work inside was obscured by shades, but a single voice sang, "¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!" I wish I had the courage to sing back. My Spanish has rusted.
Marches show we are united and give each other courage. We are not alone.
posted by Mister Cheese at 1:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [40 favorites]
There was a moment where I felt a deep feeling of sadness and power in my gut. Our marchers were mostly white, so our chants were in English. We were slowly passing an active construction site. The work inside was obscured by shades, but a single voice sang, "¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!" I wish I had the courage to sing back. My Spanish has rusted.
Marches show we are united and give each other courage. We are not alone.
posted by Mister Cheese at 1:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [40 favorites]
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the rally in Colorado Springs yesterday. I showed up early and helped with a voter registration table. Turnout was very respectable, several hundred people gathered on the steps of city hall, but police approached the organizers and threatened to not let them use their sound system (which consisted of one speaker and a mic) unless they promised there would be no march and no blockade of traffic, like the one last week.
The first speaker, a white woman, conveyed this info, asked the crowd to cooperate with it, and then thanked the police for being there. The almost entirely white crowd cheered. She talked for longer than she should have, IMO, led some chants badly, and then finally introduced other speakers from local immigrant rights groups and orgs. Folks with family at risk of deportation spoke compellingly, a DACA student spoke, someone whose father was deported to the Middle East when she was 13 in 2001 performed a spoke word piece, a member of our city council spoke about her US citizen father being deported to Mexico in 1933 and then drafted to serve in WWII, the Rev. Dr. Spaulding, who's a WOC running against incumbent Lamborn for Congress, was amazing and energizing and pushed hard against the idea that this is a nation of immigrants, reminding the crowd that her ancestors were brought here in chains, another person spoke about how solidarity is not just showing up to a rally and taking pictures (though it is a good first step and meaningful in its own right), but is also doing work alongside immigrant-led organizations, it's asking why cops in our city cooperate with ICE by detaining immigrants, it's educating yourself about this issue . And then some white guy got the mic and thanked the cops again and the crowd cheered some more.
I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say, other than that thanking cops for doing their job is effectively thanking them for upholding oppressive systems, which really ought not happen at an event ostensibly supporting the marginalized. I was confused and disappointed by a lot of the crowd at the event, even if they were game to chant "chinga la migra" with one of the speakers, since I, with less than perfect charity, suspected it was because they didn't know what it meant. I gave my contact info to one of the organizations that was present but I'll maybe skip rallies for a while.
posted by danielleh at 1:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
The first speaker, a white woman, conveyed this info, asked the crowd to cooperate with it, and then thanked the police for being there. The almost entirely white crowd cheered. She talked for longer than she should have, IMO, led some chants badly, and then finally introduced other speakers from local immigrant rights groups and orgs. Folks with family at risk of deportation spoke compellingly, a DACA student spoke, someone whose father was deported to the Middle East when she was 13 in 2001 performed a spoke word piece, a member of our city council spoke about her US citizen father being deported to Mexico in 1933 and then drafted to serve in WWII, the Rev. Dr. Spaulding, who's a WOC running against incumbent Lamborn for Congress, was amazing and energizing and pushed hard against the idea that this is a nation of immigrants, reminding the crowd that her ancestors were brought here in chains, another person spoke about how solidarity is not just showing up to a rally and taking pictures (though it is a good first step and meaningful in its own right), but is also doing work alongside immigrant-led organizations, it's asking why cops in our city cooperate with ICE by detaining immigrants, it's educating yourself about this issue . And then some white guy got the mic and thanked the cops again and the crowd cheered some more.
I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say, other than that thanking cops for doing their job is effectively thanking them for upholding oppressive systems, which really ought not happen at an event ostensibly supporting the marginalized. I was confused and disappointed by a lot of the crowd at the event, even if they were game to chant "chinga la migra" with one of the speakers, since I, with less than perfect charity, suspected it was because they didn't know what it meant. I gave my contact info to one of the organizations that was present but I'll maybe skip rallies for a while.
posted by danielleh at 1:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
chris24, it's a good point that these protests are much bigger than the tea party. They were given political influence through organization and funding, not least from the Kochs. But the resistance can organize and fund itself. The rallies are part of that.
posted by mumimor at 1:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 1:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
Yeah, interesting change in tone from Women's March. Like the same people were out and maybe the heat and bugs in Logan Square in Philly contributed to the mood, but it lacked the hope of the Women's March in D.C. I mean, you're listening to a kid speaker break down sobbing as she describes being separated from her family. It wasn't like listening to ScaJo talk about the importance of Planned Parenthood and Jenelle Monae do her thing. I'm comparing two different venues, but still. Not a whole lot of chatter. Of course it was dangerously hot and I was attacked continuously by gnats, not exactly promoting good cheer.
posted by angrycat at 1:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 1:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
Sunset in Snow Country: There's this Facebook note about Abolish ICE, which is a bit casual in tone but informative.
Thank you for this, this link is so good I will be sharing it heavily moving forward.
posted by windbox at 1:37 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thank you for this, this link is so good I will be sharing it heavily moving forward.
posted by windbox at 1:37 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
NYT, Miriam Jordan, Sponsors of Migrant Children Face Steep Transport Fees and Red Tape
posted by zachlipton at 1:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
Marlon Parada, a construction worker in Los Angeles, already was worried when he got an urgent call from his cousin in Honduras, asking if he would agree to take in the cousin’s 14-year-old daughter. She’d been taken from her mother while attempting to cross the border and detained in Houston, he said. She couldn’t be released unless a family member agreed to take her in.So the government takes your kids away, sends them to the other side of the country, you find a relative willing to take them, and they have to pay the bill? As the article points out later, it doesn't even make financial sense, because keeping the kids in a government facility costs $600+/day, so even a couple day delay placing a child with a relative will cost the government more than the airfare.
Mr. Parada, an immigrant himself who is supporting his wife and three daughters on $3,000 a month, wondered how he could afford to take on another responsibility. Then he learned that he would have to pay $1,800 to fly Anyi and an escort from Houston to Los Angeles.
“It caught me by surprise when they demanded all that money. I asked them to just put her on a bus, but they wouldn’t,” said Mr. Parada, who scrambled to amass the cash from friends and wired it to the operator of the migrant shelter where Anyi was being held.
But that was only one of the hurdles he would have to surmount to take custody of the girl. Families hoping to win release for the thousands of migrant children being held by federal immigration authorities are finding they have to navigate an exhausting, intimidating — and sometimes expensive — thicket of requirements before the youngsters can be released.
Candidates for sponsorship must produce a plethora of documents to prove they are legitimate relatives and financially capable sponsors, including rent receipts, utility bills and proof of income. Home visits are increasingly common as part of the process. And once those conditions are met, many families must pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars in airfare to bring the children home.
...
One potential sponsor was rejected recently because authorities decided she could not afford the child’s medication, Ms. Desai said. A mother of two was told that her house was not large enough to accommodate a third child. Another was told that she had to move to a better neighborhood if she wanted to be approved.
A new condition requires that all adults in the household where a migrant child will reside submit fingerprints to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such a requirement has intimidated many undocumented immigrants, who represent the majority of sponsors but fear being targeted for deportation themselves.
posted by zachlipton at 1:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [30 favorites]
Yeah, interesting change in tone from Women's March.
The tone in the DC marches has gotten progressively grimmer. The Women's March was angry, but still hopeful and even resolved, but with a lot of people clearly just there for the history or event or whatever. The Parkland guns rally was much angrier, the signs all darker and sad. Yesterday was like that, only now there's a heavy air of defeat and despair, and all of the 'fun' or levity or whatever was in the air for the Women's March, that's all gone now. There's only anger left. Resolve too, but mostly anger.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:53 PM on July 1, 2018 [27 favorites]
The tone in the DC marches has gotten progressively grimmer. The Women's March was angry, but still hopeful and even resolved, but with a lot of people clearly just there for the history or event or whatever. The Parkland guns rally was much angrier, the signs all darker and sad. Yesterday was like that, only now there's a heavy air of defeat and despair, and all of the 'fun' or levity or whatever was in the air for the Women's March, that's all gone now. There's only anger left. Resolve too, but mostly anger.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:53 PM on July 1, 2018 [27 favorites]
One major reason why I went to the Families Belong Together rally in DC yesterday is because I wanted people both here in the US and abroad to see (literally, with their own eyes) that there are many, many Americans who still believe in the American ideals of liberty and equality and due process, who think that the current treatment of immigrants and refugees is WRONG, and who are desperate to stop this internment/detention. We may be silenced in the government but we still exist and this matters.
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but the rallies yesterday were big -- they were large individually and there were A LOT of them, everywhere, in every single state and even abroad. The protests were/are legitimately newsworthy. We're talking about tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people who dropped what they were doing to come together and denounce this policy, in hundreds of towns and cities across the globe, and all despite the heat and despite the violent, fearmongering rhetoric and actions by the right.
After seeing how enormous, thoughtful, relevant, and focused the March for Our Lives was and how even for all that, it did nothing to change policy, I couldn't expect the Families Belong Together protest or any other protest to have an appreciable affect on policy (at least for the foreseeable). But I went to Families Belong Together to add to the turnout count, to do what I could (little as it is) to help amplify the protest's message. I go to protests because as small a voice as I have as one more protester, at least it's louder than if I don't protest at all. As small a voice as any protests have, at least it's louder than no protest.
So all that said, I was very happy to see how large a media presence there was at the DC rally yesterday. I was hopeful that some of the media there were Spanish-language, too. The whole point, in my mind, was for our explicit outrage and sheer numbers to make a public statement. A public statement isn't everything, but it is meaningful. (And in my mind, the statement was for other regular people, immigrants especially, not for the government).
And I was very disappointed by the near total lack of coverage today. I am as cynical as anyone about the media's failure to cover important stories, especially protests or leftward grassroots movements, but I thought that this one was big enough and captured the US's zeitgeist enough that it would get covered at least for ONE DAY. And I thought the media would also be relatively interested in covering it in light of the Annapolis shooting.
So yeah, cynicism has been earned. I get it. I, too, am fairly cynical. But it's one thing to know that there's not going to be any real change made on the basis of a protest, and another to see something as big and meaningful as a massive grassroots movement denouncing current policy erased within a day from the national dialogue. I figured that we can't change the policy (yet) but I'm still upset that we apparently can't even get on record that we want to. It's Orwellian.
posted by rue72 at 2:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but the rallies yesterday were big -- they were large individually and there were A LOT of them, everywhere, in every single state and even abroad. The protests were/are legitimately newsworthy. We're talking about tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people who dropped what they were doing to come together and denounce this policy, in hundreds of towns and cities across the globe, and all despite the heat and despite the violent, fearmongering rhetoric and actions by the right.
After seeing how enormous, thoughtful, relevant, and focused the March for Our Lives was and how even for all that, it did nothing to change policy, I couldn't expect the Families Belong Together protest or any other protest to have an appreciable affect on policy (at least for the foreseeable). But I went to Families Belong Together to add to the turnout count, to do what I could (little as it is) to help amplify the protest's message. I go to protests because as small a voice as I have as one more protester, at least it's louder than if I don't protest at all. As small a voice as any protests have, at least it's louder than no protest.
So all that said, I was very happy to see how large a media presence there was at the DC rally yesterday. I was hopeful that some of the media there were Spanish-language, too. The whole point, in my mind, was for our explicit outrage and sheer numbers to make a public statement. A public statement isn't everything, but it is meaningful. (And in my mind, the statement was for other regular people, immigrants especially, not for the government).
And I was very disappointed by the near total lack of coverage today. I am as cynical as anyone about the media's failure to cover important stories, especially protests or leftward grassroots movements, but I thought that this one was big enough and captured the US's zeitgeist enough that it would get covered at least for ONE DAY. And I thought the media would also be relatively interested in covering it in light of the Annapolis shooting.
So yeah, cynicism has been earned. I get it. I, too, am fairly cynical. But it's one thing to know that there's not going to be any real change made on the basis of a protest, and another to see something as big and meaningful as a massive grassroots movement denouncing current policy erased within a day from the national dialogue. I figured that we can't change the policy (yet) but I'm still upset that we apparently can't even get on record that we want to. It's Orwellian.
posted by rue72 at 2:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
(I mean I’m not saying don’t march, they have a lot of power, but I like the people who found their regional ICE director’s addresses and marched in front of that. Or even maybe the departing national director...)
posted by The Whelk at 2:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 2:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
After seeing how enormous, thoughtful, relevant, and focused the March for Our Lives was and how even for all that, it did nothing to change policy
It has changed policy.
Just not Trump's policy.
Look at how many newcomers are running for office. How many women are entering politics.
Republicans are being challenged no longer are they unopposed.
The Democratic party is changing and so are their policies.
posted by yyz at 3:02 PM on July 1, 2018 [72 favorites]
It has changed policy.
Just not Trump's policy.
Look at how many newcomers are running for office. How many women are entering politics.
Republicans are being challenged no longer are they unopposed.
The Democratic party is changing and so are their policies.
posted by yyz at 3:02 PM on July 1, 2018 [72 favorites]
"I hope the other side realizes that they better just take it easy. They better just take it easy because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas I really think they are very bad for the country. I think they're actually very dangerous for the country."
There is something about this quote that scares me.
Also: Radical ideas? What?
posted by sundrop at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
There is something about this quote that scares me.
Also: Radical ideas? What?
posted by sundrop at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
Context on the ICE agents wanting to disband ICE thing - basically they are from an agency that used to do useful stuff, got merged in and got steadily defunded.
posted by Artw at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Artw at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
What more proof do the unconvinced need that these people are ACTUAL FASCISTS?
"The first tweet shared by D’Souza, which featured the hashtag #burntheJews, was spotted by Twitter users and widely shared, prompting the pundit to respond: 'I did not see the hashtag. Just trying to share the trailer on social media.'
However, shortly afterward, D'Souza retweeted another message that promotes his film—this time with the hashtag #bringbackslavery, which was also quickly spotted by social media users who slammed him again for sharing the racist tweet."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
"The first tweet shared by D’Souza, which featured the hashtag #burntheJews, was spotted by Twitter users and widely shared, prompting the pundit to respond: 'I did not see the hashtag. Just trying to share the trailer on social media.'
However, shortly afterward, D'Souza retweeted another message that promotes his film—this time with the hashtag #bringbackslavery, which was also quickly spotted by social media users who slammed him again for sharing the racist tweet."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:09 PM on July 1, 2018 [55 favorites]
basically they are from an agency that used to do useful stuff, got merged in and got steadily defunded.
Some of them are Homeland Security or work on Sex Trafficking. Their jobs depend on trust, especially from immigrants, illegals, local police, and other agencies who want nothing to do with ICE. These policies make us less safe. Even the most basic police work depends on citizens trusting the police, being willing to testify, coming forward as witnesses, etc. Their concerns are legit and practical.
posted by xammerboy at 3:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
Some of them are Homeland Security or work on Sex Trafficking. Their jobs depend on trust, especially from immigrants, illegals, local police, and other agencies who want nothing to do with ICE. These policies make us less safe. Even the most basic police work depends on citizens trusting the police, being willing to testify, coming forward as witnesses, etc. Their concerns are legit and practical.
posted by xammerboy at 3:21 PM on July 1, 2018 [21 favorites]
Atrios exclusive: A leaked Trump bill to blow up the WTO.
posted by Justinian at 3:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [47 favorites]
Axios has obtained a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill — ordered by the president himself — that would declare America’s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.Welp.
Why it matters: The draft legislation is stunning. The bill essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and international rules be damned.
posted by Justinian at 3:22 PM on July 1, 2018 [47 favorites]
WaPo, Man arrested after shouting ‘womp, womp’ and pulling a gun on immigration protesters
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 PM on July 1, 2018 [58 favorites]
The gathering at a park gazebo in Huntsville, Ala., was by no means the largest of Saturday’s nationwide protests against President Trump’s “zero tolerance” border policies, though it was memorable for other reasons.Civility.
It began around noon, as an Episcopalian priest delivered a prayer to about 100 protesters gathered around the gazebo and a man marched back and forth in front of her, shouting “womp, womp!”
“Holy and ever-loving God . . .” said the priest, Kerry Holder-Joffrion.
“Womp, womp!” said the man.
“We pray for the children of this nation and all nations . . .”
“WOMP, WOMP!”
...
“We ask that you give us the strength in the face of the opposition not to hate, but to love,” Holder-Joffrion said, the lines coming to her in the moment. “Prayer is stronger than hatred!”
It was around this point that the gun came out.
A Huntsville police spokesman said the man — identified as 34-year-old Shane Ryan Sealy — pushed one of the protesters, who pushed him back and knocked him to the ground, at which point Sealy allegedly produced the weapon.
posted by zachlipton at 3:28 PM on July 1, 2018 [58 favorites]
'I did not see the hashtag. Just trying to share the trailer on social media.'
Hey, it's not my fault my fans are Nazis and white supremacists.
posted by chris24 at 3:29 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Hey, it's not my fault my fans are Nazis and white supremacists.
posted by chris24 at 3:29 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
How Cambridge Analytica fueled a shady global passport bonanza
Note that though it describes them as defunct it's more correct to say they were reabsorbed into their parent company.
posted by Artw at 3:30 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Note that though it describes them as defunct it's more correct to say they were reabsorbed into their parent company.
posted by Artw at 3:30 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
“WOMP, WOMP!”
Direct memetic callousness transfer from Corey Lewandowski to gun guy. How much clearer can(/will) the encouragement of domestic terrorism get?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:32 PM on July 1, 2018 [52 favorites]
Direct memetic callousness transfer from Corey Lewandowski to gun guy. How much clearer can(/will) the encouragement of domestic terrorism get?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:32 PM on July 1, 2018 [52 favorites]
A leaked Trump bill to blow up the WTO.
Yeah, if anyone was expecting any sensible and sober Republican adults to step up and depose him once he did something likely to be damaging to the economic interests of, well, most of everybody then I think it's time to admit those people don't exist and no help is coming from that quarter.
posted by Artw at 3:34 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
Yeah, if anyone was expecting any sensible and sober Republican adults to step up and depose him once he did something likely to be damaging to the economic interests of, well, most of everybody then I think it's time to admit those people don't exist and no help is coming from that quarter.
posted by Artw at 3:34 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
I mean, abolish and prosecute ICE yes but it’s clear the entire DHS is a massive failure, a pointless merger of agencies that allowed a toxic culture of literal, actual Nazis to take power. It all has to go and be replaced with a streamlined asylum and immigration system that makes citizenship easy to obtain if desired.
Like I didn’t think one of the ways out of this crisis was going to be the literal ending of Winter Soldier but here we are.
posted by The Whelk at 3:40 PM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
Like I didn’t think one of the ways out of this crisis was going to be the literal ending of Winter Soldier but here we are.
posted by The Whelk at 3:40 PM on July 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
Axios exclusive: A leaked Trump bill to blow up the WTO.
The bill is called the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act."
The FaRT Act.
Why does it have to be this way.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [76 favorites]
The bill is called the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act."
The FaRT Act.
Why does it have to be this way.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [76 favorites]
Like I didn’t think one of the ways out of this crisis was going to be the literal ending of Winter Soldier but here we are.
Honestly, watch that one bit where Sitwell confesses, it's fucking spooky.
posted by Artw at 3:47 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Honestly, watch that one bit where Sitwell confesses, it's fucking spooky.
posted by Artw at 3:47 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Like the pie in the sky abominations Trump & Co. propose as budgets, the FART Act has no chance of becoming law.
posted by chris24 at 4:00 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
"The good news is Congress would never give this authority to the president," the source added, describing the bill as "insane." [...]Navarro - the genius who thinks it's Democrats who will vote for this - is the same person who said other nations wouldn't retaliate on tariffs. As we enter Retaliation Week where almost 5% of American exports will now face tariffs that make buying from other nations a better deal. Winning.
Behind the scenes: Trump was briefed on this draft in late May, according to sources familiar with the situation. Most officials involved in the bill's drafting — with the notable exception of hardline trade adviser Peter Navarro — think the bill is unrealistic or unworkable...
In a White House meeting to discuss the bill earlier this year, Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short bluntly told Navarro the bill was "dead on arrival" and would receive zero support on Capitol Hill, according to sources familiar with the exchange.
Navarro replied to Short that he thought the bill would get plenty of support, particularly from Democrats, but Short told Navarro he didn't think Democrats were in much of a mood to hand over more authority to Trump.
posted by chris24 at 4:00 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
If Democrats take the House back in November, their current ranking member of the Financial Services Committee becomes the chair of the committee, and has the power to subpoena Trump’s bank records.@MrFilmkritik, 5:47 PM - 30 Jun 2018
That member is Maxine Waters. Vote.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:02 PM on July 1, 2018 [129 favorites]
I look forward to the moment in time when Dinesh D'Souza realizes he is not a white guy
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [39 favorites]
A Latina Jew with undocumented relatives is running for office, David Duke hates her: Meet the millennial Mexican-American Jewish woman running for office on the southern border
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [32 favorites]
I can't bring myself to join the PVD chapter of DSA because their primary focus is getting National Grid out of Rhode Island and that's just not a huge priority for me right now.
In other fun RI news, the state Democratic party endorsed a dude who campaigned for Trump over the female incumbent for the state 3rd District House seat. Yay team!
posted by Ruki at 4:11 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
In other fun RI news, the state Democratic party endorsed a dude who campaigned for Trump over the female incumbent for the state 3rd District House seat. Yay team!
posted by Ruki at 4:11 PM on July 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
The FaRT Act.
Since this is all a bunch of nonsense with no chance of becoming law, surely the entire thing, including the name, is a huge act of trolling?
posted by zachlipton at 4:11 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
Since this is all a bunch of nonsense with no chance of becoming law, surely the entire thing, including the name, is a huge act of trolling?
posted by zachlipton at 4:11 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
Finally something they can pass...
I'll see myself out now.
posted by vrakatar at 4:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [48 favorites]
I'll see myself out now.
posted by vrakatar at 4:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [48 favorites]
We usually overthink the beans first, but
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:28 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:28 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
A little good news: Himmler's lifelong-Nazi daughter is dead. Unfortunate that even her age at death is an Alt-Right dogwhistle.
@lisang
Gudrun Burwitz, a daughter of Heinrich Himmler, has died at 88. She was an unrepentant Nazi to the end.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:35 PM on July 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
@lisang
Gudrun Burwitz, a daughter of Heinrich Himmler, has died at 88. She was an unrepentant Nazi to the end.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:35 PM on July 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
Top ICE Lawyer Sentenced to Four Years in Prison For Stealing Immigrants’ Identities - Colin Kalmbacher, Law & Crime
Also, the DOJ Press Release: Former ICE Chief Counsel Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft Scheme
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:48 PM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
Also, the DOJ Press Release: Former ICE Chief Counsel Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft Scheme
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:48 PM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
In a White House meeting to discuss the bill earlier this year, Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short bluntly told Navarro the bill was "dead on arrival" and would receive zero support on Capitol Hill, according to sources familiar with the exchange
Reminder: Marc Short is expected to leave, well, shortly. As far as motives for leaking this legislative equivalent of a toxic fart (seriously, FaRT?), one couldn't do better than sending it to one of Trump's favored outlets as a way of giving the finger to his soon-to-be former boss and back-stabbing a rival.
That said, I'm still going to contact my senators to remind them that this is an example of the power Trump wishes to wield from the executive branch.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:54 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Reminder: Marc Short is expected to leave, well, shortly. As far as motives for leaking this legislative equivalent of a toxic fart (seriously, FaRT?), one couldn't do better than sending it to one of Trump's favored outlets as a way of giving the finger to his soon-to-be former boss and back-stabbing a rival.
That said, I'm still going to contact my senators to remind them that this is an example of the power Trump wishes to wield from the executive branch.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:54 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh, man. From Joe in Australia's link to the Alma Hernandez, of Tucson, AZ, article:
Politics is also a family affair. Hernandez first became involved in local campaigns as a teenager, when her older brother, Daniel, took her to volunteer for Terry Goddard, the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor. The next year, Daniel was the young intern credited with saving Rep. Gabby Giffords’ life when she was wounded in a mass shooting. He applied pressure to her wounds until paramedics came.
This year, Hernandez and her two siblings are running for office. She is running for the Democratic nomination to an open Arizona House of Representatives seat in the 3rd District. Daniel is running for re-election as state representative in the 2nd District. And Consuelo, the middle child, is running for a local school board.
Daniel is the oldest, at 28.
3 Hernandez siblings could reshape Tucson politics (Note, that links to an opinion piece hostile to the siblings; posting for a sample of the grief they're getting in Arizona. That relentlessness, even brazenness, just might be enough to get them elected — and to start forming a new kind of establishment, one where they would be central. Whole thing's a whistle orchestra, but for dogs.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
Politics is also a family affair. Hernandez first became involved in local campaigns as a teenager, when her older brother, Daniel, took her to volunteer for Terry Goddard, the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor. The next year, Daniel was the young intern credited with saving Rep. Gabby Giffords’ life when she was wounded in a mass shooting. He applied pressure to her wounds until paramedics came.
This year, Hernandez and her two siblings are running for office. She is running for the Democratic nomination to an open Arizona House of Representatives seat in the 3rd District. Daniel is running for re-election as state representative in the 2nd District. And Consuelo, the middle child, is running for a local school board.
Daniel is the oldest, at 28.
3 Hernandez siblings could reshape Tucson politics (Note, that links to an opinion piece hostile to the siblings; posting for a sample of the grief they're getting in Arizona. That relentlessness, even brazenness, just might be enough to get them elected — and to start forming a new kind of establishment, one where they would be central. Whole thing's a whistle orchestra, but for dogs.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [24 favorites]
I can't bring myself to join the PVD chapter of DSA because their primary focus is getting National Grid out of Rhode Island and that's just not a huge priority for me right now.
Well if more members who have other priorities start joining, you can move the needle a bit.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:37 PM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well if more members who have other priorities start joining, you can move the needle a bit.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:37 PM on July 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
Re: moving the needle with the PVD DSA, National Grid is literally the only thing they talk about on their Facebook page and it’s so off-putting. There was one post about how they’d be at the march yesterday, but other than that, no mention of what’s going on in the rest of the country, or anything else in local politics. They’ve dug in so hard on this one single issue and it makes me sad to read posts here about MeFites joining their local chapter and all the tremendous work they’re doing while I’m sitting here wondering why all this effort is going into socializing utilities above all else. Moving the needle would require a coup, so I put my time and money elsewhere.
posted by Ruki at 6:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruki at 6:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Lawful permanent resident freed nearly three weeks after arrest
posted by Artw at 6:12 PM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:12 PM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
Mister Cheese: Our marchers were mostly white, so our chants were in English. We were slowly passing an active construction site. The work inside was obscured by shades, but a single voice sang, "¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!" I wish I had the courage to sing back. My Spanish has rusted.
I've chanted "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" at protests, but until looking up (youtube link) "El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido" (thanks to your comment! Anybody who doesn't know this song, give that link a listen cuz it's good for morale) I did not realize that it was a globally famous protest song. Link goes to a live rendition from Argentina, 1983. Wikipedia: "In 1983, during the "Resistance March" (Marcha de la resistencia) in Argentina, the song was revived with the lyrics "Resulta indispensable, aparición con vida y castigo a los culpables" ("It's essential that they return the disappeared, and that the guilty be punished"). We need those lines now.
May I suggest that you (generic you) might consider memorizing 4 lines of the lyrics? I memorize song lyrics, then silently go over the words in my head while standing in checkout lines or at red lights or whatever, then practice lyrics out loud while I'm doing dishes or out walking or whatever, until they come out smooth. Having these lines memorized will make it easier to call back: "Y ahora el pueblo / que se alza en la lucha / con voz de gigante / gritando: ¡adelante! El pueblo unido . . . " ("And now the people / rises up in the fight / with the voice of a giant, / shouting: forward! The People united . . . ") Can you imagine the power of people of multiple races, normative and non-normative visual presentations of every sort, calling-and-responding this?
Angry chants have their place. I have found that singing protest songs in a group gives me a much more sustainable, regenerative sense of resolution, peace, hope. Evolutionary musicologist Joseph Jordania thinks that [pdf link] "It was group singing, together with loud, rhythmic drumming and vigorous body movements that would put our ancestors into a battle trance, create an unseen but powerful mental network between individual humans, and turn all of them into a single, collective superpersonality through which each member of the unity was religiously dedicated to common interest" (p. 182 of the doc, 183 of the pdf).
Chanting the El Pueblo Unido words would be excellent. Singing would be even better. 99% of the people that have told me, "I can't sing," I eventually hear singing under their breaths at some point (because singing feels good & is good for the brain) and their voices are just fine. Somebody's past judginess tore down their confidence about expresing themselves that way, so their singing muscles, like all muscles, would benefit from more exercise, that's all.
MeFi has so many musicians. I wonder if we could coordinate a practice group using zoom or skype or something.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 6:15 PM on July 1, 2018 [44 favorites]
I've chanted "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" at protests, but until looking up (youtube link) "El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido" (thanks to your comment! Anybody who doesn't know this song, give that link a listen cuz it's good for morale) I did not realize that it was a globally famous protest song. Link goes to a live rendition from Argentina, 1983. Wikipedia: "In 1983, during the "Resistance March" (Marcha de la resistencia) in Argentina, the song was revived with the lyrics "Resulta indispensable, aparición con vida y castigo a los culpables" ("It's essential that they return the disappeared, and that the guilty be punished"). We need those lines now.
May I suggest that you (generic you) might consider memorizing 4 lines of the lyrics? I memorize song lyrics, then silently go over the words in my head while standing in checkout lines or at red lights or whatever, then practice lyrics out loud while I'm doing dishes or out walking or whatever, until they come out smooth. Having these lines memorized will make it easier to call back: "Y ahora el pueblo / que se alza en la lucha / con voz de gigante / gritando: ¡adelante! El pueblo unido . . . " ("And now the people / rises up in the fight / with the voice of a giant, / shouting: forward! The People united . . . ") Can you imagine the power of people of multiple races, normative and non-normative visual presentations of every sort, calling-and-responding this?
Angry chants have their place. I have found that singing protest songs in a group gives me a much more sustainable, regenerative sense of resolution, peace, hope. Evolutionary musicologist Joseph Jordania thinks that [pdf link] "It was group singing, together with loud, rhythmic drumming and vigorous body movements that would put our ancestors into a battle trance, create an unseen but powerful mental network between individual humans, and turn all of them into a single, collective superpersonality through which each member of the unity was religiously dedicated to common interest" (p. 182 of the doc, 183 of the pdf).
Chanting the El Pueblo Unido words would be excellent. Singing would be even better. 99% of the people that have told me, "I can't sing," I eventually hear singing under their breaths at some point (because singing feels good & is good for the brain) and their voices are just fine. Somebody's past judginess tore down their confidence about expresing themselves that way, so their singing muscles, like all muscles, would benefit from more exercise, that's all.
MeFi has so many musicians. I wonder if we could coordinate a practice group using zoom or skype or something.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 6:15 PM on July 1, 2018 [44 favorites]
I've been wondering when the hell we'd have rallies and marches since the first headlines on family separations got traction. I went to the rally in downtown Seattle on June 17th, felt like it should be more, felt angry...and then by the time yesterday ran around, it was after a week where I felt completely out of spoons. Wife sick, young guy on the periphery of my social circles committed suicide, awful news cycle. I went to the rally at the detention center at Seatac almost as an act of will rather than defiance.
But it sure felt better to go out and do something. If that's the value of a march or a rally, I'd rather have those than not.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:23 PM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
But it sure felt better to go out and do something. If that's the value of a march or a rally, I'd rather have those than not.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:23 PM on July 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
Ruki, you might be surprised at both how little it takes to orchestrate or contribute to an effective coup within an organization as small as your local DSA chapter, and at how much other work is happening apart from their major campaign of the moment. At minimum I would recommend getting in touch with them to let them know you'd be an enthusiastic potential member if only their public messaging wasn't putting you off by being so one-note.
I had similar feelings about DSA-LA and their anti-Olympics campaign when I first joined the national organization. A new chapter more local to me started up subsequently so I just joined that, but I have been happy to see the LA chapter contributing in all sorts of other ways since that campaign became less of a focus, and I'm sure their working groups were plugging away in the background even as their big push was ongoing.
posted by contraption at 6:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
I had similar feelings about DSA-LA and their anti-Olympics campaign when I first joined the national organization. A new chapter more local to me started up subsequently so I just joined that, but I have been happy to see the LA chapter contributing in all sorts of other ways since that campaign became less of a focus, and I'm sure their working groups were plugging away in the background even as their big push was ongoing.
posted by contraption at 6:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
John Melendez ("stuttering John," the prank caller) says he's hired Michael Avenatti to represent him, so I guess we're in that part of the show where the budget is thin and one character just does everything even though it's completely unrealistic for the same lawyer to represent everyone in cases spanning civil, criminal, and immigration law. Also, I just realized Avenatti is basically just Alan Shore from Boston Legal.
Also in unrealistic lawyer news, Michael Cohen says he did an off-camera interview with George Stephanopoulos: "My silence is broken!"
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on July 1, 2018 [50 favorites]
Also in unrealistic lawyer news, Michael Cohen says he did an off-camera interview with George Stephanopoulos: "My silence is broken!"
posted by zachlipton at 6:25 PM on July 1, 2018 [50 favorites]
I'll admit I don't really understand why so many people go for the same "celebrity" lawyers. As best I can tell they have no idea how to tell if a lawyer is any good or not, nor how to find references or the like, so they just go with the one lawyer whose name they already know. Avenatti seems competent so that's a plus but, really, if any of y'all ever find yourselves in desperate need of representation you don't actually have to hire the last lawyer you saw on teevee.
posted by Justinian at 6:40 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:40 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you're up against Krusty the Clown, you should hire Lionel Hutz.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:45 PM on July 1, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:45 PM on July 1, 2018 [35 favorites]
Single point Cynthia Nixon anecdata:
I was talking with a friend of the family - an older woman in the south, churchgoer, hated Hillary Clinton, probably considers herself an independent, probably the kind of person most of MeFi would write off as being irretrievable, although she is fierce about the concept of the secret ballot and I have no idea how she typically votes. In fact, I don't think there is a typical vote for her; I do think she tries to consider the candidate, not the party, which probably was a sensible idea for the first half of her life.
Anyway. I try not to talk politics because it just gets me too upset, but recent events have been horrific and I said so, and then I talked about trying to hang on to my hope, and how great it was that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her primary, and she said "go ahead and finish but then I want to ask you about Cynthia Nixon" and I said "So tell me about Cynthia Nixon" and she said "I just love her! I think she's so cool." and went on to say she'd been on Sex and the City, and she was a lesbian, "and I don't really know anything about her partner," (saying both of these things as if they were totally unremarkable and not at all icky, which still surprises me when I think how far the attitudes of older Americans have changed in their lifetimes), and she had seen Nixon on some talk show (The View, maybe) and just really liked her a lot. And then went on to comment about how great it was that women were getting more involved in politics.
I was so happy to hear that Nixon had penetrated the conciousness of even this really-not-very-political older woman in the south, and made such a favorable impression. And it reminded me again that, while there are definitely some people who are die-hard fans of this administration and everything it stands for, there truly are lots of people who are NOT, but who are not comfortable identifying as Democrats for whatever reason, who have perhaps had the experience of having an actual reasonable Republican representative in their lifetime, and who sometimes do vote for Democrats. Maybe even most of the time. We can engage those people, too - and it's worth it. Every vote matters.
I totally get the frustration with voters who identify as independent, but if we can engage them to vote for Democrats this year - and next, and next, and NEXT - it can make a difference. An ongoing difference.
Anyway - yay Cynthia Nixon!
posted by kristi at 6:46 PM on July 1, 2018 [48 favorites]
I was talking with a friend of the family - an older woman in the south, churchgoer, hated Hillary Clinton, probably considers herself an independent, probably the kind of person most of MeFi would write off as being irretrievable, although she is fierce about the concept of the secret ballot and I have no idea how she typically votes. In fact, I don't think there is a typical vote for her; I do think she tries to consider the candidate, not the party, which probably was a sensible idea for the first half of her life.
Anyway. I try not to talk politics because it just gets me too upset, but recent events have been horrific and I said so, and then I talked about trying to hang on to my hope, and how great it was that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her primary, and she said "go ahead and finish but then I want to ask you about Cynthia Nixon" and I said "So tell me about Cynthia Nixon" and she said "I just love her! I think she's so cool." and went on to say she'd been on Sex and the City, and she was a lesbian, "and I don't really know anything about her partner," (saying both of these things as if they were totally unremarkable and not at all icky, which still surprises me when I think how far the attitudes of older Americans have changed in their lifetimes), and she had seen Nixon on some talk show (The View, maybe) and just really liked her a lot. And then went on to comment about how great it was that women were getting more involved in politics.
I was so happy to hear that Nixon had penetrated the conciousness of even this really-not-very-political older woman in the south, and made such a favorable impression. And it reminded me again that, while there are definitely some people who are die-hard fans of this administration and everything it stands for, there truly are lots of people who are NOT, but who are not comfortable identifying as Democrats for whatever reason, who have perhaps had the experience of having an actual reasonable Republican representative in their lifetime, and who sometimes do vote for Democrats. Maybe even most of the time. We can engage those people, too - and it's worth it. Every vote matters.
I totally get the frustration with voters who identify as independent, but if we can engage them to vote for Democrats this year - and next, and next, and NEXT - it can make a difference. An ongoing difference.
Anyway - yay Cynthia Nixon!
posted by kristi at 6:46 PM on July 1, 2018 [48 favorites]
blessedlyndie: I just wrote a check to Beto for Texas just for you. I am also sending you tons of good vibes - and THANKS - and hugs and cool beverages. (And on looking up your past comments: THANK YOU for being a teacher. Thank you for EVERYTHING you are doing.)
Props to Beto's team for putting a mailing address on their ActBlue page so I could send in a check, as is my wont.
When we get that national bank set up, could we have a national credit card that doesn't take any transaction fees when you're giving to a charity, or something? Or better yet puts the transaction fees toward, like, federal education funding or national parks. I resist using a credit card for donations because I want the recipient to get every single cent. I would be fine with having 3% go to the parks, though.
posted by kristi at 6:59 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
Props to Beto's team for putting a mailing address on their ActBlue page so I could send in a check, as is my wont.
When we get that national bank set up, could we have a national credit card that doesn't take any transaction fees when you're giving to a charity, or something? Or better yet puts the transaction fees toward, like, federal education funding or national parks. I resist using a credit card for donations because I want the recipient to get every single cent. I would be fine with having 3% go to the parks, though.
posted by kristi at 6:59 PM on July 1, 2018 [12 favorites]
Avenatti seems competent so that's a plus but, really, if any of y'all ever find yourselves in desperate need of representation you don't actually have to hire the last lawyer you saw on teevee.
In this particular scenario, Avenatti may be the best choice. He seems competent at the actual lawyering stuff (I'd be happy to hear other real-life lawyers agree or disagree), but more importantly, he navigates the publicity and court of public opinion well. Presumably, Melendez wants both legal protection and a higher profile. Avenatti seems good at that.
Additionally, Avenatti is clearly under the Trump regime's skin already. Maybe not like Mueller or even Hillary Clinton, but he's still a standing headache for them. No reason not to go with someone who already knows the enemy.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
In this particular scenario, Avenatti may be the best choice. He seems competent at the actual lawyering stuff (I'd be happy to hear other real-life lawyers agree or disagree), but more importantly, he navigates the publicity and court of public opinion well. Presumably, Melendez wants both legal protection and a higher profile. Avenatti seems good at that.
Additionally, Avenatti is clearly under the Trump regime's skin already. Maybe not like Mueller or even Hillary Clinton, but he's still a standing headache for them. No reason not to go with someone who already knows the enemy.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 7:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [11 favorites]
In case it comes up again, Cynthia Nixon’s partner is Christine Marinoni. A public education and LGBTQ activist
posted by The Whelk at 7:16 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:16 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Avenatti's whole involvement in this general cabaret of chaos is not something I'm at all comfortable with. It's worth bearing in mind his prior law firm went bankrupt, and to avoid creditors, it's entirely possible he has been pulling shady stuff, including colluding with an ex-con to initiate forced bankruptcy proceedings. As he begins to expand his rather...unorthodox style of lawyering beyond Stormy Daniels's NDA case, I hope he doesn't do more harm than good. Just be prepared for potential baggage to come behind him.
posted by Room 101 at 7:19 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Room 101 at 7:19 PM on July 1, 2018 [17 favorites]
John Dean (Yes, That John Dean):
Why does this not seem like a coincidence?posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:49 PM on July 1, 2018 [56 favorites]Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw)
Among the first cases the Court agreed to hear the day after Kennedy announced his retirement will decide whether a Trump pardon from federal prosecution will shield someone from state prosecution even if that state retains its dual sovereignty loophole
Maybe this is a dumb question but why does Melendez even need an attorney?
You shouldn't ever talk to the police without an attorney. They can find something to charge you with today, all it takes is them wanting to do it. Goes double for the Secret Service serving at the direction of a vindictive autocrat when you've done something to embarrass the autocrat. And just in general, if the cops are coming back to talk to you again, it's because they didn't believe something you told them before and are about to charge you over it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [23 favorites]
You shouldn't ever talk to the police without an attorney. They can find something to charge you with today, all it takes is them wanting to do it. Goes double for the Secret Service serving at the direction of a vindictive autocrat when you've done something to embarrass the autocrat. And just in general, if the cops are coming back to talk to you again, it's because they didn't believe something you told them before and are about to charge you over it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [23 favorites]
How is it even in question that a Federal pardon would exempt someone from state prosecution?
posted by localhuman at 8:10 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by localhuman at 8:10 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Uhhhhhh. WSJ, Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, Top GOP Fundraiser to Stop Hush Payments Over Affair
posted by zachlipton at 8:31 PM on July 1, 2018 [43 favorites]
A top Republican fundraiser will stop making payments to a former mistress who signed a hush-money agreement that was negotiated last year by Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer.What the hell is going on here? The deal already makes no sense, but if you're going to stop paying your mistress hush money, you might tell her or her lawyer that fact, but you don't usually call up the Wall Street Journal to let them know. Is this some kind of message to Trump? Something that will eventually wind up influencing the future of Roe? Just Broidy being cheap? This seems like an extremely big deal, and I completely lack any framework to even understand what's happening.
Elliott Broidy, a Los Angeles venture capitalist and former Republican National Committee official, agreed to pay former Playboy centerfold Shera Bechard $1.6 million—in eight installments, beginning late last year—to keep quiet about her affair with the married donor, The Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Now Mr. Broidy, who worked on the RNC with Mr. Cohen, will withhold the third installment of $200,000 that was due Sunday, in response to an alleged breach of the nondisclosure agreement, according to Chris Clark, a lawyer for Mr. Broidy.
Mr. Clark said Ms. Bechard’s lawyer at the time of the agreement, Keith Davidson, improperly discussed the hush-money agreement with another lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who has replaced Mr. Davidson in representing Stephanie Clifford, a former adult-film star. Ms. Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, got a $130,000 payment arranged by Mr. Cohen to keep quiet about what she said was a 2006 sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.
“Elliott specifically was paying for confidentiality that would shield his family from the embarrassing mistake he made,” Mr. Clark said. “We can prove there was an intentional breach that renders the contract null and void.”
posted by zachlipton at 8:31 PM on July 1, 2018 [43 favorites]
How is it even in question that a Federal pardon would exempt someone from state prosecution?
If someone has been prosecuted for a crime at Federal level, the prohibition on double jeopardy prevents them from being convicted at a State level. I thought a pardon was basically "this jurisdiction is not going to ever prosecute you for the thing" but apparently pardons are effectively treated as "you were found not guilty". In other words, Trump could pardon himself for matters that are crimes at both State and Federal level, and it would work on both levels.
However! I understand that the prohibition on double jeopardy only comes in once prosecutions reach a certain point. The trial doesn't need to have started, but you need (e.g.) a jury sworn in or a date set by the judge. So it seems to me that a blanket pardon ("I pardon you for everything you did ever") shouldn't work to prevent State prosecutions. The pardonee has never been in jeopardy, so a State prosecution wouldn't count as double jeopardy. The only way for Trump to avoid this would be for him to basically make a list of joint Federal-State crimes that he wants to be pardoned for, get charged for them, and then either pardon himself (which may or may not work) or resign and get the VP to pardon him. This would be very entertaining.
Anyway, I'm sure there are things that are solely State crimes, and it appears as if there's no way for Trump to pardon himself for those, even if self-pardons are a thing.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:44 PM on July 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
If someone has been prosecuted for a crime at Federal level, the prohibition on double jeopardy prevents them from being convicted at a State level. I thought a pardon was basically "this jurisdiction is not going to ever prosecute you for the thing" but apparently pardons are effectively treated as "you were found not guilty". In other words, Trump could pardon himself for matters that are crimes at both State and Federal level, and it would work on both levels.
However! I understand that the prohibition on double jeopardy only comes in once prosecutions reach a certain point. The trial doesn't need to have started, but you need (e.g.) a jury sworn in or a date set by the judge. So it seems to me that a blanket pardon ("I pardon you for everything you did ever") shouldn't work to prevent State prosecutions. The pardonee has never been in jeopardy, so a State prosecution wouldn't count as double jeopardy. The only way for Trump to avoid this would be for him to basically make a list of joint Federal-State crimes that he wants to be pardoned for, get charged for them, and then either pardon himself (which may or may not work) or resign and get the VP to pardon him. This would be very entertaining.
Anyway, I'm sure there are things that are solely State crimes, and it appears as if there's no way for Trump to pardon himself for those, even if self-pardons are a thing.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:44 PM on July 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
WSJ, Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, Top GOP Fundraiser to Stop Hush Payments Over Affair
Why would the WSJ even care, unless they thought the story had a Trump connection but didn't have the evidence to say so?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Why would the WSJ even care, unless they thought the story had a Trump connection but didn't have the evidence to say so?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:55 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I completely lack any framework to even understand what's happening.
At this point, this is where I sit with like...89% of what's going on with anything Trump-related or Trump-adjacent, including the entire GOP. Trying to work out all of the levels of petty treachery, personal greed and amoral power-mongering among the dozens (hundreds?) of major and minor players is going to take a long time to sort through.
We're going to need a biggerboat string board.
posted by Salieri at 8:56 PM on July 1, 2018 [19 favorites]
At this point, this is where I sit with like...89% of what's going on with anything Trump-related or Trump-adjacent, including the entire GOP. Trying to work out all of the levels of petty treachery, personal greed and amoral power-mongering among the dozens (hundreds?) of major and minor players is going to take a long time to sort through.
We're going to need a bigger
posted by Salieri at 8:56 PM on July 1, 2018 [19 favorites]
Why does this not seem like a coincidence?
If you have enough leverage to theoretically cause a justice to announce retirement prior to when they intended to, you have enough leverage to dictate how they'll rule on a specific but important case. The fact is that Kennedy's a conservative that happened to lean left on a few social issues and relished an undeserved reputation as a moderate. He was never going to be the one to save us. Don't forget that he wrote the majority opinion on Citizens United.
posted by Candleman at 9:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
If you have enough leverage to theoretically cause a justice to announce retirement prior to when they intended to, you have enough leverage to dictate how they'll rule on a specific but important case. The fact is that Kennedy's a conservative that happened to lean left on a few social issues and relished an undeserved reputation as a moderate. He was never going to be the one to save us. Don't forget that he wrote the majority opinion on Citizens United.
posted by Candleman at 9:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
Wasn't there some speculation somewhere that Broidy wasn't the person who'd had the affair, but had signed the NDA and agreed to the payments to cover for Trump in some sort of a I'll-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine kind of a deal?
posted by triggerfinger at 9:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by triggerfinger at 9:07 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
triggerfinger: Here’s a Theory About That $1.6 Million Payout From a GOP Official to a Playboy Model, also Hey, Look: More Evidence That Broidy May Have Been Covering for Trump in That Playmate Affair
posted by peeedro at 9:18 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 9:18 PM on July 1, 2018 [10 favorites]
Don't forget that he wrote the majority opinion on Citizens United.
I had, as a matter of fact, forgotten this. Thanks for the reminder.
Class and race and gender and orientation and immigration status and... all of those things -- there's a Resistance, and there's a fascism, and there's people who have made their bed and refuse to lie in it.
Anthony Kennedy has made his bed, tucked-in the corners and pulled tight the sheets.
Let him lie in it.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:44 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
I had, as a matter of fact, forgotten this. Thanks for the reminder.
Class and race and gender and orientation and immigration status and... all of those things -- there's a Resistance, and there's a fascism, and there's people who have made their bed and refuse to lie in it.
Anthony Kennedy has made his bed, tucked-in the corners and pulled tight the sheets.
Let him lie in it.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:44 PM on July 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Peak New York Times, folks. Enjoy the view at the summit.
NYT: Trump’s ‘Purple’ Family Values
Baffling as it may be to elites, Mr. Trump embodies a real if imperfect model of family values. People familiar with the purple family model tend to view his alienation from his children’s mother as normal and his closeness to his children as exceptional and admirable. I saw this among my acquaintances in Nebraska. Even those from red families were more likely than my acquaintances in New York to know someone who has had a child out of wedlock or is subject to a restraining order.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
NYT: Trump’s ‘Purple’ Family Values
Baffling as it may be to elites, Mr. Trump embodies a real if imperfect model of family values. People familiar with the purple family model tend to view his alienation from his children’s mother as normal and his closeness to his children as exceptional and admirable. I saw this among my acquaintances in Nebraska. Even those from red families were more likely than my acquaintances in New York to know someone who has had a child out of wedlock or is subject to a restraining order.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:05 PM on July 1, 2018 [13 favorites]
The NYT op ed is complete trolling, but it's particularly galling that a restraining order is painted as some kind of cultural difference instead of something a judge determines is necessary to protect you (theoretically anyway) from domestic abuse. President Obama is attacked for ordering dijon, but suggesting that midwestern family values includes openness to domestic abuse isn't deemed condescending to the heartland? Or just appalling in general?
posted by zachlipton at 10:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [61 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 10:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [61 favorites]
I don't really understand why a state's own double jeopardy provisions would end up being a federal question subject to SCOTUS jurisdiction though. As long as it's not in conflict with a federal statute, surely the states interpret their own legislation.
posted by jackbishop at 11:09 PM on July 1, 2018
posted by jackbishop at 11:09 PM on July 1, 2018
Even those from red families were more likely than my acquaintances in New York to know someone who has had a child out of wedlock or is subject to a restraining order.
Yeah, "restraining order" stuck in my craw even more than the rest of the excremental soup being served up there. As usual, selling out women is all it takes to maintain the untroubled surface of the shucks-it's-jest-us-folks-here membrane the Times is casting. It's a comprehensive normalization of one of the most toxic MRA tropes, lent credence and color of approval by what is still for better or worse the national paper of record, and it ought to make any normal person sick at heart to read.
I have no idea what Dean Baquet thinks he's doing by greenlighting or, worse, commissioning these metronome-regular pieces on Real America, I really don't. The F&F audience is never going to love you, Dean — never. You can't curry favor, you can't kiss up to them, even a thousand chinstroking articles on the forgotten villagers of Interstate 40 and their Heartland Values won't make them love you. To them you will never, ever be anything but mystifying alien piffle for the effete, detached, decadent coastal elite.
But what's a little domestic abuse between friends? It's not like it's a daily hell for millions, a family-size serving of real live dystopia in the here and now & a key leading indicator of atrocities to come?
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:31 AM on July 2, 2018 [45 favorites]
Yeah, "restraining order" stuck in my craw even more than the rest of the excremental soup being served up there. As usual, selling out women is all it takes to maintain the untroubled surface of the shucks-it's-jest-us-folks-here membrane the Times is casting. It's a comprehensive normalization of one of the most toxic MRA tropes, lent credence and color of approval by what is still for better or worse the national paper of record, and it ought to make any normal person sick at heart to read.
I have no idea what Dean Baquet thinks he's doing by greenlighting or, worse, commissioning these metronome-regular pieces on Real America, I really don't. The F&F audience is never going to love you, Dean — never. You can't curry favor, you can't kiss up to them, even a thousand chinstroking articles on the forgotten villagers of Interstate 40 and their Heartland Values won't make them love you. To them you will never, ever be anything but mystifying alien piffle for the effete, detached, decadent coastal elite.
But what's a little domestic abuse between friends? It's not like it's a daily hell for millions, a family-size serving of real live dystopia in the here and now & a key leading indicator of atrocities to come?
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:31 AM on July 2, 2018 [45 favorites]
than the kind of odd edge-case of a president pardoning himself.
True but that won't stop me from thinking about crazy scenarios.
For example, could we someday see a state racing with the Feds to see who can bring charges first for the same crime with the expectation that if the Feds do it will lead to a pardon and double jeopardy would apply but if the state brings the case first then it can't be pardoned and the prosecution goes forward.
posted by Justinian at 2:58 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
True but that won't stop me from thinking about crazy scenarios.
For example, could we someday see a state racing with the Feds to see who can bring charges first for the same crime with the expectation that if the Feds do it will lead to a pardon and double jeopardy would apply but if the state brings the case first then it can't be pardoned and the prosecution goes forward.
posted by Justinian at 2:58 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Such a rule would likely be much more relevant and important for drug and weapons prosecutions (which make up the majority of federal prosecutions) than the kind of odd edge-case of a president pardoning himself.
And Citizens United could have been ruled on much narrower grounds, but here we are.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 4:11 AM on July 2, 2018
And Citizens United could have been ruled on much narrower grounds, but here we are.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 4:11 AM on July 2, 2018
Baffling as it may be to elites, Mr. Trump embodies a real if imperfect model of family values. People familiar with the purple family model tend to view his alienation from his children’s mother as normal and his closeness to his children as exceptional and admirable.
So these folks must love Obama, who is both with his children's mother, and clearly loves and is devoted to them, right?
...Right?
posted by damayanti at 4:44 AM on July 2, 2018 [32 favorites]
So these folks must love Obama, who is both with his children's mother, and clearly loves and is devoted to them, right?
...Right?
posted by damayanti at 4:44 AM on July 2, 2018 [32 favorites]
Also: most, not all of his children.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I get the feeling he sees them as chattel rather than children.
posted by valkane at 4:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by valkane at 4:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think it just demonstrates that people's ability to rationalise what presently seems to be the most gratifying course of action in terms of their long-term prejudices (or, as they would say, values) is boundless, even if the former and the latter are entirely contradictory.
posted by Grangousier at 5:02 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 5:02 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Additionally, Avenatti is clearly under the Trump regime's skin already.
I do wonder if this is a large part of his strategy. The Trumps have proven repeatedly to be their own worst enemies when it comes to revealing/saying things that damage their case when under pressure.
Hopefully it's this rather than Avenetti playing Trump at his own game because it's also Avenetti's own.
posted by Buntix at 5:03 AM on July 2, 2018
I do wonder if this is a large part of his strategy. The Trumps have proven repeatedly to be their own worst enemies when it comes to revealing/saying things that damage their case when under pressure.
Hopefully it's this rather than Avenetti playing Trump at his own game because it's also Avenetti's own.
posted by Buntix at 5:03 AM on July 2, 2018
So apparently Ocasio-Cortez is a big phony because she, um, grew up in a house.
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
So apparently Ocasio-Cortez is a big phony because she, um, grew up in a house.
FYI, the article describes John Cardillo as a conservative TV host, but he's a vile fascist who worked for 'Dumbest Man on the Internet' Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, and holocaust denier and self-defecator Chuck Johnson. He also until recently had a Twitter bio that said he was a cop when cops could be cops; i.e. the era of nightstick rapes of suspects.
posted by chris24 at 5:24 AM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
FYI, the article describes John Cardillo as a conservative TV host, but he's a vile fascist who worked for 'Dumbest Man on the Internet' Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, and holocaust denier and self-defecator Chuck Johnson. He also until recently had a Twitter bio that said he was a cop when cops could be cops; i.e. the era of nightstick rapes of suspects.
posted by chris24 at 5:24 AM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
A number of high-ranking Democrats, including, according to The Hill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, have been quick to claim Ocasio-Cortez’s election doesn’t indicate that the rest of the party needs to move farther to the left...
This attitude is exactly how the Democratic Party has, with the exception of Obama, so skillfully snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the last several years.
posted by Foosnark at 5:25 AM on July 2, 2018 [38 favorites]
This attitude is exactly how the Democratic Party has, with the exception of Obama, so skillfully snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the last several years.
posted by Foosnark at 5:25 AM on July 2, 2018 [38 favorites]
Michael Cohen had a nice chat with George Stephanopolis. He appears to be winding up his pitching arm to throw Trump under a bus.
But in his first in-depth interview since the FBI raided his office and homes in April, Cohen strongly signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York -- even if that puts President Trump in jeopardy.posted by murphy slaw at 5:28 AM on July 2, 2018 [27 favorites]
“My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen told me. “I put family and country first.”
…
When I asked Cohen how he might respond if the president or his legal team come after him -- to try and discredit him and the work he did for Mr. Trump over the last decade -- he sat up straight. His voice gained strength.
“I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone’s defense strategy,” he said emphatically. “I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way.”
federal prosecutions could prevent states from pursuing the same criminal charges against the same defendant....more relevant and important for drug and weapons prosecutions...than the kind of odd edge-case of a president pardoning himself.
True but that won't stop me from thinking about crazy scenarios.
The case is Gamble v. US, in the fine tradition of an overly-on-the-nose title weighing in favor of certiorari. Election law violations come to mind, although I haven't read enough about Gamble to know how finely the proposed distinction is to be made.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:32 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
True but that won't stop me from thinking about crazy scenarios.
The case is Gamble v. US, in the fine tradition of an overly-on-the-nose title weighing in favor of certiorari. Election law violations come to mind, although I haven't read enough about Gamble to know how finely the proposed distinction is to be made.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:32 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
FYI, the article describes John Cardillo as a conservative TV host, but he's a vile fascist
I don't expect much in the way of due diligence from journalists these days, what with the profession having been under sustained assault for decades, folks coming up being shunted directly from the world of uncredentialled blogging straight into prominent roles where some training in journalistic ethics would stand them in good stead, and so on. I get the pressures that both individuals and institutions are bearing up under.
But a little digging into the background of the people you describe in a piece isn't just good practice. It's essential. It's absolutely critical to understand where they are coming from in their characterizations, especially when you allow those characterizations to go unchallenged in the body of your text. And what's really galling is that it's easier than ever to do this these days — just about everyone's entire body of online expression is a few keystrokes away, and even if a cagy subject has made some effort toward sterilizing the available evidence, y'know, archive.org and the Wayback Machine are A Thing.
It's always amazing to me when decisionmakers, and the institutions in whose name they act, get caught out by someone with a history of ugly expression, whether it's Quinn Norton or this vile chancer. You could put, seriously, ten minutes into doing your got-damn due diligence, achieving effective ethical and quite possibly litigation-proof CYA, saving yourself a great deal of embarrassment, and helping your audience arrive at a more accurate, nuanced view into the bargain — a win all around, I would very much think. And yet fewer and fewer people seem willing to invest those ten minutes.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:34 AM on July 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
I don't expect much in the way of due diligence from journalists these days, what with the profession having been under sustained assault for decades, folks coming up being shunted directly from the world of uncredentialled blogging straight into prominent roles where some training in journalistic ethics would stand them in good stead, and so on. I get the pressures that both individuals and institutions are bearing up under.
But a little digging into the background of the people you describe in a piece isn't just good practice. It's essential. It's absolutely critical to understand where they are coming from in their characterizations, especially when you allow those characterizations to go unchallenged in the body of your text. And what's really galling is that it's easier than ever to do this these days — just about everyone's entire body of online expression is a few keystrokes away, and even if a cagy subject has made some effort toward sterilizing the available evidence, y'know, archive.org and the Wayback Machine are A Thing.
It's always amazing to me when decisionmakers, and the institutions in whose name they act, get caught out by someone with a history of ugly expression, whether it's Quinn Norton or this vile chancer. You could put, seriously, ten minutes into doing your got-damn due diligence, achieving effective ethical and quite possibly litigation-proof CYA, saving yourself a great deal of embarrassment, and helping your audience arrive at a more accurate, nuanced view into the bargain — a win all around, I would very much think. And yet fewer and fewer people seem willing to invest those ten minutes.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:34 AM on July 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
AOC's reply, one minute later, is right smack on the mark:
Hey John,
1. I didn’t go to Brown or the Ivy League. I went to BU. Try Google.
2. It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people. My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity.
And
3. Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.
posted by progosk at 5:39 AM on July 2, 2018 [110 favorites]
Hey John,
1. I didn’t go to Brown or the Ivy League. I went to BU. Try Google.
2. It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people. My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity.
And
3. Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.
posted by progosk at 5:39 AM on July 2, 2018 [110 favorites]
So apparently Ocasio-Cortez is a big phony because she, um, grew up in a house.
That Duckworth quote, though:
“I think that you can’t win the White House without the Midwest and I don’t think you can go too far to the left and still win the Midwest,” Duckworth told Jake Tapper.
Ms. Duckworth, meet Mr. Overton, please! You won't ever hear a Republican politician express concern about going too far to the right, or admit that such a thing is even possible.
posted by xigxag at 5:41 AM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
“I think that you can’t win the White House without the Midwest and I don’t think you can go too far to the left and still win the Midwest"
Well, I know what this Illinoisan is going to be doing today -- calling Senator Duckworth's office and letting them know in no uncertain terms that this Midwesterner expects her to pull as hard to the left as possible.
On the whole I've been happy so far with our new junior Senator, but that's some bullshit right there.
posted by jammer at 5:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [41 favorites]
Well, I know what this Illinoisan is going to be doing today -- calling Senator Duckworth's office and letting them know in no uncertain terms that this Midwesterner expects her to pull as hard to the left as possible.
On the whole I've been happy so far with our new junior Senator, but that's some bullshit right there.
posted by jammer at 5:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [41 favorites]
“I think that you can’t win the White House without the Midwest and I don’t think you can go too far to the left and still win the Midwest,” Duckworth told Jake Tapper.
So the region that has seen some of the worst effects of the post-industrial economy AND is a historical hub of labor organizing AND has one of the largest voting blocs of non-voters after years of your middle of the road platforms is Utterly Unable to grasp the appeal of more leftist politics?
How very interesting.
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
So the region that has seen some of the worst effects of the post-industrial economy AND is a historical hub of labor organizing AND has one of the largest voting blocs of non-voters after years of your middle of the road platforms is Utterly Unable to grasp the appeal of more leftist politics?
How very interesting.
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
"The Midwest" is not a thing, and I have to believe that Tammy Duckworth, of all people, knows that. There are plenty of districts in the East Coast that Ocasio-Cortez probably couldn't win. We need to run candidates who can speak to whatever district they're running in. I don't think that the lesson of Ocasio-Cortez's win is that we need xerox copies of Ocasio-Cortez in every district. I think it's that we need to empower smart, energetic candidates with organic connections to their particular districts, even if those people don't seem like traditional candidates. That's not going to look the same in Nebraska as it does in the Bronx.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [47 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [47 favorites]
I mean, there’s been a lot of pundit and consultant types suddenly worried they’re going to lose their position at the The Agency of Insitutues who have all the reason in the world not to see donor money drop off, not to mention carriest ghouls who would gladly change their politics to revolutionary Maoist if they thought it would get them a press secretary job - but it comes down to do you want to be in the community canvassing and talking to people and listening to their concerns and knocking on doors or do you want to spend hours on the Rolodex seeing how much money you can push out of donors by promising them nothing will change?
Do you view politics as how power is effected in the world or as optics and abstract debate?
That’s it.
posted by The Whelk at 5:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [23 favorites]
Do you view politics as how power is effected in the world or as optics and abstract debate?
That’s it.
posted by The Whelk at 5:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [23 favorites]
(Although actually, Kara Eastman, who is the Democratic candidate in Nebraska's 2nd district, is pretty far to the left, not an establishment candidate, and not that far off of Ocasio-Cortez. And that's the one seat in Nebraska that Democrats have a hope of winning. So we'll see, I guess!)
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:00 AM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:00 AM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
"The Midwest" is about to elect the first Muslim woman to congress in Ilhan Omar who supports universal healthcare, debt-free education, federal job guarantee, abolishing ICE, and a whole bunch of other very progressive things.
ps, I heart Ilhan
posted by localhuman at 6:01 AM on July 2, 2018 [72 favorites]
ps, I heart Ilhan
posted by localhuman at 6:01 AM on July 2, 2018 [72 favorites]
Can I put in a word for Abby Finkenauer in Iowa's 1st? She's got more establishment support than Ocasio-Cortez, especially from unions and women's groups, and I don't know that she's going to inspire the red rose brigade. But she's also a young woman from a working-class background who is running on a progressive agenda, and she has a real chance of defeating a gazillionaire freedom-caucus asshole who refuses to even meet with his constituents.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:05 AM on July 2, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:05 AM on July 2, 2018 [38 favorites]
Maybe Pelosi & Duckworth were signaling to large donors that the Democratic Party hasn't left them.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:13 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:13 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
AOC's reply, one minute later, is right smack on the mark
As the kids say: 🔥🔥🔥
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:15 AM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
As the kids say: 🔥🔥🔥
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:15 AM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
Rebecca Traister, Summer of Rage: White men are the minority in the United States — no wonder they get uncomfortable when their power is challenged.
posted by gladly at 6:35 AM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by gladly at 6:35 AM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
I saw this among my acquaintances in Nebraska. Even those from red families were more likely than my acquaintances in New York to know someone who has had a child out of wedlock or is subject to a restraining order.
Psssh, every man has a restraining order against him at some time or another! Men can't be real men anymore without those feminist bitches trying to castrate them! Seriously, does Schmitz of the NYT have any idea how stupid that sounds? As if judges give out restraining orders like candy?
I'd prefer to think that these "Free To Be You And Me," "Heather Has Two Mommies" pinko librul New York families are doing something right if they don't have to file restraining orders against one another. Restraining orders are for bad people who do violent things, not misunderstood Real Men.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:40 AM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Psssh, every man has a restraining order against him at some time or another! Men can't be real men anymore without those feminist bitches trying to castrate them! Seriously, does Schmitz of the NYT have any idea how stupid that sounds? As if judges give out restraining orders like candy?
I'd prefer to think that these "Free To Be You And Me," "Heather Has Two Mommies" pinko librul New York families are doing something right if they don't have to file restraining orders against one another. Restraining orders are for bad people who do violent things, not misunderstood Real Men.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:40 AM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Jeet Heer: Trump’s sexual misconduct does not embody working class family values.
posted by Artw at 6:44 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:44 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Schmitz of the NYT
That's Schmitz of the conservative religious journal First Things, writing an op-ed in the Times.
posted by neroli at 6:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
That's Schmitz of the conservative religious journal First Things, writing an op-ed in the Times.
posted by neroli at 6:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
I am assuming that this will be their all time smash hit harvesting of hate clicks and a full vindication of their editorial posture.
posted by Artw at 6:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
but it comes down to do you want to be in the community canvassing and talking to people and listening to their concerns and knocking on doors or do you want to spend hours on the Rolodex seeing how much money you can push out of donors
Yeah, all the post-mortems I’ve seen push an agenda in some way, even if that agenda is just a worldview: she won because socialism, she won because demographics, she won because Crowley fucked up, she won because boots on the ground.
I think people come out to vote when they feel seen. When they know they’re believed when they tell people about their lives. When they believe the sincerity of the candidate, even if they don’t agree with all their policies. Hell, most people don’t know anything about policy, and they don’t have the energy or desire to get into the wonky weeds on it, either. That’s fine! That’s normal! I mean, who has the fucking time to become a policy wonk when they have an actual job and responsibilities?
But they want to vote for people who treat them like they matter. AOC went and met with a gajillion people, as far as I can tell, and she treated all of them like they mattered.
It’s not something that scales, but it seems to be something that works.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
Yeah, all the post-mortems I’ve seen push an agenda in some way, even if that agenda is just a worldview: she won because socialism, she won because demographics, she won because Crowley fucked up, she won because boots on the ground.
I think people come out to vote when they feel seen. When they know they’re believed when they tell people about their lives. When they believe the sincerity of the candidate, even if they don’t agree with all their policies. Hell, most people don’t know anything about policy, and they don’t have the energy or desire to get into the wonky weeds on it, either. That’s fine! That’s normal! I mean, who has the fucking time to become a policy wonk when they have an actual job and responsibilities?
But they want to vote for people who treat them like they matter. AOC went and met with a gajillion people, as far as I can tell, and she treated all of them like they mattered.
It’s not something that scales, but it seems to be something that works.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
We don't need more copies of AOC. But we do need more women like her, ready with a clear platform, which should reflect local issues, and push the local values of the Overton window left, and going out and asking voters to VOTE... (For her!)
And whoever did her video, should be made DNC communication director
posted by mikelieman at 7:01 AM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
And whoever did her video, should be made DNC communication director
posted by mikelieman at 7:01 AM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
The not something that scales argument is something we’re going to have to have a long, hard talk about in future endorsements and in current campaigns! The Salazar campaign is very different, the incumbent is more involved locally and more frequently challenged and the demographics are changing to wealthier. The AOC campaign, post primary win, sent organizers and volunteers to various aligned campaigns to help them with the final push so ...who knows!
posted by The Whelk at 7:03 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:03 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Honestly I’m coming around to the idea of things that do not scale.
One of the reasons I finally joined up with the DSA despite my reservations about white man exhaustion (I don’t know if they’re justified reservations! I’ll find out) is because the work you guys have been doing is the stuff that needs to be done.
Community building of the sort that we need if we’re going to beat a fascist party that already holds the levers of power itself does not scale. It’s not something you can do on social media. Like amplify the message, great, but most people don’t risk arrest or unemployment for a meme. They don’t go out and offer physical support to people who have been arrested or fired (and their families) based on the interactions they had in a Facebook group.
Actual real life connections of the sort that human beings need to help each other survive in a precarious world do not scale because there’s no substitute for in person contact, for mutual support, for shared experiences of victory and loss. Which...good? That’s how it should be!
And if what that means is that over the next few years we have to talk to each other, and help each other, and believe in each other, also good. I’m starting to think that the fact that the things we need to do to fix our country are the same things we need to do to fix that pernacious flavor of modern alienation is not a coincidence.
There’s no one weird trick for that, there’s no algorithm. And I’m actually pretty comfortable with that, because it’s fucking simple. We just have to do the work of being excellent to each other, over and over again.
I like things that are simple. All it is, is work. And that — as opposed to rolling the dice by spending millions of billionaire money on some new form of electoral necromancy and hoping it pays off — is fucking doable.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:14 AM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
One of the reasons I finally joined up with the DSA despite my reservations about white man exhaustion (I don’t know if they’re justified reservations! I’ll find out) is because the work you guys have been doing is the stuff that needs to be done.
Community building of the sort that we need if we’re going to beat a fascist party that already holds the levers of power itself does not scale. It’s not something you can do on social media. Like amplify the message, great, but most people don’t risk arrest or unemployment for a meme. They don’t go out and offer physical support to people who have been arrested or fired (and their families) based on the interactions they had in a Facebook group.
Actual real life connections of the sort that human beings need to help each other survive in a precarious world do not scale because there’s no substitute for in person contact, for mutual support, for shared experiences of victory and loss. Which...good? That’s how it should be!
And if what that means is that over the next few years we have to talk to each other, and help each other, and believe in each other, also good. I’m starting to think that the fact that the things we need to do to fix our country are the same things we need to do to fix that pernacious flavor of modern alienation is not a coincidence.
There’s no one weird trick for that, there’s no algorithm. And I’m actually pretty comfortable with that, because it’s fucking simple. We just have to do the work of being excellent to each other, over and over again.
I like things that are simple. All it is, is work. And that — as opposed to rolling the dice by spending millions of billionaire money on some new form of electoral necromancy and hoping it pays off — is fucking doable.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:14 AM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
In the end everything benefits from something made by the people living there suited for that community.
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 AM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 AM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
not to mention carriest ghouls who would gladly change their politics to revolutionary Maoist if they thought it would get them a press secretary job
Let's leave Peter Daou out of this.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:23 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Let's leave Peter Daou out of this.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:23 AM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
There are things here that are connected in more than one way. Representatives and senators are supposed to represent their constituents. So obviously, a person who embodies the values and concerns of a place should be elected, wether she is Republican, Democratic or Socialist. It shouldn't at all be an issue. And if the people who are elected are a true representation of their constituency, that is also a safeguard of democracy, in the sense that then the constituents feel that the election has been legitimate. As parties in most (maybe all) countries have become more centralized and professionalized, driven by polls and theories (and gerrymandering and donors) rather than the real issues of the constituents, there is less trust in the legitimacy of the vote, and obviously of the congress.
In a way, AOC is so inspiring and important, because she is returning to the roots of democracy. And I think that scares the established politicians just as much as the fact that she is a socialist.
I once very briefly worked for a Social Democratic minister, who in my view was a political genius. If anything, she could be present and listening in the room with her constituents, and at the same time very smart at the complex lawmaking stuff. But she was ousted by all the smart young men in suits with long educations who saw her as frumpy and undereducated. They replaced her with an idiot who (in their view) was more presentable. (These guys thought they were intellectual, but they were all about prejudice).
My former boss stuck to her values like no-one else. She did have constituents who were racist or misogynist, but she made it her business to get them back on the socialist message. Listening doesn't mean running after. But it does mean being honest and dependable and taking the tough town halls where you have to explain bad compromises. Maybe a new generation can bring those values back.
posted by mumimor at 7:46 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
In a way, AOC is so inspiring and important, because she is returning to the roots of democracy. And I think that scares the established politicians just as much as the fact that she is a socialist.
I once very briefly worked for a Social Democratic minister, who in my view was a political genius. If anything, she could be present and listening in the room with her constituents, and at the same time very smart at the complex lawmaking stuff. But she was ousted by all the smart young men in suits with long educations who saw her as frumpy and undereducated. They replaced her with an idiot who (in their view) was more presentable. (These guys thought they were intellectual, but they were all about prejudice).
My former boss stuck to her values like no-one else. She did have constituents who were racist or misogynist, but she made it her business to get them back on the socialist message. Listening doesn't mean running after. But it does mean being honest and dependable and taking the tough town halls where you have to explain bad compromises. Maybe a new generation can bring those values back.
posted by mumimor at 7:46 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
I haven't read this latest NYT Being So Very NYT piece and I don't plan to provide them the click, but... isn't its thesis topologically equivalent to "This is not normal and normal was pretty awful too" light (even if that's obviously not what the conservative writer intended)?
I think there exists a nontrivial number of Trump voters that find his approach to family (and to other people in his life) relatable because they themselves are similarly abusive and/or abused, or just grew up with that in the atmosphere. I'm not talking about any given demographic category (other than race being a major dividing line for whether or not Trump "makes sense" to you). It's a thing on the coastal cities, the Midwest, the South, and obviously, Queens. I'm just saying that rape culture exists and the Republican Party particularly embodies it.
Of course, articulating that is difficult without erring too much on either normalizing shittiness or condescending to particular subgroups of Americans, but that's the same as the challenge of discussing the racism at the heart of his appeal.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:52 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think there exists a nontrivial number of Trump voters that find his approach to family (and to other people in his life) relatable because they themselves are similarly abusive and/or abused, or just grew up with that in the atmosphere. I'm not talking about any given demographic category (other than race being a major dividing line for whether or not Trump "makes sense" to you). It's a thing on the coastal cities, the Midwest, the South, and obviously, Queens. I'm just saying that rape culture exists and the Republican Party particularly embodies it.
Of course, articulating that is difficult without erring too much on either normalizing shittiness or condescending to particular subgroups of Americans, but that's the same as the challenge of discussing the racism at the heart of his appeal.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:52 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Michael Cohen had a nice chat with George Stephanopolis. He appears to be winding up his pitching arm to throw Trump under a bus.
I will never understand how these people think it's a good idea to say things to the media while under federal investigation. You go through all this trouble to get a lawyer with inside connections to the people who are investigating you. You shut the fuck up and let them do their work and get you the best deal you can. You don't go yukking it up with George Stephanopolis on the national fucking media. Arrogance and stupidity all the way down.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:54 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
I will never understand how these people think it's a good idea to say things to the media while under federal investigation. You go through all this trouble to get a lawyer with inside connections to the people who are investigating you. You shut the fuck up and let them do their work and get you the best deal you can. You don't go yukking it up with George Stephanopolis on the national fucking media. Arrogance and stupidity all the way down.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:54 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Michael Cohen had a nice chat with George Stephanopolis. He appears to be winding up his pitching arm to throw Trump under a bus.
On the one hand, HELL YEAH SPILL YOUR GUTS MICHAEL.
On the other, this seems like the media playing private messenger service for Trump's cronies once again. Sure, this is an definitely ego-trip for Cohen (a prime time interview with the same guy who did Comey!) but I feel like his larger motivation here is to get Trump's attention, and maybe his protection. It probably won't work (threats just make Trump double-down) but if you were serious about cooperating, you pick up the phone and talk to the people you're going to cooperate with, not broadcast it on ABC.
posted by cudzoo at 7:55 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
On the one hand, HELL YEAH SPILL YOUR GUTS MICHAEL.
On the other, this seems like the media playing private messenger service for Trump's cronies once again. Sure, this is an definitely ego-trip for Cohen (a prime time interview with the same guy who did Comey!) but I feel like his larger motivation here is to get Trump's attention, and maybe his protection. It probably won't work (threats just make Trump double-down) but if you were serious about cooperating, you pick up the phone and talk to the people you're going to cooperate with, not broadcast it on ABC.
posted by cudzoo at 7:55 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I will never understand how these people think it's a good idea to say things to the media while under federal investigation
Because this is the reality show presidency.
posted by mumimor at 7:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Because this is the reality show presidency.
posted by mumimor at 7:56 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think there exists a nontrivial number of Trump voters that find his approach to family (and to other people in his life) relatable because they themselves are similarly abusive and/or abused, or just grew up with that in the atmosphere.
I think "abusers, some of whom were themselves abused" is the most accurate broad description of trump voters you can get.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
I think "abusers, some of whom were themselves abused" is the most accurate broad description of trump voters you can get.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
AOC response to Duckworth's comment.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
With respect to the Senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn’t just for the Bronx.
Sen. Sanders won:
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
- Indiana
We then lost several of those states in the general. What’s the plan to prevent a repeat?
posted by chris24 at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [42 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
With respect to the Senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn’t just for the Bronx.
Sen. Sanders won:
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
- Indiana
We then lost several of those states in the general. What’s the plan to prevent a repeat?
posted by chris24 at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [42 favorites]
Justinian: "True but that won't stop me from thinking about crazy scenarios.
For example, could we someday see a state racing with the Feds to see who can bring charges first for the same crime with the expectation that if the Feds do it will lead to a pardon and double jeopardy would apply but if the state brings the case first then it can't be pardoned and the prosecution goes forward."
I was thinking of the effect of a corruptish state charging someone on track to be charged federally and then giving them a slap on the wrist (time served when they were out of bail the whole time?).
posted by Mitheral at 8:21 AM on July 2, 2018
For example, could we someday see a state racing with the Feds to see who can bring charges first for the same crime with the expectation that if the Feds do it will lead to a pardon and double jeopardy would apply but if the state brings the case first then it can't be pardoned and the prosecution goes forward."
I was thinking of the effect of a corruptish state charging someone on track to be charged federally and then giving them a slap on the wrist (time served when they were out of bail the whole time?).
posted by Mitheral at 8:21 AM on July 2, 2018
Kentucky governor cuts dental, vision benefits to nearly 500K Medicaid recipients
posted by mcdoublewide at 8:31 AM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
Gov. Matt Bevin's administration has abruptly cut Medicaid dental and vision benefits to nearly half a million Kentuckians, prompting an outcry from Democrats who called the Republican governor's decision "rash."I'm starting to think some of these Republicans might just be mean.
...
Friday's decision by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg did not call for any such cuts. Rather it struck down Bevin's sweeping plan to overhaul the state's Medicaid program by requiring some Kentuckians to work or volunteer at least 20 hours a week and meet other requirements, including paying monthly premiums to keep health coverage.
posted by mcdoublewide at 8:31 AM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
I was thinking of the effect of a corruptish state charging someone on track to be charged federally and then giving them a slap on the wrist (time served when they were out of bail the whole time?).
That's why the Feds started taking their bite of the apple in the first place. Local white jury acquits a murderer for lynching? Bring them to federal court and see how they like it.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:33 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
That's why the Feds started taking their bite of the apple in the first place. Local white jury acquits a murderer for lynching? Bring them to federal court and see how they like it.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:33 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
For Mass. residents: The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the state's current ban on registering to vote closer than 20 days before an election. A lower-court judge had ruled the blackout unconstitutional, but Secretary of State William Galvin, who oversees elections, appealed. Galvin (who once opposed bilingual ballots in Boston's Chinatown because he felt Chinese-speaking voters were too dumb to figure out the transliterations required) is up for re-election this year; his Democratic-primary opponent, Josh Zakim, supports letting people register on Election Day.
posted by adamg at 8:39 AM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by adamg at 8:39 AM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: My take is people are voting for "authentic" over "experienced" or "established".
posted by xammerboy at 9:06 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 9:06 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Big Business Keeps Winning at the Supreme Court - Kent Greenfield and Adam Winkler, The Atlantic
Most Americans pay attention to the Court only when it decides hot-button social or political issues like marriage equality, abortion, and immigration. As is often the case, however, this term the Court’s docket was packed with under-the-radar disputes with broad implications for business and the economy. So while Americans were debating whether the liberals or conservatives were winning, corporations and business interests were spending enormous resources to be sure that they came out once again on top.posted by ZeusHumms at 9:18 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
And before you jump to thinking that this is yet another example of the right’s dominance of the Court, support for big business on the Court transcends which party nominated which justice, so many of these cases could have come out the same way if Obama’s pick Merrick Garland had been confirmed instead of Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch.
...
One measure of the term’s business-friendly tilt is the eye-popping success rate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the self-proclaimed “Voice of Business.” The Chamber filed briefs in 10 cases this term and won nine of them. The Chamber’s victories limited protections for whistleblowers, forced changes in the Securities and Exchange Commission, made water pollution suits more difficult to bring, and erected additional obstacles to class action suits against businesses.
...
Six of the nine cases won by the Chamber this year were decided by margins of 7-2 or 9-0. Indeed, with the exception of Elena Kagan, the Chamber has endorsed the nomination of every current member of the Supreme Court.
That Democrats wouldn't take the side of business against the people is the face-eating leopards of the left.
posted by fullerine at 9:36 AM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by fullerine at 9:36 AM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
...I get the pressures that both individuals and institutions are bearing up under.
But a little digging into the background of the people you describe in a piece isn't just good practice. It's essential.
Flagged as fantastic. The fact that too few so-called "professional journalists" do little more than stenography was noted by Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner -- which should have folded in shame immediately afterward -- during the George W. Bush administration, and the evidence that the profession as a whole hasn't improved much is occupying the White house as we speak.
posted by Gelatin at 9:38 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
But a little digging into the background of the people you describe in a piece isn't just good practice. It's essential.
Flagged as fantastic. The fact that too few so-called "professional journalists" do little more than stenography was noted by Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner -- which should have folded in shame immediately afterward -- during the George W. Bush administration, and the evidence that the profession as a whole hasn't improved much is occupying the White house as we speak.
posted by Gelatin at 9:38 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
adamg, ArbitraryAndCapricious, and others: please keep the local-view recommendations coming. I just sent $$ to Zakim and Finkenauer.
Targeted support is the way to go. My octegenarian parents recently stopped their monthly DNC payments, though they still support Emily's List. And they have asked for recommendations of local races they can support. They can barely leave the house some days, but they would like to spend their political contributions wisely. I've been feeding them recommendations, with many coming from these threads.
Posts like yours, and Chrysostom's regular updates are really helpful in making these kind of targeted donations. Thank you.
posted by jetsetsc at 9:48 AM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
Targeted support is the way to go. My octegenarian parents recently stopped their monthly DNC payments, though they still support Emily's List. And they have asked for recommendations of local races they can support. They can barely leave the house some days, but they would like to spend their political contributions wisely. I've been feeding them recommendations, with many coming from these threads.
Posts like yours, and Chrysostom's regular updates are really helpful in making these kind of targeted donations. Thank you.
posted by jetsetsc at 9:48 AM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
Mod note: A few things removed. The way not relitigating the primaries works is to actually not relitigate them, please please help with this.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:51 AM on July 2, 2018 [16 favorites]
Please delete AOC's tweet about the primaries too, then
posted by 0xFCAF at 9:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by 0xFCAF at 9:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Large or small, it's all about the grift with the Trumps.
News media paid Melania Trump thousands for use of photos in 'positive stories only'. The First Lady earned six figures from an agreement with Getty Images that paid royalties to the Trumps and mandated photos be used in positive coverage.
News media paid Melania Trump thousands for use of photos in 'positive stories only'. The First Lady earned six figures from an agreement with Getty Images that paid royalties to the Trumps and mandated photos be used in positive coverage.
Since her husband took office Melania Trump has earned six figures from an unusual deal with a photo agency in which major media organizations have indirectly paid the Trump family despite a requirement that the photos be used only in positive coverage.posted by scalefree at 9:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [43 favorites]
President Donald Trump's most recent financial disclosure reveals that in 2017 the First Lady earned at least $100,000 from Getty Images for the use of any of a series of 187 photos of the First Family shot between 2010 and 2016 by Belgian photographer Regine Mahaux.
It's not unheard of for celebrities to earn royalties from photos of themselves, but it's very unusual for the wife of a currently serving elected official. More problematic for the many news organizations that have published or broadcast the images, however, is that Getty's licensing agreement stipulates the pictures can be used in "positive stories only."
According to the revenue statement in President Trump's May financial disclosure, Melania Trump earned between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in photo royalties in 2017 from the Getty deal.
Please delete AOC's tweet about the primaries too, then
We're gonna need to be able to navigate a line between "person substantially involved in the national political process says a thing about something MeFites have argued about a bunch before" and "MeFites start arguing about the thing again for the nth time".
I know that creates a frustrating unanswered-prompt feeling at times and I sympathize with that, but the alternatives are (a) unending free-for-all, which makes these threads an unworkable sprawl or (b) not including any links or quotes in here of political news or commentary that isn't 100% consensus approved good news, which would make these threads not exist.
posted by cortex at 9:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
We're gonna need to be able to navigate a line between "person substantially involved in the national political process says a thing about something MeFites have argued about a bunch before" and "MeFites start arguing about the thing again for the nth time".
I know that creates a frustrating unanswered-prompt feeling at times and I sympathize with that, but the alternatives are (a) unending free-for-all, which makes these threads an unworkable sprawl or (b) not including any links or quotes in here of political news or commentary that isn't 100% consensus approved good news, which would make these threads not exist.
posted by cortex at 9:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
Monday motivation, from @MrFilmkritik:
If Democrats take the House back in November, their current ranking member of the Financial Services Committee becomes the chair of the committee, and has the power to subpoena Trump’s bank records.posted by FelliniBlank at 10:02 AM on July 2, 2018 [53 favorites]
That member is Maxine Waters. Vote.
Nah, Republicans aren't like Nazis at all. Thanks for clarifying that the R catchphrase "cultural Marxism" means people who aren't white. Hook-nosed Jew? Check. Buck-toothed Asian? Check. Cross-eyed Latino? Check. Ape-like black man? Check.
Ron Paul Tweet
And yes, Ron Paul is a racist crank but he was also a longtime R congressman, 2 time serious R presidential candidate, and father of a R senator and serious R presidential candidate.
posted by chris24 at 10:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
Ron Paul Tweet
And yes, Ron Paul is a racist crank but he was also a longtime R congressman, 2 time serious R presidential candidate, and father of a R senator and serious R presidential candidate.
posted by chris24 at 10:04 AM on July 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
AOC's reply, one minute later, is right smack on the mark
And Cardillo's soon back to trolling AOC with a new line: "The racist left is losing their collective minds because I mistakenly tweeted that @Ocasio2018 went to Ivy League Brown University rather than non Ivy League Boston University. Shame on me for bumping her academic credentials."
Which merited this swift comeback, from @Cryptoterra: "'The racist left' is also what people say when you leave a room"
That said, Cardillo isn't a random Twitter troll but a fully paid employee of the Right Wing Noise Machine, including a gig as host on a cable show for Newsmax TV, owned, of course, by Trump ally and confidante Christopher Ruddy. And his efforts to raise his profile by attacking AOC when comparatively fewer opposing pundits are embracing her illustrates of the so-called "hack gap" between left and right.
Incidentally, over the weekend, the blogger Hilzoy posted a insightful tweetstorm exploring the history of how crazy/crazed media took hold on the right but not the left since the 1970s. He does point out, "I haven't mentioned enough the fact that people figured out ways to *monetize* this stuff. I'm on a bunch of conservative mailing lists, and the number of scams is really hard to believe. It's endless. And fundraising off panic about what horror Dems will perpetrate next."
The Right Wing Noise Machine's ostensible horror at George Soros's supposed funding conspiracies for the left looks like more projection from those on wingnut welfare.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:05 AM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
And Cardillo's soon back to trolling AOC with a new line: "The racist left is losing their collective minds because I mistakenly tweeted that @Ocasio2018 went to Ivy League Brown University rather than non Ivy League Boston University. Shame on me for bumping her academic credentials."
Which merited this swift comeback, from @Cryptoterra: "'The racist left' is also what people say when you leave a room"
That said, Cardillo isn't a random Twitter troll but a fully paid employee of the Right Wing Noise Machine, including a gig as host on a cable show for Newsmax TV, owned, of course, by Trump ally and confidante Christopher Ruddy. And his efforts to raise his profile by attacking AOC when comparatively fewer opposing pundits are embracing her illustrates of the so-called "hack gap" between left and right.
Incidentally, over the weekend, the blogger Hilzoy posted a insightful tweetstorm exploring the history of how crazy/crazed media took hold on the right but not the left since the 1970s. He does point out, "I haven't mentioned enough the fact that people figured out ways to *monetize* this stuff. I'm on a bunch of conservative mailing lists, and the number of scams is really hard to believe. It's endless. And fundraising off panic about what horror Dems will perpetrate next."
The Right Wing Noise Machine's ostensible horror at George Soros's supposed funding conspiracies for the left looks like more projection from those on wingnut welfare.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:05 AM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
With respect to the Senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn’t just for the Bronx.
If strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans is "the Left" -- and it is -- then there's no such thing as "too far to the Left" -- or too Democratic. Ask FDR.
Politicians and journalists who forget the needs of working and middle class Americans only show how out of touch they are.
posted by Gelatin at 10:07 AM on July 2, 2018 [24 favorites]
With respect to the Senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn’t just for the Bronx.
If strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans is "the Left" -- and it is -- then there's no such thing as "too far to the Left" -- or too Democratic. Ask FDR.
Politicians and journalists who forget the needs of working and middle class Americans only show how out of touch they are.
posted by Gelatin at 10:07 AM on July 2, 2018 [24 favorites]
Is Nazism too far to the right? Is Gilead too far to the right? Funny how Rs are never questioned despite their move to basically fascism with policies that are hugely unpopular and having lost 6 of the last 7 popular votes. Well done media!
posted by chris24 at 10:15 AM on July 2, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 10:15 AM on July 2, 2018 [37 favorites]
Getty's licensing agreement stipulates the pictures can be used in "positive stories only."
And there haven't been any positive stories, so...another Trump failure?
posted by Melismata at 10:18 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
And there haven't been any positive stories, so...another Trump failure?
posted by Melismata at 10:18 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Even those from red families were more likely than my acquaintances in New York to know someone who has had a child out of wedlock or is subject to a restraining order.
These things are not the same! These things have never been the same!
posted by corb at 10:24 AM on July 2, 2018 [61 favorites]
These things are not the same! These things have never been the same!
posted by corb at 10:24 AM on July 2, 2018 [61 favorites]
That member is Maxine Waters. Vote.
And the House Intelligence Committee, with responsibility for the Russia investigation?
That member is Adam Schiff. Vote.
posted by chris24 at 10:32 AM on July 2, 2018 [59 favorites]
And the House Intelligence Committee, with responsibility for the Russia investigation?
That member is Adam Schiff. Vote.
posted by chris24 at 10:32 AM on July 2, 2018 [59 favorites]
Doktor Zed: “I'm on a bunch of conservative mailing lists, and the number of scams is really hard to believe.”Indeed. As Rick Perlstein wrote in The Baffler before the 2012 election, 'movement' conservatism is quite literally a scam and has been since its inception.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:37 AM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
The blogger Hilzoy is a woman, FYI. Per Wikipedia: Hilary Bok is a professor of bioethics and moral and political theory at Johns Hopkins.
I wouldn't comment on this, but it's actually pretty important to remind people that women are also political pundits and analysts -- even if the mainstream press mostly likes to forget that.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on July 2, 2018 [27 favorites]
I wouldn't comment on this, but it's actually pretty important to remind people that women are also political pundits and analysts -- even if the mainstream press mostly likes to forget that.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on July 2, 2018 [27 favorites]
Nah, Republicans aren't like Nazis at all. Thanks for clarifying that the R catchphrase "cultural Marxism" means people who aren't white. Hook-nosed Jew? Check. Buck-toothed Asian? Check. Cross-eyed Latino? Check. Ape-like black man? Check.
Good god almighty. I loathe and detest Ron and the entire Paul family as much as the next being with an ordinary complement of moral sense — and, to be clear, would find this utterly in character — but want to make sure I'm not biting at a baited hook before calling him out on this. For one thing, the art style looks a lot more like "A. Wyatt Mann" than the Ben Garrison we're being told that it is. (No links to either. Nobody needs that.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:45 AM on July 2, 2018
Good god almighty. I loathe and detest Ron and the entire Paul family as much as the next being with an ordinary complement of moral sense — and, to be clear, would find this utterly in character — but want to make sure I'm not biting at a baited hook before calling him out on this. For one thing, the art style looks a lot more like "A. Wyatt Mann" than the Ben Garrison we're being told that it is. (No links to either. Nobody needs that.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:45 AM on July 2, 2018
Garrison is claiming the artwork is a modified version of his, but that doesn't really matter, since Paul tweeted out the one with the cariactures.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
On the one hand, it's not a real Garrison. On the other hand, Ron Paul did actually post it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
They probably just took out all the labels.
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:49 AM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sweet Jebus. OK. Carry on!
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
So Cohen really is cracking. He’s discovered that he really doesn’t want to be the villain in this sad tale. I do hope the bus he selected was a late ‘50s model Greyhound with fresh snow tires on it.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ted Cruz: ‘Vote for the Democrat’ over the GOP Nazi - Natasha Korecki, Politico.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday urged residents of a Chicago-area congressional district to vote for a Democrat if they must, to avoid giving even one vote to an avowed Nazi who won the GOP nomination.posted by ZeusHumms at 10:52 AM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
Cruz’s comments, made on Twitter, came after a POLITICO story detailed the Illinois Republican Party’s failed efforts to oust Holocaust denier Arthur Jones from the ballot or offer up an alternative for Republican voters.
As somebody who's spent a lot of time staring into various voids the caricatures are absolutely A. Wyatt Mann's work, which are very popular among fash. Pasting Mann caricatures into a Ben Garrison cartoon would be completely unremarkable for them.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I wouldn't comment on this, but it's actually pretty important to remind people that women are also political pundits and analysts
Many thanks for the correction - that mistake is entirely my misplaced assumption (her Twitter bio is blank, and that alone should have tipped me off that she might not want to deal with online misogyny).
And if 2016 taught me anything, it's that when it comes to independent journalism, political commentary, and analysis, women are the ones to listen to.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
Many thanks for the correction - that mistake is entirely my misplaced assumption (her Twitter bio is blank, and that alone should have tipped me off that she might not want to deal with online misogyny).
And if 2016 taught me anything, it's that when it comes to independent journalism, political commentary, and analysis, women are the ones to listen to.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:59 AM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
I wouldn't comment on this, but it's actually pretty important to remind people that women are also political pundits and analysts -- even if the mainstream press mostly likes to forget that.
@BenjaminWittes talks here about the importance of his colleague Susan Hennessey's SourceList, a resource for journalists looking for more diverse experts to draw on.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:25 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
@BenjaminWittes talks here about the importance of his colleague Susan Hennessey's SourceList, a resource for journalists looking for more diverse experts to draw on.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:25 AM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
There's a real easy way to look at AOC's win, and adopt some of her messaging to the party base, then pivot smoothly to "midwest" issues. Nothing she ran on is particularly "socialist" except arguably a federal jobs guarantee. EVERTHING else is, or should be, CORE Democratic "big picture", long-term goals in every corner of the party. Midwest Democrats should be talking about universal health care, climate change, criminal justice, gun control, campaign finance reform, all of those poll VERY highly, even in Wisconsin. Fine, don't mention free college, but why attack the up and coming wing of the party? Take what works everywhere, which you should be talking about anyway, and congratulate her on everything else. It's really not that fucking hard to be gracious and accomodating to someone you ostensibly agree with, and who's likeminded voters you're still going to need to turn out for you.
The Democratic leadership is handling long overdue changeover in the party EXTREMELY poorly. From Pelosi's petulant statements after AOC won, to Duckworth today, they're not learning a damn thing STILL from the worst electoral defeat in US history, and not learning a thing from the reaction to their loss from within the party. And it's good to see AOC clap back at this bullshit immediately. That's how insurgency from within works. Either the calcified loser leadership learns from the new blood, or they're replaced.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:28 AM on July 2, 2018 [68 favorites]
The Democratic leadership is handling long overdue changeover in the party EXTREMELY poorly. From Pelosi's petulant statements after AOC won, to Duckworth today, they're not learning a damn thing STILL from the worst electoral defeat in US history, and not learning a thing from the reaction to their loss from within the party. And it's good to see AOC clap back at this bullshit immediately. That's how insurgency from within works. Either the calcified loser leadership learns from the new blood, or they're replaced.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:28 AM on July 2, 2018 [68 favorites]
Kentucky governor cuts dental, vision benefits to nearly 500K Medicaid recipients.
This illustrates the basic vindictiveness of Gov. Bevin's policy. He lost his case in court for work requirements for Medicaid and his response is to cut dental and vision benefits. The two are entirely unrelated unless your actual goal is just to kick people off Medicaid any way possible to save money. And this was exactly the ruling that the judge made, saying denying benefits is contrary to Obamacare law designed specifically to extend benefits to everyone. Bevin's argued unsuccessfully in court that this was not their intent at all and this new cut further proves that to be a lie.
Unfortunately, Medicaid dental and vision benefits are up to individual states. The CHIP portion of Medicaid requires some minimal dental and vision benefits for children up to 18, but nothing for adults. Most states provide some of those benefits to adults, but it is up to the state to decide eligibility. It was not a part of Obamacare, so there's nothing stopping Bevin except his own Republican legislature.
posted by JackFlash at 11:38 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
This illustrates the basic vindictiveness of Gov. Bevin's policy. He lost his case in court for work requirements for Medicaid and his response is to cut dental and vision benefits. The two are entirely unrelated unless your actual goal is just to kick people off Medicaid any way possible to save money. And this was exactly the ruling that the judge made, saying denying benefits is contrary to Obamacare law designed specifically to extend benefits to everyone. Bevin's argued unsuccessfully in court that this was not their intent at all and this new cut further proves that to be a lie.
Unfortunately, Medicaid dental and vision benefits are up to individual states. The CHIP portion of Medicaid requires some minimal dental and vision benefits for children up to 18, but nothing for adults. Most states provide some of those benefits to adults, but it is up to the state to decide eligibility. It was not a part of Obamacare, so there's nothing stopping Bevin except his own Republican legislature.
posted by JackFlash at 11:38 AM on July 2, 2018 [15 favorites]
Instead of pointing fingers at each other and blaming each other on the left for the loss in the last election, let's look up and realize that the Republicans did not win a majority in the last election.
This post by Doug Muder at the Weekly Sift is the clearest outline of the problems (and possible solutions) with our democracy that I have seen yet.
Minority Rule Snowballs
This post by Doug Muder at the Weekly Sift is the clearest outline of the problems (and possible solutions) with our democracy that I have seen yet.
Minority Rule Snowballs
In 2016, Mitch McConnell led a Senate majority that represented far fewer Americans than the Democratic minority.posted by OnceUponATime at 11:40 AM on July 2, 2018 [57 favorites]
He used that minority-rule majority to radically change the way the Senate considers presidential appointments, blocking President Obama (who had defeated Mitt Romney 51%-47% in the 2012 election) from appointing a new swing vote on the Supreme Court. Instead,
McConnell delivered that appointment to Donald Trump (who, even with the assistance of a hostile foreign power, lost the popular vote in 2016 to Hillary Clinton 46%-48%).
Trump’s appointee, Neil Gorsuch, was approved by the Senate 53-46. The senators voting for him represented far fewer Americans than the senators voting against him.
Thanks largely to gerrymandering, Republicans in the House have a larger majority of seats than they have of voters. In 2012, Republicans won a 33-seat majority even while losing the popular vote. This year, as Democrats run considerably ahead in generic-ballot polls, political scientists argue over how big the Democratic voting margin needs to be to take control of the House. Is 5% enough? Seven percent? Eleven? One very likely outcome from this fall’s elections is that Democrats win a clear majority of voters, while Republicans win a clear majority of seats.
At the state level, things are often worse. Last year in Virginia, Democrats failed to gain a majority in the House of Delegates, despite a landslide 53%-44% victory in the popular vote. In North Carolina, the population is split relatively evenly between the two parties; Trump won the state with just under 50% of the vote compared to Clinton’s 46%, but the Democratic candidate won the governor’s race 49.0%-48.8%, despite one of the country’s most outrageous attempts at voter suppression. Meanwhile, gerrymandering gives the Republicans a 74-46 supermajority in the General Assembly, making Governor Cooper (and hence, the voters who elected him) virtually powerless.
Since Gorsuch joined the Court, several partisan gerrymandering cases have come up. The Court has not taken a stand. Gorsuch apparently does not even have a problem with racial gerrymandering.
Gorsuch was also the deciding vote in a 5-4 decision allowing purges of the voting roles in a manner than is likely to disenfranchise many legitimate voters while preventing virtually zero illegal votes.
This illustrates the basic vindictiveness of Gov. Bevin's policy. He lost his case in court for work requirements for Medicaid and his response is to cut dental and vision benefits. The two are entirely unrelated unless your actual goal is just to kick people off Medicaid any way possible to save money.
Bevin explicitly threatened to "unexpand" Medicaid if a court stuck down the work requirements.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:41 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Bevin explicitly threatened to "unexpand" Medicaid if a court stuck down the work requirements.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:41 AM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
As somebody who's spent a lot of time staring into various voids the caricatures are absolutely A. Wyatt Mann's work, which are very popular among fash.For those who, like me, may be a little slow on the uptake and also capable of repeatedly underestimating how thoroughly vile some of these people are, the name "A. Wyatt Mann" is almost certainly a pseudonym meant to be read aloud (i.e. "A White Man"). [Just in case you weren't sure any of this was Nazi enough on its own..]
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
The two are entirely unrelated unless your actual goal is just to kick people off Medicaid any way possible to save money.
It's not about money. It's never been about money. It's about Bevin punishing people for a Black man daring to be president.
posted by Etrigan at 11:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [33 favorites]
It's not about money. It's never been about money. It's about Bevin punishing people for a Black man daring to be president.
posted by Etrigan at 11:50 AM on July 2, 2018 [33 favorites]
Unfortunately, Medicaid dental and vision benefits are up to individual states.
Which should be another item on the Democratic agenda in 2020.
And the Democrats, this time, should be very spanking clear that they're fixing Republicans' messes.
Which should be another item on the Democratic agenda in 2020.
And the Democrats, this time, should be very spanking clear that they're fixing Republicans' messes.
Medicaid drop your dental coverage? Thank a Republican.posted by Gelatin at 11:53 AM on July 2, 2018 [49 favorites]
Your isnurance doesn't cover pre-existing conditions any more? Thank a Republican.
Your air and water are polluted? Thank a Republican.
Your state is in a budget crisis? Thank a Republican.
It's harder than ever to vote? Thank a Republican.
Your schools are underfunded and overcrowded? Thank a Republican.
Republicans whine about playing the "blame game?" No thanks, Republicans.
Ted Cruz: ‘Vote for the Democrat’ over the GOP Nazi
Did they check his basement (or media room) for pods?
Finding it hard to believe that Ted Cruz has either a conscience or moral center, since we have many years of evidence that prove otherwise.
posted by zarq at 12:01 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Did they check his basement (or media room) for pods?
Finding it hard to believe that Ted Cruz has either a conscience or moral center, since we have many years of evidence that prove otherwise.
posted by zarq at 12:01 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
EVERTHING else is, or should be, CORE Democratic "big picture", long-term goals in every corner of the party.
I watched a little of ABC's This Week (transcript) -- Martha Raddatz was hosting instead of George Stephanopoulous -- and the panel discussed AOC's win briefly. The real stumbling block for them was the "abolish ICE" message. Chris Christie treated it like a joke, and no one else got a chance to talk. I think that still seems like a radical message for average people.
I watched a little of ABC's This Week (transcript) -- Martha Raddatz was hosting instead of George Stephanopoulous -- and the panel discussed AOC's win briefly. The real stumbling block for them was the "abolish ICE" message. Chris Christie treated it like a joke, and no one else got a chance to talk. I think that still seems like a radical message for average people.
CHRISTIE: Yes, but no, in today’s environment, party primaries are the most dangerous territory for anybody to try to navigate right now. Joe Crowley learned it this past week, and let me tell you --posted by gladly at 12:08 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
(CROSS TALK)
-- not only did he (ph) have to campaign, but sometimes in this environment, the most extreme are rewarded, and we see that --
(CROSS TALK)
DOWD: -- she was much more culturally in line with that district, she really was much more culturally in line in (ph) that district. And much has been made about her stand on certain issues.
Her stand on Medicare for all and her stand on single payer is way more supported by the country than Donald Trump’s tax cuts, than Donald Trump’s immigration plan, and then Donald Trump’s stand on guns.
ROBERTS: Abolish ICE.
RADDATZ: Yes, do you think that’s a good way to campaign? I mean that seems crazy --
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: It’s crazy
(CROSSTALK)
DOWD: Listen, abolishing a state -- well, if we want to talk about a state agency we should look at, let’s also look at TSA for all of us who travel.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Right. Now they’re taking our snacks.
DOWD: I think the question to be raised -- obviously ICE and the people that work for ICE are -- are a function of the leadership. And a function of what they do is the function of what they’re being told to do and what they’re encouraged to do and what --
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: I mean -- and here’s what’s the problem (ph) with our politics today, real quick. So she wins the primary by saying abolish ICE. So what happens? Kirsten Gillibrand, who’s supposed to be smarter, says abolish ICE. Kamala Harris that comes out that says -- and the lemmings start following down the line because they’re following what they think was the result of a primary and they want to run for president.
That’s not leadership. And that’s why people are cynical. Stuff like that -- no one thinks we should abolish Immigration Customs Enforcement. Come on.
RADDATZ: OK. And that’s going to be the final word. Happy Fourth of July.
Buzzfeed: Trump Created An Office To Highlight Immigrant Crime. A Year Later, The Results Are Underwhelming.
One caller asked to make a reservation at a Trump hotel. Another called to report that “a ‘coyote’ stole his cat.” Then there was the one who “requested to report Melania Trump, who is stealing caller’s taxpayer funds.” Another complained that “illegal aliens are going into her yard and taking food from her garden.”posted by Hypatia at 12:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [33 favorites]
Dozens of callers reported space aliens, some going into the details of what dates they were abducted by UFOs — all dutifully logged by the operators. Hundreds called to denounce ex-spouses, neighbors, and business rivals whom they suspected of being in the country illegally.
... The VOICE office employs 24 community relations officers, two program management analysts, one deputy assistant director, and one acting assistant director, as well as six contractors who work the hotline, an ICE spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. The office was allocated $1 million in the 2018 fiscal year budget for the Homeland Security department ...
Finding it hard to believe that Ted Cruz has either a conscience or moral center, since we have many years of evidence that prove otherwise.
Yeah, no, he's feeling the heat from Beto O'Rourke being within 5% with a 2.83% margin of error.
posted by joyceanmachine at 12:20 PM on July 2, 2018 [62 favorites]
Yeah, no, he's feeling the heat from Beto O'Rourke being within 5% with a 2.83% margin of error.
posted by joyceanmachine at 12:20 PM on July 2, 2018 [62 favorites]
DOWD: Listen, abolishing a state -- well, if we want to talk about a state agency we should look at, let’s also look at TSA for all of us who travel.
Sure, let's do that next! I'm perfectly willing to go intersectional here and say we should abolish security theater in all forms.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [68 favorites]
Sure, let's do that next! I'm perfectly willing to go intersectional here and say we should abolish security theater in all forms.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [68 favorites]
I'd argue we need to abolish the entire Department of Homeland Security, if for no other reason than it's creepy Nazi style name.
But, also, because it's a creaking inefficient monstrosity that's incapable of carrying out its mission. End it, split the agencies back up into manageable sized groups, and have a lot more inter-agency communication.
posted by sotonohito at 12:29 PM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
But, also, because it's a creaking inefficient monstrosity that's incapable of carrying out its mission. End it, split the agencies back up into manageable sized groups, and have a lot more inter-agency communication.
posted by sotonohito at 12:29 PM on July 2, 2018 [50 favorites]
This odd thing has been bugging me. Every time Trump mentions the candidates for SCOTUS he talks up how "well-educated" they are or what great "academic credentials" they have. Just seems weird. Anyone else notice this odd bit of projection?
posted by misterpatrick at 12:34 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by misterpatrick at 12:34 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Chris Christie treated it like a joke, and no one else got a chance to talk.
Incumbent Democratic Senators taking cues from Chris Christie is pretty much the whole problem.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:35 PM on July 2, 2018 [31 favorites]
Incumbent Democratic Senators taking cues from Chris Christie is pretty much the whole problem.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:35 PM on July 2, 2018 [31 favorites]
Yeah, no, he's feeling the heat from Beto O'Rourke being within 5% with a 2.83% margin of error.
Woo!
posted by zarq at 12:37 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
Woo!
posted by zarq at 12:37 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
This odd thing has been bugging me. Every time Trump mentions the candidates for SCOTUS he talks up how "well-educated" they are or what great "academic credentials" they have. Just seems weird. Anyone else notice this odd bit of projection?
It's because he thinks those are the shibboleths that the elites whose respect he so achingly craves respond to.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
It's because he thinks those are the shibboleths that the elites whose respect he so achingly craves respond to.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
Trump is driven by insecurities:
1) He will ever get enough love from his Disapproving Daddy.
2) He's a bridge-and-tunnel person for Queens who will never be respected by the cool kids in Manhattan.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:52 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
1) He will ever get enough love from his Disapproving Daddy.
2) He's a bridge-and-tunnel person for Queens who will never be respected by the cool kids in Manhattan.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:52 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
Still further fuckery from the Times: "Conservatives, Don’t Put Too Much Hope in the Next Justice: The Supreme Court alone cannot undo our broader cultural losses."
Cultural losses.
Like the notion that two people of whatever gender who love one another should be allowed to wed. Like the notion that every American should feel safe to walk their own streets, whatever their race, color, ethnicity or national origin, and not have to live in mortal fear of encountering an armed agent of the state. Like the notion that men (or anyone else) who abuse their power and privilege to seek sexual advantage should be held criminally culpable for such acts, as provided for under the law.
I could go on, but you get the idea. These are the "losses" the Times is letting these cretins use their blue-chip platform to bewail and bemoan. I know I get relividified with them every day, and there's little enough point in venting here where I know so many of you already feel as I do, but: Fuck. Right. Off. Forever. You. Spineless. Bothsidesing. Pieces. Of. Shit.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [72 favorites]
Cultural losses.
Like the notion that two people of whatever gender who love one another should be allowed to wed. Like the notion that every American should feel safe to walk their own streets, whatever their race, color, ethnicity or national origin, and not have to live in mortal fear of encountering an armed agent of the state. Like the notion that men (or anyone else) who abuse their power and privilege to seek sexual advantage should be held criminally culpable for such acts, as provided for under the law.
I could go on, but you get the idea. These are the "losses" the Times is letting these cretins use their blue-chip platform to bewail and bemoan. I know I get relividified with them every day, and there's little enough point in venting here where I know so many of you already feel as I do, but: Fuck. Right. Off. Forever. You. Spineless. Bothsidesing. Pieces. Of. Shit.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [72 favorites]
Ted Cruz: ‘Vote for the Democrat’ over the GOP Nazi
Sure, everyone hates Illinois Nazis, but how about denouncing the phony Neo-Confederate running in Virginia?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sure, everyone hates Illinois Nazis, but how about denouncing the phony Neo-Confederate running in Virginia?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:02 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I know I've mentioned this study before, Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites, about the extent to which politicians systematically believe right wing opinions are more popular than they really are, but here's a really compelling example of it in practice.
@becsully: Susan Collins told The Daily that the public is split "51-49" on overturning Roe v. Wade. In fact, it's 67% against overturning to 33% in favor of overturning, according to a brand new Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
Here we have a US Senator who radically misunderstands the nature of the wishes of the electorate. The Times tacked on a correction:
Also, Mother Jones, Trump Judicial Pick Who Blogged Favorably About the KKK Had to Withdraw. Now He’s at the Justice Department, in which Brett Talley didn't get to be a federal judge because he praised the "first KKK" (and other awful stuff, and was utterly unqualified), but continued to hold his Justice Dpeartment job...evaluating nominees for federal judges. A recent change means he no longer has that job; he's been promoted and is now an Assistant US Attorney in Virginia.
posted by zachlipton at 1:05 PM on July 2, 2018 [40 favorites]
@becsully: Susan Collins told The Daily that the public is split "51-49" on overturning Roe v. Wade. In fact, it's 67% against overturning to 33% in favor of overturning, according to a brand new Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
Here we have a US Senator who radically misunderstands the nature of the wishes of the electorate. The Times tacked on a correction:
An earlier version of this episode included a comment from Senator Susan Collins of Maine that misstated Americans’ views on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. While Americans are deeply divided on abortion rights, about 69 percent of adults oppose overturning the Supreme Court precedent; it is not “something like a 51-49” issue, as Ms. Collins said.But the fact that one of the most important decisions of our era is being made by someone who has been straight up hoodwinked by the right wing outrage machine is left unsaid.
Also, Mother Jones, Trump Judicial Pick Who Blogged Favorably About the KKK Had to Withdraw. Now He’s at the Justice Department, in which Brett Talley didn't get to be a federal judge because he praised the "first KKK" (and other awful stuff, and was utterly unqualified), but continued to hold his Justice Dpeartment job...evaluating nominees for federal judges. A recent change means he no longer has that job; he's been promoted and is now an Assistant US Attorney in Virginia.
posted by zachlipton at 1:05 PM on July 2, 2018 [40 favorites]
So she wins the primary by saying abolish ICE. So what happens? Kirsten Gillibrand, who’s supposed to be smarter, says abolish ICE. Kamala Harris that comes out that says -- and the lemmings start following down the line because they’re following what they think was the result of a primary and they want to run for president.
No, you've just got the direction of leadership reversed, my dude.
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:07 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
No, you've just got the direction of leadership reversed, my dude.
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:07 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Ted Cruz: ‘Vote for the Democrat’ over the GOP Nazi
Sure, everyone hates Illinois Nazis, but how about denouncing the phony Neo-Confederate running in Virginia?
Let us not forget about a Republican party stalwart and fucking racist, who is already in Congress... Steve King
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Sure, everyone hates Illinois Nazis, but how about denouncing the phony Neo-Confederate running in Virginia?
Let us not forget about a Republican party stalwart and fucking racist, who is already in Congress... Steve King
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Here we have a US Senator who radically misunderstands willfully misrepresents the nature of the wishes of the electorate.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:11 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 1:11 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
The Pod Save America guys were explaining why Ryan gets so much scorn from them while McConnell doesn't. It's these men and women who like to pretend they care that are so infuriating. Hating McConnell is like hating Darth Vader. It's like yeah Alderaan was terrible but what do you expect, it's Vader.
So, correspondingly, Susan Collins, it's like, gah, she pretends to care and it is So. Fucking. Infuriating. I had a piano teacher who got poison oak inside her mouth and throat from inhaling burning poison oak smoke. When I heard about my piano teacher, I was so impressed with how hellish that would be, poison oak inside your mouth.
Anyway, I wish Susan Collins had poison oak inside her mouth. That would be some motherfucking karmic justice right there.
posted by angrycat at 1:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
So, correspondingly, Susan Collins, it's like, gah, she pretends to care and it is So. Fucking. Infuriating. I had a piano teacher who got poison oak inside her mouth and throat from inhaling burning poison oak smoke. When I heard about my piano teacher, I was so impressed with how hellish that would be, poison oak inside your mouth.
Anyway, I wish Susan Collins had poison oak inside her mouth. That would be some motherfucking karmic justice right there.
posted by angrycat at 1:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
Brett Talley didn't get to be a federal judge because he praised the "first KKK" (and other awful stuff, and was utterly unqualified), but continued to hold his Justice Dpeartment job...evaluating nominees for federal judges. A recent change means he no longer has that job; he's been promoted and is now an Assistant US Attorney in Virginia.
Specifically, the Eastern District of Virginia, i.e. where the Manafort trial under the sympathetic Reagan-appointed judge is going on. No doubt Talley will report back anything he overhears there to Team Trump. Meantime, he's only prosecuting low-level immigration and drug cases, but these are of course red-meat issues for conservatives should he be on the career path for a federal judge.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Specifically, the Eastern District of Virginia, i.e. where the Manafort trial under the sympathetic Reagan-appointed judge is going on. No doubt Talley will report back anything he overhears there to Team Trump. Meantime, he's only prosecuting low-level immigration and drug cases, but these are of course red-meat issues for conservatives should he be on the career path for a federal judge.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Every time Trump mentions the candidates for SCOTUS he talks up how "well-educated" they are or what great "academic credentials" they have.
Maybe it's just a crutch when he can't use his favorite superlatives like best, big, and beautiful; this is a judge he's talking about and not a border wall.
I've been thinking that there's been a failure of branding on behalf of the Democrats with Justice Kennedy's retirement. When Scalia died there was an across-the-board conservative effort to always call the vacant seat "Justice Scalia's seat" like it belonged to a conservative justice no matter what. The media totally bought into it and amplified that Republican message. It was as if Obama nominating any mainstream justice with bipartisan approval was some kind of theft no matter what, it was acknowledged to be conservative territory. Mitch McConnell wasn't the thief, it was, you know, that one.
I'd like to see a similar strategy to brand Kennedy's vacant seat as "the moderate seat." There might not be much factual basis to this but if the talking heads say it enough people would think there was something to the idea; that we should expect a moderating influence on the SC this time around. If we could establish that message now and create that expectation for a "moderate seat" on the court, it could help explain and reinforce opposition to whatever far-right nutbar Trump nominates, no matter his very white and privileged academic credentials.
posted by peeedro at 1:18 PM on July 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
Maybe it's just a crutch when he can't use his favorite superlatives like best, big, and beautiful; this is a judge he's talking about and not a border wall.
I've been thinking that there's been a failure of branding on behalf of the Democrats with Justice Kennedy's retirement. When Scalia died there was an across-the-board conservative effort to always call the vacant seat "Justice Scalia's seat" like it belonged to a conservative justice no matter what. The media totally bought into it and amplified that Republican message. It was as if Obama nominating any mainstream justice with bipartisan approval was some kind of theft no matter what, it was acknowledged to be conservative territory. Mitch McConnell wasn't the thief, it was, you know, that one.
I'd like to see a similar strategy to brand Kennedy's vacant seat as "the moderate seat." There might not be much factual basis to this but if the talking heads say it enough people would think there was something to the idea; that we should expect a moderating influence on the SC this time around. If we could establish that message now and create that expectation for a "moderate seat" on the court, it could help explain and reinforce opposition to whatever far-right nutbar Trump nominates, no matter his very white and privileged academic credentials.
posted by peeedro at 1:18 PM on July 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
"moderate seat" or "centrist seat"?
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd like to see a similar strategy to brand Kennedy's vacant seat as "the moderate seat." There might not be much factual basis to this but if the talking heads say it enough people would think there was something to the idea; that we should expect a moderating influence on the SC this time around. If we could establish that message now and create that expectation for a "moderate seat" on the court, it could help explain and reinforce opposition to whatever far-right nutbar Trump nominates, no matter his very white and privileged academic credentials.
* Offer only applicable during Democratic administrations.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 1:47 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
* Offer only applicable during Democratic administrations.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 1:47 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
BuzzFeed, Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier, Here Are The Documents Recovered From Michael Cohen’s Shredder
Now, BuzzFeed News has obtained documents reconstructed by the FBI. A close examination shows that the records are a combination of documents that prosecutors already had, handwritten notes about a taxi business, insurance papers, and correspondence from a woman described in court filings as a “vexatious litigant” who claims she is under government surveillance.posted by zachlipton at 1:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Rebuilt from thin strips of paper, the shredded records are sometimes difficult to comprehend. One page doesn’t include full words, and is a jumble of numbers, letters and bar codes. One document appears to be part of an envelope. There are fragments of handwritten notes. There is an invitation to a reception in Miami to meet with business representatives from Qatar. Several of the records seem to be insurance forms for an apartment.
The clearest page documents a payment that has already been reported: a $62,500 wire transfer from March into a First Republic Bank account controlled by Cohen. This would fit with a series of payments reportedly from the Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy. He reportedly paid Cohen to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement with a former Playboy model with whom Broidy was romantically involved. A federal law enforcement source told BuzzFeed News that prosecutors already possessed some of the records dealing with Cohen’s financial transactions.
...
Prosecutors said in a recent letter to a judge that they also obtained more than 700 pages of messages extracted from encrypted apps such as Signal or WhatsApp.
Get your hankies out: People on Martha's Vineyard, even fellow professors, are shunning Alan Dershowitz. The nerve of McCarthyites these days!
posted by adamg at 1:52 PM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by adamg at 1:52 PM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
"moderate seat" or "centrist seat"?
Or maybe "swing seat," whatever works. I'd like to see more prebuttal, more groundwork in setting expectations for a moderating voice on the SC. I bet the pollsters and the mainstream media would find overwhelming support for that idea if they looked for it.
posted by peeedro at 1:53 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Or maybe "swing seat," whatever works. I'd like to see more prebuttal, more groundwork in setting expectations for a moderating voice on the SC. I bet the pollsters and the mainstream media would find overwhelming support for that idea if they looked for it.
posted by peeedro at 1:53 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
"moderate seat" or "centrist seat"?
Or maybe "swing seat," whatever works. I'd like to see more prebuttal, more groundwork in setting expectations for a moderating voice on the SC. I bet the pollsters and the mainstream media would find support in that idea if they looked for it.
Just call it "the cootie seat" but tell liberal judges (in secret) that you'll give them an anti-cootie spray.
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:54 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
You know who would be a perfect choice for the "moderate seat" or the "swing seat"? Merrick Garland.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
TX Republican Group Chat hilarious ad for Democratic Attorney General candidate Justin Nelson. If you need some cheering.
posted by emjaybee at 1:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 1:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [21 favorites]
Get your hankies out: People on Martha's Vineyard, even fellow professors, are shunning Alan Dershowitz
If possible, can folks indicate authors for links? I was happy to learn about the social consequences to Dershowitz, but I'm trying to avoid giving people like him any clicks. Had I known it was him writing it, I'd have just taken my satisfaction from the description here (and thanks for that description, by the way).
posted by mabelstreet at 2:06 PM on July 2, 2018 [16 favorites]
Minority Rule Snowballs
This is a good article but it pulls its punches, probably so as not to be written off as a raving looney or something. But there's an appropriate word for a system where the minority rule is extreme enough, particularly when coupled with racism as in the USA. That word is Apartheid.
posted by Justinian at 2:08 PM on July 2, 2018 [24 favorites]
This is a good article but it pulls its punches, probably so as not to be written off as a raving looney or something. But there's an appropriate word for a system where the minority rule is extreme enough, particularly when coupled with racism as in the USA. That word is Apartheid.
posted by Justinian at 2:08 PM on July 2, 2018 [24 favorites]
Fun fact in the ABC Michael Cohen interview:
Petrillo is expected to take over as Cohen’s lead counsel in the coming days. And Cohen makes clear that his decision about whether to cooperate will be based not on any previous loyalty to Trump -- but on Petrillo’s legal advice.posted by zachlipton at 2:11 PM on July 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
Once Petrillo fully assumes his role, a joint defense agreement Cohen shared with the president, which allowed their lawyers to share information and documents with each other, will come to an end, ABC News has learned.
At that point, the legal interests of the president of the United States and his longtime personal attorney could quickly become adversarial.
Trump's "very academically qualified" talk:
It's mirroring the way normal people talk about judges, and saying "there is no objective logical reason to disapprove of this judge, so any disapproval is inevitably for partisan reasons." Liberals talked in a similar way about Garland.
And there's been a consensus in the past that unless they're batshit crazy, judges and justices get confirmed regardless of what you think about their politics, regardless of what you think about what decisions that will make on the bench. If you don't like them, tough luck, you lost the election. That's what "partisan reasons" means in this context. I've always disagreed with that because often, and in this case, the substantive reason for disapproving of these justices are because their decisions will not serve justice.
Like, if a potential Justice thinks that putting children in cages is a reasonable use of state power, and you think it isn't, that is a very good reason to vote against. Because their ideology and worldview will lead the Justice to decisions that you think are unjust. But wait, people disagree about which outcomes are just and unjust , you say, yes, that's what I'm saying, that is one of the fundamental struggles of society and government and democracy. There is nothing about justice that is objective, it must be argued and debated and decided by human beings, and there is no reason not to argue for what you specifically think justice entails. That is the point. The point of the justice system is literally to create justice, out of chaos. there is no reason to support a judge that you think won't serve that purpose. They may get many other votes, but they don't have to get yours.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 2:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
It's mirroring the way normal people talk about judges, and saying "there is no objective logical reason to disapprove of this judge, so any disapproval is inevitably for partisan reasons." Liberals talked in a similar way about Garland.
And there's been a consensus in the past that unless they're batshit crazy, judges and justices get confirmed regardless of what you think about their politics, regardless of what you think about what decisions that will make on the bench. If you don't like them, tough luck, you lost the election. That's what "partisan reasons" means in this context. I've always disagreed with that because often, and in this case, the substantive reason for disapproving of these justices are because their decisions will not serve justice.
Like, if a potential Justice thinks that putting children in cages is a reasonable use of state power, and you think it isn't, that is a very good reason to vote against. Because their ideology and worldview will lead the Justice to decisions that you think are unjust. But wait, people disagree about which outcomes are just and unjust , you say, yes, that's what I'm saying, that is one of the fundamental struggles of society and government and democracy. There is nothing about justice that is objective, it must be argued and debated and decided by human beings, and there is no reason not to argue for what you specifically think justice entails. That is the point. The point of the justice system is literally to create justice, out of chaos. there is no reason to support a judge that you think won't serve that purpose. They may get many other votes, but they don't have to get yours.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 2:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
CNN reports that Trump wants to once again meet with Putin accompanied only by a translator and no other US staff. Quelle surprise.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:25 PM on July 2, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:25 PM on July 2, 2018 [41 favorites]
People on Martha's Vineyard, even fellow professors, are shunning Alan Dershowit
The socialist seersucker revolution has begu! March on you Nantucket Reds.
posted by The Whelk at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
The socialist seersucker revolution has begu! March on you Nantucket Reds.
posted by The Whelk at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
I've been stumbling on a lot of Principles lately when I email my congressmen
Like, the point of the justice system should be to make justice
When a cop breaks the law, they become a criminal
If a law or policy involves violating human rights, it is illegitimate and should not be enforced or obeyed
Things that sound as tautological as "people die when they are killed" and are hard to argue with because of that. They're principles that are phrased to sound like facts.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
Like, the point of the justice system should be to make justice
When a cop breaks the law, they become a criminal
If a law or policy involves violating human rights, it is illegitimate and should not be enforced or obeyed
Things that sound as tautological as "people die when they are killed" and are hard to argue with because of that. They're principles that are phrased to sound like facts.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 2:27 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
CNN reports that Trump wants to once again meet with Putin accompanied only by a translator and no other US staff.
Putin speaks perfectly respectable English so that translator better just be a Mattis/Kelly operative responsible for tasing Trump when he attempts to give Vlad the nuclear football.
posted by PenDevil at 2:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Putin speaks perfectly respectable English so that translator better just be a Mattis/Kelly operative responsible for tasing Trump when he attempts to give Vlad the nuclear football.
posted by PenDevil at 2:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
McClatchy DC: Russia Investigators Likely Got Access to NRA's Tax Filings, Secret Donors
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:39 PM on July 2, 2018 [32 favorites]
For months, the National Rifle Association has had a stock answer to queries about an investigation into whether Russian money was funneled to the gun rights group to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.With the NRA poised to pumping money into the mid-term campaigns, the Democrats need to shore up their message about how its "dark money" points to the Kremlin.
The NRA, which spent $30 million-plus backing Trump’s bid, has heard nothing from the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, spokesman Andrew Arulanandam reiterated in an email the other day.
Legal experts, though, say there’s an easy explanation for that. They say it would be routine for Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, who are looking at the NRA’s funding as part of a broader inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, to secretly gain access to the NRA’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.
On the returns, the group was required to identify its so-called “dark money” donors -- companies and wealthy individuals who financed $21 million of the group’s publicly disclosed pro-Trump spending, as well as its multimillion-dollar efforts to heighten voter turnout. The NRA’s nonprofit status allows it to shield those donors’ names from the public, but not the IRS.[...]
The NRA’s general counsel, John Frazer, said in a flurry of letters with [Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon] earlier this year that the group’s donations from Russia during the 2016 election cycle totaled $2,500, but did not reveal the extent to which the group traces the true origins of its $350 million in annual funding.[...]
FBI and IRS agents collaborating on follow-the-money investigations commonly use “secret subpoenas, tax orders and other investigative techniques to collect an extraordinary amount of financial information without their target even knowing that the investigation exists,” said one former senior federal prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitive relationships with investigators.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:39 PM on July 2, 2018 [32 favorites]
Baltimore Sun: Trump declines request to lower flags in memory of Capital Gazette shooting victims
While Buckley had previously thought he might lower the city’s own flags regardless of the president’s decision, the mayor said his wife talked him out of that. “At this point in time, it would start to polarize people and I don’t want to make people angry,” he said.
Mustn't anger the people in power who approve of the mass-murder of journalists.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:51 PM on July 2, 2018 [71 favorites]
While Buckley had previously thought he might lower the city’s own flags regardless of the president’s decision, the mayor said his wife talked him out of that. “At this point in time, it would start to polarize people and I don’t want to make people angry,” he said.
Mustn't anger the people in power who approve of the mass-murder of journalists.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:51 PM on July 2, 2018 [71 favorites]
@WilliamOckhamTx
Always read the links. The two people referenced in the press release were already in custody, courtesy of other law enforcement agencies. We don't need ICE to deport foreign gang members who are already in custody. #AbolishIce
posted by Artw at 2:58 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Always read the links. The two people referenced in the press release were already in custody, courtesy of other law enforcement agencies. We don't need ICE to deport foreign gang members who are already in custody. #AbolishIce
posted by Artw at 2:58 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
California has almost finished its interminable count for the primary which happened approximately 17 years ago! Nate Cohn has the numbers. Turnout was way up over the 2014 primaries and even nudged past the turnout for the 2014 midterms.
posted by Justinian at 3:06 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:06 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oh my god. This moment.
@pixelated boat: This is the MOONBASE ALPHA (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League MOON UNIVERSITY.
A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling.
@ocasio2018 (verified): My identity has been exposed. I am actually Captain Catherine Janeway of the USS Voyager
So I guess the fears are justified. She really does want to do away with capitalism and launch us into a Star Trek-style post-scarcity society. Oh noes.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:10 PM on July 2, 2018 [52 favorites]
@pixelated boat: This is the MOONBASE ALPHA (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League MOON UNIVERSITY.
A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling.
@ocasio2018 (verified): My identity has been exposed. I am actually Captain Catherine Janeway of the USS Voyager
So I guess the fears are justified. She really does want to do away with capitalism and launch us into a Star Trek-style post-scarcity society. Oh noes.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:10 PM on July 2, 2018 [52 favorites]
MOONBASE ALPHA.......Captain Catherine Janeway
way to lose the nerd vote
posted by thelonius at 3:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
way to lose the nerd vote
posted by thelonius at 3:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
@MikeDrucker HEADLINE: What Ocasio-Cortez’s Misspelling of Captain Janeway’s First Name Somehow Says About Millennial Midwest Politics
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:16 PM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:16 PM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
"Officers from several law enforcement agencies across north central Indiana made 129 people arrests on nearly 300 criminal charges throughout six days of unannounced patrols on U.S. 31 in Miami and Fulton Counties during "Operation Blue Anvil." During the patrols on June 19 through June 21, and June 26 through June 28, Indiana State Police reported officers located several drugs and drug paraphernalia, including ecstasy pills in the shape of President Donald Trump's head, with "Great Again" stamped on the back of the pills."
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:17 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:17 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
ACLU via Twitter
BREAKING: US district court blocks Trump policy of arbitrary detention of asylum seekers fleeing persecution, torture, or death.posted by AFABulous at 3:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [51 favorites]
Judge orders case-by-case review of whether each asylum seeker in our class action lawsuit should be released on humanitarian parole.
Today’s ruling means the Trump administration cannot use indefinite detention as a weapon to punish and deter asylum seekers.
It is a rejection of the blanket policy of locking up those seeking protection in this country.
DHS’ own policy says that asylum seekers should be granted humanitarian parole while awaiting immigration proceedings, as long as they meet a series of strict requirements.
Instead, the Trump administration has been categorically jailing people — indefinitely.
For Mass. residents: The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the state's current ban on registering to vote closer than 20 days before an election. A lower-court judge had ruled the blackout unconstitutional, but Secretary of State William Galvin, who oversees elections, appealed.
posted by adamg at 8:39 AM on July 2 [19 favorites +] [!]
I'm perplexed on how any restrictions can be placed on a citizen who wants to vote. Voting is a fundamental right, and without it, all the other rights can wither. You don't need to apply 20 days in advance to have free speech, practice your religion, start a newspaper, or buy a gun, even. How in hell can that be a requirement for voting? You don't have to pre-register to have habeas corpus. Can someone with more Constitutional law knowledge than I explain this?
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by adamg at 8:39 AM on July 2 [19 favorites +] [!]
I'm perplexed on how any restrictions can be placed on a citizen who wants to vote. Voting is a fundamental right, and without it, all the other rights can wither. You don't need to apply 20 days in advance to have free speech, practice your religion, start a newspaper, or buy a gun, even. How in hell can that be a requirement for voting? You don't have to pre-register to have habeas corpus. Can someone with more Constitutional law knowledge than I explain this?
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'd like to see a similar strategy to brand Kennedy's vacant seat as "the moderate seat."
I know this is the wrong year for it, but I'd like it if we could somehow rebrand all nine of those seats as nonpartisan. Four ideologues on each side plus a swing vote isn't a stable configuration.
(Not that that's what we have now, exactly, but the idea of a singular moderate seat kind of points us in that direction...)
posted by ook at 3:29 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I know this is the wrong year for it, but I'd like it if we could somehow rebrand all nine of those seats as nonpartisan. Four ideologues on each side plus a swing vote isn't a stable configuration.
(Not that that's what we have now, exactly, but the idea of a singular moderate seat kind of points us in that direction...)
posted by ook at 3:29 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Woman confronts Pruitt at restaurant, tells him to resign
"EPA head Scott Pruitt was 3 tables away as I ate lunch with my child. I had to say something," Kristin Mink posted on Facebook with an accompanying video of her encounter with Pruitt.
The video's too civil for my taste but it's good that the dickweeds still can't count on undisturbed luncheons.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
"EPA head Scott Pruitt was 3 tables away as I ate lunch with my child. I had to say something," Kristin Mink posted on Facebook with an accompanying video of her encounter with Pruitt.
The video's too civil for my taste but it's good that the dickweeds still can't count on undisturbed luncheons.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:31 PM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
Schumer is supposed to be doing a town hall in Brookyln. He's not there, apparently upstate with plane trouble, and the audience is asking questions anyway while sitting in a 90º room with no AC.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
The official White House twitter account is on the dehumanization bandwagon. Association with unpersons being a pretextual first step toward unpersoning, expect @WhiteHouse to declare Harris an animal in a month or two.
@WhiteHouse
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:57 PM on July 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
@WhiteHouse
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:57 PM on July 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
IT'S BEEN 0 DAYS SINCE A SCOTT PRUITT ETHICAL SCANDAL
WaPo, Pruitt aides reveal new details of his spending and management at EPA
WaPo, Pruitt aides reveal new details of his spending and management at EPA
According to an individual with knowledge of the matter, Dravis told congressional staffers that Pruitt initially asked her to contact the Republican Attorneys General Association — a group Pruitt had once led and Dravis had worked for before coming to EPA — as part of the job search for his wife. Dravis said she declined to make that call to avoid any potential conflicts of interest or possible violations of the Hatch Act, which limits federal officials’ political activities.I also missed this one, in which he makes his staff put his bills on their credit cards and, in one case, fails to pay:
Dravis, who the Post recently reported had helped seek employment for Pruitt’s wife, Marlyn, told investigators that the administrator wanted his spouse to find a post with an annual salary of more than $200,000, according to one individual familiar with the matter.
Working with GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, Dravis eventually did help find Marlyn Pruitt a job at the Judicial Crisis Network, but the conservative group said it paid her less than six figures to work as an independent contractor setting up new offices. The arrangement ended earlier this year, the group told the Post.
Pruitt’s approach during transition foreshadowed the kind of the behavior that has attracted scrutiny in recent months. According to a current and former EPA official, Pruitt routinely asked his assistants — including then-executive scheduler Sydney Hupp — to put hotel reservations on their personal credit cards rather than his own.posted by zachlipton at 3:58 PM on July 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
In one instance, according to former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski, Hupp was stuck with a bill of roughly $600 for a booking she had made for the administrator’s family during the transition. Chmielewski said in an interview last month that he was in Jackson’s office when Hupp approached Pruitt’s chief of staff to explain that the period for transition reimbursements had expired and Pruitt had not covered the bill.
The incident, aspects of which were first reported in The Hill newspaper, prompted Jackson to leave $600 in cash in Hupp’s drawer.
New national Quinnipiac polling.
Democrats lead the generic ballot by +9. But the gender gap is amazing. Among men it's R+8. But among women it's D+25! The crazy thing to me is that we don't see this sort of gender gap on most issue polling. Both men and women support Roe-v-Wade by more or less the same margin, for example, and that's the sort of issue I'd expect a gap if one were going to exist.
So if men and women see the issues similarly why is there a massive gender gap on the parties? Clearly it's cultural. For a big swath of men being seen as a Democrat would somehow (in their eyes) be un-masculine. There's a reason Republicans constantly try to attack Democrats as wimpy, soft on crime, etc I guess.
I have a counterpoint to men who vote for Republicans to make themselves feel more manly or tougher. That counterpoint is: go screw yourself.
posted by Justinian at 3:59 PM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
Democrats lead the generic ballot by +9. But the gender gap is amazing. Among men it's R+8. But among women it's D+25! The crazy thing to me is that we don't see this sort of gender gap on most issue polling. Both men and women support Roe-v-Wade by more or less the same margin, for example, and that's the sort of issue I'd expect a gap if one were going to exist.
So if men and women see the issues similarly why is there a massive gender gap on the parties? Clearly it's cultural. For a big swath of men being seen as a Democrat would somehow (in their eyes) be un-masculine. There's a reason Republicans constantly try to attack Democrats as wimpy, soft on crime, etc I guess.
I have a counterpoint to men who vote for Republicans to make themselves feel more manly or tougher. That counterpoint is: go screw yourself.
posted by Justinian at 3:59 PM on July 2, 2018 [55 favorites]
Democrats lead the generic ballot by +9. But the gender gap is amazing. Among men it's R+8. But among women it's D+25! The crazy thing to me is that we don't see this sort of gender gap on most issue polling. Both men and women support Roe-v-Wade by more or less the same margin, for example, and that's the sort of issue I'd expect a gap if one were going to exist.
It's because people generally support liberal ideas. They either don't want to pay for them or don't want the benefits to go to people of color. To quote Lee Atwater:
It's because people generally support liberal ideas. They either don't want to pay for them or don't want the benefits to go to people of color. To quote Lee Atwater:
Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.…posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:05 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Like if you ask a red meat male Republican voter whether he thinks everyone should be able to afford the basics in life and reasonable healthcare he'll say yes because he doesn't want to be an inhuman monster. He'll just object to every single way of making that happen when rubber hits the road.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [44 favorites]
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [44 favorites]
New national Quinnipiac polling.
Other highlights:
- +15 with Ind on generic ballot
- 71% of USA & 51% of GOP want Congress to be check on Trump
- ENTHUSIASM GAP: 58% of Dems say they are more excited to vote than usual. Among GOP: Just 41%
posted by chris24 at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
Other highlights:
- +15 with Ind on generic ballot
- 71% of USA & 51% of GOP want Congress to be check on Trump
- ENTHUSIASM GAP: 58% of Dems say they are more excited to vote than usual. Among GOP: Just 41%
posted by chris24 at 4:09 PM on July 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
@WhiteHouse
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13?
The same verified government-controlled account also attacked Senator Warren.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell @mitchellreports points out: "Re: White House tweets attacking Senators: Section 1352(a) of Title 31: No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall..be used directly or indirectly to pay for any .. written matter... intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress"
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [63 favorites]
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13?
The same verified government-controlled account also attacked Senator Warren.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell @mitchellreports points out: "Re: White House tweets attacking Senators: Section 1352(a) of Title 31: No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall..be used directly or indirectly to pay for any .. written matter... intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress"
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [63 favorites]
Like if you ask a red meat male Republican voter whether he thinks everyone should be able to afford the basics in life and reasonable healthcare he'll say yes because he doesn't want to be an inhuman monster.
Arguing facts not in evidence.
There are plenty of Republicans who want to be seen as thoughtful compassionate conservatives as they slash the safety net, but there are plenty who see cruelty and wanton indifference as strength and virtue. And they do not hide it.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 4:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
Arguing facts not in evidence.
There are plenty of Republicans who want to be seen as thoughtful compassionate conservatives as they slash the safety net, but there are plenty who see cruelty and wanton indifference as strength and virtue. And they do not hide it.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 4:14 PM on July 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
Harry Enten (538)
So from what I can tell based off an average of live interview of polls over the last month that yes, 2018 would be the largest gender gap on record since at least 1958 for a midterm election.
posted by chris24 at 4:15 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
So from what I can tell based off an average of live interview of polls over the last month that yes, 2018 would be the largest gender gap on record since at least 1958 for a midterm election.
posted by chris24 at 4:15 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
He says since at least 1958 because that's the first year for which he has data. Which means we have no idea if it is the largest gender gap since 1956 or if it means it is the largest gender gap ever. I suppose there was no gender gap in voting pre-1920 though.
posted by Justinian at 4:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
On the other hand, Ron Paul did actually post it.
Actually, Mr. Paul doesn't tweet, his intern did it by accident.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:33 PM on July 2, 2018
Actually, Mr. Paul doesn't tweet, his intern did it by accident.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:33 PM on July 2, 2018
I suppose there was no gender gap in voting pre-1920 though.
I would prefer to say there was an enormous gender gap.
posted by mrgoat at 4:37 PM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
I would prefer to say there was an enormous gender gap.
posted by mrgoat at 4:37 PM on July 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
Yes, this has been his excuse - that an intern inadvertently did a really fucking racist/Nazi thing - numerous times since his newsletters began since the 70s. Completely believable that someone accidentally has that image on their computer/phone and whoops, tweets it. And then when they delete it, tweets an image decrying political correctness. Because that's what opposition to Nazism is, ridiculous political correctness.
posted by chris24 at 4:38 PM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 4:38 PM on July 2, 2018 [25 favorites]
Yes, another case of completely unintentional inadvertent unexpected virulent racism. It's like sneezing, only with hate.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:39 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:39 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
So, what would a humane immigration policy look like? (Current Affairs)
posted by The Whelk at 4:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Paul's replacement tweet subbed in a "no political correctness" graphic for the racist as hell graphic. But I repeat myself, since all this is doing is confirming that rants decrying political correctness are just the same as the racist imagery they used in the first place.
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Here’s a daily kos link from 2007 that goes into Ron Paul’s prior decades of saying racist crap.
He’s a consistently virulent racist who has expertly worked the levers of plausible deniability for actual decades now.
posted by nikaspark at 4:48 PM on July 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
He’s a consistently virulent racist who has expertly worked the levers of plausible deniability for actual decades now.
posted by nikaspark at 4:48 PM on July 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
Like if you ask a red meat male Republican voter whether he thinks everyone should be able to afford the basics in life and reasonable healthcare he'll say yes because he doesn't want to be an inhuman monster. He'll just object to every single way of making that happen when rubber hits the road.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:09 PM on July 2 [15 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Not sure that's strictly true. Remember when the crowd at a Republican presidential candidate debate cheered the idea of letting uninsured people die of their illnesses?
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:51 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:09 PM on July 2 [15 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Not sure that's strictly true. Remember when the crowd at a Republican presidential candidate debate cheered the idea of letting uninsured people die of their illnesses?
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:51 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Greg Sargent (WaPo)
Dear Democrats:
Policing your left flank on "Abolish ICE" is a sucker's game. Instead, make this about Trump's cruelty and incompetence.
Trump is presiding over an immense moral and logistical disaster. You can win that argument.
WaPo: Keep the focus on Trump’s cruelty and incompetence
posted by chris24 at 5:03 PM on July 2, 2018 [49 favorites]
Dear Democrats:
Policing your left flank on "Abolish ICE" is a sucker's game. Instead, make this about Trump's cruelty and incompetence.
Trump is presiding over an immense moral and logistical disaster. You can win that argument.
WaPo: Keep the focus on Trump’s cruelty and incompetence
posted by chris24 at 5:03 PM on July 2, 2018 [49 favorites]
Just to repeat:
CNN reports that Trump wants to once again meet with Putin accompanied only by a translator and no other US staff.
So Shamrock learned his lesson.
posted by dogrose at 5:08 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
CNN reports that Trump wants to once again meet with Putin accompanied only by a translator and no other US staff.
So Shamrock learned his lesson.
posted by dogrose at 5:08 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Policing your left flank on "Abolish ICE" is a sucker's game. Instead, make this about Trump's cruelty and incompetence.
This. How hard is it for Democratic leaders to say something along the lines of "well you can certainly understand why some are calling for ICE to be dismantled, in light of the cruel and unnecessary policies it enforces," *even if they don't agree it should be abolished *
posted by mabelstreet at 5:33 PM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
This. How hard is it for Democratic leaders to say something along the lines of "well you can certainly understand why some are calling for ICE to be dismantled, in light of the cruel and unnecessary policies it enforces," *even if they don't agree it should be abolished *
posted by mabelstreet at 5:33 PM on July 2, 2018 [46 favorites]
"The only ICE I want are the ones that figure out how to cram even more butter into pastry."
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:36 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:36 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Like if you ask a red meat male Republican voter whether he thinks everyone should be able to afford the basics in life and reasonable healthcare he'll say yes
citation needed
posted by entropicamericana at 5:43 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
citation needed
posted by entropicamericana at 5:43 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
[video] @mickbk TRUMP: “The EU... If we do work it out, that will be positive. And if we don’t, it will be positive also, because – ”
DUTCH PM RUTTE: “No.”
TRUMP: “— just think about those cars that pour in here.”
RUTTE: “It’s not positive. We have to work something out.”
posted by scalefree at 5:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
DUTCH PM RUTTE: “No.”
TRUMP: “— just think about those cars that pour in here.”
RUTTE: “It’s not positive. We have to work something out.”
posted by scalefree at 5:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [29 favorites]
Um, what the shit is this?
Why Did the Rhode Island Democratic Party Endorse an Alt-Right Supporter Over a Progressive Incumbent?
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
Why Did the Rhode Island Democratic Party Endorse an Alt-Right Supporter Over a Progressive Incumbent?
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [12 favorites]
Policing your left flank on "Abolish ICE" is a sucker's game.
No kidding. NPR's glee at dusting off the hoary "Democrats in disarray" narrative was palpable this evening. Like some kind of warty growth, only more disgusting.
posted by Gelatin at 5:50 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
No kidding. NPR's glee at dusting off the hoary "Democrats in disarray" narrative was palpable this evening. Like some kind of warty growth, only more disgusting.
posted by Gelatin at 5:50 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm in Philadelphia right now on actual vacation (with my kid, which is why I'm in a hotel room right now and not risking arrest to deliver water and supplies) and there's currently a blockade of the ICE facility on 8th and Arch. It's been going on for several hours.
If anyone has a good line on a bail money collection for these folks, drop me a memail.
Walking by all the police lines did give us a chance to further indoctrinate our child, at least.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:19 PM on July 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
If anyone has a good line on a bail money collection for these folks, drop me a memail.
Walking by all the police lines did give us a chance to further indoctrinate our child, at least.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:19 PM on July 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
More on the RI Dems - they are either dumb as shit, lying, or thouroughly infiltrated by Nazi sympathizers. Leaning towards a mix.
posted by Artw at 6:35 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:35 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
People on Martha's Vineyard, even fellow professors, are shunning Alan Dershowitz
Groovy! If he comes to my bar I'll shun the fuck out of him. He'll swoon from the shunning then I'll revive him with a gin bracer. Gotta pay the bills.
posted by vrakatar at 6:42 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Groovy! If he comes to my bar I'll shun the fuck out of him. He'll swoon from the shunning then I'll revive him with a gin bracer. Gotta pay the bills.
posted by vrakatar at 6:42 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
From Artw’s link:
posted by schadenfrau at 6:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
...over freshman state Rep. Moira Walsh, the outspoken Providence Democrat who gave her fellow lawmakers a case of agita with her comments, soon after she arrived at the State House, about how much alcohol she saw thereLol no this is 100% misogyny from RI’s boy’s club. They may or may not be Nazis yet (DEFINITELY Nazi curious), but I would bet my rent that there are a bunch of MRAs in the mix
posted by schadenfrau at 6:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [20 favorites]
Why Did the Rhode Island Democratic Party Endorse an Alt-Right Supporter Over a Progressive Incumbent?
The Rhode Island Democratic Party currently holds 31 of 38 Senate seats and 62 of 75 House seats. They are nowhere near losing even veto-proof majorities, so the party leadership can afford to nurse petty grudges in individual districts.
posted by Etrigan at 6:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
The Rhode Island Democratic Party currently holds 31 of 38 Senate seats and 62 of 75 House seats. They are nowhere near losing even veto-proof majorities, so the party leadership can afford to nurse petty grudges in individual districts.
posted by Etrigan at 6:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
The Rhode Island Democratic Party currently holds 31 of 38 Senate seats and 62 of 75 House seats. They are nowhere near losing even veto-proof majorities, so the party leadership can afford to nurse petty grudges in individual districts.
This looks much more sinister. It looks like Republicans are switching party affiliations to run in primaries and bring far-right conservatism to reliably Democratic districts/states. Over half of Rhode Island voters are registered independents to take advantage of the semi-open primary system. If you're a Republican and you know a Democratic member is a foregone conclusion you rock up to the primary as an independent, vote in the Democratic primary for the Trump lover, then hand in your form to change back to unaffiliated on the way out.
Primaries have ridiculously bad turnout no matter where you are. Republicans are figuring out that it's easy to game these and bring two of their (bad) choices to the general.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
This looks much more sinister. It looks like Republicans are switching party affiliations to run in primaries and bring far-right conservatism to reliably Democratic districts/states. Over half of Rhode Island voters are registered independents to take advantage of the semi-open primary system. If you're a Republican and you know a Democratic member is a foregone conclusion you rock up to the primary as an independent, vote in the Democratic primary for the Trump lover, then hand in your form to change back to unaffiliated on the way out.
Primaries have ridiculously bad turnout no matter where you are. Republicans are figuring out that it's easy to game these and bring two of their (bad) choices to the general.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
By the way people, Democrats are supposed to be starting Civil War on July 4th according to Alex Jones.
I don't have a gun but I can bring dip.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [34 favorites]
I don't have a gun but I can bring dip.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [34 favorites]
Isaac Chotiner interviews Neha Desai, director of immigration at the National Center for Youth Law, to learn why it’s still so difficult for migrant kids to be reunited with their families.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
By the way people, Democrats are supposed to be starting Civil War on July 4th according to Alex Jones.
Naw, I’ve seen it before and it’s just okay, sweatervest Visioom aside.
posted by The Whelk at 7:36 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Naw, I’ve seen it before and it’s just okay, sweatervest Visioom aside.
posted by The Whelk at 7:36 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Politico, As deadline looms, Trump officials struggle to reunite migrant families
With a July 10 deadline looming, staffers at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the division within HHS that oversees the care of unaccompanied children, have received no instructions on how to proceed, the sources say.WaPo, How Trump is changing the face of legal immigration (the Post scraped and cleaned up the raw data and posted it on GitHub)
“It’s been really difficult to start the reunification process because we just don’t have a lot of direction from leadership,” said one official at the refugee office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “That’s been slowing things up, because there’s just been a lot of confusion.”
U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ruled last week that the Trump administration had until July 10 to reunite migrant children under 5 with their parents, and until July 26 to reunite the rest. But the refugee office is still struggling to answer basic questions such as how many children in its custody were separated from their parents.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar told Congress last week that his department could find children in his department’s care “within seconds.” But he subsequently called for volunteers to review the case files of each of the roughly 11,900 children in custody to determine whether HHS missed any who had been separated from adults at the border, according to two current officials.
...
For parents who are already deported, the situation is more complicated. Children may elect to be repatriated to their home countries, but any decision to honor that request must take into account the child‘s age and capacity to make the decision, according to Brané.
“If the parent has been deported, ORR has not historically been charged with reunifying children with relatives who are in another country,” said Maria Cancian, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and former deputy assistant secretary at the HHS Administration for Children and Families. “So that is uncharted.”
As the national immigration debate swirls around the effort to discourage illegal immigration by separating families at the border, the Trump administration is making inroads into another longtime priority: reducing legal immigration.NYT, New York City Considers New Pay Rules for Uber Drivers. I just want to highlight this bit in particular, which is important as the same politicians who praise Uber for creating jobs seek to cut the benefits that its drivers rely on:
The number of people receiving visas to move permanently to the United States is on pace to drop 12 percent in President Trump’s first two years in office, according to a Washington Post analysis of State Department data.
Among the most affected are the Muslim-majority countries on the president’s travel ban list — Yemen, Syria, Iran, Libya and Somalia — where the number of new arrivals to the United States is heading toward an 81 percent drop by Sept. 30, the end of the second fiscal year under Trump.
...
But the Trump administration has managed to effect significant changes in immigration without Congress, in part by relying on administrative guidance handed down to consular officials to change the way immigrant visas are considered and processed, administration officials and outside experts said. The result is a shift in the legal immigration process in line with the vision of Miller , the adviser who officials say sits at the helm of immigration policy decisions.
“Miller sees consular officers as the tip of the spear in his effort to control who is getting into the country,” said one high-ranking national security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official is not authorized to speak to the media. “He sees it as a generational thing, like he has to retrain them.”
...
Applicants are “facing arbitrary questions that are really difficult for them to answer, and then they’re getting denials for things that attorneys have never seen before,” said Kristie De Peña, director of immigration and senior counsel at the Niskanen Center, an immigrant advocacy group. “We’re hearing that pretty much across the board from all the attorneys that practice with us.”
There have been similar trends in other immigrant categories. Refugee arrivals are on track to fall by 75 percent from 2016 levels, according to federal data.
With just three months before the end of the fiscal year, the United States is only a third of the way to its refugee cap for Africa and Latin America and less than half of the way to its cap for Asia. But it has surpassed the smaller cap set for European refugees, said analysts at the Niskanen Center.
The study is a rare glimpse inside New York City’s booming ride-hail industry. It found that about 40 percent of drivers have incomes so low that they qualify for Medicaid and about 18 percent qualify for food stamps. Some drivers bought vehicles, enticed by claims that they could make as much as $5,000 during their first month of driving, and now feel trapped.posted by zachlipton at 7:40 PM on July 2, 2018 [24 favorites]
Democrats are supposed to be starting Civil War on July 4th according to Alex Jones.
No, Alex Jones is trying to start a Civil War on July 4th and when his followers don't show up to fight, he'll claim victory over the treasonous Dems. And those that do he'll salute as Heroes while their friends in Law Enforcement tell them to go home and sleep it off instead of taking them to jail.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:50 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
No, Alex Jones is trying to start a Civil War on July 4th and when his followers don't show up to fight, he'll claim victory over the treasonous Dems. And those that do he'll salute as Heroes while their friends in Law Enforcement tell them to go home and sleep it off instead of taking them to jail.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:50 PM on July 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Alex Jones is going to get us in a The Mouse That Roared situation, isn't he?
By which I mean, it would be a step in the right direction if the kind of people Alex Jones is inciting were armed with longbows instead of assault weapons.
posted by zachlipton at 7:56 PM on July 2, 2018
By which I mean, it would be a step in the right direction if the kind of people Alex Jones is inciting were armed with longbows instead of assault weapons.
posted by zachlipton at 7:56 PM on July 2, 2018
Update: Alex Jones and Roger Stone have gone all in on the anti-Kavanaugh beat, and it's weird as hell (it involves Vince Foster...enough said). The only question is what they're actually doing here; presumably there's some reason they have for this.
posted by zachlipton at 8:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 8:12 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Update: Alex Jones and Roger Stone have gone all in on the anti-Kavanaugh beat, and it's weird as hell (it involves Vince Foster...enough said). The only question is what they're actually doing here; presumably there's some reason they have for this.
posted by zachlipton at 8:12 PM on July 2 [+] [!]
They want someone more despicable?
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 8:12 PM on July 2 [+] [!]
They want someone more despicable?
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:24 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
They want Comey Barrett, Tim Kaine's favorite Christian death cultist.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:34 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:34 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
They want Comey Barrett, Tim Kaine's favorite Christian death cultist.
40 years with her on the bench. JFC save me now.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:38 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
40 years with her on the bench. JFC save me now.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:38 PM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Re RI democrats, NY independent Democrats, etc etc:
Democratic Party is an uneasy coalition of centrist status quo corporate capitalists who want a kinder-gentler capitalism and progressives who want to tear down the centers of unjust power that is white supremacy, patriarchy, corporate capitalism, military industrial complex, etc. That "machine" or "establishment" or "moderate" democrats often side with republicans against progressives doesn't change the necessity of the alliance for either camp: defeating the republican party: a coalition of nazis, confederates, libertarians, misogynists christian dominionists and corporate capitalists.
(corporate capitalists try to buy both sides of an election, win, rent-seek, wash rinse repeat. )
we work to defeat nazi's and pull the democratic mainstream from center-right to center-left by primaring, advocating, recruiting, and participating. If we split off to become pure greens or dsa or what-not we become irrelevant or foils and spoilers aiding inadvertantly or not, the far right.
/rant
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 8:41 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
Democratic Party is an uneasy coalition of centrist status quo corporate capitalists who want a kinder-gentler capitalism and progressives who want to tear down the centers of unjust power that is white supremacy, patriarchy, corporate capitalism, military industrial complex, etc. That "machine" or "establishment" or "moderate" democrats often side with republicans against progressives doesn't change the necessity of the alliance for either camp: defeating the republican party: a coalition of nazis, confederates, libertarians, misogynists christian dominionists and corporate capitalists.
(corporate capitalists try to buy both sides of an election, win, rent-seek, wash rinse repeat. )
we work to defeat nazi's and pull the democratic mainstream from center-right to center-left by primaring, advocating, recruiting, and participating. If we split off to become pure greens or dsa or what-not we become irrelevant or foils and spoilers aiding inadvertantly or not, the far right.
/rant
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 8:41 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
She's ideal because they want to make D Senators look mean for attacking a religious woman, and then have a pretty face tearing Roe to shreds.
posted by localhuman at 8:43 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by localhuman at 8:43 PM on July 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Barrett is also anti-Miranda Rights
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:46 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
If we split off to become pure greens or dsa or what-not we become irrelevant or foils and spoilers aiding inadvertantly or not, the far right.
The "Third Way" Democrats since Bill Clinton have been working on a much slower process to make the party irrelevant.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:48 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
The "Third Way" Democrats since Bill Clinton have been working on a much slower process to make the party irrelevant.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:48 PM on July 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
She's ideal because they want to make D Senators look mean for attacking a religious woman, and then have a pretty face tearing Roe to shreds.
And as an added bonus, a bunch of liberals get hoist on their own "we support a woman, just not THIS woman" petard.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:49 PM on July 2, 2018
And as an added bonus, a bunch of liberals get hoist on their own "we support a woman, just not THIS woman" petard.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:49 PM on July 2, 2018
“We must work together to defeat nazis” only works so far when you have centrists working to elect nazis. They’re not even centrists at that point, just straight up collaborators.
posted by Artw at 9:04 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:04 PM on July 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
That "machine" or "establishment" or "moderate" democrats often side with republicans against progressives doesn't change the necessity of the alliance for either camp: defeating the republican party: a coalition of nazis, confederates, libertarians, misogynists christian dominionists and corporate capitalists.
See, siding against progressives and with the Nazis...sort of defeats the idea that the purpose of the "coalition" is to defeat the Nazis.
It looks like the actual purpose is to defeat progressives, and whether the Nazis win or not is beside the point.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:15 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
See, siding against progressives and with the Nazis...sort of defeats the idea that the purpose of the "coalition" is to defeat the Nazis.
It looks like the actual purpose is to defeat progressives, and whether the Nazis win or not is beside the point.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:15 PM on July 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Yes, this has been his excuse - that an intern inadvertently did a really fucking racist/Nazi thing - numerous times since his newsletters began since the 70s.
The "Lew Rockwell did it", excuse. It didn't wash then, he was making a fortune from those newsletters and the racist stuff was ghostwritten as him, odds he didn't know what they said: 0. Doesn't wash now.
But that aside, there was a guy defending him on one of the screengrabs of his original post (think by @RVAwonk) making the argument that him posting that proves he can't be a nazi, because if he were then he would have recognised it as racist/anti-semitic iconography and never posted it. Whilst it's possible the guy was just that dumb (the set of anacaps has no great overlap with that of reflective critical thinkers), he was also simultaneously making the argument that the anti-semitic image was also really just some 'jolly merchant' image (can't recall the exact term), so well.
@_EthanGrey
The only reasonable answer is 'no'. Repeatedly.
posted by Buntix at 9:18 PM on July 2, 2018 [35 favorites]
The "Lew Rockwell did it", excuse. It didn't wash then, he was making a fortune from those newsletters and the racist stuff was ghostwritten as him, odds he didn't know what they said: 0. Doesn't wash now.
But that aside, there was a guy defending him on one of the screengrabs of his original post (think by @RVAwonk) making the argument that him posting that proves he can't be a nazi, because if he were then he would have recognised it as racist/anti-semitic iconography and never posted it. Whilst it's possible the guy was just that dumb (the set of anacaps has no great overlap with that of reflective critical thinkers), he was also simultaneously making the argument that the anti-semitic image was also really just some 'jolly merchant' image (can't recall the exact term), so well.
@_EthanGrey
I'm going to sum up the pragmatism of why Democrats should just run to the left; because Republicans are going to act like we are anyway. We pushed the ACA, Republicans still called us socialists and fear mongered about death panels. Fuck it. Just run on Medicare for all.When you are up against people who aren't even slightly arguing in good faith but just throwing out endless chaff to try and distort the argument, confuse, and waste the time and energy of those who think that fascism is not a good thing then every concession to them is a unilateral sacrifice, a self inflicted wound. Ditto every time they get to define the terms and language of the debate, or what is acceptable or civil.
The only reasonable answer is 'no'. Repeatedly.
posted by Buntix at 9:18 PM on July 2, 2018 [35 favorites]
If this is a derail, I'll gladly drop it, but my point is that while there are republican-collaborators who stab us in the back, the net effect of the coalition is beneficial: i mean when have progressives had enough senators to filibuster a republican anything? I would rather have single payer healthcare, but obama care was better than status quo. Not every machine democrat is a crypto-hydra double agent waiting to betray the revolution. most are just careerist self interested opportunists who happen to work in blue districts, lets take advantage of them and their infrastructure, and lets call out their infidelities... i certainly keep faxing Schumer my angry rants as much as I do McConnell...
/derail
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 9:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
/derail
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 9:21 PM on July 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
By the way people, Democrats are supposed to be starting Civil War on July 4th according to Alex Jones.
If you haven't received your check from Soros yet, remember that you have to sign up for direct deposit.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:22 PM on July 2, 2018 [16 favorites]
If you haven't received your check from Soros yet, remember that you have to sign up for direct deposit.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:22 PM on July 2, 2018 [16 favorites]
I'm hosting a barbecue; can I rebel after?
posted by kirkaracha at 9:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:26 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
If we split off to become pure greens or dsa or what-not we become irrelevant or foils and spoilers
This is the thing that makes the contemporary DSA something exciting and new, though: we are explicitly against running spoiler vanity campaigns and in favor of running avowed socialists on the D ticket. In lots of places and campaigns that means we lose the primary and don't have a candidate in most/any races for now, but meanwhile we're pushing the centrists left and introducing constituents to real leftist platforms and ideas. I don't recall any other organization doing this in my political lifetime, and the approach had been undeniably effective so far. The American Green party is an ineffectual mess and has defined a lot of peoples' idea of what a third party had to be. Lumping the DSA in with them is a mistake.
posted by contraption at 9:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [97 favorites]
This is the thing that makes the contemporary DSA something exciting and new, though: we are explicitly against running spoiler vanity campaigns and in favor of running avowed socialists on the D ticket. In lots of places and campaigns that means we lose the primary and don't have a candidate in most/any races for now, but meanwhile we're pushing the centrists left and introducing constituents to real leftist platforms and ideas. I don't recall any other organization doing this in my political lifetime, and the approach had been undeniably effective so far. The American Green party is an ineffectual mess and has defined a lot of peoples' idea of what a third party had to be. Lumping the DSA in with them is a mistake.
posted by contraption at 9:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [97 favorites]
2018 would be the largest gender gap on record since at least 1958 for a midterm election.
It’s almost like explicitly telling women you wish they couldn’t vote anymore had a...detrimental...effect on their desire to vote for you. Who would have thought?
posted by corb at 9:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
It’s almost like explicitly telling women you wish they couldn’t vote anymore had a...detrimental...effect on their desire to vote for you. Who would have thought?
posted by corb at 9:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
They said that explicitly in November 2016 too and it didn't matter. Remember when the closet Clinton vote was going to save us? Millions of suburban white women looked at the Access Hollywood tape and said, 'yea but...'
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:19 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:19 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well, yes, but this isn't closet vote; it's the vote reflected in the polling. The polling was more or less okay in 2016 but nobody wanted to believe it. Thus this "hidden" anti-Trump women's vote which didn't show up.
posted by Justinian at 10:40 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 10:40 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I never thought, a January ago, ago that I'd see a "What is Democratic Socialism?" in the NY Daily News or even "incumbents should be scared"
posted by The Whelk at 10:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:55 PM on July 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
@JohnWDean, just now, referring to the White House Twitter account attacking US senators:
Hatch Act violations, not to mention no class. Playing to those low and no info voters
posted by salix at 11:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [21 favorites]
Hatch Act violations, not to mention no class. Playing to those low and no info voters
posted by salix at 11:49 PM on July 2, 2018 [21 favorites]
By the way people, Democrats are supposed to be starting Civil War on July 4th according to Alex Jones.
I don't have a gun but I can bring dip.
That's quite civil of you; there's been so much uncivility the past few years, and especially recently.
posted by Stoneshop at 2:49 AM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I don't have a gun but I can bring dip.
That's quite civil of you; there's been so much uncivility the past few years, and especially recently.
posted by Stoneshop at 2:49 AM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
The "Third Way" Democrats since Bill Clinton have been working on a much slower process to make the party irrelevant.
Clinton and Third Way Democrats are why we still have Roe to fight for today. And Obergefell. And ACA. And and and. If he didn't win in 1992 - an era with a much more conservative electorate and after Rs had absolutely crushed Ds in 5 of 6 elections, with the only win a squeaker by Carter in the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam - we don't have RBG or Breyer.
posted by chris24 at 4:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [53 favorites]
Clinton and Third Way Democrats are why we still have Roe to fight for today. And Obergefell. And ACA. And and and. If he didn't win in 1992 - an era with a much more conservative electorate and after Rs had absolutely crushed Ds in 5 of 6 elections, with the only win a squeaker by Carter in the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam - we don't have RBG or Breyer.
posted by chris24 at 4:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [53 favorites]
It's hard to explain how despairing we were by the late 80s and early '90s of the Democrats ever being in office again. It really seemed like were were in for a permanent republican rule for the foreseeable future and so when Clinton appeared out of nowhere (Arkansas), he really did seem like the Democrats' savior. Finally a democrat who actually wants to win! It didn't hurt that he (and Hillary) were so smart and charming and bursting with energy.
Obviously now we can see the problems with the DLC and Third Way Democrats but at the time it seemed like the only hope.
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [48 favorites]
Obviously now we can see the problems with the DLC and Third Way Democrats but at the time it seemed like the only hope.
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [48 favorites]
The Third Way people were relevant at the time. It's only a problem when some Democrats today still think it's the way to go.
posted by mumimor at 5:25 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 5:25 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Back in the George W. Bush administration, Josh Marshall wrote that Washington was "wired for Republicans" -- that many who worked there, including in the so-called "liberal media," came of age during the Reagan years, when Republicans seemed like winners, Democrats ran away from the term "liberal," and only bad press about union corruption stuck, not corporate corruption. Many in the press seem to think that Republican ideas are inherently popular -- mostly because Reagan lied about them -- and steadfastly refuse to abandon that narrative in favor of facts, either about their actual, stated agenda or how unpopular it is. The constant theme of "Trump is popular with real Americans is no doubt a holdover from memories of Reagan's popularity.
posted by Gelatin at 5:27 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 5:27 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
Obviously now we can see the problems with the DLC and Third Way Democrats but at the time it seemed like the only hope.
Definitely imperfect, but Ds had run liberal Ds and gotten smoked.
Humphrey (68): Lost EC 302-190. PV by 1%. (Post CRA, George Wallace ran 3rd party and won 5 traditionally D states in the south. The beginning of the white backlash that led to two and a half decades of R wins.)
McGovern (72): Lost EC 520-17. PV by 23%.
Carter (76): Won EC 297-240. PV by 2%. (Change 9,000 votes in Hawaii and Ohio and Ford wins despite Watergate and Vietnam.)
Carter (80): Lost EC 489-49. PV by 10%.
Mondale (84): Lost EC 525-13. PV by 18%.
Dukakis (88): Lost EC 426-111. PV by 8%.
posted by chris24 at 5:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
Definitely imperfect, but Ds had run liberal Ds and gotten smoked.
Humphrey (68): Lost EC 302-190. PV by 1%. (Post CRA, George Wallace ran 3rd party and won 5 traditionally D states in the south. The beginning of the white backlash that led to two and a half decades of R wins.)
McGovern (72): Lost EC 520-17. PV by 23%.
Carter (76): Won EC 297-240. PV by 2%. (Change 9,000 votes in Hawaii and Ohio and Ford wins despite Watergate and Vietnam.)
Carter (80): Lost EC 489-49. PV by 10%.
Mondale (84): Lost EC 525-13. PV by 18%.
Dukakis (88): Lost EC 426-111. PV by 8%.
posted by chris24 at 5:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
an era with a much more conservative electorate and after Rs had absolutely crushed Ds in 5 of 6 elections
Presidential elections, please refer to this informative chart which shows that the Ds had held control of the House for 38 years and the Senate for all but 6 of them (regaining the Senate midway through Reagan's 2nd term). Then two years into the Clinton years, the Rs took over, controlling the House for 20 of the last 24 years and the Senate for 14 (with 4 at a virtual tie). It's this tunnelvision that only the Presidency counts that has led to a lot of America's decline since 1994.
Clinton and Third Way Democrats are why we have ... ACA.
And we got it in 2010 and NOT in 1994 (and as a voter who really needed Health Care Reform in the '90s, I still blame Bill... and Hillary too... for dropping that ball).
That's the perspective of a voter since 1974, who voted for Carter twice and didn't see a "much more conservative electorate" even during the Reagan years. The real reason for our last 4 Republican Presidents is because the Rs learned how to cheat successfully (after Nixon was caught and forced out for less than HALF of the things he did illegally). And then they took the lessons from their Presidential cheating success and applied it to every other electoral office they pursued.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:31 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Presidential elections, please refer to this informative chart which shows that the Ds had held control of the House for 38 years and the Senate for all but 6 of them (regaining the Senate midway through Reagan's 2nd term). Then two years into the Clinton years, the Rs took over, controlling the House for 20 of the last 24 years and the Senate for 14 (with 4 at a virtual tie). It's this tunnelvision that only the Presidency counts that has led to a lot of America's decline since 1994.
Clinton and Third Way Democrats are why we have ... ACA.
And we got it in 2010 and NOT in 1994 (and as a voter who really needed Health Care Reform in the '90s, I still blame Bill... and Hillary too... for dropping that ball).
That's the perspective of a voter since 1974, who voted for Carter twice and didn't see a "much more conservative electorate" even during the Reagan years. The real reason for our last 4 Republican Presidents is because the Rs learned how to cheat successfully (after Nixon was caught and forced out for less than HALF of the things he did illegally). And then they took the lessons from their Presidential cheating success and applied it to every other electoral office they pursued.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:31 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
please refer to this informative chart which shows that the Ds had held control of the House for 38 years and the Senate for all but 6 of them (regaining the Senate midway through Reagan's 2nd term).
Yes, and a big part of the reason the D held the House and Senate those years was that southern conservatives used to be Ds and slowly transitioned to Rs post-CRA and that's when the D lock on congress went away. They were conservative Ds, not liberal.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Yes, and a big part of the reason the D held the House and Senate those years was that southern conservatives used to be Ds and slowly transitioned to Rs post-CRA and that's when the D lock on congress went away. They were conservative Ds, not liberal.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Ds had run liberal Ds and gotten smoked.
They were all shockingly bland candidates. If anything since Kennedy should have been learned by the Democratic Party, it's that people like a firebrand for their cause. I mean, really? Mondale? Dukakis? That these were the best candidates to be found is the problem.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
They were all shockingly bland candidates. If anything since Kennedy should have been learned by the Democratic Party, it's that people like a firebrand for their cause. I mean, really? Mondale? Dukakis? That these were the best candidates to be found is the problem.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
They were all shockingly bland candidates. If anything since Kennedy should have been learned by the Democratic Party, it's that people like a firebrand for their cause. I mean, really? Mondale? Dukakis? That these were the best candidates to be found is the problem.
Well, that's another argument for Clinton. He wasn't bland.
posted by chris24 at 5:37 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well, that's another argument for Clinton. He wasn't bland.
posted by chris24 at 5:37 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
as a voter who really needed Health Care Reform in the '90s, I still blame Bill... and Hillary too... for dropping that ball
But recall William Kristol's infamous 1993 memo in which he urged Republicans to oppose in lockstep any health care reform, because it would validate Democratic concepts of government and be popular with voters. (In other words, this policy will be popular and effective, so we must oppose it.)
Again, the concept of lockstep, bad-faith Republican opposition hadn't quite permeated the public consciousness (and the media even now ignores it). The Clintons almost certainly thought they were negotiating in good faith with Republicans who might provide votes that benefited their constituents, not knowing the Republicans had already desired that any negotiation was a sham. Which is one reason Barack Obama erred in presuming Republicans were ever operating in good faith, but the Clintons can't be blamed for not knowing the Republicans' strategy.
posted by Gelatin at 5:38 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
But recall William Kristol's infamous 1993 memo in which he urged Republicans to oppose in lockstep any health care reform, because it would validate Democratic concepts of government and be popular with voters. (In other words, this policy will be popular and effective, so we must oppose it.)
Again, the concept of lockstep, bad-faith Republican opposition hadn't quite permeated the public consciousness (and the media even now ignores it). The Clintons almost certainly thought they were negotiating in good faith with Republicans who might provide votes that benefited their constituents, not knowing the Republicans had already desired that any negotiation was a sham. Which is one reason Barack Obama erred in presuming Republicans were ever operating in good faith, but the Clintons can't be blamed for not knowing the Republicans' strategy.
posted by Gelatin at 5:38 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
Civil Rights Act: 1964.
Republican takeover of Congress: 1994.
The Presidential "Blowouts" had more to do with a media NOT LIBERAL bias and International shenanigans (Nixon & co. promised Vietnam a 'better deal' and Reagan & co. did the same with Iran).
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Republican takeover of Congress: 1994.
The Presidential "Blowouts" had more to do with a media NOT LIBERAL bias and International shenanigans (Nixon & co. promised Vietnam a 'better deal' and Reagan & co. did the same with Iran).
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Man, if there's anything better than re-litigating the primaries of 2016, it's definitely got to be re-litigating the primaries of 1964 to 1992.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:41 AM on July 3, 2018 [118 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 5:41 AM on July 3, 2018 [118 favorites]
as a voter who really needed Health Care Reform in the '90s, I still blame Bill... and Hillary too... for dropping that ball
Third Wayers Bill and Hilary expended pretty much all their political capital of their first two years trying to get universal healthcare passed and it failed because a D congress of non-Third Way Ds couldn't pass it. And it led to the Rs wiping out Ds in 1994 midterms. So they basically sacrificed their first term to universal healthcare and were undermined by traditional Ds. Not sure how that's totally on them.
posted by chris24 at 5:44 AM on July 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
Third Wayers Bill and Hilary expended pretty much all their political capital of their first two years trying to get universal healthcare passed and it failed because a D congress of non-Third Way Ds couldn't pass it. And it led to the Rs wiping out Ds in 1994 midterms. So they basically sacrificed their first term to universal healthcare and were undermined by traditional Ds. Not sure how that's totally on them.
posted by chris24 at 5:44 AM on July 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
The AP has dug up a little more info on "Kostya from the GRU", Manafort's little buddy (and intelligence handler): Russian Charged With Trump’s Ex-Campaign Chief Is Key Figure
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
During the special counsel’s Russia investigation, Konstantin Kilimnik has been described as a fixer, translator or office manager to President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who is definitely not a Kremlin intelligence asset, continues to attack the foundations of the NATO alliance, per the NYT: Trump Warns NATO Allies to Spend More on Defense, or Else "President Trump has written sharply worded letters to the leaders of several NATO allies — including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada — taking them to task for spending too little on their own defense and warning that the United States is losing patience with what he said was their failure to meet security obligations shared by the alliance." (You know who else said he was running out of patience?)
But Kilimnik, an elusive figure now indicted alongside Manafort on witness tampering charges, was far more involved in formulating pro-Russia political strategy with Manafort than previously known, according to internal memos and other business records obtained by the AP.
The records include a rare 2006 photograph of Kilimnik, a Ukrainian native, in an office setting with Manafort and other key players in Manafort’s consulting firm at the time. Some of the documents were later independently obtained by U.S. government investigators.[...]
Kilimnik began that work in secret, the records show, even while working for the International Republican Institute — a U.S. government-funded nonprofit supporting the Western-friendly democratic movements that Manafort and his patrons sought to counter.[...]
The records show Kilimnik helped conceive strategies that Manafort sold to clients, and that he served as a key liaison between Manafort and principal financial backers, including Deripaska.
Deripaska has denied hiring Manafort for any pro-Russian political work, and unsuccessfully sued the AP last year over reporting that he had paid Manafort more than $10 million to influence political decisions and news coverage in Eastern Europe and Western capitals. Manafort also denied to the AP last year that he had performed political work for Deripaska.
A new filing by the U.S. government in Manafort’s court cases showed that Manafort acknowledged that work in a 2014 FBI interview, and files seized by the FBI showed that Deripaska was the source of a $10 million loan to a Manafort-controlled company in 2010.[...]
When the IRI learned in March 2005 that Kilimnik was working for Manafort, Kilimnik was abruptly fired. From then on, he worked full time for Manafort, earning a base monthly salary of $10,000, according to the records.
Manafort proposed Kilimnik as the firm’s direct liaison with Deripaska’s main business, known as Basel, short for Basic Element.
Whether that occurred is not clear. But Deripaska hired Manafort’s firm — and Kilimnik became a key player in the work.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
From the perspective of having lived and voted through the late 80's and the 90's - it's true. Bill Clinton was like a breath of fresh air. He had what the dull and wonky likes of Dukakis did not - charisma and a gift for public speaking. Hillary, as part of the package, was smart and competent, not your bland, pre-feminist First Lady type at all. At that time, the Democrats were in disarray and in doldrums, and the Clintons revitalized them.
And one has to remember that the electorate was more conservative then. Tipper Gore - she of the music censorship campaign - was not only a Democrat, she was the wife of Bill Clinton's VP! It was a big deal whether Bill inhaled or not. Sexual harassment by a superior was something to be grinned at and borne.
The "Third Way" was fair for its time and a product of its time. The Democratic party was in growing pains, in process of losing the very conservative, often racist Southerners who still voted in a bloc with other Dems. And we hadn't built up the coalition of women, POC, and LGBT people who are now the backbone of the Democrats and tend to be very liberal. Lots more white people, especially conservative old white people, around in 1992 than in 2012.
Add to this the newly-minted dot-com economy was going gangbusters, so everyone who wanted a job could find one, and so Third Way-ism really did look like the best idea then.
Finally: Back in the George W. Bush administration, Josh Marshall wrote that Washington was "wired for Republicans" -- that many who worked there, including in the so-called "liberal media," came of age during the Reagan years, when Republicans seemed like winners, Democrats ran away from the term "liberal," and only bad press about union corruption stuck, not corporate corruption. +100; I agree with Josh Marshall on this. (And I have a paid subscription to TPM to kick him down some funds - Marshall does a great job.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [33 favorites]
And one has to remember that the electorate was more conservative then. Tipper Gore - she of the music censorship campaign - was not only a Democrat, she was the wife of Bill Clinton's VP! It was a big deal whether Bill inhaled or not. Sexual harassment by a superior was something to be grinned at and borne.
The "Third Way" was fair for its time and a product of its time. The Democratic party was in growing pains, in process of losing the very conservative, often racist Southerners who still voted in a bloc with other Dems. And we hadn't built up the coalition of women, POC, and LGBT people who are now the backbone of the Democrats and tend to be very liberal. Lots more white people, especially conservative old white people, around in 1992 than in 2012.
Add to this the newly-minted dot-com economy was going gangbusters, so everyone who wanted a job could find one, and so Third Way-ism really did look like the best idea then.
Finally: Back in the George W. Bush administration, Josh Marshall wrote that Washington was "wired for Republicans" -- that many who worked there, including in the so-called "liberal media," came of age during the Reagan years, when Republicans seemed like winners, Democrats ran away from the term "liberal," and only bad press about union corruption stuck, not corporate corruption. +100; I agree with Josh Marshall on this. (And I have a paid subscription to TPM to kick him down some funds - Marshall does a great job.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [33 favorites]
The Politico article that zachlipton posted last night... I just don't even. Quoting "if the parent has been deported, ORR has not historically been charged with reunifying children with relatives who are in another country." But you fucking deported those relatives! *facedesk* I. Just. Don't. Even.
posted by meowf at 5:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by meowf at 5:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
McClatchy DC publishes an in-depth investigation of yet another case of Trump's business corruption and money-laundering:The Winding Money Trail from Kazakhstan to Trump SoHo
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:02 AM on July 3, 2018 [27 favorites]
A collaborative investigation has found the specific offshore companies used to route into a Trump-branded property more than $3 million linked to a massive fraud case in Kazakhstan. The discovery provides one of the most detailed views yet of a money-laundering allegation involving a Trump property.As with all money-laundering cases, the complexity of the Azerbaijan-Bayrock-Trump SoHo case resists easy summary, but the complete article is absolutely compelling in its connection of Trump, Sater, and Ablyazov through many business layers and associates.
The exact money trail and how it connected the Trump SoHo project in New York to Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov has so far been hidden from public view.
The collaborative investigation involving the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the Dutch TV documentary program Zembla and McClatchy shows how more than $30 million from an allegedly tainted source was used to finance Kazakh investments in the United States with the help of ex-Trump associate Felix Sater.[...]
McClatchy last year outlined broadly how Kazakh money ended up in Trump SoHo, and how the Trump Organization sought to build an obelisk-shaped hotel in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
But new documents viewed by the reporting partnership reveal the complex winding trail through which money moved eventually to Trump SoHo after first going through offshore shell companies and a now-shuttered bank linked to terror financing.
The origin of the money traces to Ablyazov, who was convicted last year in absentia in Kazakhstan for the theft of billions of dollars from Bank TuranAlem, or BTA Bank, which he formerly headed until fleeing in early 2009. The bank was seized by the government, and theft allegations ensued.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:02 AM on July 3, 2018 [27 favorites]
Just to emphasise from scalefree's link, Rutte literally laughs at Trump when Trump comes out with "and if we don’t, it will be positive also, because – ”.
posted by MattWPBS at 6:03 AM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by MattWPBS at 6:03 AM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
(following up on my comment because truthfully, I read the quoted text without sufficient caffeine and missed the word "historically". I'm reading in horror these days as my family is due to visit the US in less than a month with our small child, and I can't even put into words how the news has been making me feel lately, and how much rage and despair I have for those parents whose kids are -somewhere- in the US system without any way to find them. I'll go back to lurking now. Sorry for the noise.)
posted by meowf at 6:06 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by meowf at 6:06 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Civil Rights Act: 1964. Republican takeover of Congress: 1994.
I recommend for everybody these threads from historian Kevin Kruse on the long slow journey of party realignment and the switch of southern Ds to Rs.
Kevin Kruse
If you're interested in civil rights & southern politics, some earlier threads:
Party realignment:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/991131180593541121
Democrats and 1960s civil rights:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/991466976282337280
GOP's Southern Strategy:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/996386257109508096
Southern Republicans:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/993475107992559616
---
And his roasting of Dinesh D'Souza yesterday.
Dinesh D'Souza (replying to Richard Jones): Okay let’s see a list of the 200 or so racist Dixiecrats who switched parties and became Republicans. Put up or shut up
Kevin Kruse
Sure, let's do this. (thread)
posted by chris24 at 6:16 AM on July 3, 2018 [88 favorites]
I recommend for everybody these threads from historian Kevin Kruse on the long slow journey of party realignment and the switch of southern Ds to Rs.
Kevin Kruse
If you're interested in civil rights & southern politics, some earlier threads:
Party realignment:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/991131180593541121
Democrats and 1960s civil rights:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/991466976282337280
GOP's Southern Strategy:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/996386257109508096
Southern Republicans:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/993475107992559616
---
And his roasting of Dinesh D'Souza yesterday.
Dinesh D'Souza (replying to Richard Jones): Okay let’s see a list of the 200 or so racist Dixiecrats who switched parties and became Republicans. Put up or shut up
Kevin Kruse
Sure, let's do this. (thread)
posted by chris24 at 6:16 AM on July 3, 2018 [88 favorites]
As with all money-laundering cases, the complexity of the Azerbaijan-Bayrock-Trump SoHo case resists easy summary, but the complete article is absolutely compelling in its connection of Trump, Sater, and Ablyazov through many business layers and associates.
However, I am sustained with the knowledge that Barbara Underwood's team and Robert Mueller's team will provide clarity, in due time.
It's the patience waiting for that due time which is the challenge, since the participants are continuing their evil deeds.
posted by mikelieman at 6:29 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
However, I am sustained with the knowledge that Barbara Underwood's team and Robert Mueller's team will provide clarity, in due time.
It's the patience waiting for that due time which is the challenge, since the participants are continuing their evil deeds.
posted by mikelieman at 6:29 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
And I have a paid subscription to TPM to kick him down some funds - Marshall does a great job.
I signed up when the TPM staff unionized.
posted by contraption at 6:37 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I signed up when the TPM staff unionized.
posted by contraption at 6:37 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Reuters:
Column A: China urges the United States to be fair to Chinese companies
Column B: China issues U.S. travel warning amid trade tensions. Including but probably not limited to:
Column A: China urges the United States to be fair to Chinese companies
Column B: China issues U.S. travel warning amid trade tensions. Including but probably not limited to:
... expensive medical bills, the threats of public shootings and robberies, searches and seizures by customs agents, telecommunications fraud and natural disasters.posted by ZeusHumms at 6:42 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
White Americans Are Biggest Terror Threat in U.S.: Study
posted by Artw at 6:52 AM on July 3, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:52 AM on July 3, 2018 [42 favorites]
I just joined the DSA.
In the comments I asked for please no more old rich white guys. I'm not trying to discriminate; candidates can be old, rich, OR white, but only one of those.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:54 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
In the comments I asked for please no more old rich white guys. I'm not trying to discriminate; candidates can be old, rich, OR white, but only one of those.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:54 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
I'm thinking that inherited wealth rates closer scrutiny and more skepticism myself.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Trump lowers White House flags for slain journalists after reportedly denying request
"Last night, as soon as the president heard about the request from the Mayor he ordered the flags to be lowered and a proclamation is going out momentarily," Sanders said just outside the White House Tuesday morning. "I spoke with the mayor last night and again this morning to let him know the president's decision."
I never imagined that when fascism came to america it would also involve such furious backpedaling. Maybe it's a matter of mood? Was his desire to punish the media by not allowing them to mourn their people killed by his rhetoric just a passing fancy, the doing of an undigested blot of mustard or blob of filet-o-fish? Was he convinced to change course by his underlings? Was he never in fact aware of the denied request, with said underlings having taken it upon themselves to work towards his will?
Or maybe he just wanted to lower the flag first so that it'd look like his idea. It's probably that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:14 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
"Last night, as soon as the president heard about the request from the Mayor he ordered the flags to be lowered and a proclamation is going out momentarily," Sanders said just outside the White House Tuesday morning. "I spoke with the mayor last night and again this morning to let him know the president's decision."
I never imagined that when fascism came to america it would also involve such furious backpedaling. Maybe it's a matter of mood? Was his desire to punish the media by not allowing them to mourn their people killed by his rhetoric just a passing fancy, the doing of an undigested blot of mustard or blob of filet-o-fish? Was he convinced to change course by his underlings? Was he never in fact aware of the denied request, with said underlings having taken it upon themselves to work towards his will?
Or maybe he just wanted to lower the flag first so that it'd look like his idea. It's probably that.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:14 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Rajib Nazak arrested. More corruption possibly tied with the Trumps through another manster of the year Elliot Broidy.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:17 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 7:17 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Gallup: This Fourth of July marks a low point in U.S. patriotism. For the first time in Gallup's 18-year history asking U.S. adults how proud they are to be Americans, fewer than a majority say they are "extremely proud." Currently, 47% describe themselves this way, down from 51% in 2017 and well below the peak of 70% in 2003.
Good.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:19 AM on July 3, 2018 [55 favorites]
Good.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:19 AM on July 3, 2018 [55 favorites]
Dave Weigel (WaPo): The political fight over immigrant family separation basically began on June 4, when Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from a detention center. Since then, the generic ballot has inched up a bit for Democrats, from +5.5 to +7.2. Is the movement due to the immigration fight? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But there's a hardened consensus that any immigration fight is going to help Trump, and reality is undecided on that.
More evidence that fighting for immigrants isn't just right morally, but politically.
WaPo: This new study suggests Trump’s racism might actually hurt him
More evidence that fighting for immigrants isn't just right morally, but politically.
WaPo: This new study suggests Trump’s racism might actually hurt him
One of the worst mental habits we see among pundits these days is to overexaggerate the role that Donald Trump’s harsh anti-immigration agenda played in his 2016 victory. This isn’t just about the past; it also confuses analysis of the present, leading analysts to baselessly presume in advance that President Trump’s immigration attacks will prove fearsomely potent in the midterms.posted by chris24 at 7:25 AM on July 3, 2018 [23 favorites]
A new analysis by two political scientists offers important new data that sheds light on this debate. It suggests Trump’s immigration agenda might have been of negligible importance in his 2016 win, and that Hillary Clinton may have benefited more from the immigration debate than Trump did (that is, despite her electoral college loss, it actually expanded her popular vote total). [...]
The new analysis by Howard Lavine and Wendy Rahn of the University of Minnesota looked at national polling data from the American National Election Studies. They broke down white Americans into three groups: 44 percent of whites are “anti-immigration” and want lower immigration levels; 40 percent of whites are immigration moderates who want to keep levels the same; and 16 percent of whites are “pro-immigration” and want immigration increased.
That means a minority of whites want reduced immigration (as Trump does), while a 56 percent majority of whites are not anti-immigration, with most wanting to keep current levels. The key finding here is that Trump only marginally improved over previous Republican presidential candidates among anti-immigration whites, gaining eight percentage points among them over Mitt Romney. By contrast, Clinton improved over Obama’s performance by seven points among moderates but also by a huge margin among pro-immigration whites. Together those last two blocks of whites are larger than the anti-immigration block.
Trump, of course, slaughtered Clinton among white voters. But Levine and Rahn conclude that his anti-immigration agenda in particular might not have played a big role in making that happen, because the backlash among moderate and pro-immigration whites more than canceled out any gain Trump made among anti-immigration whites. And turnout was not higher among anti-immigration whites. [...]
Lavine and Rahn conclude that because “xenophobic whites” are already reliably Republican, and “less intolerant whites” waver (and shifted to Clinton in response to Trump), then this may mean “politicizing xenophobia and racism in American elections” is “instigating a liberal counterreaction” that may be giving Democrats “more to gain than Republicans” from “political conflict over immigration.”
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that we’ve already seen this in other elections this cycle, especially the Virginia gubernatorial race and the Alabama Senate race. In those, Republicans ran on Trumpist race-baiting immigration appeals (as they also did in Pennsylvania’s 18th district) and lost, in part due to what appeared to be a large backlash to Trump among nonwhite voters, yes, but also among white younger voters and college educated whites, especially suburbanites and women. [...]
One last point: This study found that only a minority of whites favor reduced immigration levels. More broadly, a recent Quinnipiac survey found the same, but also that only small minorities of whites favor Trump’s wall and oppose citizenship for the “dreamers” and for the broader category of undocumented immigrants. And so, if Trump’s agenda is inspiring a backlash, it’s worth noting that the reason for this is that not only are trans-racial majorities rejecting Trumpism — majorities of whites are broadly rejecting Trumpism as well.
Man, if there's anything better than re-litigating the primaries of 2016, it's definitely got to be re-litigating the primaries of 1964 to 1992.
At this rate Laura Ingraham or whoever will have us re-doing the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a prelude to the 2020 elections.
posted by Copronymus at 7:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
At this rate Laura Ingraham or whoever will have us re-doing the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a prelude to the 2020 elections.
posted by Copronymus at 7:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Dutch PM Mark Rutte's emphatic "No." in that clip linked by scalefree and mentioned again by MattWPBS may be the first time Trump has experienced the [Ron Howard voice] phenomenon audibly, in person. (Instead of just in our collective heads every time he speaks.) Truly delightful.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:33 AM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
How to Celebrate the 4th of July When America Is a Constant Disappointment
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:36 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:36 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
I mean, really? Mondale? Dukakis? That these were the best candidates to be found is the problem.
I liked Reagan over Mondale and voted for Reagan over Dukakis, largely on style-over-substance grounds.
Hey, it was my first election and I didn't think much about politics.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:38 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I liked Reagan over Mondale and voted for Reagan over Dukakis, largely on style-over-substance grounds.
Hey, it was my first election and I didn't think much about politics.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:38 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
At this rate Laura Ingraham or whoever will have us re-doing the Lincoln-Douglas debates as a prelude to the 2020 elections.
"See! Republicans aren't racist! Democrats are the real racists!"
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
"See! Republicans aren't racist! Democrats are the real racists!"
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump supporters boycott Walmart for selling 'Impeach 45' clothing
What if this forces them to produce their own food and goods via local resilient cooperative supply chains, thereby smashing the edifice of Capital and bringing on a glorious new age of the Proletariat
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [84 favorites]
What if this forces them to produce their own food and goods via local resilient cooperative supply chains, thereby smashing the edifice of Capital and bringing on a glorious new age of the Proletariat
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [84 favorites]
in that clip linked by scalefree and mentioned again by MattWPBS
So i just clicked that link and my first thought on seeing the opening shot of the video was omg, is that really Trump? Because the hair looks even madder than usual. Surely he's not trying to get away with gel?
I mean, it's patently obvious to everybody but the man himself that his stylist has been sniggering behind his back for decades and sure, everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads but jeezly crow he might have gone one step too far this time.
posted by flabdablet at 7:52 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
So i just clicked that link and my first thought on seeing the opening shot of the video was omg, is that really Trump? Because the hair looks even madder than usual. Surely he's not trying to get away with gel?
I mean, it's patently obvious to everybody but the man himself that his stylist has been sniggering behind his back for decades and sure, everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads but jeezly crow he might have gone one step too far this time.
posted by flabdablet at 7:52 AM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Church puts Holy Family in ICE cage.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [64 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [64 favorites]
> Church puts Holy Family in ICE cage.
More churches should be doing this. I mean, it's just totally on the nose:
When I read the stories of the Holy Family in scripture, they were in the middle of some pretty heated things," dean Stephen Carlson told RTV6. "They had to flee for asylum in Egypt...The powers of the day were threatening and indeed killing people in Jesus’s day. They were a homeless family with nowhere to stay. I think our faith tells us where we need to be.”
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
More churches should be doing this. I mean, it's just totally on the nose:
When I read the stories of the Holy Family in scripture, they were in the middle of some pretty heated things," dean Stephen Carlson told RTV6. "They had to flee for asylum in Egypt...The powers of the day were threatening and indeed killing people in Jesus’s day. They were a homeless family with nowhere to stay. I think our faith tells us where we need to be.”
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
It has been 0 days since our last Pruitt scandal.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:04 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:04 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan Accused of Turning Blind Eye to Sex Abuse as Ohio State Wrestling Coach
Former wrestlers at Ohio State University have accused their former coach, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of failing to stop the team's doctor from molesting them and other students, NBC News reported.
Can't say it'd be out of character for Jordan to have worked tirelessly to protect criminal sex offenders.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:10 AM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
Former wrestlers at Ohio State University have accused their former coach, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of failing to stop the team's doctor from molesting them and other students, NBC News reported.
Can't say it'd be out of character for Jordan to have worked tirelessly to protect criminal sex offenders.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:10 AM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
Gallup: This Fourth of July marks a low point in U.S. patriotism. For the first time in Gallup's 18-year history asking U.S. adults how proud they are to be Americans, fewer than a majority say they are "extremely proud." Currently, 47% describe themselves this way, down from 51% in 2017 and well below the peak of 70% in 2003.
Trump to Maria Bartiromo from Sunday's Fox interview: "Our people have more pride than they used to have."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:16 AM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trump to Maria Bartiromo from Sunday's Fox interview: "Our people have more pride than they used to have."
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:16 AM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trump to Maria Bartiromo from Sunday's Fox interview: "Our people have more pride than they used to have."
The survey shows that national pride is substantially up among Republicans and conservatives. That is precisely who Trump means by "our people."
posted by jedicus at 8:26 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
The survey shows that national pride is substantially up among Republicans and conservatives. That is precisely who Trump means by "our people."
posted by jedicus at 8:26 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel): Putting A Face (Mine) To The Risks Posed By Gop Games On Mueller Investigation:
Sometime last year, I went to the FBI and provided information on a person whom I had come to believe had played a significant role in the Russian election attack on the US. Since that time, a number of public events have made it clear I was correct. [...]posted by melissasaurus at 8:37 AM on July 3, 2018 [63 favorites]
I always planned to disclose this when this person’s role was publicly revealed. But I’m doing so now for two reasons. First, I think the public deserves to see the text he sent me at 3:15 PM on November 9, 2016.
[screencap of txt: Off the record // You likely don't want to hear this anymore than I did, I have it on very good intel (A 1 if you know humint ratings) that Flynn is speaking to Team Al-Assad in the next 48 hours. // Obviously that in of itself is disconcerting on a number of levels. You can probably figure out lot more than I can.] [...]
I’m making this public now because a David Ignatius report Thursday maps out an imminent deal with Russia and Israel that sounds like what was described to me within hours of the election. This deal appears to be the culmination of an effort that those involved in the Russian attack worked to implement within hours after the election.
The other reason I’m disclosing this now is to put a human face to the danger in which the House Republicans are putting other people who, like me, provided information about the Russian attack on the US to the government. [...]
But I’m a public figure. If something happens to me — if someone releases stolen information about me or knocks me off tomorrow — everyone will now know why and who likely did it. That affords me a small bit of protection. There are undoubtedly numerous other witnesses who have taken similar risks to share information with the government who aren’t public figures. The Republicans’ ceaseless effort to find out more details about people who’ve shared information with the government puts those people in serious jeopardy.
@sethrogen
I’ve been DMing with @jack about his bizarre need to verify white supremacists on his platform for the last 8 months or so, and after all the exchanges, I’ve reached a conclusion: the dude simply does not seem to give a fuck.
posted by Artw at 8:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [62 favorites]
I’ve been DMing with @jack about his bizarre need to verify white supremacists on his platform for the last 8 months or so, and after all the exchanges, I’ve reached a conclusion: the dude simply does not seem to give a fuck.
posted by Artw at 8:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [62 favorites]
I use Twitter a lot and find it valuable, but it's worse than Seth surmises. Jack does care... that he has a happy white supremacist/Nazi user base. Whether that's because he's a white supremacist or it's just that they help their bottom line, i don't know. And it doesn't matter. Anyone who cares so little about equal rights/democracy that they'll sacrifice morality/justice to empower white supremacists/fascism for $$$ is a white supremacist.
posted by chris24 at 8:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 8:47 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
I know its kind of impossible without a competing service, but I really think that everybody leaving twitter would be a very very good thing.
posted by Brainy at 8:49 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 8:49 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
impossible without a competing service ...
Nah. Social Media itself is the problem. It's too easy to weaponize people against themselves when they're all connected like they are. Many more, smaller, more disconnected communities.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nah. Social Media itself is the problem. It's too easy to weaponize people against themselves when they're all connected like they are. Many more, smaller, more disconnected communities.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 8:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Mod note: Let's not launch into another round of this same circular thing about the social media giants' many problems and how we should all quit them but can't all quit them etc.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Church puts Holy Family in ICE cage.
For context, Christ Church Cathedral is smack in the middle of downtown, on the much-visited monument Circle, and a couple of blocks from the Statehouse. Lots of people will see it.
I have gone with my lovely wife to attend services there, and it goes out of its way to be a welcoming place. The young rector gives his sermons in alternating English and Spanish.
The local Episcopal bishop -- an African-American woman -- also was among the speakers at Saturday's rally.
In conclusion, some christians walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
posted by Gelatin at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [50 favorites]
For context, Christ Church Cathedral is smack in the middle of downtown, on the much-visited monument Circle, and a couple of blocks from the Statehouse. Lots of people will see it.
I have gone with my lovely wife to attend services there, and it goes out of its way to be a welcoming place. The young rector gives his sermons in alternating English and Spanish.
The local Episcopal bishop -- an African-American woman -- also was among the speakers at Saturday's rally.
In conclusion, some christians walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
posted by Gelatin at 8:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [50 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel): Putting A Face (Mine) To The Risks Posed By Gop Games On Mueller Investigation
For reference, here is the Ignatius piece from the Washington Post she's talking about: Is Trump Handing Putin a Victory in Syria?—and Betteridge's Law of Headlines emphatically does not apply here.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
I’m making this public now because a David Ignatius report Thursday maps out an imminent deal with Russia and Israel that sounds like what was described to me within hours of the election. This deal appears to be the culmination of an effort that those involved in the Russian attack worked to implement within hours after the election.This is an incredibly important—and brave—blog post by Wheeler, especially with Trump due to meet Putin next week.
For reference, here is the Ignatius piece from the Washington Post she's talking about: Is Trump Handing Putin a Victory in Syria?—and Betteridge's Law of Headlines emphatically does not apply here.
The catastrophic war in Syria is nearing what could be a diplomatic endgame, as the United States , Russia and Israel shape a deal that would preserve power for Syrian President Bashar al -Assad in exchange for Russian pledges to restrain Iranian influence.And suddenly potential Israeli interference in the US election and in politics afterward makes much more sense in the context of Russia's ascension, which Putin put into play in 2015.
Checking Iranian power has become the only major Trump administration goal in Syria, now that the Islamic State is nearly vanquished. President Trump appears ready to embrace a policy that will validate Assad, an authoritarian leader who has gassed his own people, and abandon a Syrian opposition that was partly trained and supplied by the United States.[...]
An intriguing aspect of the possible Syria deal is that it’s driven by close cooperation between Russia and Israel. The Israeli agenda, like Trump’s, is narrowly focused on blocking Iran — and Israelis seem to have concluded that Putin is a reliable regional partner.
Trump’s willingness to accede to Russian power in Syria — and to give up hard-won U.S. gains — troubles many Pentagon officials, but they seem to be losing the argument.Incidentally, Igantius's conclusions align with Max Boot's argument in the WaPo that Trump wants to Finlandize the United States.
As Putin makes his way toward the summit stage, it’s worth pausing a moment to appreciate how deftly he has played his hand. Russia is becoming the indispensable regional balancer, playing a role once proudly claimed by the United States. Russia somehow maintains good relations with both Iran and Israel; it has growing ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; it talks with Syrian Kurds and their bitter rivals in Turkey.
Putin has a reputation as an ex-KGB thug. But his Syrian strategy evokes the subtler Chinese precept of subduing the enemy without fighting. Putin has taken a decisive position in Syria at minimal cost — with a deferential Trump now seeming ready to confirm his victory.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on July 3, 2018 [37 favorites]
NYT: "President Trump has written sharply worded letters to the leaders of several NATO allies — including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada — taking them to task for spending too little on their own defense and warning that the United States is losing patience with what he said was their failure to meet security obligations shared by the alliance."
I'm for less spending on our military generally, but to push really hard to build up our nuclear weapons program and create a space force while tearing apart the one aspect of our military strategy that's successfully ensured peace and democracy in much of the world is just so backwards.
posted by xammerboy at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'm for less spending on our military generally, but to push really hard to build up our nuclear weapons program and create a space force while tearing apart the one aspect of our military strategy that's successfully ensured peace and democracy in much of the world is just so backwards.
posted by xammerboy at 9:21 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel): Putting A Face (Mine) To The Risks Posed By Gop Games On Mueller Investigation
I'm having a hard time parsing the significance of this material. What is she saying about Flynn and the Russians that hasn't already been revealed? Or is the point that she put herself in jeopardy to further the OSC investigation?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:30 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm having a hard time parsing the significance of this material. What is she saying about Flynn and the Russians that hasn't already been revealed? Or is the point that she put herself in jeopardy to further the OSC investigation?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:30 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
For reference, here is the Ignatius piece from the Washington Post she's talking about
Thanks, Doktor Zed, I didn't understand the significance Wheeler's piece, and the WaPo piece makes it much more clear.
posted by gladly at 9:31 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Thanks, Doktor Zed, I didn't understand the significance Wheeler's piece, and the WaPo piece makes it much more clear.
posted by gladly at 9:31 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Scrolling through the "I remember the 90s" comments, I feel compelled to make two largely irrelevant points:
- Dukakis ran against Bush I, not Reagan. (how Bush was ever seen as having any charisma at all is an enduring mystery)
- The dotcom bubble didn't really start to take shape until 1997. Bill Clinton was elected in the midst of a deep recession in 1992, and the very first primitive web browser was not released until 1993, shortly after his inauguration. Netscape didn't come along until 1994.
I have never thought about it exactly this way until now, but it occurs to me that the Clintons'/DLC's success in the 1990s, when white anxiety appeared to be an electorally unbeatable force, is that they were so expert in taking up that anxiety as their own (somehow without jeopardizing Bill's "first black president" bona fides), whether through finding mentally disabled Black people to execute in Arkansas, or ranting about welfare (1992) and superpredators (1996). (Tipper Gore fits perfectly here.) That's the real triangulation that was going on. And as with the Republicans, if they hadn't been able to harness white anxiety, their other right-wing policy inclinations -- which are unpopular on their own and thus require racial anxiety to succeed -- would not have had any political traction.
posted by shenderson at 9:41 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
- Dukakis ran against Bush I, not Reagan. (how Bush was ever seen as having any charisma at all is an enduring mystery)
- The dotcom bubble didn't really start to take shape until 1997. Bill Clinton was elected in the midst of a deep recession in 1992, and the very first primitive web browser was not released until 1993, shortly after his inauguration. Netscape didn't come along until 1994.
I have never thought about it exactly this way until now, but it occurs to me that the Clintons'/DLC's success in the 1990s, when white anxiety appeared to be an electorally unbeatable force, is that they were so expert in taking up that anxiety as their own (somehow without jeopardizing Bill's "first black president" bona fides), whether through finding mentally disabled Black people to execute in Arkansas, or ranting about welfare (1992) and superpredators (1996). (Tipper Gore fits perfectly here.) That's the real triangulation that was going on. And as with the Republicans, if they hadn't been able to harness white anxiety, their other right-wing policy inclinations -- which are unpopular on their own and thus require racial anxiety to succeed -- would not have had any political traction.
posted by shenderson at 9:41 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
>NYT: "President Trump has written sharply worded letters to the leaders of several NATO allies — including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada — taking them to task for spending too little on their own defense and warning that the United States is losing patience with what he said was their failure to meet security obligations shared by the alliance."
>>Xammerboy: I'm for less spending on our military generally, but to push really hard to build up our nuclear weapons program and create a space force while tearing apart the one aspect of our military strategy that's successfully ensured peace and democracy in much of the world is just so backwards.
Oh, god. Apologies if everyone else has always understood this, but-- he's trying to collect rent. Just like his dad. But instead of dunning Woody Guthrie & co., he's trying to dun Nato. Because shaking down tenants is how he was taught to display power and leadership and to interact with the world. It's a script that's been reinforced with him since he was little more than a fetus, and so, since that's what he knows how to do, and it's in his comfort zone, he's doing it.
He thinks the whole fucking world is a tenement that he owns.
God, that's probably what some of the weird immigration shit is about, too. On some level, he's trying to roust the "undesirables" so that he can attract a more upscale clientele and raise the rent.
I didn't think I could hate the guy more, but oh, look. Now I do.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 9:46 AM on July 3, 2018 [110 favorites]
Church puts Holy Family in ICE cage.
Come December, we should flood the ICE hotline with reports of immigrant families on church lawns.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [27 favorites]
Come December, we should flood the ICE hotline with reports of immigrant families on church lawns.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [27 favorites]
Come December, we should flood the ICE hotline with reports of immigrant families on church lawns.
Inadvisable. ICE would take it seriously, show up, and start arresting any families of color that came to look at the nativity.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Inadvisable. ICE would take it seriously, show up, and start arresting any families of color that came to look at the nativity.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
He thinks the whole fucking world is a tenement that he owns.
Donny One Note* views the whole world through the lens of a lazy but profitable NYC developer.
*popculture pun
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Donny One Note* views the whole world through the lens of a lazy but profitable NYC developer.
*popculture pun
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:58 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
create a space force while tearing apart the one aspect of our military strategy that's successfully ensured peace and democracy in much of the world is just so backward
It bears repeating:. There is every indication Trump is a Russian agent, and does not actually give a shit about the country he supposedly leads despite all his jingoism.
posted by benzenedream at 10:01 AM on July 3, 2018 [35 favorites]
It bears repeating:. There is every indication Trump is a Russian agent, and does not actually give a shit about the country he supposedly leads despite all his jingoism.
posted by benzenedream at 10:01 AM on July 3, 2018 [35 favorites]
Amazing how this tracks to his approval/disapproval. But again, evidence it's not a winning issue for him outside of his base. Which is going to vote for him anyway.
Kyle Griffin (MSNBC)
American voters disapprove 58-39% of the way Trump is handling immigration. @QuinnipiacPoll
posted by chris24 at 10:03 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Kyle Griffin (MSNBC)
American voters disapprove 58-39% of the way Trump is handling immigration. @QuinnipiacPoll
posted by chris24 at 10:03 AM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'm having a hard time parsing the significance of this material. What is she saying about Flynn and the Russians that hasn't already been revealed?
So it's clear, Wheeler is saying: At 3:15PM on November 9, 2016, someone I later came to understand played a significant part in RU attack on US sent me this text. This is the plan David Ignatius just described as imminent.
These are the points in the plan as Ignatius outlined that Wheeler claims she learned about 14 hours after polls closed:
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [45 favorites]
So it's clear, Wheeler is saying: At 3:15PM on November 9, 2016, someone I later came to understand played a significant part in RU attack on US sent me this text. This is the plan David Ignatius just described as imminent.
These are the points in the plan as Ignatius outlined that Wheeler claims she learned about 14 hours after polls closed:
● Iranian-backed forces will stay at least 80 kilometers from the Israeli border on the Golan Heights.When we learned about the overtures Flynn and Kushner made to the Russians, they were passed off as discussions about coordinating on how to defeat ISIS, but instead, it looks as though the Trump campaign was negotiating over cooperation with Bashar al-Assad's Syria regime.
● Israel will have tacit Russian permission to attack threatening Iranian targets in Syria, so long as Russian troops aren’t harmed. Israel has exercised this freedom of action in recent weeks to strike secret Iranian bases and block Tehran’s attempt to open a Syrian “second front” against Israel that would complement Hezbollah in Lebanon.
● Assad’s army, backed by Russian air power, will consolidate control in southwest Syria and retake posts on the Jordanian border. Jordan favors Assad’s control of the border because it might allow truck traffic to resume, boosting the cash-strapped Jordanian economy. Opposition forces in the southwest apparently will be left to fend for themselves. As thousands of new Syrian refugees flee toward a closed Jordanian border, a new slaughter of trapped civilians is possible.
● Russian military police will patrol areas of southwest Syria and perhaps other regions, in an effort to stabilize those zones. But a European diplomat cautions that any expectation that Russian power will mean security is “based on wishful thinking rather than reality.” The United States, for now, will retain its garrison at al-Tanf, in southern Syria, to block any Iranian advance there.
● Russia and the Assad regime will expand their outreach to Syrian Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, in areas where the Kurds have partnered successfully with U.S. Special Operations forces to defeat the Islamic State and restore stability. U.S. commanders hope American troops can remain for 18 more months or so. But Trump has voiced his impatience with this mission.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:09 AM on July 3, 2018 [45 favorites]
Gotta have those tee offs covered!
UK government to pay for security should Trump have a round in Scotland
posted by Myeral at 10:17 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
UK government to pay for security should Trump have a round in Scotland
posted by Myeral at 10:17 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
NPR: Top Justice Department Lawyer Resigns, Latest To Step Down
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:23 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Scott Schools, a top aide to the deputy attorney general, is planning to leave the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with his decision.Emphasis added, because Schools is "one of the few top DOJ aides to get regular briefings on the status of that investigation."
The job title for Schools — associate deputy attorney general — belied his importance as a strategic counselor and repository of institutional memory and ethics at the DOJ. Schools has played a critical, if behind-the-scenes, role in some of the most important and sensitive issues in the building.[...]
Schools is said to be leaving for a job in the private sector. One source who worked with Schools said there was no sign he was being pushed out. Another said Schools was not leaving because of a disagreement with DOJ leadership.
But his departure, as the highest ranking career lawyer at the Justice Department, will add to a brain drain from the department at a time when it is under attack from President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress.
Schools will be replaced, on an acting basis, by Bradley Weinsheimer, who currently works in the national security unit. Weinsheimer has spent 27 years at DOJ, where he tried homicide and public corruption cases.
Unlike Schools, Weinsheimer will not supervise or otherwise be involved in overseeing the special counsel team probing Russian election interference and whether any Americans tied to the Trump campaign took part.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:23 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
create a space force while tearing apart the one aspect of our military strategy that's successfully ensured peace and democracy in much of the world is just so backward
It bears repeating:. There is every indication Trump is a Russian agent, and does not actually give a shit about the country he supposedly leads despite all his jingoism.
I will add that Trump clearly hates the military. He didn't stop the exercises in South Korea out of a desire for peace. He doesn't want to pull out of NATO to save money. He hates the idea that there are people who willingly sacrifice to serve their country. He expresses it more obviously in hating the "deep state" or "the swamp", but he knows he can't actually say what's on his mind as regards service members: He knows that he could never make that sacrifice for anyone but himself -- and, in fact, probably not even for himself, as he's never really been called to -- and it enrages him. Look at his demands from the military -- a parade that he gets to preside over; generals in the Cabinet for him to boss around; cancelling exercises and deployments that make them the story, however briefly. The only activities they are allowed are ones that him look a little less like a fat old con man who lucked into every facet of his life that he hasn't failed at.
Some people think liberals and socialists and MetaFilter don't support the troops, but lemme tell you, y'all ain't even a patch on how much he hates them.
posted by Etrigan at 10:24 AM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
It bears repeating:. There is every indication Trump is a Russian agent, and does not actually give a shit about the country he supposedly leads despite all his jingoism.
I will add that Trump clearly hates the military. He didn't stop the exercises in South Korea out of a desire for peace. He doesn't want to pull out of NATO to save money. He hates the idea that there are people who willingly sacrifice to serve their country. He expresses it more obviously in hating the "deep state" or "the swamp", but he knows he can't actually say what's on his mind as regards service members: He knows that he could never make that sacrifice for anyone but himself -- and, in fact, probably not even for himself, as he's never really been called to -- and it enrages him. Look at his demands from the military -- a parade that he gets to preside over; generals in the Cabinet for him to boss around; cancelling exercises and deployments that make them the story, however briefly. The only activities they are allowed are ones that him look a little less like a fat old con man who lucked into every facet of his life that he hasn't failed at.
Some people think liberals and socialists and MetaFilter don't support the troops, but lemme tell you, y'all ain't even a patch on how much he hates them.
posted by Etrigan at 10:24 AM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
Thank you, Doktor Zed! That's very helpful. I guess my reading comprehension is at a low point today, so I gotta hear everything at least twice. Heh.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:25 AM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Even if Assad does consolidate power and crushes formal resistance, how does this not morph into a guerilla insurgency? Is he just going to get ever more brutal to hold power? Then in a post-Trump world do we just ignore anything Assad does to his people?
I don’t see any end game with both Assad in power and a safe and secure Syrian people.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:32 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don’t see any end game with both Assad in power and a safe and secure Syrian people.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:32 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
They need the guerilla insurgency to assure the stream of refugees, which is a vital Russia strategic asset at this point given its role in bolstering Russian-friendly right wing extremists.
posted by Artw at 10:34 AM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:34 AM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
Etrigan: lemme tell you, y'all ain't even a patch on how much he hates them.
Of course, this existed generally on the political stage long before he entered it, and was captured well by the Onion: I Support The Occupation Of Iraq, But I Don't Support Our Troops
Of course, this existed generally on the political stage long before he entered it, and was captured well by the Onion: I Support The Occupation Of Iraq, But I Don't Support Our Troops
Yes, occupying Iraq does require troops, but they are there for one reason and one reason only: to carry out the orders of the U.S. Defense Department. As far as their overall importance goes, they are no more worthy of our consideration than a box of nails. Ribbons and banners in ostensible "support" of the troops miss the whole point of the invasion, which is to gain a strategic hold over that volatile and lucrative geopolitical region.posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:34 AM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Need I remind the reader that it is our flag, not the troops, that we salute? It is our nation-state, not a bunch of 20-year-olds in parachute pants, that deserves our allegiance.
UK government to pay for security should Trump have a round in Scotland
As @AngryScotland succinctly put it: "The Treasury giving Scottish police money to look after Trump as he promotes himself in Scotland is like your neighbour renting your garden hose so they can spray shit all over your house."
Favourite Scottish Trump protest preparation event so far:
We Shall Overcomb Placard Making Event
[link is to facebook event, hosted by Young Socialists in Glasgow]
posted by Buntix at 10:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
As @AngryScotland succinctly put it: "The Treasury giving Scottish police money to look after Trump as he promotes himself in Scotland is like your neighbour renting your garden hose so they can spray shit all over your house."
Favourite Scottish Trump protest preparation event so far:
We Shall Overcomb Placard Making Event
[link is to facebook event, hosted by Young Socialists in Glasgow]
posted by Buntix at 10:53 AM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
As its coming up July 4th I would just like to link the following:-
America the Failed State.
Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he said, can no longer be checked. The ruling elites abjectly serve corporate power to exploit and impoverish the citizenry. Democratic institutions, including the courts, are mechanisms of corporate repression. Financial fraud and corporate crime are carried out with impunity. The decay is exacerbated by the state’s indiscriminate use of violence abroad and at home, where rogue law enforcement agencies harass and arrest citizens and the undocumented and often kill the unarmed. A depressed and enraged population, trapped by chronic unemployment and underemployment, is overdosing on opioids and beset by rising suicide rates. It engages in acts of nihilistic violence, including mass shootings. Hate groups proliferate. The savagery, mayhem and grotesque distortions familiar to those on the outer reaches of empire increasingly characterize American existence. And presiding over it all is the American version of Ubu Roi, playwright Alfred Jarry’s gluttonous, idiotic, vulgar, narcissistic and infantile king, who turned politics into burlesque.
posted by adamvasco at 10:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
America the Failed State.
Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he said, can no longer be checked. The ruling elites abjectly serve corporate power to exploit and impoverish the citizenry. Democratic institutions, including the courts, are mechanisms of corporate repression. Financial fraud and corporate crime are carried out with impunity. The decay is exacerbated by the state’s indiscriminate use of violence abroad and at home, where rogue law enforcement agencies harass and arrest citizens and the undocumented and often kill the unarmed. A depressed and enraged population, trapped by chronic unemployment and underemployment, is overdosing on opioids and beset by rising suicide rates. It engages in acts of nihilistic violence, including mass shootings. Hate groups proliferate. The savagery, mayhem and grotesque distortions familiar to those on the outer reaches of empire increasingly characterize American existence. And presiding over it all is the American version of Ubu Roi, playwright Alfred Jarry’s gluttonous, idiotic, vulgar, narcissistic and infantile king, who turned politics into burlesque.
posted by adamvasco at 10:55 AM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
Thank you, Doktor Zed! That's very helpful. I guess my reading comprehension is at a low point today, so I gotta hear everything at least twice. Heh.
You're welcome. And my own brain is melting in this heat wave—Trump and Putin are meeting on July 16th, not next week, as I'd written.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:57 AM on July 3, 2018
You're welcome. And my own brain is melting in this heat wave—Trump and Putin are meeting on July 16th, not next week, as I'd written.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:57 AM on July 3, 2018
So Rhode Island is super blue (although, like MA, we do alternate between D and R governors) but being a traditionally Catholic state, local RI Dems tend to skew right, and the really ambitious Republicans do run as Democrats because that's how to get elected, which, in turn, pulls the party more to the right. And the state party has very much been an old boy's club, but progressives in the women's and LGBTQ caucuses are working hard to change that. Interestingly, last I checked, on the party's FB page, the majority of the comments calling out the endorsement thing have been from white men (my personal fave was the one calling the party "misogynistic dinosaurs") so that's been refreshing. But it's definitely been a wild week.
posted by Ruki at 10:59 AM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 10:59 AM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
lemme tell you, y'all ain't even a patch on how much he hates them.
Of course, this existed generally on the political stage long before he entered it
Trump is (as in many things) different, and not just in magnitude. I would say that the various assholes and chickenhawks who hide behind the troops while sending them to their deaths and cutting their VA benefits suffer from, at worst, disdain of the specifics of "the troops", while still genuinely wanting "the military" to be able to fulfill (what they see as) its mission. I've never met any who truly hate the troops and the military.
Trump is taking actions that are patently against not just the best interests of the individuals in uniform, not just against the overall welfare of the ranks in aggregate, not even just against the ability of the military to execute its missions (stated or unstated), but are actively against the stability, health, and capability of the entirety of our nation and the world just because the military is doing them. Cancelling joint exercises and even just threatening to pull out of NATO aren't good for anyone in the entire world, but they put the military in its place, and consciously or not, that's what Trump really wants them to do: remember that he's better than them.
posted by Etrigan at 11:13 AM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Of course, this existed generally on the political stage long before he entered it
Trump is (as in many things) different, and not just in magnitude. I would say that the various assholes and chickenhawks who hide behind the troops while sending them to their deaths and cutting their VA benefits suffer from, at worst, disdain of the specifics of "the troops", while still genuinely wanting "the military" to be able to fulfill (what they see as) its mission. I've never met any who truly hate the troops and the military.
Trump is taking actions that are patently against not just the best interests of the individuals in uniform, not just against the overall welfare of the ranks in aggregate, not even just against the ability of the military to execute its missions (stated or unstated), but are actively against the stability, health, and capability of the entirety of our nation and the world just because the military is doing them. Cancelling joint exercises and even just threatening to pull out of NATO aren't good for anyone in the entire world, but they put the military in its place, and consciously or not, that's what Trump really wants them to do: remember that he's better than them.
posted by Etrigan at 11:13 AM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Regarding adamvasco's link, while Hedges is spot on about the perniciousness of corporatism and money corrupting both parties, with the Dems bearing at least some responsibility for everything from poverty to war crimes, at this point the whole "both parties are the same" argument seems totally, utterly idiotic.
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:21 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:21 AM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Bernie's bent the knee and is no longer to the right of Pod Save America.
@SenSanders
In 2002 I voted against the creation of DHS and the establishment of ICE. That was the right vote. Now, it is time to do what Americans overwhelmingly want: abolish the cruel, dysfunctional immigration system we have today and pass comprehensive immigration reform.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
@SenSanders
In 2002 I voted against the creation of DHS and the establishment of ICE. That was the right vote. Now, it is time to do what Americans overwhelmingly want: abolish the cruel, dysfunctional immigration system we have today and pass comprehensive immigration reform.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:28 AM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
#RepealAndReplaceICE
posted by chris24 at 11:32 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 11:32 AM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
UK government to pay for security should Trump have a round in Scotland
As @AngryScotland succinctly put it: "The Treasury giving Scottish police money to look after Trump as he promotes himself in Scotland is like your neighbour renting your garden hose so they can spray shit all over your house."
Seize that golf course and turn it into a wildlife conservation area I am not even kudding
posted by The Whelk at 11:35 AM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
As @AngryScotland succinctly put it: "The Treasury giving Scottish police money to look after Trump as he promotes himself in Scotland is like your neighbour renting your garden hose so they can spray shit all over your house."
Seize that golf course and turn it into a wildlife conservation area I am not even kudding
posted by The Whelk at 11:35 AM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
Please enjoy The Nation's account of Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn No-Show
An older white man in a Hawaiian shirt and an eyepatch began angrily berating a young black man named Garrett. Garrett, a Schumer staffer who did not provide his last name and whom Schumer’s office would not immediately identify, was tasked with breaking the news that his boss was a no-show. He looked positively miserable.posted by zachlipton at 11:39 AM on July 3, 2018 [57 favorites]
Schumer’s staff, said the man with the eyepatch, never should have sent their boss upstate when they knew he had a town hall to attend later that day in Brooklyn. Also, a tele-town hall is a poor substitute for the real thing.
“There’s no Internet in here,” complained the man with the eyepatch.
“You don’t need the Internet to join the tele-town hall,” said Garrett. “You can call in on your phone.”
“I’m deaf,” countered the guy with the eyepatch.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Garrett responded, sweating in his suit in the 90-degree heat. There was no air-conditioning in the sanctuary building.
...
When Garrett explained to another man that he had no way of arranging for the tele-town hall to be broadcast from the synagogue so that everyone could participate simultaneously, the man snapped at him. “We’ll take over from here, thanks,” he said. “Because you people are useless.”
Then, as if by magic, one of the women from Indivisible produced a cardboard cutout of Schumer and placed it on the bimah, the podium in a synagogue from which the Torah is read. People gathered around, snapping cell phone pictures of the women posing with Cardboard Chuck. One woman whispered to another, “We’ve got to get Chuck off of there; the CBE folks aren’t comfortable with photos being taken of him on the bimah.” After a minor scuffle, Cardboard Chuck was moved in front of the bimah.
Olenick stood up and introduced herself. “We have some messages for Chuck Schumer, so we are going to deliver those messages,” she announced, to cheers and applause. “We are going to commandeer this town hall.”
She gestured angrily at Cardboard Chuck. “With everything that’s happening in this country, we need people to show up and we need to hear from Chuck Schumer in person. Our first demand is that he needs to reschedule this town hall immediately. Almost a full year’s worth of work went into getting him to hold this town hall in the first place. We are not going to let him phone this in.
The crowd roared, and Olenick led them in several chants: “Reschedule Chuck!” and “Don’t phone it in!”
...
Gradually, the impromptu rally dispersed. Most people went home or to a coffeeshop to dial into Schumer’s tele-town hall. After a lengthy, anodyne introduction from New York City Councilman Brad Lander, Schumer spent half the call telling the story of how he got into politics. It involved: mediocre basketball skills, perfect SAT scores, and the fact that he went to Harvard.
“We can’t always change Trump’s policies,” said Schumer at one point, failing to read the tele-room, not least because he couldn’t actually see any of the tele-townspeople, “but we can shine a light on them.”
“We’re on the same team; we have the same goals,” he pleaded as his virtual town hall—marked by questions like, to paraphrase, “How can you be such a hypocrite?” and “Why are you such a coward compared to Mitch McConnell?”—limped to a painful close.
> Which is one reason Barack Obama erred in presuming Republicans were ever operating in good faith
The thing I don't get about Obama is that he came out of Chicago/Illinois politics, which have a reputation as being particularly...hard-nosed, to pick one of many possible euphemisms. And even if he was a product of a different system, nobody who rises to his level in politics is a naive babe in the woods, so why was he (apparently) caught so flat-footed by the Republicans and the lengths they would go to fuck him over?
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:42 AM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
The thing I don't get about Obama is that he came out of Chicago/Illinois politics, which have a reputation as being particularly...hard-nosed, to pick one of many possible euphemisms. And even if he was a product of a different system, nobody who rises to his level in politics is a naive babe in the woods, so why was he (apparently) caught so flat-footed by the Republicans and the lengths they would go to fuck him over?
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:42 AM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
They’re Not Sending Their Best
We know that President Trump routinely lies about the “diversity lottery” program run by the United States, claiming that countries choose their least desirable, criminal elements and leeches and then send them to the United States where they are unvetted and sent into the civilian population. We also know that every attack President Trump levels is in fact a projection, a pretended offense which in fact matches some actual wrongdoing committed by him or a member of his family. So with all that, I just learned this morning that we’ve finally found a criminal immigrant who was booted from his home country and foisted on to America: Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump.posted by kirkaracha at 11:44 AM on July 3, 2018 [21 favorites]
I’m comfortable calling it now: Chuck the Shmuck will get primaried to hell in 2022.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:46 AM on July 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 11:46 AM on July 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
So it's clear, Wheeler is saying: At 3:15PM on November 9, 2016, someone I later came to understand played a significant part in RU attack on US sent me this text. This is the plan David Ignatius just described as imminent.
Wheeler has a couple more clarifications about her source behind this text message: I'm 100% certain the person has not been talking to Ignatius.
And: Text has predicted events that later happened.
Also, she expects we'll learn her source's name in the "near future".
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:54 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Wheeler has a couple more clarifications about her source behind this text message: I'm 100% certain the person has not been talking to Ignatius.
And: Text has predicted events that later happened.
Also, she expects we'll learn her source's name in the "near future".
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:54 AM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I’m comfortable calling it now: Chuck the Shmuck will get primaried to hell in 2022.
There will be legends told of the Before-Days, when you could go an entire hour without someone asking you to sign a candidate's petition. No one will believe you.
posted by Etrigan at 11:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
There will be legends told of the Before-Days, when you could go an entire hour without someone asking you to sign a candidate's petition. No one will believe you.
posted by Etrigan at 11:57 AM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
I’m comfortable calling it now: Chuck the Shmuck will get primaried to hell in 2022.
I'll vote for whoever challenges him. But we actually need him out as Minority/Majority Leader by 2020. The only way to begin to claw back some equal rights and representation from a fascist minority trying to entrench their power through gaming and cheating the undemocratic elements of the Constitution is to not be beholden to norms that further the persecution and diminishment of the majority. And Chuck ain't that guy. There's no way he's the leader who nukes the filibuster, adds PR and DC as states, adds Justices. All of which won't even bring us to parity, or even that close, but will begin to return democracy to the republic. And which absolutely must be done unless we want to continue be ruled by a minority forcing their unpopular theo-fascist agenda on a disenfranchised and ignored majority.
posted by chris24 at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2018 [29 favorites]
I'll vote for whoever challenges him. But we actually need him out as Minority/Majority Leader by 2020. The only way to begin to claw back some equal rights and representation from a fascist minority trying to entrench their power through gaming and cheating the undemocratic elements of the Constitution is to not be beholden to norms that further the persecution and diminishment of the majority. And Chuck ain't that guy. There's no way he's the leader who nukes the filibuster, adds PR and DC as states, adds Justices. All of which won't even bring us to parity, or even that close, but will begin to return democracy to the republic. And which absolutely must be done unless we want to continue be ruled by a minority forcing their unpopular theo-fascist agenda on a disenfranchised and ignored majority.
posted by chris24 at 11:59 AM on July 3, 2018 [29 favorites]
I'll vote for whoever challenges him. But we actually need him out as Minority/Majority Leader by 2020.
I think we might have more luck getting him to play the part of the leader we need via credible primary threat, a la Cuomo (only hopefully more effectively). But why not both, really. I am pretty done with him, so let’s just throw everything at him and see what knocks him down.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [14 favorites]
I think we might have more luck getting him to play the part of the leader we need via credible primary threat, a la Cuomo (only hopefully more effectively). But why not both, really. I am pretty done with him, so let’s just throw everything at him and see what knocks him down.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [14 favorites]
The Senate Intelligence Committee released an unclassified summary of their review of the January 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian interference. They find no fault with it.
It's a fairly useless document besides confirming that we all aren't crazy, Putin approved the election meddling, and more significantly, a bipartisian group of Senators can actually agree on that, but one important detail is separating the IC's assessment from the Steele dossier: "All individuals the Committee interviewed verified that the dossier did not in any way inform the analysis in the ICA-including the key findings-because it was unverified information and had not been disseminated as serialized intelligence reporting."
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
It's a fairly useless document besides confirming that we all aren't crazy, Putin approved the election meddling, and more significantly, a bipartisian group of Senators can actually agree on that, but one important detail is separating the IC's assessment from the Steele dossier: "All individuals the Committee interviewed verified that the dossier did not in any way inform the analysis in the ICA-including the key findings-because it was unverified information and had not been disseminated as serialized intelligence reporting."
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on July 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
Regarding adamvasco's link, while Hedges is spot on about the perniciousness of corporatism and money corrupting both parties, with the Dems bearing at least some responsibility for everything from poverty to war crimes, at this point the whole "both parties are the same" argument seems totally, utterly idiotic.
On the one hand, Chris Hedges wrote an anti-war book that seemed profound to me at the dawn of the second Iraq war.
On the other hand, he has a show on RT (Russia Today) and has said the Russian interference story was being pushed by a “compliant corporate media that operates in a nonfact-based universe every bit as pernicious as that inhabited by Trump.”
I don't quite know what to make of Hedges these days.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:28 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
On the one hand, Chris Hedges wrote an anti-war book that seemed profound to me at the dawn of the second Iraq war.
On the other hand, he has a show on RT (Russia Today) and has said the Russian interference story was being pushed by a “compliant corporate media that operates in a nonfact-based universe every bit as pernicious as that inhabited by Trump.”
I don't quite know what to make of Hedges these days.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:28 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't quite know what to make of Hedges these days.
Hedges is like a lot of folks who were great in the bush years but then slowly lost their minds. Something happens to people who were mired in that disaster and the avalanche of lies that they lose all perspective. I'm sure the Trump era will have the same effect on many. He's also a plagiarist.
posted by dis_integration at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Hedges is like a lot of folks who were great in the bush years but then slowly lost their minds. Something happens to people who were mired in that disaster and the avalanche of lies that they lose all perspective. I'm sure the Trump era will have the same effect on many. He's also a plagiarist.
posted by dis_integration at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I don't quite know what to make of Hedges these days.
he has morphed into a useful idiot via hubris, just like the rest of them
posted by schadenfrau at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
he has morphed into a useful idiot via hubris, just like the rest of them
posted by schadenfrau at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Why look to the long-term effects of Bush Derangement Syndrome as the cause? RT cuts paychecks to this guy. It ain't complicated.
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
I’m comfortable calling it now: Chuck the Shmuck will get primaried to hell in 2022.
Quit Your Job Chuck
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Quit Your Job Chuck
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
The formerly-reasonable-but-now-crazy people who lost their minds during the Trump era are going to be real doozies, I guess.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Actor Seth Rogen this morning: I’ve been DMing with @jack about his bizarre need to verify white supremacists on his platform for the last 8 months or so, and after all the exchanges, I’ve reached a conclusion: the dude simply does not seem to give a fuck.
Sleeping giants: Don’t we know it, man. We’ve been reporting this shit for a year and a half with little movement. You can’t escape the fact that racism and harassment equals traffic equals a higher stock price equals millions in their pockets.
It’s why @Jack won’t boot Nazis unless the news reports it. It’s why @YouTube won’t issue Alex Jones a 3rd strike despite breaking their Terms on harassment everyday. It’s why @facebook won’t remove Breitbart from their ad network despite clear violations of their Standards.
It may not be that these founders and CEOs like @jack don’t give a fuck, it’s that they give a whole lot more of a fuck about giving themselves many more millions, which is even fucking worse.
posted by supercrayon at 12:50 PM on July 3, 2018 [57 favorites]
Sleeping giants: Don’t we know it, man. We’ve been reporting this shit for a year and a half with little movement. You can’t escape the fact that racism and harassment equals traffic equals a higher stock price equals millions in their pockets.
It’s why @Jack won’t boot Nazis unless the news reports it. It’s why @YouTube won’t issue Alex Jones a 3rd strike despite breaking their Terms on harassment everyday. It’s why @facebook won’t remove Breitbart from their ad network despite clear violations of their Standards.
It may not be that these founders and CEOs like @jack don’t give a fuck, it’s that they give a whole lot more of a fuck about giving themselves many more millions, which is even fucking worse.
posted by supercrayon at 12:50 PM on July 3, 2018 [57 favorites]
> I have a counterpoint to men who vote for Republicans to make themselves feel more manly or tougher. That counterpoint is: go screw yourself.
Alternative counterpoint: play up the whole "Easy Mode" aspect of white privilege and fragility. "If you're so manly and tough, why do you need to use all of these societal advantages to succeed in life? Can't you at least beat this game on Normal difficulty, or are you not good enough at it? What's that? These advantages still didn't provide you a chance at a house with a white picket fence like your (grand)parents had? Maybe you're on the wrong team, then. Maybe you should join the side of everyone else who couldn't afford that American Dream house for various reasons."
Of course that's not going to work on everybody, but it might work on some of the people who haven't yet reached the event horizon of the MRA-hole.
posted by Arson Lupine at 12:51 PM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Alternative counterpoint: play up the whole "Easy Mode" aspect of white privilege and fragility. "If you're so manly and tough, why do you need to use all of these societal advantages to succeed in life? Can't you at least beat this game on Normal difficulty, or are you not good enough at it? What's that? These advantages still didn't provide you a chance at a house with a white picket fence like your (grand)parents had? Maybe you're on the wrong team, then. Maybe you should join the side of everyone else who couldn't afford that American Dream house for various reasons."
Of course that's not going to work on everybody, but it might work on some of the people who haven't yet reached the event horizon of the MRA-hole.
posted by Arson Lupine at 12:51 PM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
> I recommend for everybody these threads from historian Kevin Kruse on the long slow journey of party realignment and the switch of southern Ds to Rs.
> ...perniciousness of corporatism and money corrupting both parties, with the Dems bearing at least some responsibility for everything from poverty to war crimes, at this point the whole "both parties are the same" argument seems totally, utterly idiotic.
Well, if you entertain the thought that the polity is in the middle of one those major realignments, the both-sidesism (and of course, all the RLTP) arguments may indicate where the current fissures are and how the new coalitions will form. Neither party may be recognizable in a couple election cycles.
posted by klarck at 12:56 PM on July 3, 2018
> ...perniciousness of corporatism and money corrupting both parties, with the Dems bearing at least some responsibility for everything from poverty to war crimes, at this point the whole "both parties are the same" argument seems totally, utterly idiotic.
Well, if you entertain the thought that the polity is in the middle of one those major realignments, the both-sidesism (and of course, all the RLTP) arguments may indicate where the current fissures are and how the new coalitions will form. Neither party may be recognizable in a couple election cycles.
posted by klarck at 12:56 PM on July 3, 2018
It may not be that these founders and CEOs like @jack don’t give a fuck, it’s that they give a whole lot more of a fuck about giving themselves many more millions, which is even fucking worse.
It may be even more sinister, but I'm pretty sure the calculus is just "we don't want to alienate 40% of the US." They may see it as a slippery slope, but I doubt it. It's just a numbers game to them.
posted by rhizome at 12:56 PM on July 3, 2018
It may be even more sinister, but I'm pretty sure the calculus is just "we don't want to alienate 40% of the US." They may see it as a slippery slope, but I doubt it. It's just a numbers game to them.
posted by rhizome at 12:56 PM on July 3, 2018
If you're so manly and tough, why do you need to use all of these societal advantages to succeed in life?
Plays into their macho narrative and sense of bereavement.
Honestly, we need to work at creating the world that we want to see, and these men will ultimately either learn to live in that new world or not. The world isn't going to adjust to them, they need to adjust to it. The only reason they're holding out against doing it so far is entitlement.
RT cuts paychecks to this guy. It ain't complicated.
Yup, when he says and does "crazy" things, it's actually supremely rational -- in an economic sense. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
posted by rue72 at 1:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Plays into their macho narrative and sense of bereavement.
Honestly, we need to work at creating the world that we want to see, and these men will ultimately either learn to live in that new world or not. The world isn't going to adjust to them, they need to adjust to it. The only reason they're holding out against doing it so far is entitlement.
RT cuts paychecks to this guy. It ain't complicated.
Yup, when he says and does "crazy" things, it's actually supremely rational -- in an economic sense. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
posted by rue72 at 1:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
For your gallows humor needs, #secondcivilwarletters on Twitter is COMEDY GOLD.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:07 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 1:07 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
How bout some levity? Right now #secondcivilwarletters is trending on Twitter. An example:
Dear Mother,posted by salix at 1:11 PM on July 3, 2018 [43 favorites]
The Red Hats pinned us down until we were saved by the cavalry: women of color on horseback charging into battle.
Afterward, despite having no horses or expertise, some of the white males in our unit demanded to be in charge of the cavalry.
#secondcivilwarletters
>Church puts Holy Family in ICE cage
A terrific protest display, except that they put baby Jesus in the same cage as Mary and Joseph, and in a hay-lined manger. For better accuracy, he should be in his own cage, by himself, on a mat on the ground with no blanket.
posted by LooseFilter at 1:13 PM on July 3, 2018 [33 favorites]
A terrific protest display, except that they put baby Jesus in the same cage as Mary and Joseph, and in a hay-lined manger. For better accuracy, he should be in his own cage, by himself, on a mat on the ground with no blanket.
posted by LooseFilter at 1:13 PM on July 3, 2018 [33 favorites]
I’m laughing at this Ben Shapiro tweet, but not for the reason he thinks. Why are they so fucking bad at everything except cheating?
posted by schadenfrau at 1:19 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
My love,Conservative “humor,” otherwise known as “threats of violence.”
I tried to forcibly redistribute all the wealth and take all the guns, only to find that those with wealth and guns were wealthier and better armed than I. Ah, the bitter cup of irony!
#secondcivilwarletters
posted by schadenfrau at 1:19 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Right now #secondcivilwarletters is trending on Twitter
Dear Pa,posted by kirkaracha at 1:19 PM on July 3, 2018 [32 favorites]
Rations are dwindling. Morale is low.
The Trump supporters we captured refused to share bathrooms with our trans troops.
We told them it was either that or they could piss in their own corn meal and eat it.
And they did. To “own the libs”.
@ZoeTillman: AG Jeff Sessions just announced that he is rescinding 24 guidance documents
So many damage is being done, quietly, at the agency level, and it will take years to sort out all the implications.
For some good news, Judge allows lawsuit against citizenship question on Census to go forward, NY AG says. The AG's office will get discovery, which could help reveal some of the various justifications the administration has put forward for this.
posted by zachlipton at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
So many damage is being done, quietly, at the agency level, and it will take years to sort out all the implications.
For some good news, Judge allows lawsuit against citizenship question on Census to go forward, NY AG says. The AG's office will get discovery, which could help reveal some of the various justifications the administration has put forward for this.
posted by zachlipton at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
I tried to forcibly redistribute all the wealth and take all the guns, only to find that those with wealth and guns were wealthier and better armed than I. Ah, the bitter cup of irony!
It's almost like Ben feels humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of his enemies, but is also convinced that he can overwhelm his enemies; thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, his enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.
(Ben Shapiro is condemned to lose wars because he is constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of his enemy)
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:25 PM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
It's almost like Ben feels humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of his enemies, but is also convinced that he can overwhelm his enemies; thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, his enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.
(Ben Shapiro is condemned to lose wars because he is constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of his enemy)
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:25 PM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
Right now #secondcivilwarletters is trending on Twitter
To whom it may concern,posted by bibliowench at 1:26 PM on July 3, 2018 [40 favorites]
I'm still not sure why we're up here.
Signed,
Clark Ridley
Chief Engineer,
United States Space Force.
#secondcivilwarletters
@kenklippenstein
ICE is training its deportation officers in the use of M4 assault rifles, “chemical agents”, stun grenades, and flash bangs, according to federal procurement records I found.
“Sounds like they’re getting ready for war,” a retired ICE agent told me.
There's a word for when civilians of a particular ethnicity are targeted by an army of lethally-armed paramilitary goons, and it's not "war."
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [74 favorites]
ICE is training its deportation officers in the use of M4 assault rifles, “chemical agents”, stun grenades, and flash bangs, according to federal procurement records I found.
“Sounds like they’re getting ready for war,” a retired ICE agent told me.
There's a word for when civilians of a particular ethnicity are targeted by an army of lethally-armed paramilitary goons, and it's not "war."
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:45 PM on July 3, 2018 [74 favorites]
So... Do folks like Garrison think all the gun shops solemnly close at the outbreak of Civil War 2 instead of selling guns at inflated prices hand over fist?
Or do they think Tall Aryan-looking Leftists are above a bit of cosplay to get the goods for their fellow travelers?
Is there going to be some secret code that announces the End Of Gun Sales?
It's a really weird thing to think about.
posted by Slackermagee at 1:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Or do they think Tall Aryan-looking Leftists are above a bit of cosplay to get the goods for their fellow travelers?
Is there going to be some secret code that announces the End Of Gun Sales?
It's a really weird thing to think about.
posted by Slackermagee at 1:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Who the F are they using grenades and flashbangs on? Terrified people on the Greyhound? I mean maybe the simple answer is that these are dumb people who like their weaponry, but Jesus H. Christ. They're not in Afghanistan. I don't get it.
posted by angrycat at 1:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 1:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Who the F are they using grenades and flashbangs on? Terrified people on the Greyhound? I mean maybe the simple answer is that these are dumb people who like their weaponry, but Jesus H. Christ. They're not in Afghanistan. I don't get it.
They expect armed resistance and to be required to seize and liquidate territory. It's intended for terrorizing migrant families, sure, but primarily it's for discouraging/subduing/killing people trying to protect them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:53 PM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
They expect armed resistance and to be required to seize and liquidate territory. It's intended for terrorizing migrant families, sure, but primarily it's for discouraging/subduing/killing people trying to protect them.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:53 PM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
@MSNBC
NEW: Exclusive: Trump admin. has instructed immigration agents to give 2 options to parents separated from children, according to a copy of a government form obtained by @NBCNews: 1. leave the country with your kids or 2. leave the country without them
Thanks for the documentary evidence of mass kidnap-for-ransom to be presented at future human-rights tribunals.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [61 favorites]
NEW: Exclusive: Trump admin. has instructed immigration agents to give 2 options to parents separated from children, according to a copy of a government form obtained by @NBCNews: 1. leave the country with your kids or 2. leave the country without them
Thanks for the documentary evidence of mass kidnap-for-ransom to be presented at future human-rights tribunals.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [61 favorites]
I believe that is contempt of court there.
posted by ocschwar at 2:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 2:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
What even is this? CNN, Kaitlan Collins, Pruitt directly asked Trump to replace Sessions with him
Embattled Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt directly appealed to President Donald Trump this spring to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and let him run the Department of Justice instead, according to three people familiar with the proposal. In an Oval Office conversation with Trump, Pruitt offered to temporarily replace Sessions for 210 days under the Vacancies Reform Act, telling the President he would return to Oklahoma afterward to run for office.posted by zachlipton at 2:07 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Pruitt's direct appeal to the President has not been reported previously. Advisers quickly shot down the proposal, but it came at a time when Trump's frustration with Sessions over his decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation had resurfaced. Trump has complained loudly and publicly about the recusal for the last 14 months, and floated replacing Sessions with Pruitt as recently as April.
...
White House officials continue to be perplexed by Pruitt's good standing with the President. While Trump has privately acknowledged that the EPA chief has created a slew of bad headlines, there is no plan to dismiss Pruitt right now, according to several sources inside the White House.
I'm having a hard time parsing the significance of this material. What is she saying about Flynn and the Russians that hasn't already been revealed?
1. It is genuinely a Really Big Deal that @emptywheel went to FBI with information from a source. She discusses her reasons here: 2. Folks that have followed her for a while know that she takes journalist-source confidentiality very seriously, and spends a lot of her time talking about problems at FBI. I suspect this will have been a decision she took a lot of time thinking about. 3. She wasn't obliged to speak to FBI about it; there is no law mandating that she did, and she wasn't subpoenaed to. But even so, the overall cost of her speaking to FBI is about $6k of her own money that she won't ever see again. 4. I don't know if her giving that information to FBI puts her at physical risk. But it sure as hell doesn't make her safer, and she certainly seems to feel less safe because of having shared it. 5. Her story is more public than that of other FBI sources, but it is not unique. Sources get a terrible deal. They often give information to FBI and other agencies in ways that make them and their families financially poorer and physically less safe. 6. And here's the thing: sources don't have to. Marcy took on real and perceived costs to herself because she thought it mattered to give FBI info. And now the administration is busy burning sources for 30 seconds of Hannity Time to undermine the Special Counsel investigation. 7. And she's pissed about it and I don't blame her at all. FBI sources aren't spending their cash and their safety to give the administration 30 seconds of Hannity Time talking points. They're doing it because they believe the information matters, and FBI needs to be aware of it. 8. If she got the same info today, having watched the House playing politics with sources, I don't know if she would have eventually come to a different conclusion as to whether to share it with FBI. But I have no doubt she would have been less inclined to, and might have not. 9. She's not the only FBI source. Other FBI sources, both current and potential, who have different sets of information and who might have even bigger costs and risks to themselves are also having these conversations too, even if they do so less publicly. 10. Not all of them will settle on "no" because of it. But more will. And those lost sources and lost leads will be measured in more failed investigations and fewer preventable crimes being stopped before they happen.posted by T.D. Strange at 2:13 PM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
That is the ultimate price of playing politics with sources.
The other weird Pruitt news leaked to the NYTimes from a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting is that when he asked his employees to find a job for his wife, he had a plan to hide her income on federal disclosure forms:
Ms. Dravis, who then was the E.P.A.’s associate administrator for the policy office, told congressional investigators that Mr. Pruitt hoped for his wife to earn a six-figure salary and asked her help in finding a political fund-raising job with the attorneys’ network.posted by peeedro at 2:14 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
Ms. Dravis told investigators she declined to reach out to the organization on Ms. Pruitt’s behalf. She also told the investigators that she had cautioned Mr. Pruitt that he would have to disclose his wife’s income on federal financial disclosure documents, and that he responded that he would create a limited liability corporation, according to the two people with knowledge of her interview, both of whom asked not to be identified because of the continuing investigation.
@mattyglesias:
The Scott Pruitt situation where a totally replaceable cabinet member with utterly standard GOP views survives in office despite being obviously corrupt is really Trump at his most “not normal.”
Like, yes, conservatives agree with him on policy. But precisely because they agree with him on policy they could easily replace him with any other conservative.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:18 PM on July 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
The Scott Pruitt situation where a totally replaceable cabinet member with utterly standard GOP views survives in office despite being obviously corrupt is really Trump at his most “not normal.”
Like, yes, conservatives agree with him on policy. But precisely because they agree with him on policy they could easily replace him with any other conservative.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:18 PM on July 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
As I read the story, Pruitt was worried his job could be in trouble because he's the subject of like a dozen investigations, so he offered to obstruct justice for the President.
posted by zachlipton at 2:20 PM on July 3, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:20 PM on July 3, 2018 [40 favorites]
Could we perhaps leave the joke Tweets to reading them on Twitter or an aggregator rather than echoing them here? Not everyone wants that sort of humor in their life right now, there's no real value in rubbernecking at a conservative troll, and the threads are long and loathsome enough as it is.
posted by Candleman at 2:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 2:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pour over my tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalized!
He, of course, did not write his best selling books, but I'm pleased to know he only "somewhat" prides himself on his writing ability. I'd hate to have a President who had too much pride. Also, it's "pore."
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [60 favorites]
He, of course, did not write his best selling books, but I'm pleased to know he only "somewhat" prides himself on his writing ability. I'd hate to have a President who had too much pride. Also, it's "pore."
posted by zachlipton at 2:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [60 favorites]
Thank you, zachlipton. I have learned something today about this language of ours.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:30 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:30 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
For those who chose not to click on the Pruitt-scandal-of-the-minute CNN link above, it reads, in part:
(CNN)EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides have kept "secret" calendars and schedules to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, according to a former EPA official who is expected to soon testify before Congress. A review of EPA documents by CNN found discrepancies between Pruitt's official calendar and other records.
EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records because they might "look bad," according to Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations, who attended the meetings.
Sounds legit.
posted by petebest at 2:30 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
(CNN)EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides have kept "secret" calendars and schedules to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls with industry representatives and others, according to a former EPA official who is expected to soon testify before Congress. A review of EPA documents by CNN found discrepancies between Pruitt's official calendar and other records.
EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records because they might "look bad," according to Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations, who attended the meetings.
Sounds legit.
posted by petebest at 2:30 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records
At some point shouldn't the conversation move from "why doesn't Trump fire this dude" to "when is this dude going to be arrested"?
Though I guess that's not going to happen with the Trump Justice Dept.
posted by pjenks at 2:35 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
At some point shouldn't the conversation move from "why doesn't Trump fire this dude" to "when is this dude going to be arrested"?
Though I guess that's not going to happen with the Trump Justice Dept.
posted by pjenks at 2:35 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
@poniewozik: Don’t point out the dangling modifier don’t point out the dangling modifier
posted by zachlipton at 2:38 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:38 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
Pruitt is the canary to see how much corruption Rs will let slide before forcing a resignation. In case *someone else* might possibly be facing numerous corruption charges in the near future.
It's the Overton Window of criminality.
posted by chris24 at 2:39 PM on July 3, 2018 [32 favorites]
It's the Overton Window of criminality.
posted by chris24 at 2:39 PM on July 3, 2018 [32 favorites]
It's a matter of how long the mediated gullibility of the GOP voters holds out. So long as Congresspersons are not asked tough questions and there is any sense that the party-in-power holds any good faith, we'll be here. Barring some kind of "mid-term" adjustment.
posted by petebest at 2:43 PM on July 3, 2018
posted by petebest at 2:43 PM on July 3, 2018
I'm starting to get the feeling that if the walls ever finally do come crashing in around this administration, and people start getting frog-marched out of offices, we're going to find out that Pruitt is the guy with by far the most skeletons in his closet.
As in, actual human skeletons.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
As in, actual human skeletons.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
At some point shouldn't the conversation move from "why doesn't Trump fire this dude" to "when is this dude going to be arrested"?
The question I'm continually asking is "what the fuck does Pruitt have on Trump that makes it worth putting up with his shit?" Or is it genuinely as simple as Trump not caring about the political hit from petty grift? Or is it an intentional flaunting to communicate to the rest of his cabal that service and loyalty grant absolute impunity?
Like...I know why the Democrats in Congress aren't kicking up more of a fuss, and I obviously get why Republicans don't want to start peeling that onion.
Or is it just a sex tape?
posted by Room 101 at 2:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
The question I'm continually asking is "what the fuck does Pruitt have on Trump that makes it worth putting up with his shit?" Or is it genuinely as simple as Trump not caring about the political hit from petty grift? Or is it an intentional flaunting to communicate to the rest of his cabal that service and loyalty grant absolute impunity?
Like...I know why the Democrats in Congress aren't kicking up more of a fuss, and I obviously get why Republicans don't want to start peeling that onion.
Or is it just a sex tape?
posted by Room 101 at 2:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Or is it genuinely as simple as Trump not caring about the political hit from petty grift?
So far as I can tell there has been no political hit from petty grift.
posted by Justinian at 2:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
So far as I can tell there has been no political hit from petty grift.
posted by Justinian at 2:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Mike Huckabee: Trump could nominate Moses for Supreme Court and Democrats would fight it
1) He didn't write the Ten Commandments, he just carried them
2) He's dead. (If he even existed. Sad!)
posted by kirkaracha at 2:54 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
1) He didn't write the Ten Commandments, he just carried them
2) He's dead. (If he even existed. Sad!)
posted by kirkaracha at 2:54 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
Though I guess that's not going to happen with the Trump Justice Dept.
If anything happens to AG Sessions, Pruitt'll be running the Justice Department. Now consider the kinds of penny ante awful Pruitt has gotten up to -- and gotten away with -- at EPA, with its limited resources and distant access to the nation's fundamental levers relative to the DOJ, and I dunno, picture a gap-toothed Mammon prodding justice to start coughing up coins.
posted by notyou at 2:56 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
If anything happens to AG Sessions, Pruitt'll be running the Justice Department. Now consider the kinds of penny ante awful Pruitt has gotten up to -- and gotten away with -- at EPA, with its limited resources and distant access to the nation's fundamental levers relative to the DOJ, and I dunno, picture a gap-toothed Mammon prodding justice to start coughing up coins.
posted by notyou at 2:56 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Why hasn't Trump fired Scott Pruitt? Because Pruitt can fire Robert Mueller
If Trump wants to use the Vacancies Act maneuver, he could pick any Senate-confirmed figure in his administration. But Pruitt is in some ways the ideal candidate. He’s a lawyer, deeply loyal to Trump, and, most importantly, is not hung up on following ethical rules or norms. Pruitt’s ability to withstand constant revelations of unethical and/or illegal behavior is a strong sign of his willingness to carry out Trump’s wildly unethical goal of turning the Justice Department into his personal rent-a-cops.posted by T.D. Strange at 2:57 PM on July 3, 2018 [31 favorites]
...
CNN doesn’t say that Pruitt specifically promised to quash Mueller. But this is Trump’s highest-order goal, and the primary source of his fury with Sessions. There is almost no doubt that Pruitt is promising to make the Russia investigation go away.
Mostly I'm confused why it hasn't happened already. Is the guy not racist enough?
posted by Artw at 3:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 3:05 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
CNN doesn’t say that Pruitt specifically promised to quash Mueller. But this is Trump’s highest-order goal, and the primary source of his fury with Sessions. There is almost no doubt that Pruitt is promising to make the Russia investigation go away.
Don't worry folks Maggie Haberman has heard fromher regular phone calls direct with Trump an advisor to Trump that "Increasingly Trump is said to have become exasperated by the daily Pruitt corruption allegations. Some expect action soon"
posted by PenDevil at 3:06 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Don't worry folks Maggie Haberman has heard from
posted by PenDevil at 3:06 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
ICE training with military-grade weapons gives me the sinking feeling that Trump’s ridiculous tweets about them “liberating” towns from MS-13 are meant to prepare his supporters for the sight of paramilitary troops rolling into cities to round up people en masse.
posted by EarBucket at 3:12 PM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by EarBucket at 3:12 PM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
I suspect that ICE training with military-grade weapons has more to do with a desire to play act macho fantasies than any actual plan to use them. It reminds me of local police departments buying surplus armored vehicles---they don't really need them, but the people in the organization think using them would be cool.
If I'm right, the danger of ICE training with this stuff will come from agents looking for excuses to play with their toys rather than ICE becoming an all-purpose paramilitary group. That doesn't mean it's not a danger, or that the former won't turn into the latter. In fact, I think ICE wanting more opportunities to play out military fantasies is a necessary step in them becoming even more dangerous. I just think they can be increasingly dangerous and move closer to being an all-purpose paramilitary group even if no one is planning, right now, for that to happen. (I'd say something similar about th militarization of local police forces.)
posted by This time is different. at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
If I'm right, the danger of ICE training with this stuff will come from agents looking for excuses to play with their toys rather than ICE becoming an all-purpose paramilitary group. That doesn't mean it's not a danger, or that the former won't turn into the latter. In fact, I think ICE wanting more opportunities to play out military fantasies is a necessary step in them becoming even more dangerous. I just think they can be increasingly dangerous and move closer to being an all-purpose paramilitary group even if no one is planning, right now, for that to happen. (I'd say something similar about th militarization of local police forces.)
posted by This time is different. at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pour over my tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalized!
Reminder: Inside the Trump Tweet Machine: Staff-written posts, bad grammar (on purpose), and delight in the chaos (Boston Globe)
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Reminder: Inside the Trump Tweet Machine: Staff-written posts, bad grammar (on purpose), and delight in the chaos (Boston Globe)
“Grammatical conventions tend to be elitist and always have been,” said [Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar]. “The lack of regard for it, and the fact that he’s now having American tax dollars fund people to ape his style, is meant to poke people like you and me in the eye — people for whom language matters.”[...]Still, this tweet's dangling modifiers, misused verb, and misspelled adjective make it especially distracting as far as trolling goes.
“If the political conversation is about Donald Trump’s typos, that plays into the narrative that the coastal elites don’t understand ordinary Americans who make typos,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Farnsworth recently wrote a book on how presidents connect to supporters.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trumps mirror; jade helm really was training for taking over small-town America.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
1) He didn't write the Ten Commandments, he just carried them
2) He's dead. (If he even existed. Sad!)
3) He had a much better relationship with snakes.
posted by pyramid termite at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
2) He's dead. (If he even existed. Sad!)
3) He had a much better relationship with snakes.
posted by pyramid termite at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Paul Campos, who's been going way out on a limb with Broidy speculation, points out something interesting: Why won’t Elliott Broidy actually say he had an affair with Shera Bechard?
After I published my latest piece on the Broidy-Bechard-Trump affair this morning, I got an email from a New York PR firm, labelling my story “incorrect and speculative,” and demanding that New York Magazine include a statement from Chris Clark, the lawyer Broidy is using to handle his sudden withdrawal from his agreement with Shera Bechard. (Broidy has a lot of lawyers, every one of which, like Clark, is at the top of the profession, with one notable exception: According to the story Broidy gave out to the Wall Street Journal nearly three months ago now, Broidy decided to use Lionel Hutz, aka Michael Cohen, to handle his very delicate interactions with Miss November 2010. Yeah that totally happened).In yesterday's piece, Broidy Ending Playmate’s Hush Payments Doesn’t Add Up — Unless He’s Covering for Trump, Campos doesn't see how Broidy's decision to stop payments makes any sense:
Anyway, before agreeing to include the statement from Clark, I pressed the firm’s owner (this guy) to get me a statement from Broidy that he had had a sexual liaison with Bechard, which I promised to publish both in the magazine and here. He refused, while claiming Clark’s statement to me fulfilled that evidentiary function. Here is the statement, part of which has now been included in the New York Magazine piece:
“Next time if you call me instead of guessing wrong I will tell you the facts — that I’ve been Elliott’s lawyer for years on a wide variety of topics and this agreement was not on anyone else’s behalf.”
You don’t have to be a lawyer to see that, when it comes to the core question of whether Broidy actually had an affair with Bechard, this is simply another non-denial denial, or if you prefer, non-admission admission.
Even if Davidson improperly disclosed information to Avenatti (he denies doing so), such a disclosure wouldn’t be legal grounds for voiding the agreement between Broidy and Bechard. Broidy’s remedy in this situation would be to sue Davidson for damages, not to unilaterally cancel his agreement with Bechard. After all, there’s no allegation that Bechard violated the agreement, and, at the time Davidson allegedly did so, he wasn’t even Bechard’s lawyer anymore.posted by zachlipton at 3:41 PM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
• If Broidy is doing this to try to save money, he’s making a very odd calculation. He still owes $1.2 million to Bechard, which certainly isn’t a trivial sum, even for someone as rich as he appears to be. But using Latham & Watkins to litigate the matter (disclosure: I was once an associate at this firm) would surely eliminate a great deal if not all of any potential savings from not going through with the agreement, even assuming — which at the moment seems highly optimistic — that Broidy would eventually prevail on the merits.
• Chris Clark is a white-collar criminal-defense lawyer. Indeed, Broidy employed Clark when he was prosecuted a decade ago for bribing officials in the New York State comptroller’s office (Clark worked out a plea deal, in which Broidy testified against seven officials in exchange for pleading guilty to a single felony charge). Why is Broidy using a criminal-defense specialist to litigate a contract dispute? One possibility here is that Broidy is backing out of the contract on Clark’s advice, because the NDA is actually a bribe to Trump, and, by not paying the rest of that bribe, Clark’s client would be lessening his criminal liability.
• By claiming that their agreement is void, Broidy is putting Bechard in a position to tell her story — whatever it may actually be — in whatever forum she likes.
I suspect this last point contains a key to understanding why Broidy is trying to back out of the agreement now. Perhaps like so many other people, Broidy has concluded that Donald Trump is a bad business partner.
Bloomberg: Teen Taken at U.S. Border Tells of ‘Icebox’ Cages With 60 Girls
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [57 favorites]
A 15-year-old girl who was forcibly separated from her mother after fleeing to the U.S. from El Salvador described to a Washington State investigator how she was crammed into a windowless room with 60 other girls and deprived of proper sleep or food for three days.In another of the affidavits, one refugee mother says she was told by the immigration agents who separated her from her eight-year-old son, "It is the price to pay for crossing the border."
The room was divided by wire fencing into three cages, with each one holding 20 separated girls -- some as young as 3 years old, according to an affidavit filed late Monday in federal court in Seattle. The girls, who weren’t told when they’d see their parents again, called it the "icebox."
"The place was freezing because they kept the air conditioner on all the time, and each child was given a mat and an aluminum blanket," the investigator for Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote. "The girls placed their mats in the floor very close to one another, since there was not enough space."
The affidavit is part of a lawsuit by 17 states and the District of Columbia that seeks to block the child-separation policy on constitutional grounds. The states on Monday asked the court to order the government to begin quickly turning over evidence.[...]
The girl from El Salvador, identified as "G" in the filing, said agents kicked their mats daily at 4 a.m. to count them, and woke them again for meager meals. The guards refused to provide comfort to the youngest detainees and wouldn’t allow them to make phone calls, according to the filing.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [57 favorites]
So, how long should it take before the judge in the chiild snatching case receives an emergency motion about these forms?
posted by ocschwar at 3:52 PM on July 3, 2018
posted by ocschwar at 3:52 PM on July 3, 2018
The CNN report today that Pruitt directly asked Trump to fire Sessions and install Pruitt as AG is bonkers. We'd discussed the possibility before but only as a ridiculous hypothetical. But this is real! This is the world we're in now!
Trump installing Pruitt as AG to quash the investigation would be a red line that the rule of law has been overthrown.
posted by Justinian at 4:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
Trump installing Pruitt as AG to quash the investigation would be a red line that the rule of law has been overthrown.
posted by Justinian at 4:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
-ed further.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:04 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:04 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
Update: they deleted and reissued Trump's tweet about his writing prowess in order to correct "pour" to "pore."
posted by zachlipton at 4:19 PM on July 3, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 4:19 PM on July 3, 2018 [36 favorites]
Paul Campos, who's been going way out on a limb with Broidy speculation, points out something interesting
I think this is an incredibly important story, and I hope that journalists follow up on it. Right now, reproductive freedom is more endangered than it's been in over 40 years. If, in fact, a Republican president asked a woman to get an abortion, that could really change the narrative on Roe v. Wade. I'm horrified by the IOKIYAR position overall, but if the Republican response in this case is a request for privacy and respect for individual choice--that could make a big difference at a critical time.
posted by Emera Gratia at 4:25 PM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
I think this is an incredibly important story, and I hope that journalists follow up on it. Right now, reproductive freedom is more endangered than it's been in over 40 years. If, in fact, a Republican president asked a woman to get an abortion, that could really change the narrative on Roe v. Wade. I'm horrified by the IOKIYAR position overall, but if the Republican response in this case is a request for privacy and respect for individual choice--that could make a big difference at a critical time.
posted by Emera Gratia at 4:25 PM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Masha Gessen on Sam Harris' Waking Up podcast made some interesting comments:
1. 86% of Russian opinion matches exactly what's said on state news. If state news says America is the enemy on Saturday, that's what 86% of Russians believe. If state news says America is the friend on Sunday, that's what 86% of Russians believe.
2. Putin will always define the United States as the enemy, because that dynamic is the wellspring of Putin's political power.
3. Politics needs to change to include a moral dimension, as it supposedly had under Reagan. Leaders of the free world should not negotiate with tyrants or dictators.
Other topics include: Immigration, journalism, and #MeToo.
Trigger warning: Sam Harris talks briefly about the difficulty of Muslim cultural integration. Masha rebuts with a story about her homosexual continuum I didn't entirely follow. Good discussion overall.
posted by xammerboy at 4:31 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
1. 86% of Russian opinion matches exactly what's said on state news. If state news says America is the enemy on Saturday, that's what 86% of Russians believe. If state news says America is the friend on Sunday, that's what 86% of Russians believe.
2. Putin will always define the United States as the enemy, because that dynamic is the wellspring of Putin's political power.
3. Politics needs to change to include a moral dimension, as it supposedly had under Reagan. Leaders of the free world should not negotiate with tyrants or dictators.
Other topics include: Immigration, journalism, and #MeToo.
Trigger warning: Sam Harris talks briefly about the difficulty of Muslim cultural integration. Masha rebuts with a story about her homosexual continuum I didn't entirely follow. Good discussion overall.
posted by xammerboy at 4:31 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm horrified by the IOKIYAR position overall, but if the Republican response in this case is a request for privacy and respect for individual choice
Yes. That's totally going to be the Republican response.
Here's what really happens. The Republican representative is excused for past transgressions for things that would normally send the poor moralists into an apoplexy because that's what Jesus did. The future? Fuck your rights we need to punish sex. Also, DID YOU SEE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT USED DIJON MUSTARD AND WORE A TAN SUIT?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:32 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Yes. That's totally going to be the Republican response.
Here's what really happens. The Republican representative is excused for past transgressions for things that would normally send the poor moralists into an apoplexy because that's what Jesus did. The future? Fuck your rights we need to punish sex. Also, DID YOU SEE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT USED DIJON MUSTARD AND WORE A TAN SUIT?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:32 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Masha Gessen on Sam Harris' Waking Up podcast made some interesting comments:
Ugh. Masha just can't stop tiptoeing toward the Intellectual Dark Web, can she? Next week I expect she'll be talking with Jordan Peterson about what kind of lobster Putin is.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:36 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Ugh. Masha just can't stop tiptoeing toward the Intellectual Dark Web, can she? Next week I expect she'll be talking with Jordan Peterson about what kind of lobster Putin is.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:36 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Red, surely.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Is Michael Cohen Turning on Donald Trump? (Adam Davidson | The New Yorker)
[i dunno, does he resemble trump’s daughter?]
[i dunno, does he resemble trump’s daughter?]
We are witnessing a grand, public Prisoner’s Dilemma, in which each man could, theoretically, destroy the other. Or, perhaps, they could work together to explain away any troubling information that comes out of the investigation of Cohen’s files. They can’t talk privately, because every interaction is likely to be scrutinized. Instead, they speak to each other through the media.posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:21 PM on July 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
Instead, they speak to each other through the media.
So if Trump delivers an impromptu karaoke version of I Will Always Love You...
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:42 PM on July 3, 2018
So if Trump delivers an impromptu karaoke version of I Will Always Love You...
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:42 PM on July 3, 2018
I would love to listen to Masha dismantle Jordan's crypto-marxist b.s.
posted by xammerboy at 5:42 PM on July 3, 2018
posted by xammerboy at 5:42 PM on July 3, 2018
Here's something I don't get about Broidy: why would he even need an NDA? I mean, it would be bad for his marriage, probably, if an affair became common knowledge, but Broidy was not a household name.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:50 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:50 PM on July 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Re2nd civilwarletters.... funny, but also introducing us to the 2ndcivilwar casually, bipartisanly, humorously, until the idea is so ubiquitous that we play our antagonizing roles naturally and by choice. who benefits: russia and china clearly.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 6:03 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 6:03 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Here's something I don't get about Broidy: why would he even need an NDA?
Uh, as someone who's negotiated a fair number of NDAs on behalf of clients, "it would be bad for my marriage" is entirely enough of a reason for an NDA. (NB: mine all relate to business issues, not this kind of stuff.)
Frankly there is almost nothing exceptional about Broidy's "I impregnated a Playboy Bunny then paid her hush money to shut up about it" story. I am fully on board with believing anything that would make Trump seem more despicable, and even I would almost believe the official story, EXCEPT for the fact that he hired Michael Cohen to execute the cover-up for him. That's too convenient by half. Oh, also the fact that she seems to have been in Trump's vicinity rather than Broidy's around the time of the... uh... impregnation event. That's rather persuasive.
Anyway, creepy old rich guys need NDAs for all sorts of things.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 6:09 PM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Uh, as someone who's negotiated a fair number of NDAs on behalf of clients, "it would be bad for my marriage" is entirely enough of a reason for an NDA. (NB: mine all relate to business issues, not this kind of stuff.)
Frankly there is almost nothing exceptional about Broidy's "I impregnated a Playboy Bunny then paid her hush money to shut up about it" story. I am fully on board with believing anything that would make Trump seem more despicable, and even I would almost believe the official story, EXCEPT for the fact that he hired Michael Cohen to execute the cover-up for him. That's too convenient by half. Oh, also the fact that she seems to have been in Trump's vicinity rather than Broidy's around the time of the... uh... impregnation event. That's rather persuasive.
Anyway, creepy old rich guys need NDAs for all sorts of things.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 6:09 PM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
In what he's dubbed "The Golfersburg Address", the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale has finished live-tweeting Trump's speech at a West Virginia "Salute To Service" military tribute dinner that's also a golf tournament. "What's happening is that Trump is at a military tribute dinner that is also part of a golf tournament, so he keeps trying to ad-lib-relate his military content to golf, and it is not going very smoothly."
Here are some examples:
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:10 PM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
Here are some examples:
• "We will thank God for blessing us with these unbelievable heroes," Trump says, asking servicemembers to stand to be applauded, then adds, "Tough cookies. Tough cookies. And when it comes to ICE and Border Patrol..."How, after this display of doddering decompensating, can anyone in his administration think that it's a good idea to leave Trump alone in a room with Putin?
• Trump says that dealing with tough characters like MS-13 is to ICE officers just like playing golf is to Phil Mickelson and John Daly - "just another day." "Like the way they play golf. They go, they play."
• Trump on building up the military: "As the golfers can tell you, the stronger we get, the less likely it is we will have to use it."
• Trump on having a strong military: "When have we needed it more, outside of wars themselves?"
• Trump laments that veterans have had to wait in long lines for medical care, then looks at Phil Mickelson and says, "Can you imagine, Phil Mickelson, going to the doctor...he should be there in, oh, about 12 days...that's not acceptable, Phil, right?"
• Trump on golfers: "These are PGA players. These are unbelievably talented people. They're talented in their mind and in their body. Their muscles are strong but their mind has to be stronger. It's tough. And these are tough people."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:10 PM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
introducing us to the 2ndcivilwar casually, bipartisanly, humorously, until the idea is so ubiquitous
The introduction had already been made by Alex Jones and the other gomers of the Twitter right, who have been openly fantasizing about all the libruls they're gonna kill when they come for the guns. What #2ndCivilWarLetters does is ridicule it, which has proven to be a lot more effective at shutting these schmucks up than calmly discussing the pros and cons of a 21st Century civil war. As can be seen on this very day, when Charlie Kirk tried to ride the hashtag and was roundly laughed down, so the rest of them have been pretty quiet.
posted by Etrigan at 6:20 PM on July 3, 2018 [21 favorites]
The introduction had already been made by Alex Jones and the other gomers of the Twitter right, who have been openly fantasizing about all the libruls they're gonna kill when they come for the guns. What #2ndCivilWarLetters does is ridicule it, which has proven to be a lot more effective at shutting these schmucks up than calmly discussing the pros and cons of a 21st Century civil war. As can be seen on this very day, when Charlie Kirk tried to ride the hashtag and was roundly laughed down, so the rest of them have been pretty quiet.
posted by Etrigan at 6:20 PM on July 3, 2018 [21 favorites]
Coming soon to a country near you: Poland to purge its Supreme Court via a new law that retroactively forces retirement at age 65, except (and solely) via individual dispensation from the President.
posted by Rumple at 6:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 6:22 PM on July 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Coming soon to a country near you: Poland purges its Supreme Court via a new law that retroactively forces retirement at age 65, except (and solely) via individual dispensation from the President.
Filed away under: ideas for 2020 and a Democratic President.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:28 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Filed away under: ideas for 2020 and a Democratic President.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:28 PM on July 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
White House officials continue to be perplexed by Pruitt's good standing with the President.
You'd think "game recognize game" would be one of the few aspects of human psychology that lot of psychopaths could empathize with.
posted by multics at 6:38 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
You'd think "game recognize game" would be one of the few aspects of human psychology that lot of psychopaths could empathize with.
posted by multics at 6:38 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
. . . ideas for 2020 and a Democratic President
I was thinking more of "ideas for Republicans" while they still have all the levers. And the only Justices under 65 are Kagan (58), Sotomayer (64), Roberts (63) and Gorsuch (50). And if the Kennedy replacement is older than 50 I'll eat a piece of cake.
posted by Rumple at 6:42 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was thinking more of "ideas for Republicans" while they still have all the levers. And the only Justices under 65 are Kagan (58), Sotomayer (64), Roberts (63) and Gorsuch (50). And if the Kennedy replacement is older than 50 I'll eat a piece of cake.
posted by Rumple at 6:42 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Kilimnik, an elusive figure now indicted alongside Manafort on witness tampering charges
These guys are so bad at criminalising! How is it that they earn millions of dollars for being Machiavellean geniuses? It's great that they recognise Trump isn't going to pardon them, but how can they not realise their phones are tapped from here to Sunday? I mean, their friends and associates obviously do. And given the information that's already out there, it's not like an alibi is going to help them anyway. Manafort is obviously going down, the only question is whether he gets the benefit of being a cooperative witness. So what does he do? Why, try to suborn perjury, thereby dramatically closing off his one shot at a reduced sentence.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:51 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
These guys are so bad at criminalising! How is it that they earn millions of dollars for being Machiavellean geniuses? It's great that they recognise Trump isn't going to pardon them, but how can they not realise their phones are tapped from here to Sunday? I mean, their friends and associates obviously do. And given the information that's already out there, it's not like an alibi is going to help them anyway. Manafort is obviously going down, the only question is whether he gets the benefit of being a cooperative witness. So what does he do? Why, try to suborn perjury, thereby dramatically closing off his one shot at a reduced sentence.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:51 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
The thing I don't get about Obama is that he came out of Chicago/Illinois politics, which have a reputation as being particularly...hard-nosed, to pick one of many possible euphemisms. And even if he was a product of a different system, nobody who rises to his level in politics is a naive babe in the woods, so why was he (apparently) caught so flat-footed by the Republicans and the lengths they would go to fuck him over?
Obama's campaigned on being a centrist. He was the same way in the Illinois Senate. The candidate that wanted to fight was Hillary, but, at the time the meme was she wasn't like-able enough. Also, as the first black president, like Jackie Robinson in baseball, I think he had to remain above the fray.
posted by xammerboy at 6:52 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Obama's campaigned on being a centrist. He was the same way in the Illinois Senate. The candidate that wanted to fight was Hillary, but, at the time the meme was she wasn't like-able enough. Also, as the first black president, like Jackie Robinson in baseball, I think he had to remain above the fray.
posted by xammerboy at 6:52 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Who the F are they using grenades and flashbangs on? Terrified people on the Greyhound?
Per the report backs from PDX anti-Nazi fighting, they’re already using the flashbangs against civilians. If you think they won’t use them against illegal immigrants, you are fooling yourself.
posted by corb at 6:55 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
Per the report backs from PDX anti-Nazi fighting, they’re already using the flashbangs against civilians. If you think they won’t use them against illegal immigrants, you are fooling yourself.
posted by corb at 6:55 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
Update: they deleted and reissued Trump's tweet about his writing prowess in order to correct "pour" to "pore."
@MerriamWebster 'pore over' 🔍"to read or study very carefully"
'pour over' ☕️"to make expensive coffee"
'comb over' 💇♂️"to comb hair from the side of the head to cover the bald spot"
posted by scalefree at 7:00 PM on July 3, 2018 [68 favorites]
@MerriamWebster 'pore over' 🔍"to read or study very carefully"
'pour over' ☕️"to make expensive coffee"
'comb over' 💇♂️"to comb hair from the side of the head to cover the bald spot"
posted by scalefree at 7:00 PM on July 3, 2018 [68 favorites]
Tell me there is justice in that court & I will shove your words down your goddamn throat. Happy Birthday, America.
[video] @Alyssa_Milano Oh my fucking, God. Oh my fucking, God. Oh my fucking, God.
Stop what you’re doing and watch this.
If you’re ok with this unfollow me because you have no heart.
posted by scalefree at 7:16 PM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
[video] @Alyssa_Milano Oh my fucking, God. Oh my fucking, God. Oh my fucking, God.
Stop what you’re doing and watch this.
If you’re ok with this unfollow me because you have no heart.
posted by scalefree at 7:16 PM on July 3, 2018 [20 favorites]
WaPo, Costa/Dawsey, Leading contender to be Trump’s Supreme Court pick faces questions from social conservatives, in the right is upset about Judge Kavanaugh.
Daily Beast, Lachlan/Swin, Michael Cohen’s ‘Scared’ and Lonely Journey From Pitbull Lawyer to Potential ‘Snitch’
WaPo, Mary Jordan, With blunt talk and compelling stories, viral videos are turning unknown women candidates into political sensations. An overview of the success of compelling political ads we've seen here for candidates like MJ Hegar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, many the work of adman Mark Putnam.
Oh, and Scott Pruitt kept a third calendar when he wasn't busy stiffing his staffers for his personal bills, which they had to put on their personal credit cards.
posted by zachlipton at 7:17 PM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
“Movement conservatives fume at Trump SCOTUS favorite,” blared a headline Tuesday in The Daily Caller, a conservative website, atop an article featuring right-wing activists with sharp words for Kavanaugh.To be clear on how crazy these objections are, here's an example of him voting to deny a pregnant immigrant teenager an abortion, which still supposedly is not right wing enough for these guys because he didn't randomly try to overturn Roe somehow:
Trump advisers said Tuesday that the president was aware of the squabbling and closely monitoring news coverage of his interviews, but they cautioned that he has not been swayed by a particular voice.
The president, however, has asked aides about Kavanaugh’s opinions on health care that have frustrated some conservatives, according to two people close to the president who were not authorized to speak publicly. They added that Trump had pored over news articles that have spotlighted Kavanaugh’s history with George W. Bush — part of a powerful political family that has vocally opposed Trump — but did not see it as a fatal strike against him.
Trump has also spoken by phone with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) this week, according to three people briefed on the call who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Paul and his advisers had quietly conveyed their concerns about Kavanaugh to the White House in recent days, citing his decisions on health care. Since the Republican majority in the Senate is just 51 to 49, losing just one GOP vote could jeopardize a nominee.
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, a former Bush adviser, noted on her afternoon program Tuesday that former Bush officials were being careful to not be too effusive about Kavanaugh, or else risk hurting their former colleague’s chances.
Kavanaugh’s critics have pointed to a recent case involving a pregnant immigrant teenager in federal custody as reason to doubt his conservatism on the abortion front.Part of me thinks that this is some kind of fakeout to paint Kavanaugh as more centrist than he is in advance of a nomination, but most of me just thinks these people really are that crazy.
He voted against the teenager, who was seeking immediate access to abortion services, and noted the government’s “permissible interest” in “favoring fetal life,” but he did not go as far as another D.C. Circuit judge, Karen Henderson, who said the undocumented teen had no constitutional right to an elective abortion.
Daily Beast, Lachlan/Swin, Michael Cohen’s ‘Scared’ and Lonely Journey From Pitbull Lawyer to Potential ‘Snitch’
Those who have spoken to Cohen in recent weeks tell The Daily Beast that President Trump’s longtime fixer is “scared” of possible jail time. He’s also frustrated by the distance that those close to Trump have worked to put between him and the president. He fears being discarded entirely.Politico, Wesley Morgan, Behind the secret U.S. war in Africa
President Trump “doesn’t talk about Michael much anymore,” a senior West Wing official also noted. “Not that he did much before.”
Cohen increasingly believes that Trump will not have his back as the feds continue to treat him like a mafia lawyer, and continues to worry about being made a fall-guy in the investigations surrounding the president. These fears underscore a remarkable change in status for one of the few figures who was seen, at least publicly, as a fixture of Trumpland.
American special operations teams are playing a more direct role in military actions against suspected terrorists in Africa than the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged, planning and participating in combat raids by African troops in multiple countries including Somalia, Kenya, Tunisia and Niger, under a set of classified programs.Bloomberg View, Noah Smith, Trump Tackles Problems in the Rearview Mirror: "There’s a common thread uniting President Donald Trump’s policies: Most are designed to address problems that were much more severe in earlier years and decades. Trump, who just turned 72, is essentially living in the past." Examples from crime, trade, and immigration are presented, as the country has new problems from this century that receive little attention.
In repeated public statements, military spokespeople have said the American role in Africa is limited to “advising and assisting” other militaries. But for at least five years, Green Berets, Navy SEALs and other commandos operating under a little-understood authority have planned and controlled certain missions, putting them in charge of their African partner forces.
...
The authority funds classified programs under which African governments essentially loan out units of their militaries for American commando teams to use as surrogates to hunt militants identified as potential threats to American citizens or embassies. That’s instead of having the American commandos help the African troops accomplish their own objectives, as other U.S. special operations teams do in Africa.
The programs focus on both reconnaissance and “direct action” raids by joint forces of American and African commandos on militant targets, Bolduc and other sources said — a type of mission the Pentagon has previously denied participating in on the continent.
A spokesman for Africa Command declined to say which African states host teams under the authority, but former special operations officers have identified eight countries as current or recent sites of the surrogate programs. They include well-known combat zones like Somalia and Libya as well as more surprising sites for American-directed commando raids like Kenya, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali and Mauritania — and Niger, where the October mission that ended in tragedy involved one of two units that Green Berets run in the country under the authority.
As the Pentagon scrambled last fall to explain what its fallen commandos had been doing in combat in an African country many Americans had never heard of, it initially withheld some key facts — including that a second team of special operations troops had been involved in the mission too.
WaPo, Mary Jordan, With blunt talk and compelling stories, viral videos are turning unknown women candidates into political sensations. An overview of the success of compelling political ads we've seen here for candidates like MJ Hegar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, many the work of adman Mark Putnam.
Oh, and Scott Pruitt kept a third calendar when he wasn't busy stiffing his staffers for his personal bills, which they had to put on their personal credit cards.
posted by zachlipton at 7:17 PM on July 3, 2018 [28 favorites]
White House officials continue to be perplexed by Pruitt's good standing with the President.
You'd think "game recognize game" would be one of the few aspects of human psychology that lot of psychopaths could empathize with.
True. I remain constantly in awe of the sheer brazenness of Pruitt's corruption. He's like a bank robber who never wears a mask and then comes back to the same bank the next day to deposit the cash in his account.
posted by dis_integration at 7:44 PM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
You'd think "game recognize game" would be one of the few aspects of human psychology that lot of psychopaths could empathize with.
True. I remain constantly in awe of the sheer brazenness of Pruitt's corruption. He's like a bank robber who never wears a mask and then comes back to the same bank the next day to deposit the cash in his account.
posted by dis_integration at 7:44 PM on July 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
I can barely keep one calendar and remember to do things. How do you have one calendar for "legit government business", another for "corrupt government business to keep out of the official record" and a third for "corrupt as fuck and actually criminal government business"?
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:47 PM on July 3, 2018 [16 favorites]
Stop what you’re doing and watch this.
The clips "are reenactments based on court transcripts, show small children answering questions from former Oregon Judge William Snouffer–who plays the trial judge."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:57 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
The clips "are reenactments based on court transcripts, show small children answering questions from former Oregon Judge William Snouffer–who plays the trial judge."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:57 PM on July 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
115 years ago today the Americans defeated the traitors in the Battle of Gettysburg. It was a turning point in the Slavers’ Rebellion.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [53 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 7:58 PM on July 3, 2018 [53 favorites]
McConnell says there isn't much federal government can do about school shootings (Daniel DeRochers, Lexington Herald-Leader)
In 2018, at least 26 students have died in five school shootings in America. Two of those deaths came in a shooting at Marshall County High School in Kentucky.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn't think Congress can do much to address the issue.
“I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds,” McConnell told a group of community leaders in Danville Tuesday.
[...] McConnell is not in favor of gun control laws. He pointed out that Congress appropriated money for school counseling and school safety in its appropriations bill and said he thinks school security is the most likely way that schools can stop shootings.
“You would think, given how much it takes to get on an American plane or given how much it takes to get into courthouses, that this might be something that we could achieve, but I don’t think we could do that from Washington, I think it’s basically a local decision,” he said.
[...] “It’s a darn shame that’s where we are but this epidemic is something that’s got all of our attention,” McConnell said of the school shootings. “And I know it’s got the attention of every school superintendent in the country.”
Meanwhile, little action has been taken to address the issue on a state level. The legislature established a study group on school safety after the legislative session wrapped up and a bill that would have required mental health counselors in schools, HB 604, died in the Senate.
Wow. I can't even parse that. Maybe he's on dope?
posted by petebest at 8:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
In 2018, at least 26 students have died in five school shootings in America. Two of those deaths came in a shooting at Marshall County High School in Kentucky.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn't think Congress can do much to address the issue.
“I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds,” McConnell told a group of community leaders in Danville Tuesday.
[...] McConnell is not in favor of gun control laws. He pointed out that Congress appropriated money for school counseling and school safety in its appropriations bill and said he thinks school security is the most likely way that schools can stop shootings.
“You would think, given how much it takes to get on an American plane or given how much it takes to get into courthouses, that this might be something that we could achieve, but I don’t think we could do that from Washington, I think it’s basically a local decision,” he said.
[...] “It’s a darn shame that’s where we are but this epidemic is something that’s got all of our attention,” McConnell said of the school shootings. “And I know it’s got the attention of every school superintendent in the country.”
Meanwhile, little action has been taken to address the issue on a state level. The legislature established a study group on school safety after the legislative session wrapped up and a bill that would have required mental health counselors in schools, HB 604, died in the Senate.
Wow. I can't even parse that. Maybe he's on dope?
posted by petebest at 8:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
The clips "are reenactments based on court transcripts, show small children answering questions from former Oregon Judge William Snouffer–who plays the trial judge."
Yes they are. I posted this across several social media, did not think I had to add that disclaimer here but I did elsewhere. It's labeled as such pretty clearly within the video but I apologize if you feel you were mislead.
posted by scalefree at 8:04 PM on July 3, 2018
Yes they are. I posted this across several social media, did not think I had to add that disclaimer here but I did elsewhere. It's labeled as such pretty clearly within the video but I apologize if you feel you were mislead.
posted by scalefree at 8:04 PM on July 3, 2018
Worth noting that the re-enactments are meant to realistically portray the real life scenes. I think the judge is thanked at the end of the video for returning to participate, and the setting real. This isn't a Hollywood dramatization.
posted by xammerboy at 8:56 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 8:56 PM on July 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
McConnell is basically saying the only solution is for states to make their schools have prison level security. You can't tell me that won't have a negative effect on kids. This is crazy.
posted by xammerboy at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wow. I can't even parse that. Maybe he's on dope?
Nah. If he was, he might have said something that wasn't batshit stupid.
posted by mrgoat at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Nah. If he was, he might have said something that wasn't batshit stupid.
posted by mrgoat at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Courthouse News' Adam Klasfeld (who, by the way, is excellent), compiled a gut-wrenching thread of excerpts from various declarations by immigrants and their representatives in litigation over the child separation policy. We've seen some of these before, but all of them at once is something else. Two samples of the many horror stories:
“When I took off his clothes he was full of dirt and lice. It seemed like they had not bathed him the 85 days he was away from us.” Mother from El Salvador on her youngest son “M,” born in August 2016posted by zachlipton at 9:20 PM on July 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
“[One] of the officers asked me, ‘In Guatemala, do they celebrate mother’s day?’ When I said yes, he said ‘Then Happy Mother’s Day’ because the next Sunday was Mother’s Day. I lowered my head so that my daughter would not see the tears forming in my eyes.”
I would like to hear more of the personal stories of immigrants applying for asylum. Is there a website or other source I'm unfamiliar with? This could be a great way of humanizing / legitimizing their plight.
posted by xammerboy at 10:06 PM on July 3, 2018
posted by xammerboy at 10:06 PM on July 3, 2018
I don't have a collection for you (and would be interested in seeing one), but this is just one such story, in a Times op-ed today: At 9 He Lost His Mom to Gang Violence. At 12 He Lost His Dad to Trump’s Immigration Policies.
posted by zachlipton at 10:15 PM on July 3, 2018 [26 favorites]
When Brayan was 9 years old, in 2016, his mother was brutally raped and murdered in Honduras. Her body was found in a septic tank. When Brayan saw her in the coffin, she was so disfigured that he couldn’t recognize her. She had been seven months pregnant. That’s when his nightmares began, his fear of the dark. His mother’s boyfriend had abused her and was arrested in the killing, but he claimed it was a gang killing and was set free. He threatened Brayan and his father, José, so José vowed to bring Brayan to safety in the United States. The opportunity to travel there safely arrived this year.It goes on to discuss the efforts of Brayan's undocumented grandmother to take him in. Her fingerprints will be taken and shared with ICE, which unsurprisingly deters relatives from claiming children.
During Holy Week in late March, Brayan and his father joined a caravan of hundreds of Central American migrants fleeing through Mexico to the United States. When they arrived at the California border in May, Brayan’s father — seeking to follow the letter of the law — heeded the advice of immigration advocates and presented himself and his son for asylum. Border Patrol officers refused to even glance at the notarized letters from lawyers making his case, José said. He was jailed for 20 days, asked to sign papers in English he did not understand and was deported to Honduras. Brayan was flown to a shelter for children in Maryland.
posted by zachlipton at 10:15 PM on July 3, 2018 [26 favorites]
I would like to hear more of the personal stories of immigrants applying for asylum. Is there a website or other source I'm unfamiliar with? This could be a great way of humanizing / legitimizing their plight.
Here's the first of three source documents containing declarations filed in the Western District of Washington this morning, courtesy @KlasfeldReports. 322 pages.
posted by scalefree at 10:21 PM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
Here's the first of three source documents containing declarations filed in the Western District of Washington this morning, courtesy @KlasfeldReports. 322 pages.
posted by scalefree at 10:21 PM on July 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
McConnell is basically saying the only solution is for states to make their schools have prison level security. You can't tell me that won't have a negative effect on kids. This is crazy.
Literally nobody on the right gives a shit about the kids in all this.
They pushed for arming teachers without ever thinking once about how the presence of a gun would affect the classroom. They don't think about what that will do to the kids or the teachers. They talk about "hardening" schools without ever thinking of why schools are designed the way they are, and how simple things like, oh, climate and real estate come into play.
I'm sure a handful have some ass-hat thoughts about how this would all normalize and numb kids to the presence of guns, so hey, guns are just a sign of adulthood, right? Gotta buy one as soon as they turn 18! But most of them clearly aren't even thinking at all.
They just don't want to talk about the guns. Anything but the guns.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
Literally nobody on the right gives a shit about the kids in all this.
They pushed for arming teachers without ever thinking once about how the presence of a gun would affect the classroom. They don't think about what that will do to the kids or the teachers. They talk about "hardening" schools without ever thinking of why schools are designed the way they are, and how simple things like, oh, climate and real estate come into play.
I'm sure a handful have some ass-hat thoughts about how this would all normalize and numb kids to the presence of guns, so hey, guns are just a sign of adulthood, right? Gotta buy one as soon as they turn 18! But most of them clearly aren't even thinking at all.
They just don't want to talk about the guns. Anything but the guns.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:46 PM on July 3, 2018 [34 favorites]
I wanna boost something the Whelk posted upthread: Can we have a humane immigration policy? Current Affairs, Brianna Rennix, Nov 2017
anyway she talks both strategy and morality and I feel like I will be rereading this and referring back to it.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 10:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
Creating empathy isn’t merely a stratagem to get people behind immigration reform in the short term: we must realize that no legal reforms will be durable unless they are accompanied by a real attitudinal shift on immigration. ... ... ... There appears to be a real pessimism these days about our ability to change each other’s minds. But I don’t think we’re trying very hard, honestly. Facts certainly have an important place; but narrative and emotion are equally important. Most people want to think of themselves as good people. The trick is getting them to realize that a good person could not do otherwise than care about the plight of vulnerable immigrants.Some segments of voters will just never feel empathy for immigrants, but .... recent polling reports that 40% of the US population wants less immigration, 40% are okay with current levels, and 16% favor increasing it. The segment that's immune to empathy, I imagine, is contained entirely in that first group (of people who want less immigration). so it's less than 40%.
anyway she talks both strategy and morality and I feel like I will be rereading this and referring back to it.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 10:49 PM on July 3, 2018 [17 favorites]
The more you know about New York politics, the more incredible AOC win seems (The Thorn) the NYC Thorn is the best roundup of New York electoral and city level politics you can ask for from a leftist perspective, I’d recommend it to even non socialists. (And that’s not cause I use to illustrate for them)
posted by The Whelk at 11:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:02 PM on July 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Literally nobody on the right gives a shit about the kids in all this.
The writers are going all out to make them villainous
It’s becoking more and more clear that they are actually setting this in the universe of the Purge movies and the right actually approves of and encourages mass shootings.
posted by Artw at 11:12 PM on July 3, 2018
The writers are going all out to make them villainous
It’s becoking more and more clear that they are actually setting this in the universe of the Purge movies and the right actually approves of and encourages mass shootings.
posted by Artw at 11:12 PM on July 3, 2018
GOP Senators to Russian Foreign Minister: We Don’t Need to Be ‘Adversaries’
Why are 8 Republican senators spending the 4th of July in... Moscow, of all places? You have seriously got to be kidding me.
posted by un petit cadeau at 12:56 AM on July 4, 2018 [49 favorites]
Why are 8 Republican senators spending the 4th of July in... Moscow, of all places? You have seriously got to be kidding me.
posted by un petit cadeau at 12:56 AM on July 4, 2018 [49 favorites]
"1. 86% of Russian opinion matches exactly what's said on state news. If state news says America is the enemy on Saturday, that's what 86% of Russians believe. If state news says America is the friend on Sunday, that's what 86% of Russians believe."And if we're to hope that the last few years of election cycle & president has taught America anything, it should that the situation holds true in reverse: if the media says Russia is America's friend on Sunday, that's what a large percentage of Americans will believe.
Because, frankly, from an outsider's point of view, the way the US has flipped 180° on that in such a short amount of time is astounding (not to mention a lesson for all the rest of the world). From ~60 years of anti-Russian indoctrination, to one political side being quite alongside the idea of Russian collaboration (as long as they didn't collaborate against them), in just a few short years….
posted by Pinback at 2:03 AM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
political ads we've seen here for candidates like MJ Hegar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, many the work of adman Mark Putnam
Though Hegars' Doors video was, AOC's The Courage to Change was not: she wrote it, and DSA activists-cum-production company Means of Production filmed it. (So, no actual need for "admen".)
posted by progosk at 2:16 AM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Though Hegars' Doors video was, AOC's The Courage to Change was not: she wrote it, and DSA activists-cum-production company Means of Production filmed it. (So, no actual need for "admen".)
posted by progosk at 2:16 AM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
> From ~60 years of anti-Russian indoctrination, to one political side being quite alongside the idea of Russian collaboration (as long as they didn't collaborate against them), in just a few short years….
The way things are going, I expect Trump and the Republicans to announce some sort of formal military alliance with Russia in the near future.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:05 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
The way things are going, I expect Trump and the Republicans to announce some sort of formal military alliance with Russia in the near future.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:05 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
Means of Production
Heh, excellent.
The way things are going, I expect Trump and the Republicans to announce some sort of formal military alliance with Russia in the near future.
Disgusting for many reasons, of course, not the least of which is that it will make Jerry Pournelle look prescient.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:39 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
Heh, excellent.
The way things are going, I expect Trump and the Republicans to announce some sort of formal military alliance with Russia in the near future.
Disgusting for many reasons, of course, not the least of which is that it will make Jerry Pournelle look prescient.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:39 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
America Started Over Once. Can We Do It Again? - A NYTimes editorial
There were things I didn't know about Trump's policies, which are really scary:
There were things I didn't know about Trump's policies, which are really scary:
Start with its very first sentence, which grants citizenship to anyone born or naturalized on United States soil. The clause is at the core of the amendment’s meaning, yet it’s long been a favorite target for anti-immigrant Republicans in Congress and some conservative legal scholars. That movement got a lift when Donald Trump jumped aboard, claiming during the presidential campaign that “the 14th Amendment is very questionable as to whether or not somebody can come over and have a baby and immediately that baby is a citizen, O.K.?” No, not O.K. In fact, birthright citizenship, as it’s known, has long been settled law. That didn’t stop Mr. Trump, whose campaign and presidency have been built on sympathy with white nationalism, from promising that he would get it amended out of the Constitution “in my second term.”posted by mumimor at 3:53 AM on July 4, 2018 [35 favorites]
Or take the recent, bizarre refusal by at least half a dozen of President Trump’s federal judicial nominees to go on record agreeing with one of the most esteemed Supreme Court decisions of all time — Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools and remains the most powerful invocation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause in the court’s history. The correctness of the Brown ruling is not remotely in dispute — it got high praise from three of the court’s most conservative members, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Samuel Alito Jr. and Neil Gorsuch, during their own confirmation hearings — yet Mr. Trump’s nominees for lower courts have declined repeatedly to say whether they think it was rightly decided. They take the same peculiar line, insisting that judicial ethics bar them from commenting on any case or issue that may come before them. That’s a prudent position to take on a live legal controversy. As a dodge to agreeing with a ruling like Brown, it’s absurd. Even if the decision is never called into doubt, it’s unnerving that they’re discussing the prospect at all.
Baltimore Fair Elections Fund makes it on to November ballot.
posted by Harry Caul at 3:55 AM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Harry Caul at 3:55 AM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Is it new thread time?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:15 AM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by schadenfrau at 5:15 AM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
None of my 3 kids are old enough to stay up for the fireworks. The three of them do have a hard time with bed time compliance, so Mrs. Ocschwar and I are not planning anything for this holiday beyond staying home and resting.
And also, frankly, I've never in my life been less motivated to observe independence day.
posted by ocschwar at 6:03 AM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
And also, frankly, I've never in my life been less motivated to observe independence day.
posted by ocschwar at 6:03 AM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
Hey, remember that Pruitt guy, he of the many scandals?
His former campaign treasurer now runs the office that reviews FOIA requests for his office.
There are really no working control / review / sanctioning mechanisms left under this administration, are there?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 6:13 AM on July 4, 2018 [23 favorites]
His former campaign treasurer now runs the office that reviews FOIA requests for his office.
There are really no working control / review / sanctioning mechanisms left under this administration, are there?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 6:13 AM on July 4, 2018 [23 favorites]
Couple critical after exposure to ‘unknown substance’ in British town where Russian spy poisoned (William Booth | WaPo)
British police declared a “major incident” early Wednesday after a man and woman in their 40s were believed to have been exposed to an “unknown substance” near the historic town of Salisbury in south England.posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:29 AM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Authorities said the two, who were found unconscious over the weekend, are in critical condition in the same Salisbury hospital where the former Russian spy and double agent Sergei Skirpal and his adult daughter Yulia were treated after being poisoned by the Soviet-era nerve agent known as Novichok four months ago.
GOP Senators to Russian Foreign Minister: We Don’t Need to Be ‘Adversaries’
Why are 8 Republican senators spending the 4th of July in... Moscow, of all places? You have seriously got to be kidding me.
Independent Russian media analyst Julia Davis: "#Russia's state TV: 'GOP lawmakers sounded tough on Russia when speaking from Washington, but changed their rhetoric upon arriving to Moscow.'"
And "Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev*, WHO IS UNDER US SANCTIONS, said every GOP lawmaker shook his hand: @SenJohnKennedy (LA) @SenShelby (AL) @SteveDaines (MT) @SenJohnHoeven (ND) SenJohnThune (SD) @JerryMoran (KS) @RepKayGranger (TX)"
Also "Konstantin Kosachev is under US sanctions, was mentioned in the Steele Dossier. GOP lawmakers just invited him to Washington. BTW, they were seated across from Sergey Kislyak."
Source: 60 минут. Противники или соперники: чем закончились переговоры
* From the Steel Dossier's entry about Michael Cohen's supposed clandestine trip to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials: "leading Duma figure, KOSACHEV, reportedly involved as 'plausibly deniable' facilitator and may have participated in the August meeting with COHEN".
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:37 AM on July 4, 2018 [27 favorites]
Why are 8 Republican senators spending the 4th of July in... Moscow, of all places? You have seriously got to be kidding me.
Independent Russian media analyst Julia Davis: "#Russia's state TV: 'GOP lawmakers sounded tough on Russia when speaking from Washington, but changed their rhetoric upon arriving to Moscow.'"
And "Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev*, WHO IS UNDER US SANCTIONS, said every GOP lawmaker shook his hand: @SenJohnKennedy (LA) @SenShelby (AL) @SteveDaines (MT) @SenJohnHoeven (ND) SenJohnThune (SD) @JerryMoran (KS) @RepKayGranger (TX)"
Also "Konstantin Kosachev is under US sanctions, was mentioned in the Steele Dossier. GOP lawmakers just invited him to Washington. BTW, they were seated across from Sergey Kislyak."
Source: 60 минут. Противники или соперники: чем закончились переговоры
* From the Steel Dossier's entry about Michael Cohen's supposed clandestine trip to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials: "leading Duma figure, KOSACHEV, reportedly involved as 'plausibly deniable' facilitator and may have participated in the August meeting with COHEN".
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:37 AM on July 4, 2018 [27 favorites]
Declaration set two of three from Western District of Washington via @KlasfeldReports. 423 pages.
posted by scalefree at 6:41 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 6:41 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Selections from the Declaration of Independence
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.posted by kirkaracha at 6:43 AM on July 4, 2018 [67 favorites]
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury
Some segments of voters will just never feel empathy for immigrants,
You know, this just kinda astounds me. Like, I realize that plenty of people in this country never have any direct contact with recent immigrants but that's so WEIRD to me. I mentioned it here at the time but I recently visited with the woman who cleaned our house weekly for 20 years, who was crying because her son was just deported back to Honduras, after living here most of his life. Honduras, where her brother was kidnapped by gangs and murdered despite them paying the ransom. This is a woman I watched hold my mom and cry when my father died.
And when my husband was in a terrible car accident a few weeks ago, I got to meet several of his immigrant cooks who came to visit him in the hospital despite us not sharing a common language, but they wanted to show their concern and affection.
And I just...want to shake people and tell them to stop and look around at the people cooking their food and cleaning up after them and realize these are good people who only ask that we not be overly cruel in return.
posted by threeturtles at 6:46 AM on July 4, 2018 [42 favorites]
You know, this just kinda astounds me. Like, I realize that plenty of people in this country never have any direct contact with recent immigrants but that's so WEIRD to me. I mentioned it here at the time but I recently visited with the woman who cleaned our house weekly for 20 years, who was crying because her son was just deported back to Honduras, after living here most of his life. Honduras, where her brother was kidnapped by gangs and murdered despite them paying the ransom. This is a woman I watched hold my mom and cry when my father died.
And when my husband was in a terrible car accident a few weeks ago, I got to meet several of his immigrant cooks who came to visit him in the hospital despite us not sharing a common language, but they wanted to show their concern and affection.
And I just...want to shake people and tell them to stop and look around at the people cooking their food and cleaning up after them and realize these are good people who only ask that we not be overly cruel in return.
posted by threeturtles at 6:46 AM on July 4, 2018 [42 favorites]
And I just...want to shake people and tell them to stop and look around at the people cooking their food and cleaning up after them and realize these are good people who only ask that we not be overly cruel in return.
"But... they're brown, after all, with their not-my-language language, and not like us people who were born here, no?"
That's it. It's that simple. It may not be what their mouths are saying, but it's what their brain—even unconsciously—tells them constantly. Oh, and their friends and family. Their friends and family tell them that too.
posted by Rykey at 7:00 AM on July 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
"But... they're brown, after all, with their not-my-language language, and not like us people who were born here, no?"
That's it. It's that simple. It may not be what their mouths are saying, but it's what their brain—even unconsciously—tells them constantly. Oh, and their friends and family. Their friends and family tell them that too.
posted by Rykey at 7:00 AM on July 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
And I just...want to shake people and tell them to stop and look around at the people cooking their food and cleaning up after them and realize these are good people who only ask that we not be overly cruel in return.
No amount of shaking will convince people whose identity is based on racial/class hierarchy that subaltern people are good and undeserving of cruelty. Abuse and the threat of abuse are an integral part of their worldview, and to speak against it is threatening and absurd.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:03 AM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
No amount of shaking will convince people whose identity is based on racial/class hierarchy that subaltern people are good and undeserving of cruelty. Abuse and the threat of abuse are an integral part of their worldview, and to speak against it is threatening and absurd.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:03 AM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Re the “unknown substance” event near Salisbury.
The incident is in Amesbury which happens to be very close to both Porton Down and the Defence Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre at Winterbourne Gunner. Something most papers seem to conveniently forget.
posted by adamvasco at 7:43 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
The incident is in Amesbury which happens to be very close to both Porton Down and the Defence Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre at Winterbourne Gunner. Something most papers seem to conveniently forget.
posted by adamvasco at 7:43 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Rust Moranis - that's "social dominance orientation" in a nutshell. Two psychology professors, Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto, proposed this theory, and there's tons and tons of research on it (google "social dominance orientation" in Google Scholar and you'll get thousands of papers). It's what is behind racism, sexism, and other prejudices, and why one "ism" is inevitably accompanied by others. Social dominant types hate government but love the state (because "government" helps the undeserving but "the state" reinforces lines of authority).
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:54 AM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:54 AM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
> The idea, despite his aides’ best attempts to shoot it down, would nonetheless persist in the president’s head.
TL:DR - The idea is a military invasion of Venezuela.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
TL:DR - The idea is a military invasion of Venezuela.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Paul Krugman, NYT: Radical Democrats are pretty reasonable
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Trump really wants to invade Venezuela:
Then in September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump discussed it again, this time at greater length, in a private dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies that included Santos, the same three people said and Politico reported in February.posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:59 AM on July 4, 2018 [21 favorites]
The U.S. official said Trump was specifically briefed not to raise the issue and told it wouldn’t play well, but the first thing the president said at the dinner was, “My staff told me not to say this.” Trump then went around asking each leader if they were sure they didn’t want a military solution, according to the official, who added that each leader told Trump in clear terms they were sure.
MAGA is basically a synonym for "Make America like the 1950s Again" so it's not surprising that invading Latin American countries with left wing governments and overthrowing them is back on the agenda.
Don't get me wrong, Venezuela is a clusterfuck right now but I don't really like the idea of us going in there as liberators.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:04 AM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Don't get me wrong, Venezuela is a clusterfuck right now but I don't really like the idea of us going in there as liberators.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:04 AM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Guys I think we're late getting the civil war started. Did everyone sleep in?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:05 AM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 8:05 AM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
The not-funny-at-all thing about Alex Jones and his second civil war bullshit is how it's a transparent call for right-wingers to go out and shoot people. Dude sincerely wants to spark mass shootings.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:10 AM on July 4, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:10 AM on July 4, 2018 [38 favorites]
It's people who cannot conceive of a cooperative win. If someone wins, that must mean someone else has lost. That makes life into a sport and that means you have to pick a team--people who look and talk like you--with the team of people who don't look or talk like you as your rivals. Then the game starts and your team either wins or loses.
That's what's behinda ton of the rhetoric that liberals can't even parse or understand. I mean, a lot of it is just bad faith so kind of made to be impossible to parse, but all the "but what about the homeless vets/American orphans/white senior citizens, you don't care about them, huh?" rhetoric is based entirely on their worldview that you can only play for one team, and if you are helping the other team won, you're making your own team lose. Nothing else you do or say matters because there can be no win for white people if brown and black people put points on the board. (The bad faith part is ther bit where they'll also find excuses for why the homeless, or the poor, or the sick, or the addicted are not reeeeally on their team either.)
My mother in law went to buy a used bike yesterday at a junk shop out here in Pennsyltucky (we're on holiday) and was treated instead to a racist tirade about Mexicans that then morphed into a tirade against anyone who accepts the free meal program in the area that ha ha my mother in law helped establish. No bikes were sold that day.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:12 AM on July 4, 2018 [45 favorites]
That's what's behinda ton of the rhetoric that liberals can't even parse or understand. I mean, a lot of it is just bad faith so kind of made to be impossible to parse, but all the "but what about the homeless vets/American orphans/white senior citizens, you don't care about them, huh?" rhetoric is based entirely on their worldview that you can only play for one team, and if you are helping the other team won, you're making your own team lose. Nothing else you do or say matters because there can be no win for white people if brown and black people put points on the board. (The bad faith part is ther bit where they'll also find excuses for why the homeless, or the poor, or the sick, or the addicted are not reeeeally on their team either.)
My mother in law went to buy a used bike yesterday at a junk shop out here in Pennsyltucky (we're on holiday) and was treated instead to a racist tirade about Mexicans that then morphed into a tirade against anyone who accepts the free meal program in the area that ha ha my mother in law helped establish. No bikes were sold that day.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:12 AM on July 4, 2018 [45 favorites]
Hey, Pennsylvania voter data nerds...
THE ADMINISTRATION OF VOTER REGISTRATION IN PENNSYLVANIA
2017 REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE JUNE 2018 (.pdf)
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:20 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
THE ADMINISTRATION OF VOTER REGISTRATION IN PENNSYLVANIA
2017 REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE JUNE 2018 (.pdf)
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:20 AM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I celebrated the 4th of July by finally getting around to joining the DSA. Thank you to everyone for testifyin'.
posted by XMLicious at 8:21 AM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 8:21 AM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
Dude sincerely wants to spark mass shootings.
Alex Jones's very business model is built on mass shootings. Calling the Sandy Hook victims' families "crisis actors" is his bread and butter, even if they're now suing him for defamation. Speaking of which, he's hired a high-profile lawyer who's also represented Mike Cernovich and the Daily Stormer's founder to defend his toxic schtick as free speech.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:42 AM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Alex Jones's very business model is built on mass shootings. Calling the Sandy Hook victims' families "crisis actors" is his bread and butter, even if they're now suing him for defamation. Speaking of which, he's hired a high-profile lawyer who's also represented Mike Cernovich and the Daily Stormer's founder to defend his toxic schtick as free speech.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:42 AM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Independence Day musing: I think the left/progressives would do well to reclaim the phrase E pluribus unum. Celebrate diversity, honor differences, band together, and take the mantle of patriotism that is rightfully ours. Everyone's.
Lots of work to do these days, so many outrages, so many heartbreaks and disappointments. But good goddamn, do I love the country of my birth, and still think American ideals are worth fighting for.
Mr Rogers was right: these desperate times have also activated so many helpers, and many more are waking up, standing up, speaking up, every day. Take heart. And be one of them.
Happy Fourth to my fellow Americans. Let's take a break, remember what we're fighting for, watch the pretty skies tonight, and then set our feet and keep working in whatever ways we can. Si, se puede/Yes, we can.
posted by Sublimity at 8:43 AM on July 4, 2018 [27 favorites]
Lots of work to do these days, so many outrages, so many heartbreaks and disappointments. But good goddamn, do I love the country of my birth, and still think American ideals are worth fighting for.
Mr Rogers was right: these desperate times have also activated so many helpers, and many more are waking up, standing up, speaking up, every day. Take heart. And be one of them.
Happy Fourth to my fellow Americans. Let's take a break, remember what we're fighting for, watch the pretty skies tonight, and then set our feet and keep working in whatever ways we can. Si, se puede/Yes, we can.
posted by Sublimity at 8:43 AM on July 4, 2018 [27 favorites]
Thank you, XMLicious, I started my Independence Day Celebration by following your lead and joining DSA, too. Thanks to TheWhelk and everyone else, too, for all you share in these threads.
Out of Many, One, indeed! E Pluribus Unum
posted by W Grant at 8:59 AM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
Out of Many, One, indeed! E Pluribus Unum
posted by W Grant at 8:59 AM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
NYT: Some Contractors Housing Migrant Children Are Familiar to Trump’s Inner Circle
The president’s education secretary provided funding to one of the groups. His defense secretary [that'd be Moderating Presence Mattis] sat on the board of another. Mr. Trump’s own inauguration fund collected $500,000 from two private prison companies housing detained migrant families. And some of the contractors employ prominent Republican lobbyists with ties to Mr. Trump and his administration, including someone who once lobbied for his family business.
Since we already know that much of the inauguration fund went straight into Trump's pocket, the actual headline here is "Trump Bribed By Child Trafficking/Abuse Ring." But hey, NYT's gonna NYT.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 AM on July 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
The president’s education secretary provided funding to one of the groups. His defense secretary [that'd be Moderating Presence Mattis] sat on the board of another. Mr. Trump’s own inauguration fund collected $500,000 from two private prison companies housing detained migrant families. And some of the contractors employ prominent Republican lobbyists with ties to Mr. Trump and his administration, including someone who once lobbied for his family business.
Since we already know that much of the inauguration fund went straight into Trump's pocket, the actual headline here is "Trump Bribed By Child Trafficking/Abuse Ring." But hey, NYT's gonna NYT.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 AM on July 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
Even for Trump this is deranged & paranoid.
@ddale8 Here's the transcript of the president's West Virginia remarks about how coal is safer than oil from a "national security" perspective, since it's easy to bomb an oil pipeline but coal is "indestructible."
posted by scalefree at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
@ddale8 Here's the transcript of the president's West Virginia remarks about how coal is safer than oil from a "national security" perspective, since it's easy to bomb an oil pipeline but coal is "indestructible."
posted by scalefree at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
I got on the DSA train during the last big surge in the thread, but today seems like the right day to announce it. As soon as I'm back in the states and in Ann Arbor come September, it's all direct action, man.
posted by TheProfessor at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by TheProfessor at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
The world's oldest known coal seam fire is more than 5000 years old.
The Centralia mine fire has been burning since 1962, and is likely to burn for a couple more centuries.
posted by SPrintF at 10:23 AM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
The Centralia mine fire has been burning since 1962, and is likely to burn for a couple more centuries.
posted by SPrintF at 10:23 AM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
I signed up a couple of days ago, comrades. Facebook announcement:
Sean Hannity posted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's platform as a warning against socialism.posted by kirkaracha at 10:23 AM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
I thought, "where do I sign up?"
The world's oldest known coal seam fire is more than 5000 years old.
See, it is indestructible.
posted by MtDewd at 10:38 AM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
See, it is indestructible.
posted by MtDewd at 10:38 AM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
WNYC Studios: USCIS is Starting a Denaturalization Task Force
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is creating a new task force. Its goal: to examine what they say are bad naturalization cases, according to Director L. Francis Cissna’s June announcement.
As a result, the organization expects to hire dozens of lawyers and immigration officers in the coming weeks to find U.S. citizens they say should not have been naturalized, to revoke their citizenship, and then eventually deport them.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:47 AM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is creating a new task force. Its goal: to examine what they say are bad naturalization cases, according to Director L. Francis Cissna’s June announcement.
As a result, the organization expects to hire dozens of lawyers and immigration officers in the coming weeks to find U.S. citizens they say should not have been naturalized, to revoke their citizenship, and then eventually deport them.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:47 AM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
Yes. Bring it back! From Wikipedia:
posted by pjenks at 10:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
Never codified by law, E pluribus unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act (H. J. Resolution 396), adopting "In God We Trust" as the official motto.Ugh. As Nina Simone might say, "USA Goddamn."
posted by pjenks at 10:50 AM on July 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
I find it impossible to believe that DSA hasn't seen a detectable spike in membership due to The Whelk's evangelism here. (I explicitly named that as among my motivations when joining.)
This is how change happens: little by little, and then all at once. I find it very moving, actually. Superthanks to The Whelk and to every one of you that's signed on as a consequence of conversations here.
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:51 AM on July 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
This is how change happens: little by little, and then all at once. I find it very moving, actually. Superthanks to The Whelk and to every one of you that's signed on as a consequence of conversations here.
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:51 AM on July 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
we gonna socialize all the things comrades
posted by entropicamericana at 10:54 AM on July 4, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 10:54 AM on July 4, 2018 [15 favorites]
Illinois governor breaks with Cruz over Nazi candidate
“No,” Rauner answered when asked if voters should instead cast a ballot for Lipinski, according to WCIA TV. “The one thing I will say is the person, that guy, Johnson or whatever his name is, should not be on the ballot.”
Party of Lincoln.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
“No,” Rauner answered when asked if voters should instead cast a ballot for Lipinski, according to WCIA TV. “The one thing I will say is the person, that guy, Johnson or whatever his name is, should not be on the ballot.”
Party of Lincoln.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:58 AM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Party of Lincoln Rockwell.
posted by TedW at 11:18 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by TedW at 11:18 AM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
Ironically, Norman Rockwell was pro-civil-rights and a liberal.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:24 AM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:24 AM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
This is how change happens: little by little, and then all at once.
We went to the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia yesterday (do recommend, though do not recommend for young children--my six year old predictably could not give a single shit about any of it because he still doesn't understand that life existed before he was born) and it gave me Some Thoughts about our current garbage fire. The most salient of which is: advocate for the most radical viable position always, with the understanding that it will inevitably be moderated by the time it gets codified. (You can pretend to be outraged when full luxury gay space communism doesn't break out instantly--it is in fact your duty to do so.) Without radical ideas, we go backwards. It is the revolutionaries that keep the rest of us honest.
(They have a spot where you can add your little banner on which you write what you will do to keep the spirit of the Revolution alive and a whole lot of them had various versions of #resist and fight Trump.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:27 AM on July 4, 2018 [36 favorites]
We went to the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia yesterday (do recommend, though do not recommend for young children--my six year old predictably could not give a single shit about any of it because he still doesn't understand that life existed before he was born) and it gave me Some Thoughts about our current garbage fire. The most salient of which is: advocate for the most radical viable position always, with the understanding that it will inevitably be moderated by the time it gets codified. (You can pretend to be outraged when full luxury gay space communism doesn't break out instantly--it is in fact your duty to do so.) Without radical ideas, we go backwards. It is the revolutionaries that keep the rest of us honest.
(They have a spot where you can add your little banner on which you write what you will do to keep the spirit of the Revolution alive and a whole lot of them had various versions of #resist and fight Trump.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:27 AM on July 4, 2018 [36 favorites]
I also joined the DSA today, despite things being tight around here. Onwards, comrades!
I'd love to join the wobblies, but as a small business owner (very small, just me, and getting smaller, if revenue is any indication) I'm ineligible, alas.
posted by maxwelton at 12:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
I'd love to join the wobblies, but as a small business owner (very small, just me, and getting smaller, if revenue is any indication) I'm ineligible, alas.
posted by maxwelton at 12:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
TL:DR - The idea is a military invasion of Venezuela.
Hah that's a good one, I almost believe it in this timeline but even Trump wouldn... *clicks link*
well fuck me
posted by Justinian at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
Hah that's a good one, I almost believe it in this timeline but even Trump wouldn... *clicks link*
well fuck me
posted by Justinian at 12:08 PM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
scalefree, thanks so much for posting links to those two large pdfs of declarations from the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration. For those who haven't looked yet, they contain declarations from (among many others):
- family members of detained children
- social services personnel working with detainees
- officials with County and state child welfare agencies
- experts providing statistical analysis on whether the child separation policy deterred family migration
- lawyers trying to represent detained children without access to the parents who could provide facts in support of asylum applications
- a former ORR official, on the differences between housing and placing actual unaccompanied minors and housing and placing minors forcibly taken from their parents by the government
- a Holocaust survivor who was a child refugee
- a survivor of the Japanese American internment camps
They are essential reading for learning about all these different facets of what is going on, and will probably be a critical part of the historical record. But they also carry a meta-message about the amazing coordinated work that is being done by so many different people to attack the cruel and unnecessary zero tolerance policy, which I found inspired hope in me even as I found some of the declarations themselves to be heartbreaking.
Search the thread for "klasfeld" to find the links.
posted by mabelstreet at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
- family members of detained children
- social services personnel working with detainees
- officials with County and state child welfare agencies
- experts providing statistical analysis on whether the child separation policy deterred family migration
- lawyers trying to represent detained children without access to the parents who could provide facts in support of asylum applications
- a former ORR official, on the differences between housing and placing actual unaccompanied minors and housing and placing minors forcibly taken from their parents by the government
- a Holocaust survivor who was a child refugee
- a survivor of the Japanese American internment camps
They are essential reading for learning about all these different facets of what is going on, and will probably be a critical part of the historical record. But they also carry a meta-message about the amazing coordinated work that is being done by so many different people to attack the cruel and unnecessary zero tolerance policy, which I found inspired hope in me even as I found some of the declarations themselves to be heartbreaking.
Search the thread for "klasfeld" to find the links.
posted by mabelstreet at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
WNYC Studios: USCIS is Starting a Denaturalization Task Force
@dataandpolitics
Until 1990, gays and lesbians were ineligible for naturalization because of a law that barred entry to the United States to people with “psychopathic personalities and sexual deviants.”
Any LGBT person who naturalized before 1990 is therefore eligible for denaturalization.
posted by chris24 at 12:27 PM on July 4, 2018 [45 favorites]
@dataandpolitics
Until 1990, gays and lesbians were ineligible for naturalization because of a law that barred entry to the United States to people with “psychopathic personalities and sexual deviants.”
Any LGBT person who naturalized before 1990 is therefore eligible for denaturalization.
posted by chris24 at 12:27 PM on July 4, 2018 [45 favorites]
Trump really wants to invade Venezuela
This would have been news in 2017, which makes me wonder why we're hearing about it now. Tillerson and McMasters are gone, so maybe they or their partisans are comfortable leaking this to put Trump's bellicosity in context.
This year, I'm going out on a limb to say, will be about the Trump administration wanting to invade Iran. (A lot will depend on what kind of deal Putin strikes with Trump, Netanyahu, and Erdoğan, so watch what leaks out around the Helsinki summit.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:29 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
This would have been news in 2017, which makes me wonder why we're hearing about it now. Tillerson and McMasters are gone, so maybe they or their partisans are comfortable leaking this to put Trump's bellicosity in context.
This year, I'm going out on a limb to say, will be about the Trump administration wanting to invade Iran. (A lot will depend on what kind of deal Putin strikes with Trump, Netanyahu, and Erdoğan, so watch what leaks out around the Helsinki summit.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:29 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) is writing in the Post! Pride Month is over. Welcome to LGBTQ Wrath Month.
Stonewall. The White Night Riots. ACT UP. Wrath Month is a chance to remember that before our symbol was a rainbow, it was a hurled brick.posted by zachlipton at 12:32 PM on July 4, 2018 [51 favorites]
Civility be damned, then, along with everything else about us. Let justice be done, though the heavens themselves may fall. To our people: Let nothing stand which offends your dignity. To our allies: Help us, really help us, or get out of the way. To our enemies: This army of lovers will stamp out your bigotry.
And to all: I wish you a furious Wrath Month.
I don't think Putin wants an Iran war. So wether it happens depends a lot on how much Trump serves Putin.
posted by mumimor at 12:39 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 12:39 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd love to join the wobblies, but as a small business owner (very small, just me, and getting smaller, if revenue is any indication) I'm ineligible, alas.
maxwelton - I think you may be eligible, as a self-employed sole proprietor. (See also: Section 8-5: Sole Proprietor Business Criteria and Policies; recognition form.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:41 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
maxwelton - I think you may be eligible, as a self-employed sole proprietor. (See also: Section 8-5: Sole Proprietor Business Criteria and Policies; recognition form.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:41 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
NBC/Vanity Fair reporter Emily Jane Fox @emilyjanefox noticed that today Michael Cohen deleted "personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump" from his Twitter bio. "Happy Fourth of July to all!" he tweeted.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:43 PM on July 4, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:43 PM on July 4, 2018 [35 favorites]
I'd love to join the wobblies, but as a small business owner (very small, just me, and getting smaller, if revenue is any indication) I'm ineligible, alas.
maxwelton, I think you are still eligible to join the General Defense Committee.
Any member of the IWW in good standing may be a member of the GDC, but non-members who subscribe to the general principles and aims of the IWW and GDC may join as well.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
maxwelton, I think you are still eligible to join the General Defense Committee.
Any member of the IWW in good standing may be a member of the GDC, but non-members who subscribe to the general principles and aims of the IWW and GDC may join as well.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
NBC/Vanity Fair reporter Emily Jane Fox @emilyjanefox noticed that today Michael Cohen deleted "personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump" from his Twitter bio.
Status: It's complicated
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
Status: It's complicated
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
The Portland chapter of the IWW had a fairly high profile issue regarding a group of members being very pro-NAMBLA, but those people were allegedly kicked out.
posted by gucci mane at 1:06 PM on July 4, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 1:06 PM on July 4, 2018
And they did score a win for the Burgerville Worker’s Union, which is great.
Burgerville Workers Union Becomes First Formally Recognized Fast Food Union in the US
posted by gucci mane at 1:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Burgerville Workers Union Becomes First Formally Recognized Fast Food Union in the US
posted by gucci mane at 1:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Another new DSA member here. Onward!
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:43 PM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:43 PM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'm watching a livestream of a woman protesting at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. Police are there, she appears to be a WOC, and I am feeling so much dread right now.
posted by Ruki at 1:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 1:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
The QAnon community is having its periodic When Prophecy Fails moment. One of the photos "Q" posted, purporting to be from inside Air Force One, turned out to be a piss-poor photoshop job on an Obama-era still. This is a double-blow, as it comes on the heels of the disappointingly anti-climactic guilty plea of Trump's Pakistani Mystery Man that they had thought would blast the whole thing wide open and bring the Great Awakening. The Q cult will continue, however, because it will outlive all of us.
In other crankosphere news Jordan Peterson says he's consumed only beef, salt and water for the last two months and claims it has given him vibrant skin and perfect gums. Once he slipped up and drank some cider and it made him literally unable to sleep for 25 days, "lying in bed, frozen in terror, with an overwhelming sense of impending doom." All indicators that he's about to weave his cocoon and undergo his final and terrible transformation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:57 PM on July 4, 2018 [42 favorites]
In other crankosphere news Jordan Peterson says he's consumed only beef, salt and water for the last two months and claims it has given him vibrant skin and perfect gums. Once he slipped up and drank some cider and it made him literally unable to sleep for 25 days, "lying in bed, frozen in terror, with an overwhelming sense of impending doom." All indicators that he's about to weave his cocoon and undergo his final and terrible transformation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:57 PM on July 4, 2018 [42 favorites]
"lying in bed, frozen in terror, with an overwhelming sense of impending doom."
That's soooooome cider.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:08 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
That's soooooome cider.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:08 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Couple critical after exposure to ‘unknown substance’ in British town where Russian spy poisoned
Update from the Metropolitan Police:
Update from the Metropolitan Police:
This evening we have received test results from Porton Down that show the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.posted by zachlipton at 2:14 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
This evening we have received test results from Porton Down that show the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.
How many GOP Senators are in Russia trying to make nice at the moment again?
posted by PenDevil at 2:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [39 favorites]
How many GOP Senators are in Russia trying to make nice at the moment again?
posted by PenDevil at 2:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [39 favorites]
Somebody is eventually going to have to say "enough" to Russia. It's not gonna be Trump. And the UK's response to the previous incident with Novichok boiled down to "stop or we'll say stop again!". So I don't have any confidence Russia has received or will receive any message but "you can act with impunity."
posted by Justinian at 2:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 2:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Is Putin at this point basically double-daring Theresa May to exile Russian cash from London while she's trying to pull Brexit off?
posted by PenDevil at 2:20 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 2:20 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Interesting timing: Russia has playfully said Theresa May would be welcome to attend England’s World Cup quarter-final on Saturday
posted by dng at 2:25 PM on July 4, 2018
posted by dng at 2:25 PM on July 4, 2018
Mainly I think the message is “you have no allies left and we will fuck with you however you like now”. There’s no US help now Putin owns it, NATO goes with that, they just turned their back on the EU and any dreams of defending themselves alone are James Bond bullshit. Basically as a small impoverished country with no friends the UK is going to be Russia’s plaything.
posted by Artw at 2:28 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 2:28 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
This evening we have received test results from Porton Down that show the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.
You know what would be really nice would be if the media that named the couple involved and at first outright said in so many words that they were suspected of catching a hot batch of heroin would apologize to them for having done so. I’m not holding my breath.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:29 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
You know what would be really nice would be if the media that named the couple involved and at first outright said in so many words that they were suspected of catching a hot batch of heroin would apologize to them for having done so. I’m not holding my breath.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:29 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Also, now May has to decide whether to pull the English football team out of the World Cup after the team has advanced further than it ever has in decades.
posted by PenDevil at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by PenDevil at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
In other crankosphere news Jordan Peterson says he's consumed only beef, salt and water for the last two months and claims it has given him vibrant skin and perfect gums.
I’m pretty sure scorbutus does not make for good gums.
posted by TedW at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
I’m pretty sure scorbutus does not make for good gums.
posted by TedW at 2:32 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Also, now May has to decide whether to pull the English football team out of the World Cup after the team has advanced further than it ever has in decades.
If she really wanted to strike back at Russia she’d stop Brexit, but fuck all chance of that. No spine.
posted by Artw at 2:33 PM on July 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
If she really wanted to strike back at Russia she’d stop Brexit, but fuck all chance of that. No spine.
posted by Artw at 2:33 PM on July 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Usual caveats on Reagan praise and, of course, his prior work for Rs helped lead to this moment.
MaPo (Max Boot): I left the Republican Party. Now I want Democrats to take over
MaPo (Max Boot): I left the Republican Party. Now I want Democrats to take over
...Personally, I’ve thrown up my hands in despair at the debased state of the GOP. I don’t want to be identified with the party of the child-snatchers. But I respect principled conservatives who are willing to stay and fight to reclaim a once-great party that freed the slaves and helped to win the Cold War. What I can’t respect are head-in-the-sand conservatives who continue to support the GOP by pretending that nothing has changed.posted by chris24 at 2:38 PM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
They act, these political ostriches, as if this were still the party of Ronald Reagan and John McCain rather than of Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller — and therefore they cling to the illusion that supporting Republican candidates will advance their avowed views. Wrong. The current GOP still has a few resemblances to the party of old — it still cuts taxes and supports conservative judges. But a vote for the GOP in November is also a vote for egregious obstruction of justice, rampant conflicts of interest, the demonization of minorities, the debasement of political discourse, the alienation of America’s allies, the end of free trade and the appeasement of dictators.
That is why I join Will and other principled conservatives, both current and former Republicans, in rooting for a Democratic takeover of both houses in November. Like postwar Germany and Japan, the Republican Party must first be destroyed before it can be rebuilt.
Basically as a small impoverished country with no friends the UK is going to be Russia’s plaything.
The UK has the 5th highest GDP in the world, and has a GDP between 1.7 and 2x as high as Russia's...
posted by Justinian at 2:38 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
The UK has the 5th highest GDP in the world, and has a GDP between 1.7 and 2x as high as Russia's...
posted by Justinian at 2:38 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
The UK has the 5th highest GDP in the world, and has a GDP between 1.7 and 2x as high as Russia's...
It's not going to be that way for long after Brexit. They're about to put a bullet in the head of the UK financial services industry which is 6-7% of their GDP. They're handcuffing creative services making it harder to for them to work for industries on the continent. Hotels, real estate, retail. All of these will have their pound of flesh taken.
The only industry in Britain that won't be negatively affected by Brexit will be rambling by incompetent racist morons.
The question is what happens with the inevitable Brexit recession.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:49 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
It's not going to be that way for long after Brexit. They're about to put a bullet in the head of the UK financial services industry which is 6-7% of their GDP. They're handcuffing creative services making it harder to for them to work for industries on the continent. Hotels, real estate, retail. All of these will have their pound of flesh taken.
The only industry in Britain that won't be negatively affected by Brexit will be rambling by incompetent racist morons.
The question is what happens with the inevitable Brexit recession.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:49 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Another new DSA member here. Onward!
I have also been motivated today to join, Comrades.
posted by mikelieman at 2:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
I have also been motivated today to join, Comrades.
posted by mikelieman at 2:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
Sessions rescinds DOJ guidance on refugees, asylum seekers' right to work
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Canadian Press, U.S. Border Patrol questions crews of at least 10 fishing vessels in Canadian waters
posted by zachlipton at 3:11 PM on July 4, 2018 [39 favorites]
A spokesperson for New Brunswick fishermen based on Grand Manan Island says at least 10 Canadian fishing boats have been intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents since last week while fishing in the disputed waters around Machias Seal Island.This seems like a phenomenally poor use of government resources.
Laurence Cook, chairman of the LFA 38 Lobster Advisory Board, says some Canadian vessels were boarded by agents who asked about possible illegal immigrants.
Cook says he’s never before seen border patrol agents in the area, where the U.S. Coast Guard typically patrols.
posted by zachlipton at 3:11 PM on July 4, 2018 [39 favorites]
I wanted something to feel patriotic about today, so I joined too (and then spammed my siblings' 4th of July group text with individual links to their local chapters and a link to the sign up page)
posted by mabelstreet at 3:12 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by mabelstreet at 3:12 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
This seems like a phenomenally poor use of government resources.
And a desperate attempt by racists to give the appearance that they care about both borders
posted by mabelstreet at 3:16 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
And a desperate attempt by racists to give the appearance that they care about both borders
posted by mabelstreet at 3:16 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
The amount of dickery by US government agencies revealed in this NYT story is astonishing: A migrant mother separated from her children at the border traveled across the country to join them in New York.
It's something out of a satirical novel: her children are literally taken across the country (AZ to NY) and the government won't bring them: she (a refugee) has to go there. But she has no ID, so she can't fly. And she has to make regular appearances in court in Arizona, so she can't take the time to hitchhike.
"Activists" drive her to NY and substitute for her court appearances, but it turns out that the government won't release them without a host of formalities and says there is "a backlog on fingerprinting, and it might be 60 days before they [are] released." To which I say, that's an obvious lie; and the alleged lack of fingerprints didn't stop the government taking her kids, flying them across country and fostering them out to strangers.
Oh, and the internees' guards are every bit as sadistic and petty as you might think.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [68 favorites]
It's something out of a satirical novel: her children are literally taken across the country (AZ to NY) and the government won't bring them: she (a refugee) has to go there. But she has no ID, so she can't fly. And she has to make regular appearances in court in Arizona, so she can't take the time to hitchhike.
"Activists" drive her to NY and substitute for her court appearances, but it turns out that the government won't release them without a host of formalities and says there is "a backlog on fingerprinting, and it might be 60 days before they [are] released." To which I say, that's an obvious lie; and the alleged lack of fingerprints didn't stop the government taking her kids, flying them across country and fostering them out to strangers.
Oh, and the internees' guards are every bit as sadistic and petty as you might think.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [68 favorites]
I also did the patriotic thing! I'm officially a Comrade! #socialism I gave credit to MetaFilter and The Whelk on my questionnaire! #MakeAmericaPinkoAgain
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:26 PM on July 4, 2018 [21 favorites]
I am pleased to report that the Libertarian Party strengthened our "Free Trade and Migration" platform plank at our national convention this weekend. It now reads: "We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders."
The delegates also passed a resolution calling for the abolition of ICE. I don't have the exact wording yet.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:28 PM on July 4, 2018 [15 favorites]
The delegates also passed a resolution calling for the abolition of ICE. I don't have the exact wording yet.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:28 PM on July 4, 2018 [15 favorites]
Sessions rescinds DOJ guidance on refugees, asylum seekers' right to work.
Pretty soon they're going to have to find a new group to serve as a scapegoat for why everything is shitty & also do all the shitty low wage jobs for them. May I suggest prisoners? They can be forced to work for next to nothing & can be counted on to be an endless source of new crimes to keep their law abiding employers & fellow employees terrified.
posted by scalefree at 3:30 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Pretty soon they're going to have to find a new group to serve as a scapegoat for why everything is shitty & also do all the shitty low wage jobs for them. May I suggest prisoners? They can be forced to work for next to nothing & can be counted on to be an endless source of new crimes to keep their law abiding employers & fellow employees terrified.
posted by scalefree at 3:30 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
do all the shitty low wage jobs for them. May I suggest prisoners?
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
posted by Jacqueline at 3:36 PM on July 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
posted by Jacqueline at 3:36 PM on July 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
OK, I'm in too. Thanks Mabelstreet for the link to the sign up page, that and the rest of you signing up today pushed me over the edge to join the DSA.
posted by Captain Shenanigan at 3:59 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Captain Shenanigan at 3:59 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
CNBC: Wilbur Ross Says He Shorted Two More Stocks During His Time As Commerce Secretary
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:04 PM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
Facing scrutiny for his financial holdings, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has revealed to CNBC that last year he shorted shares in two more companies than previously had been reported.[...]Pruitt takes up so much headline space with his flamboyant, flailing corruption, Trump's other cabinet secretaries can pull off this kind of shady practice under the radar.
The secretary noted that he had been in the process of divesting himself of known stakes in the companies before becoming aware of the fact he had been awarded additional small stakes in each of the five firms as a benefit of having served on their boards of directors. Those shares were held in accounts he had been unaware of, he said.
Ross said the short sales in all five cases — which occurred during his tenure as Commerce secretary — zeroed out his stakes in the companies. After Ross covered the short positions, he realized no profit, or loss, on the trades, he said.[...]
Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told CNBC: “I never heard of someone using short positions to divest.”
“I helped in hundreds of transactions for employees entering government,” noted Painter, who is now a Democratic candidate for senator in Minnesota. “This is not an acceptable situation.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:04 PM on July 4, 2018 [26 favorites]
I also joined the DSA today. Yay, pinkos!
posted by palomar at 4:15 PM on July 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by palomar at 4:15 PM on July 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
Time for a MF DSA SIG.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:22 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:22 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
Not the Vineyard, no! (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
When I see people massed with signs to complain about oppression, I wonder: Have they seen other people leaving for croquet and known they were excluded? Have they seen what Jared and Ivanka may suffer at the Hamptons? This is a nightmarish fate that the Founders would not have wished upon us. People may scarcely nod in their direction at group gatherings! They may heat the gazpacho before serving it to them. They may give them a peculiar number of forks and spoons in no way correlated with their number of courses. At the bottom of their martinis, curled inside the olive, may lie a rude note. To what depths will these foes of free social intercourse not sink?posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:27 PM on July 4, 2018 [25 favorites]
This is like when John Lewis was not allowed to join a bridge foursome. Or he had some other bridge-related problem. Anyway, this is the cruelest cut of all. A paper cut. From real stationery. It is too far.
@brianstelter: NBC, citing a law enforcement source, says the trespasser at the Statue of Liberty "is telling the police that she will not come down willingly until 'All the children have been released.'"
She has since been removed from the statue by police. I don't believe we know her name yet, but may she join the ranks of Bree Newsome.
posted by zachlipton at 4:27 PM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
She has since been removed from the statue by police. I don't believe we know her name yet, but may she join the ranks of Bree Newsome.
posted by zachlipton at 4:27 PM on July 4, 2018 [29 favorites]
I bought a tshirt and made a donation to Rise and Resist for that.
posted by Ruki at 4:41 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 4:41 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
One more in for DSA. Thanks, y'all, for pushing me over the edge. Solidarity forever!!!
posted by wemayfreeze at 4:48 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by wemayfreeze at 4:48 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
I'm already a DSA member, so out of appreciation for all of you, today I finally signed up to be a MeFi subscriber.
posted by shenderson at 4:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [88 favorites]
posted by shenderson at 4:56 PM on July 4, 2018 [88 favorites]
I've probably been in DSA since before The Whelk was born, but he did make me go online and pay my dues. I can't tell you how heartening it is to see this resurgence; when I was active, we would read Gramsci and then endorse Fritz Mondale for President.
posted by acrasis at 4:58 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by acrasis at 4:58 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Inside the Christian legal powerhouse that keeps winning at the Supreme Court (Jessica Contrera, WaPo)
Though far from a household name, the results of [Alliance Defending Freedom]'s work are well known. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was just one of ADF’s cases at the Supreme Court this term. The organization has had nine successful cases before the court in the past seven years, including Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which allowed corporations to opt out of covering contraceptives based on religious beliefs. And it was ADF that created model legislation for “bathroom bills,” which bar students from using restrooms that don’t correlate to their sex at birth.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:04 PM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Opponents say ADF is seeking to enshrine discrimination into law. But to its supporters, ADF is fighting for the right of Christians to openly express their faith — and winning.
I imagine everyone joining the DSA then running outside to do this in celebration. Happy 4th y’all we’re gonna take this fucking country back.
posted by supercrayon at 5:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by supercrayon at 5:24 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump hates the international organizations that are the basis of U.S. wealth, prosperity and military power.
This is the background that you need to understand the emotions around the next NATO summit on July 11-12, as well as the Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting on July 16. For the first time since 1945, Europe is grappling with an American president who has a fundamentally different view of America’s international role. Trump no longer wants the United States to be the West’s central organizing force. He no longer cares about the benefits that role has brought, if he even understands them.posted by scalefree at 5:50 PM on July 4, 2018 [15 favorites]
But although Trump’s dislike of U.S. allies has been clear for decades, only now is that dislike shaping into a clear policy: Europeans are bracing for a United States that no longer considers security and defense organizations to be special and inviolable. Instead, Trump sees the American commitments to all of the institutions he despises as bargaining chips, and he is prepared to use U.S. troops in Europe to force Europeans to make concessions on trade and other things. He may use his meeting with Putin for the same purpose: To intimidate the British, the Germans and others worried by aggressive Russian behavior, and to force them to do what he wants, in whatever sphere he happens to care about. Everything is up for grabs.
This new attitude has already had one very minor, little-noticed effect: The radical-right Polish government last week unexpectedly rushed through amendments to a law it had passed curtailing public debate about the Holocaust. For months, the government wasted its political capital defending this ludicrous law, which was particularly offensive to the Israelis, not to mention many Poles. But in the run-up to the NATO summit, the Polish leadership is terrified that U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Poland; Polish leaders know Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is close to Trump, and they don’t want to give the White House any excuses.
Read the whole thing, there's some persuasive insights into what's coming down the pike for us. It ain't pretty.
posted by scalefree at 5:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by scalefree at 5:53 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know whether this is appropriate - I suppose if not, it'll just disappear - but I'd like to point out that as a non-subscriber to the Washington Post, I can only read the bits you quote. It's probably true for other non-subscribers, too, so if there's anything in there of especially interest you'll need to copy-and-paste it.
posted by Grangousier at 5:57 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 5:57 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
WTAF? I'm watching CNN and there was a just a preemptive attack ad about Trump's Supreme Court picks: describing Gorsuch as "fair and impartial" and claiming that only "the best of the best" are on the replacement list, and the requisite unflattering photos of democrats+ (Warren, Booker, Pelosi, Bernie, etc) and ominous music about how they'll unfairly obstruct things. UGH.
I guess I can be optimistic that this ad shows that the right wing is nervous about this despite having the power?
posted by TwoStride at 6:00 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I guess I can be optimistic that this ad shows that the right wing is nervous about this despite having the power?
posted by TwoStride at 6:00 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I just joined the DSA too. Was super easy, and it only costs $5 per month.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement, it felt really good to join. Probably the easiest bit of activism I've ever engaged in.
posted by weed donkey at 6:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
Thanks everyone for the encouragement, it felt really good to join. Probably the easiest bit of activism I've ever engaged in.
posted by weed donkey at 6:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
WTAF? I'm watching CNN
Well there's your problem.
posted by weed donkey at 6:02 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well there's your problem.
posted by weed donkey at 6:02 PM on July 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Grangousier, I use Chrome, and often right-click subscription links to open them in incognito mode.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
MF DSA SIG
Can I suggest that as our first action we seize the mostly-defunct mefi politics slack?
posted by contraption at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Can I suggest that as our first action we seize the mostly-defunct mefi politics slack?
posted by contraption at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't know whether this is appropriate - I suppose if not, it'll just disappear - but I'd like to point out that as a non-subscriber to the Washington Post, I can only read the bits you quote. It's probably true for other non-subscribers, too, so if there's anything in there of especially interest you'll need to copy-and-paste it.
I'm a non-subscriber also. I get a set number of free articles each month, I think 10. If I ever run out I find just switching to Private/Incognito mode lets me bypass the restrictions. Presumably the restriction is cookie based.
posted by scalefree at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm a non-subscriber also. I get a set number of free articles each month, I think 10. If I ever run out I find just switching to Private/Incognito mode lets me bypass the restrictions. Presumably the restriction is cookie based.
posted by scalefree at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Y'all might inspire me to rejoin DSA. I was a member in the late 80s-early 90s and met Barbara Ehrenreich at a DSA conference in Baltimore.
posted by perhapses at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by perhapses at 6:09 PM on July 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Consider me joined, Comrades. Let's get this done.
posted by mollweide at 6:16 PM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 6:16 PM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Can I suggest that as our first action we seize the mostly-defunct mefi politics slack?
Is there such a thing? Where do I sign up?
posted by scalefree at 6:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Is there such a thing? Where do I sign up?
posted by scalefree at 6:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thank you, Weed Donkey. I've been watching people talking about joining the DSA all day, thinking that I simply cannot afford it at the moment and I don't want to plead low-income when we really are (relatively) privileged in my household, just a hurting a little more than usual right now, and that hopefully temporarily. Thank you for pointing out that you can pay monthly; I'd missed that part when I took a look at joining a few days ago, and I can swing that. Y'all can add me to the list, comrades!
posted by thebrokedown at 6:21 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by thebrokedown at 6:21 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
When I attended my hometown Keep Families Together rally I chatted with a woman who told me she'd been a member since 1978. Then the next day I happened to draw her name in our phone bank calling national members who were in the area but might know we had a local chapter. She was interested but has been spending all her time lately knocking doors with Indivisible to try and flip the neighboring vulnerable house seat. Things are happening, folks.
posted by contraption at 6:22 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by contraption at 6:22 PM on July 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Trump hates the international organizations that are the basis of U.S. wealth, prosperity and military power.
A year and a half into the Trump administration, Applebaum still misunderstands the antipathy of Trump's zero-sum mindset toward the compromises of the international order.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:23 PM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
A year and a half into the Trump administration, Applebaum still misunderstands the antipathy of Trump's zero-sum mindset toward the compromises of the international order.
There have always been downsides to the American-led international order, for everybody. It was a series of negotiated trade-offs: You win some, you lose some. Mostly, America won. There was a reason successive American administrations supported the WTO, NATO, NAFTA and the E.U.: These organizations were the basis for American military power, as well as for American wealth and prosperity. If Trump destroys the trust upon which this system was based, it may never be revived. Europe may be poorer and more unstable as a result. But so will the United States.The other factor Applebaum underestimates is Trump's love of chaos, which he's always leveraged in his business deals to screw his negotiating partners. In 2014, he tellingly told Fox News, "When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell and everything is a disaster. Then you’ll have a [chuckles], you know, you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:23 PM on July 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
> Also, now May has to decide whether to pull the English football team out of the World Cup after the team has advanced further than it ever has in decades.
Is anyone suggesting this is even a possibility? I think Putin would have to formally declare war on Britain and maybe even that wouldn’t be enough.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:50 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is anyone suggesting this is even a possibility? I think Putin would have to formally declare war on Britain and maybe even that wouldn’t be enough.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:50 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
For the U.S., a frustrating history of recovering human remains in North Korea (WaPo):
The U.S. military has not recovered remains directly from North Korean officials since 2005, when the administration of George W. Bush stopped the program as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang rose.The article also includes the detail that the repatriation of these remains isn't a Trump administration deal, the groundwork was already worked out by former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson during the Obama administration:
Trump told a crowd of supporters on June 20 that 200 human remains had already “been sent back.” But U.S. military officials said afterward that was not the case.
Repatriation also has been complicated by money. The United States has sent North Korea $22 million since 1990 as it recovered an estimated 629 sets of remains, said Chuck Prichard, a U.S. military spokesman. The Pentagon says it reimburses North Korea for the costs of recovery but does not pay for the remains themselves. Critics see that as akin to a fig leaf, with the North Koreans running up the tab to help pay for their nuclear program.
...
A State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, said he could not yet address whether the United States expects to recover all 200 sets of remains that are believed to be ready for transfer or whether it would pay North Korea for handling them. The U.S. military recently disclosed it has sent 100 “temporary transit cases” to the border between the two Koreas “to receive and transport remains in a dignified manner.”
In 2016, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, run by the former governor, sent another team to North Korea to bring home Otto Warmbier, the American college student who was arrested and accused of attempting to steal a political poster. Richardson said the plan included recovering Warmbier, who died in Ohio last year after North Korea returned him with severe brain damage, along with several sets of human remains.posted by peeedro at 7:50 PM on July 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
In an attempt to keep the trip low-profile, Richardson stayed behind and sent the center’s vice president, Mickey Bergman. The group returned to the United States in September 2016 with an offer from North Korea to repatriate the remains of about 200 deceased service members, Bergman said.
The timing was complicated. The Obama administration continued to be “quite wary of taking the North Korean bait on some sort of diversionary tactic,” as Washington prioritized the threat of Pyongyang building up its nuclear weapons program, Russel said.
Then Trump won the presidency that November. Bergman said his group floated another proposal in which the president-elect would send a Trump Organization plane to the Korean Peninsula to recover remains before he took office. But the plan never got traction.
“We tried. It’s not that he said, ‘No,’ ” Bergman said. “We just couldn’t get it in front of him. And then the inauguration happened, and we were waiting to see what happened.”
Roadmap for Renewal: A Legislative Blueprint for Protecting our Democracy proposes 21 reforms to strengthen our democracy.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:44 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Our political system – like many liberal democracies around the world – is experiencing a turbulent moment. With the country divided, a President lashing out at checks and balances, a Congress abdicating its basic legislative and oversight responsibilities, and a government failing to address the country’s pressing public policy challenges, it is all too easy to despair. And yet, America has gone through worse and emerged stronger for it. Our country’s political course can change quickly. We expect it will do so again.The proposals seem reasonable. This isn't more Third Way bullshit, is it?
The next Congress will have an opportunity and an obligation to enact legislation to restore weakened norms, rebuild damaged institutions, and revive the public’s confidence in our democracy.
This document proposes a package of legislative measures to restore and shore up the fundamental structures, institutions, and norms of our constitutional democracy. We propose twenty-one reforms in five categories. The first three categories focus on the branches of government: (i) strengthening Congress’s capacity to fulfill its constitutional role; (ii) constraining abuses of executive power; and (iii) protecting the courts as a check on the other branches in order to uphold the constitution.
The other two categories focus on the most important part of our democracy: we the people. The fourth category – protecting inclusive and fact-based democratic dissent, debate, and participation – addresses how to make sure the public is accurately informed about our government and able to fully and inclusively participate in the public sphere without fear of threat or intimidation. The final category – modernizing our campaigns and election system to protect and enhance participation and accurately reflect the views of voters – focuses on how to ensure that our elections reflect the democratic choices of the country.
This is a package that Republicans and Democrats in Congress should embrace. The proposals do not fall along traditional partisan lines: some address issues that have long been championed by Republicans, others by Democrats, and many others that have not been on the political radar until recently. The proposals draw on smart ideas from others across the political and ideological spectrum – including think tanks, expert policymakers, and NGOs. Much reform is needed, and this blueprint is just a starting point. We welcome additional suggestions and ideas for improving this blueprint, which you can submit on our website: RoadmapForRenewal.com.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:44 PM on July 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
I also joined up with the DSA a few weeks ago. It's a party!
I am also my precincts brand new Assistant Head Election Judge this year. The position is thoroughly non-political, but there are situations in which two people from different parties must sign off on a document, or do a task together like take a ballot out to a person who cannot leave their car. I can't wait to declare that I am a member of the DSA and that I would be happy to be the "other party person" and sign off on everything.
posted by Elly Vortex at 8:46 PM on July 4, 2018 [19 favorites]
I am also my precincts brand new Assistant Head Election Judge this year. The position is thoroughly non-political, but there are situations in which two people from different parties must sign off on a document, or do a task together like take a ballot out to a person who cannot leave their car. I can't wait to declare that I am a member of the DSA and that I would be happy to be the "other party person" and sign off on everything.
posted by Elly Vortex at 8:46 PM on July 4, 2018 [19 favorites]
The proposals seem reasonable. This isn't more Third Way bullshit, is it?
That's the group formed by some Obama White House Counsel alums. Sure all that sounds great, except literally zero Republicans would ever actually do any of it for any reason, because they're winning by cheating, so why the fuck would they stop? Asking Republicans politely to please stop fucking over liberals for the sake of small-d democracy is a fools errand and always has been. The only way to save the country is to defeat Republicans, utterly. This group is pissing away money, but hey, Democratic consultants have to eat and vacation on Nantucket too.
It's like if you distilled Obamaism into a 501c4 and freebased it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:07 PM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
That's the group formed by some Obama White House Counsel alums. Sure all that sounds great, except literally zero Republicans would ever actually do any of it for any reason, because they're winning by cheating, so why the fuck would they stop? Asking Republicans politely to please stop fucking over liberals for the sake of small-d democracy is a fools errand and always has been. The only way to save the country is to defeat Republicans, utterly. This group is pissing away money, but hey, Democratic consultants have to eat and vacation on Nantucket too.
It's like if you distilled Obamaism into a 501c4 and freebased it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:07 PM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
The proposals seem reasonable. This isn't more Third Way bullshit, is it?
Doesn't read like it offhand. It also doesn't look like something that can pass until we have a veto-proof majority in both House & Senate or both houses & a new President. Whenever I read a legislative fix for the mess we're in I ask "can it pass?" This can't. It won't even hit the floor of either house until they flip.
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Doesn't read like it offhand. It also doesn't look like something that can pass until we have a veto-proof majority in both House & Senate or both houses & a new President. Whenever I read a legislative fix for the mess we're in I ask "can it pass?" This can't. It won't even hit the floor of either house until they flip.
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Back home in time to join DSA before midnight with the sound of artillery all around.
EL PUEBLO UNIDO
JAMÁS SERÁ VENCIDO
posted by salix at 9:15 PM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
EL PUEBLO UNIDO
JAMÁS SERÁ VENCIDO
posted by salix at 9:15 PM on July 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
The proposals seem reasonable. This isn't more Third Way bullshit, is it?
we are way past the point of reasonable proposals
posted by murphy slaw at 9:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
we are way past the point of reasonable proposals
posted by murphy slaw at 9:17 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
And yet, America has gone through worse and emerged stronger for it.
They say this to be hopeful. And, while what they are saying is technically true, I would like them to provide some examples of worse things we have gone through which we got through without widespread violence or mass unrest. Because it's less hopeful if you're like "yeah the Civil War was worse but we were stronger as a nation after killing 1 out of 10 adult men in the country."?
posted by Justinian at 9:33 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
They say this to be hopeful. And, while what they are saying is technically true, I would like them to provide some examples of worse things we have gone through which we got through without widespread violence or mass unrest. Because it's less hopeful if you're like "yeah the Civil War was worse but we were stronger as a nation after killing 1 out of 10 adult men in the country."?
posted by Justinian at 9:33 PM on July 4, 2018 [16 favorites]
The optimistic case is the Civil Rights era and that only involved killing people on a smaller scale and setting dogs on folks and firehosing them?
posted by Justinian at 9:35 PM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 9:35 PM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
She has since been removed from the statue by police. I don't believe we know her name yet, but may she join the ranks of Bree Newsome.
Her name is Therese Okoumou, an immigrant from the Dem. Rep of Congo.
As stated in the Constitution, whomever climbs the Statue of Liberty becomes our new president.
posted by AFABulous at 9:44 PM on July 4, 2018 [61 favorites]
Her name is Therese Okoumou, an immigrant from the Dem. Rep of Congo.
As stated in the Constitution, whomever climbs the Statue of Liberty becomes our new president.
posted by AFABulous at 9:44 PM on July 4, 2018 [61 favorites]
do all the shitty low wage jobs for them. May I suggest prisoners?
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
This reminded me of an article I read in The Atlantic over 20 years ago on the conditions that migrant farm workers endure, which is, in many cases, near indistinguishable from slavery/prisons. It may have been the first thing to truly open my eyes to what is happening and has stuck with me after all this time: In the Strawberry Fields by Eric Schlosser (1995)
posted by triggerfinger at 9:51 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
This reminded me of an article I read in The Atlantic over 20 years ago on the conditions that migrant farm workers endure, which is, in many cases, near indistinguishable from slavery/prisons. It may have been the first thing to truly open my eyes to what is happening and has stuck with me after all this time: In the Strawberry Fields by Eric Schlosser (1995)
posted by triggerfinger at 9:51 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
The only way to save the country is to defeat Republicans, utterly.
Great! After we do that, what are the safeguards we should put in place to make sure our democracy works in the future? I’d love to see those, maybe on a website, maybe thought through by very smart people? Where can I find that?
You’re acting like any and all energy not laser focused on the right here right now electoral needs is rearranging the deck chairs. It’s not. There’s lots and lots and lots of work to do and I’m very glad there are people out there doing this important work.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:54 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Great! After we do that, what are the safeguards we should put in place to make sure our democracy works in the future? I’d love to see those, maybe on a website, maybe thought through by very smart people? Where can I find that?
You’re acting like any and all energy not laser focused on the right here right now electoral needs is rearranging the deck chairs. It’s not. There’s lots and lots and lots of work to do and I’m very glad there are people out there doing this important work.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:54 PM on July 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Edward R. Murrow and CBS News showed America the plight of migrant farm workers in Prime Time in 1960. "Harvest of Shame" was just as shameful 50 years later.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
Policy work like Roadmap to Renewal can do many things, and being immediately actionable is only one. For instance this is a great set of recommendations for candidates for office to get behind and to tout as part of their platforms. It can help jaded voters to imagine a better version of our system, instead of throwing their hands up and saying Fuck it. And if it’s well discussed and worked out ahead of this future republican defeat, then it becomes much quicker to pass when the time comes.
Your negativity for it is I think incredibly misplaced.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Your negativity for it is I think incredibly misplaced.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:01 PM on July 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Any energy spent reaching out to Republicans like they can be participants in whatever comes after this form of "democracy", yes, is wasted. They can't. Ask Jeff Flake and Susan Collins if they'd forego another tax cut for "protecting inclusive and fact-based democratic dissent" and get back to me. Either Democrats turn out enough base and non-voters to win in spite of them, or we live in a fascist state the rest of our lives.
It'd be nice if more Obama alums recognized that. But again, there's a beach house in Martha's Vineyard at stake here.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:02 PM on July 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
It'd be nice if more Obama alums recognized that. But again, there's a beach house in Martha's Vineyard at stake here.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:02 PM on July 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
The webpage mentions Republicans once, and bipartisan a couple times. In no way is it the basis of the project and I think dismissing the whole thing for that is a classic baby/bath water situation.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:06 PM on July 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
There's a giant moral hazard there with the 13th amendment. Convict someone of anything and you can make them property of the state. It's chattel slavery with some extra steps but with taxpayers paying for the upkeep instead of the owners. On my pie in the sky wish list is the 13th amendment being amended to completely ban slavery. We could very well see a mass resurgence of slavery legitimized by draconian punishments for trivial actions in our lifetimes.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:18 PM on July 4, 2018 [32 favorites]
There's a giant moral hazard there with the 13th amendment. Convict someone of anything and you can make them property of the state. It's chattel slavery with some extra steps but with taxpayers paying for the upkeep instead of the owners. On my pie in the sky wish list is the 13th amendment being amended to completely ban slavery. We could very well see a mass resurgence of slavery legitimized by draconian punishments for trivial actions in our lifetimes.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:18 PM on July 4, 2018 [32 favorites]
The webpage mentions Republicans once, and bipartisan a couple times. In no way is it the basis of the project and I think dismissing the whole thing for that is a classic baby/bath water situation.
Without significant GOP support we'd need a veto-proof majority in both House & Senate because there's no way in heaven or hell Trump will sign any bill that limits his freedom to act untethered. It's a good policy to run on but it won't be implemented any time soon. To suggest a better metaphor, you're putting the cart before the horse. I won't go so far as to say any effort on it is strictly wasted but it's not a priority until we have a much more functional democracy that can implement it.
posted by scalefree at 10:37 PM on July 4, 2018
Without significant GOP support we'd need a veto-proof majority in both House & Senate because there's no way in heaven or hell Trump will sign any bill that limits his freedom to act untethered. It's a good policy to run on but it won't be implemented any time soon. To suggest a better metaphor, you're putting the cart before the horse. I won't go so far as to say any effort on it is strictly wasted but it's not a priority until we have a much more functional democracy that can implement it.
posted by scalefree at 10:37 PM on July 4, 2018
I won't go so far as to say any effort on it is strictly wasted but it's not a priority until we have a much more functional democracy that can implement it.
I think that policy wonks should keep doing policy things, because it's a specific skill and they're likely better at it than they would be at activism. The same way a graphic designer is more useful when making posters or videos than when they're doorknocking. Or a paramedic can volunteer to do first aid at protests. We need people with relevant skills to donate those and everyone else to do the rest. We don't need detailed policy yet, but it takes time to develop so it's good to start now so there's something solid that takes advantage of any momentum generated from a win in Congress numbers. If the Democrats take congress they can't just sit there twiddling their thumbs saying "oops, we weren't ready to lead". Developing policy is a practical act of optimism.
posted by harriet vane at 2:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [23 favorites]
I think that policy wonks should keep doing policy things, because it's a specific skill and they're likely better at it than they would be at activism. The same way a graphic designer is more useful when making posters or videos than when they're doorknocking. Or a paramedic can volunteer to do first aid at protests. We need people with relevant skills to donate those and everyone else to do the rest. We don't need detailed policy yet, but it takes time to develop so it's good to start now so there's something solid that takes advantage of any momentum generated from a win in Congress numbers. If the Democrats take congress they can't just sit there twiddling their thumbs saying "oops, we weren't ready to lead". Developing policy is a practical act of optimism.
posted by harriet vane at 2:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [23 favorites]
Developing policy is a practical act of optimism.
I couldn't possibly agree more...with qualifications.
With but a few exceptions, the policy folks I know — who'd all, no doubt, think of themselves as progressive Democrats, with social-democratic leanings — are so immersed in what the previous generation considers to be the "art of the possible" that they tend to preemptively blunt their asks. It's like they, almost to a one, absorbed the worst thing about Obamaness on the legislative level: the default assumption of comity, respect for process and a sincerely-held mutual desire for the country to thrive.
Well, we know those things don't exist any more, if they ever did, or were ever anything but a scrim behind which power did its thing regardless. What we need are a generation of radical wonks. And as you imply, this is an odd fit. Radical values tend to drive people toward shorter-term and less time-intensive strategies of redress, while the wonkish comfort with and even love of process can be a hard sell among people who want (and are, frankly, entitled to) change now. But I'd love to see more people try to square that particular circle.
I know it can be done, because I know people who've successfully balanced these contrasting tendencies of the heart and mind — labor lawyers, public defenders, advocates for the homeless, MD/MPH sorts who started out with an interest in harm reduction and have been radicalized by what they've encountered in the streets. In some ways they remind me of the folks I used to know on the Treatment and Data Committee of ACT/UP, thirty years ago: serious, methodical, disciplined, not at all given to histrionics, able to channel their righteous anger into research and testimony and the development of protocol, where I was infinitely more likely to express mine by throwing fistfuls of condoms at Randall Terry and getting arrested at protests. It was their form of direct action, it was profoundly necessary, and I've always been more than half in awe of those who were able to do that.
We need their equal now, to do the work of developing the policy, regulation and law we will so desperately need when this horror is at long last behind us.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:44 AM on July 5, 2018 [49 favorites]
I couldn't possibly agree more...with qualifications.
With but a few exceptions, the policy folks I know — who'd all, no doubt, think of themselves as progressive Democrats, with social-democratic leanings — are so immersed in what the previous generation considers to be the "art of the possible" that they tend to preemptively blunt their asks. It's like they, almost to a one, absorbed the worst thing about Obamaness on the legislative level: the default assumption of comity, respect for process and a sincerely-held mutual desire for the country to thrive.
Well, we know those things don't exist any more, if they ever did, or were ever anything but a scrim behind which power did its thing regardless. What we need are a generation of radical wonks. And as you imply, this is an odd fit. Radical values tend to drive people toward shorter-term and less time-intensive strategies of redress, while the wonkish comfort with and even love of process can be a hard sell among people who want (and are, frankly, entitled to) change now. But I'd love to see more people try to square that particular circle.
I know it can be done, because I know people who've successfully balanced these contrasting tendencies of the heart and mind — labor lawyers, public defenders, advocates for the homeless, MD/MPH sorts who started out with an interest in harm reduction and have been radicalized by what they've encountered in the streets. In some ways they remind me of the folks I used to know on the Treatment and Data Committee of ACT/UP, thirty years ago: serious, methodical, disciplined, not at all given to histrionics, able to channel their righteous anger into research and testimony and the development of protocol, where I was infinitely more likely to express mine by throwing fistfuls of condoms at Randall Terry and getting arrested at protests. It was their form of direct action, it was profoundly necessary, and I've always been more than half in awe of those who were able to do that.
We need their equal now, to do the work of developing the policy, regulation and law we will so desperately need when this horror is at long last behind us.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:44 AM on July 5, 2018 [49 favorites]
Basically as a small impoverished country with no friends the UK is going to be Russia’s plaything.
The UK has the 5th highest GDP in the world, and has a GDP between 1.7 and 2x as high as Russia's...
The UK is also incredibly dependent on fuel imports. As we saw a few years ago Russia can pull natural gas strings and make Europe dance. Even Germany is vulnerable since they shut down their nuclear reactors post-Fukushima.
Brexit and any American military adventurism in the Middle East could spark a devastating European crash. Their is already an international fascist movement. Imagine what would happen in those kinds of hothouse conditions.
posted by srboisvert at 3:53 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
The UK has the 5th highest GDP in the world, and has a GDP between 1.7 and 2x as high as Russia's...
The UK is also incredibly dependent on fuel imports. As we saw a few years ago Russia can pull natural gas strings and make Europe dance. Even Germany is vulnerable since they shut down their nuclear reactors post-Fukushima.
Brexit and any American military adventurism in the Middle East could spark a devastating European crash. Their is already an international fascist movement. Imagine what would happen in those kinds of hothouse conditions.
posted by srboisvert at 3:53 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
We're already there: A Disturbing Trend in Agriculture: Prisoner-Picked Vegetables
There's a giant moral hazard there with the 13th amendment. Convict someone of anything and you can make them property of the state. It's chattel slavery with some extra steps but with taxpayers paying for the upkeep instead of the owners. On my pie in the sky wish list is the 13th amendment being amended to completely ban slavery. We could very well see a mass resurgence of slavery legitimized by draconian punishments for trivial actions in our lifetimes.
I don't even need to go to agricultural fields to see the 13th amendment loophole in action. I just need to walk out my front door. My local neighborhood chamber of commerce "hires" Cook County Sheriff's work alternative program "volunteers" to clean the streets ( I've never seen a white person doing it in 5 years).
Community Service it's called.
posted by srboisvert at 4:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
There's a giant moral hazard there with the 13th amendment. Convict someone of anything and you can make them property of the state. It's chattel slavery with some extra steps but with taxpayers paying for the upkeep instead of the owners. On my pie in the sky wish list is the 13th amendment being amended to completely ban slavery. We could very well see a mass resurgence of slavery legitimized by draconian punishments for trivial actions in our lifetimes.
I don't even need to go to agricultural fields to see the 13th amendment loophole in action. I just need to walk out my front door. My local neighborhood chamber of commerce "hires" Cook County Sheriff's work alternative program "volunteers" to clean the streets ( I've never seen a white person doing it in 5 years).
Community Service it's called.
posted by srboisvert at 4:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
One 100-degree morning driving through Pine Bluff, Arkansas several years ago I saw a literal chain-gang--as in physically chained together--cleaning up a convenience store parking lot, complete with a horse-mounted policeman with a shotgun casually propped in his lap. It was horrifying and sickening.
posted by thebrokedown at 4:41 AM on July 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by thebrokedown at 4:41 AM on July 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
Wrapping up in two weeks (three months ago) eh, Rudy?
Bloomberg: Mueller Taps More Prosecutors to Help With Growing Trump Probe
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Bloomberg: Mueller Taps More Prosecutors to Help With Growing Trump Probe
posted by chris24 at 5:19 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Wait, I thought that the reason we always lose is that we don't have enough specific policy proposals and aren't for anything.
I can't keep all the reasons Dems Are In Disarray straight.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
I can't keep all the reasons Dems Are In Disarray straight.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
We laughed at the Republicans for not having legislation ready to go when they won control. We should have our legislation ready to go in case we win control. That means starting to talk now.
posted by M-x shell at 5:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [43 favorites]
posted by M-x shell at 5:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [43 favorites]
Bloomberg: Mueller Taps More Prosecutors to Help With Growing Trump Probe
Mueller's move to enlist DoJ prosecutors suggests we're entering another phase of the Special Counsel probe as the trials begin, but it's also a sign of the obstacles and resistance his investigation is now facing.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:34 AM on July 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
Mueller's move to enlist DoJ prosecutors suggests we're entering another phase of the Special Counsel probe as the trials begin, but it's also a sign of the obstacles and resistance his investigation is now facing.
As Mueller pursues his probe, he’s making more use of career prosecutors from the offices of U.S. attorneys and from Justice Department headquarters, as well as FBI agents -- a sign that he may be laying the groundwork to hand off parts of his investigation eventually, several current and former U.S. officials said.And although Manafort has lost every single court challenge he's mounted against, he's forced Mueller's team to devote time and resources to countering them. Then there's the political pressure from Team Trump on Capitol Hill, such as Trey Gowdy's recent admonition to Rod Rosenstein, "Whatever you got, finish it the hell up because this country is being torn apart."
Mueller and his team of 17 federal prosecutors are coping with a higher-then-expected volume of court challenges that has added complexity in recent months, but there’s no political appetite at this time to increase the size of his staff, the officials said.[...]
Mueller indicted 13 Russian individuals and three entities in February on charges of violating criminal laws with the intent to interfere with the U.S. election through the manipulation of social media.
None of the targets are in the U.S., but one of them, the Internet Research Agency, has forced Mueller into another legal fight in federal court. The two sides have been sparring most recently over how to protect sensitive investigative materials from disclosure. Mueller has enlisted prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington to handle the case.
Another surprise came last week when Andrew Miller, a former aide to Trump adviser Roger Stone, filed a sealed motion to fight one of Mueller’s grand jury subpoenas.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:34 AM on July 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
The problem democrats have is that the US is still catering to conservatism by selling out the progressives out of a fear of a socialist left taking root.
I think a lot of the critique of the failings of democrats don't take into account that they are already kneecapped by decades of irrational anti-communist foaming at the mouth which has made Unions and Social Democracy damn near anathema to the "National US Identity". That stupid fucking identity construct is the issue, and our criticisms of democrats should take into account just how much of a headwind that is to any democratic party principle other than neoliberal democrats who want to make anything at all happen in the US.
I think people in the US want democratic socialism once they are able to get past the dumbass ignorant "anti-commie" garbage the country has been feasting on for 68 years. It's getting people past that which is the work.
posted by nikaspark at 5:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
I think a lot of the critique of the failings of democrats don't take into account that they are already kneecapped by decades of irrational anti-communist foaming at the mouth which has made Unions and Social Democracy damn near anathema to the "National US Identity". That stupid fucking identity construct is the issue, and our criticisms of democrats should take into account just how much of a headwind that is to any democratic party principle other than neoliberal democrats who want to make anything at all happen in the US.
I think people in the US want democratic socialism once they are able to get past the dumbass ignorant "anti-commie" garbage the country has been feasting on for 68 years. It's getting people past that which is the work.
posted by nikaspark at 5:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
I think people in the US want democratic socialism once they are able to get past the dumbass ignorant "anti-commie" garbage the country has been feasting on for 68 years. It's getting people past that which is the work.
I believe it's bringing people around to the idea that Capitalism has FAILED our nation by not promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
As an alternative, Democratic Socialism is PREDICATED on promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
posted by mikelieman at 6:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
I believe it's bringing people around to the idea that Capitalism has FAILED our nation by not promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
As an alternative, Democratic Socialism is PREDICATED on promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
posted by mikelieman at 6:05 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
In slightly more cheerful news, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield has banned the WASTEMAN Donald J. Trump from the city.
Sadly, not legally enforceable, but I'm all in favor of the sentiment.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:06 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
Sadly, not legally enforceable, but I'm all in favor of the sentiment.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:06 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
"Socialism involves sinister collusion with foreign powers!" gets to be a tougher sell when your party is a criminal organization entirely devoted to sinister collusion with foreign powers, so hopefully they'll have a tougher time selling that one going forwards.
posted by Artw at 6:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
Keep Scott Pruitt moist (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Scott Pruitt must have his moisturizing lotion.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
Why?
Do not ask why.
Scott Pruitt appears to be a man with gray hair. He appears to be a man like other men, though he is charged, unlike other men, with the protection of the environment.
But he is letting the environment change, just slightly. Just enough for another creature to be quite comfortable — one with a hardy exoskeleton that thrives in warmth and darkness.
And Scott Pruitt must have his moisturizing lotion.
NOT THAT ONE! That is an ordinary lotion. The lotion Scott Pruitt requires is quite rare and available only at Ritz-Carlton hotels, and not even all Ritz-Carlton hotels. Hurry, we must drive. We must find the lotion. It must be absorbed into Scott Pruitt’s pores. Its scent must travel around him. He must be entirely shrouded in its scent, like the Earth by carbon dioxide.
I think a lot of the critique of the failings of democrats don't take into account that they are already kneecapped by decades of irrational anti-communist foaming at the mouth
Not irrational. I think it's important to remember that we're ruled by the wealthy, on the left and right, and they're used to having money and power. Even the ones who are generous are still generous with the understanding that they set the agenda, and the best rich person isn't really going to understand how it feels to fear homelessness or dying for lack of medical care.
One of the reasons that AOC is a big deal is because she is a working person from an ordinary background, so she doesn't have the vested interest in her stocks and second homes and so on. We need to elect more and more people from - let's say - the bottom 75%, with preference given to people from the bottom 20%, because they're the ones who understand and will be committed to lasting economic change.
Rich people will, with minor exception, stand against the kind of radical change that is needed, and they set the agenda, and that's why all the anti-communist drum-beating.
This culture idolizes the rich because we can't imagine any other way to be free, but everyone could be as free to develop their potential as the richest American wastrel if we lived in a just society.
ETA: More free, in fact, because we wouldn't be held back by the way wealth deforms the spirit.
posted by Frowner at 6:34 AM on July 5, 2018 [51 favorites]
Not irrational. I think it's important to remember that we're ruled by the wealthy, on the left and right, and they're used to having money and power. Even the ones who are generous are still generous with the understanding that they set the agenda, and the best rich person isn't really going to understand how it feels to fear homelessness or dying for lack of medical care.
One of the reasons that AOC is a big deal is because she is a working person from an ordinary background, so she doesn't have the vested interest in her stocks and second homes and so on. We need to elect more and more people from - let's say - the bottom 75%, with preference given to people from the bottom 20%, because they're the ones who understand and will be committed to lasting economic change.
Rich people will, with minor exception, stand against the kind of radical change that is needed, and they set the agenda, and that's why all the anti-communist drum-beating.
This culture idolizes the rich because we can't imagine any other way to be free, but everyone could be as free to develop their potential as the richest American wastrel if we lived in a just society.
ETA: More free, in fact, because we wouldn't be held back by the way wealth deforms the spirit.
posted by Frowner at 6:34 AM on July 5, 2018 [51 favorites]
Just look at all the socialists here on the Blue - I think that the "evil Commie boogieman" is an aging and dying trope. Even with people (like me) who were young adults when the Berlin Wall fell, we've had some 30 years to absorb the fact that there is no more Big Bad Soviet Union.
(Speaking of Metafilter and socialism - I know I have become a lot more liberal after hanging out here. I used to be much more Third Way, believe it or not! Rather like Fox News watching, but in reverse. Stay tuned for Brainwashed By The Blue - From Centrist To Socialist, Thanks To Metafilter!)
And the fact that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is from a working class background is huge. We need more working class Democrats and DSA's of all stripes instead of people who at present can afford a political career. (Remember the Iowa candidate, Kim Weaver, who dropped out because she couldn't afford health care? And also the death threats.)
I believe that it is true that DSA candidates are not for every district. We need and should run our Conor Lambs where they will win elections. What AOC's election said to me was that community organizing is our real secret sauce. AOC won because she pounded the pavement, she and her team knocked on doors, they did all the showing up and getting to know you stuff that Joe Crowley, for all his liberalism, did not do. Machine politics is a dinosaur. So is electing benevolent white men to represent POC and women. Daniel Cox and Melissa Deckman, FiveThirtyEight: Why Young Women Might Get More Women Elected
Democrats need to spend on community organizers and outreach instead of consultants. AOC was a community organizer. So was Barack Obama. People who pound the pavement are electable.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:51 AM on July 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
(Speaking of Metafilter and socialism - I know I have become a lot more liberal after hanging out here. I used to be much more Third Way, believe it or not! Rather like Fox News watching, but in reverse. Stay tuned for Brainwashed By The Blue - From Centrist To Socialist, Thanks To Metafilter!)
And the fact that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is from a working class background is huge. We need more working class Democrats and DSA's of all stripes instead of people who at present can afford a political career. (Remember the Iowa candidate, Kim Weaver, who dropped out because she couldn't afford health care? And also the death threats.)
I believe that it is true that DSA candidates are not for every district. We need and should run our Conor Lambs where they will win elections. What AOC's election said to me was that community organizing is our real secret sauce. AOC won because she pounded the pavement, she and her team knocked on doors, they did all the showing up and getting to know you stuff that Joe Crowley, for all his liberalism, did not do. Machine politics is a dinosaur. So is electing benevolent white men to represent POC and women. Daniel Cox and Melissa Deckman, FiveThirtyEight: Why Young Women Might Get More Women Elected
Democrats need to spend on community organizers and outreach instead of consultants. AOC was a community organizer. So was Barack Obama. People who pound the pavement are electable.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 6:51 AM on July 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
One problem I have is that some of the most visible outposts of socialism are run by people who are in denial about the wrongs committed by Communists. I've spoken with people who assure me that Stalin didn't kill anyone and that the millions who died in the gulags and destructive labor camps were a fabrication by the anti-Communist west. They also told me that the Great Leap Forward was an unqualified success and the myth of widespread famine and death was, again, wholly invented by the anti-Communist west, and that the Cultural Revolution was an unalloyed good that was unfairly and wrongly maligned by the anti-Communist forces in the west....
I'm all for Democratic Socialism. But when I've got to make a common cause with people promoting dangerous lies about the bad things done in the name of Communism it makes me nervous. One guy I was talking to actual identified himself as a Stalinist.
posted by sotonohito at 6:57 AM on July 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
I'm all for Democratic Socialism. But when I've got to make a common cause with people promoting dangerous lies about the bad things done in the name of Communism it makes me nervous. One guy I was talking to actual identified himself as a Stalinist.
posted by sotonohito at 6:57 AM on July 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
Wilbur Ross stock holdings rose in value during improper divestment delay (Carrie Levine, Public Integrity)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears to have earned seven figures from his failure to divest stock holdings until months after he was required to do so, a Center for Public Integrity analysis found.Gosh darn it, nobody's perfect.
Ross was supposed to sell his Invesco Ltd. stock, valued at between $10 and $50 million, within 90 days of his Senate confirmation, according to his ethics agreement. He was confirmed on Feb. 27, 2017, which meant he was required to divest before the end of May 2017.
But in filings publicly released last month, Ross acknowledged he failed to sell his stock in Invesco until December 2017. By that time, his stock’s value had increased by between approximately $1.2 million to $6 million over its value at the end of May, depending on Ross’ actual number of shares, a figure that hasn’t previously been reported. […]
Ross “mistakenly believed that all of my previously held Invesco stock was sold” before he assumed the commerce secretary position, according to a note in the transaction report he filed with federal ethics officials. “In December 2017, I discovered that the previously held stock had not been sold. I then promptly sold these shares,” he wrote. He attributed the confusion to a separate arrangement with the company regarding divesting his unvested stock.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
Sotonohito, the kind of person you're describing is enough of a leftist archetype that the sane majority of leftists have a name for them: tankies.
Tankies distort history, apologize for atrocities committed by nominally left governments, and act really macho on Twitter.
Basically all socialists disavow them and actively ridicule them. The vast majority of communists and anarchists do too. Tankies aren't a major sector of the left, they're just incredibly vocal and obnoxious. They're also far more hardline radical than democratic socialists, so you can safely make common cause with the DSA without ever encountering one.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
Tankies distort history, apologize for atrocities committed by nominally left governments, and act really macho on Twitter.
Basically all socialists disavow them and actively ridicule them. The vast majority of communists and anarchists do too. Tankies aren't a major sector of the left, they're just incredibly vocal and obnoxious. They're also far more hardline radical than democratic socialists, so you can safely make common cause with the DSA without ever encountering one.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
Sounds like now would be a good time for a DSA thread to move this discussion into. I would volunteer to make it, but I'm slammed at work so I wouldn't get to it in time.
FYI I signed up yesterday too and credited MF.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:11 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
FYI I signed up yesterday too and credited MF.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:11 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
Basically all socialists disavow them and actively ridicule them.
Not at the event I just went to, they didn’t.
Waiting for either a new thread or a follow up event (whichever comes first) to post my experiences as A Lady Feminist at DSA, but so far...unfortunately it’s been worse than I expected.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Not at the event I just went to, they didn’t.
Waiting for either a new thread or a follow up event (whichever comes first) to post my experiences as A Lady Feminist at DSA, but so far...unfortunately it’s been worse than I expected.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
For those who, like me, are unfamiliar with the term "tankie," Urban Dictionary has a surprisingly good definition.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:12 AM on July 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'm all for Democratic Socialism. But when I've got to make a common cause with people promoting dangerous lies about the bad things done in the name of Communism it makes me nervous. One guy I was talking to actual identified himself as a Stalinist.
Oh, jeez, I totally know some Stalinists, some people who stan for the USSR (or really, any state that can be propped up as a counterweight to the US) in really delusional ways.
It has bothered me less and less over time, for these reasons:
1. Half those people are pretty young indeed and while being old doesn't, like, make you wise, if you keep reading and paying attention you do accrete more information, you get out of your own head a little bit and start to be able to develop more empathy for, eg, random queers, Jewish people, farmers who did it wrong and fell victims of Stalin, etc, and my assumption is that people will get their heads together. Also, half of that half just do it to own the libs - I got into this big conversation with a Stalinist acquaintance where when I actually pressed him on Stalin's theoretical contributions, the Doctors' Plot, the recriminalization of homosexuality, his own beliefs about how Stalinism should actually be applied in the US...he was all basically "shrug, I just say I'm a Stalinist because it sounds badass".
2. I decided I'm not going to waste time debating bullshit. If your political position is "creating a large state apparatus to murder and imprison people is actually good for the country and has no drawbacks whatsoever as long as it's our guys doing it", you are not - in that aspect of your politics - being serious and I don't care.
3. Those people are a tiny minority with disproportionate visibility. They are a tiny minority among communists, never mind among everyone else.
4. Most of them have trouble bringing themselves to kill a mouse or a spider (I mean, I have trouble killing mice and spiders). I do not anticipate many Kronstadts.
5. Twitter.
6. Focus on the positive unless someone is absolutely appalling. Because of the way the world works, many of the people who are the most likely to be real about, eg, the crimes of America and the difficulty of social change are also likely to have come up through oddball ideologies. Someone can spout the most astonishing garbage about Stalin and also be right about a lot of things, so I try to focus on the "keeping us honest through uncompromising critique" angle rather than the "either trolling or badly misinformed" angle.
posted by Frowner at 7:13 AM on July 5, 2018 [33 favorites]
Count two more in for DSA memberships! My sincerest thanks to everyone who joined the DSA and then posted about it. I never would have discovered them and been encouraged to join without it. I had the pleasure of talking with some very nice members of the Austin chapter at the Families Belong Together rally here in Austin and picked up some literature from them.
I'm in for a family membership at the monthly rate of $10. It's a little much for us, but I see it as an investment in our future. We've wanted to be more active in our community, so here's our chance! Next, I'm going to try to work on convincing my parents who are stuck in a cable news loop.
On preview, schadenfrau, I'd really like to hear your experience as I don't want to subject my wife or myself to an environment that's hostile to women. That's a big full stop for me.
posted by Krazor at 7:16 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
I'm in for a family membership at the monthly rate of $10. It's a little much for us, but I see it as an investment in our future. We've wanted to be more active in our community, so here's our chance! Next, I'm going to try to work on convincing my parents who are stuck in a cable news loop.
On preview, schadenfrau, I'd really like to hear your experience as I don't want to subject my wife or myself to an environment that's hostile to women. That's a big full stop for me.
posted by Krazor at 7:16 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
I'm surprised and bummed to hear that a DSA chapter was full of tankies and unwelcoming toward women. I wonder which chapter you went to? The Boston chapter's leadership has more women than men, from what I saw at the one meeting I've been to so far. They seemed really diverse and welcoming.
It's just very weird for me to imagine a tankie even wanting to go to a DSA meeting. Those kinds of combative stalinists tend to despise democratic socialists.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:19 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's just very weird for me to imagine a tankie even wanting to go to a DSA meeting. Those kinds of combative stalinists tend to despise democratic socialists.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:19 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
My impression has been that, to young people, socialism now means Sweden, universal health care and free college whereas to their parents and grandparents it meant USSR, gulags and Stalin.
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:21 AM on July 5, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:21 AM on July 5, 2018 [29 favorites]
I'm all for Democratic Socialism. But when I've got to make a common cause with people promoting dangerous lies about the bad things done in the name of Communism it makes me nervous. One guy I was talking to actual identified himself as a Stalinist.
First of all, you don't need to apologize for all of the batshit crazy people on the left. Just don't do it. Refuse. There's batshit crazy extremists on both sides.
Now I'm really uncomfortable with Democratic Socialism personally because I see the extreme of either capitalism or socialism as folly. This might be a mistake because there are just as many holes in my beliefs as there are in any other. I believe in the Four Freedoms. I believe in mostly the planks of a mix of Bull Moose Progressivism and FDR's New Deal. I heartily agree with Teddy's assertion that "to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day".
But there are holes there. Can capital ever be restrained politically? We haven't honestly tried it but probably not. A strong executive? We've seen where Trump is getting us. Judicial recall? We might not have had gay marriage if we had to put Obergefell up to a popular vote. Hell, we might not have had Brown if we put it to a popular vote back in the '50s. I'm honestly not sure what the solution to these problems might be but I do know that seizing the means of production probably isn't my ideal solution.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:21 AM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
First of all, you don't need to apologize for all of the batshit crazy people on the left. Just don't do it. Refuse. There's batshit crazy extremists on both sides.
Now I'm really uncomfortable with Democratic Socialism personally because I see the extreme of either capitalism or socialism as folly. This might be a mistake because there are just as many holes in my beliefs as there are in any other. I believe in the Four Freedoms. I believe in mostly the planks of a mix of Bull Moose Progressivism and FDR's New Deal. I heartily agree with Teddy's assertion that "to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day".
But there are holes there. Can capital ever be restrained politically? We haven't honestly tried it but probably not. A strong executive? We've seen where Trump is getting us. Judicial recall? We might not have had gay marriage if we had to put Obergefell up to a popular vote. Hell, we might not have had Brown if we put it to a popular vote back in the '50s. I'm honestly not sure what the solution to these problems might be but I do know that seizing the means of production probably isn't my ideal solution.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:21 AM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
And yeah, my recollection from college radicals was that Democratic Socialists were too conservative.
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:23 AM on July 5, 2018
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:23 AM on July 5, 2018
Unfortunately, the Los Angeles DSA seems like it's full of Berners and they spend time protesting Adam Schiff. I'd be interested in joining, but not if that's what they're spending precious time doing.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'm surprised and bummed to hear that a DSA chapter was full of tankies and unwelcoming toward women. I wonder which chapter you went to?
I think the smaller the chapter, the more likely and prominent the presence of tankies and other ordure. I've been discouraged from attending meetings by the fact that the only person I know in my closest (tiny) chapter is a QAnon believer who thinks that Trump is saving the world. Yes, really.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
I think the smaller the chapter, the more likely and prominent the presence of tankies and other ordure. I've been discouraged from attending meetings by the fact that the only person I know in my closest (tiny) chapter is a QAnon believer who thinks that Trump is saving the world. Yes, really.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
To Frowner's points:
1. I do not think that the political shape of the United States lends any support to the theory that older people are more empathetic, unfortunately.
2. This is a mischaracterization - it's not that they say there are "no drawbacks", it's that they see them as worth it. Which is a pretty common and serious position for people to take allll over the political spectrum.
4. Yes, otherwise mundane and nice-seeming folks have committed many atrocities before. Pretty much of all of the atrocities. Do you think that the folks in previous wars, like, suffocated bunnies in their spare time? People can love animals (or have whatever soft side) and be cruel to other people, absolutely.
6. This could be said about any political ideology in the country. Do libertarians have some good politics on abortion? I'd say so. Doesn't mean that's what I'm focusing on.
What's that saying that says something like the tactics of the movement become the tactics of the successor? It's not wrong to hold everyone accountable, even those you're politically aligned with. In fact, they're probably the folks most likely to listen to you.
posted by mosst at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
1. I do not think that the political shape of the United States lends any support to the theory that older people are more empathetic, unfortunately.
2. This is a mischaracterization - it's not that they say there are "no drawbacks", it's that they see them as worth it. Which is a pretty common and serious position for people to take allll over the political spectrum.
4. Yes, otherwise mundane and nice-seeming folks have committed many atrocities before. Pretty much of all of the atrocities. Do you think that the folks in previous wars, like, suffocated bunnies in their spare time? People can love animals (or have whatever soft side) and be cruel to other people, absolutely.
6. This could be said about any political ideology in the country. Do libertarians have some good politics on abortion? I'd say so. Doesn't mean that's what I'm focusing on.
What's that saying that says something like the tactics of the movement become the tactics of the successor? It's not wrong to hold everyone accountable, even those you're politically aligned with. In fact, they're probably the folks most likely to listen to you.
posted by mosst at 7:25 AM on July 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
(By the way, while I'm currently working on a new thread, does all this interest in the DSA merit an FPP of its own, or at least a MetaTalk for further discussion and coordination?)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
well, these days, the people on the right are characterizing venezuela as the new example of what socialism leads to - never mind that the oil price crash and rampant unsocialist corruption are the real culprits
posted by pyramid termite at 7:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 7:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
4. Yes, otherwise mundane and nice-seeming folks have committed many atrocities before. Pretty much of all of the atrocities. Do you think that the folks in previous wars, like, suffocated bunnies in their spare time? People can love animals (or have whatever soft side) and be cruel to other people, absolutely.
Ding ding ding ding ding. We have a winner folks. Hell, the last three weeks of my therapy has been basically my OCD, anxiety and fear driven by this political climate. My inability to engage with Trump supports anything other than combatitively because I don't want to ever feel OK with throwing kids in concentration camps for national security reasons. I absolutely 100% fear some of their beliefs appearing reasonable to me. I'm petrified of the atrocities that normal people have committed because that means I could end up being one of them if I'm not careful. For a person with OCD this whole situation is pretty much nightmare fuel.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
Ding ding ding ding ding. We have a winner folks. Hell, the last three weeks of my therapy has been basically my OCD, anxiety and fear driven by this political climate. My inability to engage with Trump supports anything other than combatitively because I don't want to ever feel OK with throwing kids in concentration camps for national security reasons. I absolutely 100% fear some of their beliefs appearing reasonable to me. I'm petrified of the atrocities that normal people have committed because that means I could end up being one of them if I'm not careful. For a person with OCD this whole situation is pretty much nightmare fuel.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'm surprised and bummed to hear that a DSA chapter was full of tankies and unwelcoming toward women. I wonder which chapter you went to?
I think the smaller the chapter, the more likely and prominent the presence of tankies and other ordure
I was at a sub-branch of the NYC DSA’s debate on whether to endorse Cynthia Nixon. There were 68 people in attendance (on July 3rd, when a lot of people are out of the city). 12 of them were women, and about half of that seemed to fit, on first encounter, an archetype that I’ve started to think of as the political cool girl.
I have more substantive thoughts, and somewhat of a plan, but my phone is having trouble with the current thread, so thos will have to wait
posted by schadenfrau at 7:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
I think the smaller the chapter, the more likely and prominent the presence of tankies and other ordure
I was at a sub-branch of the NYC DSA’s debate on whether to endorse Cynthia Nixon. There were 68 people in attendance (on July 3rd, when a lot of people are out of the city). 12 of them were women, and about half of that seemed to fit, on first encounter, an archetype that I’ve started to think of as the political cool girl.
I have more substantive thoughts, and somewhat of a plan, but my phone is having trouble with the current thread, so thos will have to wait
posted by schadenfrau at 7:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Also appearedto be if not full of Berners certainly not in want of Berners
posted by schadenfrau at 7:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 7:32 AM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
well, these days, the people on the right are characterizing venezuela as the new example of what socialism leads to - never mind that the oil price crash and rampant unsocialist corruption are the real culprits
They're wrong but I'm sick of this whole "The planned economy was just planned wrong" on the left as well. It's like No True Scotsman Socialism. Planning going sideways is a risk you take with that particular philosophy. Just like with hyper-capitalism in the gilded age resulted in speculation that ultimately ended up crashing the fuck out of the economy.
In my opinion good governance comes down to anticipating and/or rectifying problems in prudent manners not ideology. If a socialist method is going to be a good one then do it. For instance nationalizing poles and wires of both electric utilities and telecommunications could be a future program that could drive price reductions in both markets. If a libertarian method or laissez faire method is going to be a good one then do it. Restricting yourself to dogma only limits your tools.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
They're wrong but I'm sick of this whole "The planned economy was just planned wrong" on the left as well. It's like No True Scotsman Socialism. Planning going sideways is a risk you take with that particular philosophy. Just like with hyper-capitalism in the gilded age resulted in speculation that ultimately ended up crashing the fuck out of the economy.
In my opinion good governance comes down to anticipating and/or rectifying problems in prudent manners not ideology. If a socialist method is going to be a good one then do it. For instance nationalizing poles and wires of both electric utilities and telecommunications could be a future program that could drive price reductions in both markets. If a libertarian method or laissez faire method is going to be a good one then do it. Restricting yourself to dogma only limits your tools.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:39 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
Yes I’m losing patience with people who still cling to ideology, rather than ruthless pragmatism, in the midst of a goddamn emergency
posted by schadenfrau at 7:42 AM on July 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 7:42 AM on July 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
Schadenfrau, I'm definitely curious to hear more about your DSA experience when you're able to post again. It's a shame about that gender split. That is unfortunately a known problem on the contemporary left for a variety of reasons. Hopefully DSA is moving closer to gender parity, given their high-profile wins with women candidates and their commitment to being a welcoming place for women.
There are always going to be a ton of Bernie Sanders supporters at any DSA event, because Bernie's campaign was a huge shot in the arm for the organization and spiked their membership higher than it had been in decades. The organization is more of a leader than a follower though, and has always been its own separate entity from the Sanders campaign. Lately their agenda has begun to more clearly diverge from Bernie's.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:43 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are always going to be a ton of Bernie Sanders supporters at any DSA event, because Bernie's campaign was a huge shot in the arm for the organization and spiked their membership higher than it had been in decades. The organization is more of a leader than a follower though, and has always been its own separate entity from the Sanders campaign. Lately their agenda has begun to more clearly diverge from Bernie's.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:43 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
My experience was with online socialists, not DSA. It was schaudenfrau who had the DSA experience.
posted by sotonohito at 7:47 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 7:47 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes I’m losing patience with people who still cling to ideology, rather than ruthless pragmatism, in the midst of a goddamn emergency
With all due respect, people clinging to ideology instead of ruthless pragmatism got us into this goddamn emergency in the first place.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 AM on July 5, 2018
With all due respect, people clinging to ideology instead of ruthless pragmatism got us into this goddamn emergency in the first place.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:47 AM on July 5, 2018
there must be a third way amirite
posted by entropicamericana at 7:48 AM on July 5, 2018
posted by entropicamericana at 7:48 AM on July 5, 2018
Ack, I'm sorry, I got your names mixed up! I edited my post to fix it.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:48 AM on July 5, 2018
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:48 AM on July 5, 2018
there must be a third way amirite
That's unfair. Nobody's saying sell out your principles, only that other people have a say and ultimately the choice to get into this emergency came down to the lesser of two evils. Because that's what we have.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:51 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
That's unfair. Nobody's saying sell out your principles, only that other people have a say and ultimately the choice to get into this emergency came down to the lesser of two evils. Because that's what we have.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:51 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
One problem I have is that some of the most visible outposts of socialism are run by people who are in denial about the wrongs committed by Communists.
Of course, the latter describes the President of the United States these days too. And don't forget Michele Bachmann's praise for how China doesn't have food stamps.
Do even these tankies gush about how beloved Kim Jong-Un is by his people?
In any case, it really is the 1% versus the rest of us, including the 1% in totalitarian Communist countries.
posted by XMLicious at 7:51 AM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Republicans are afraid of voters
Every Democrat who goes on TV or talks to the media needs to say this sentence twice. Yes, they're afraid of voters -- afraid of the Democrats who are in the majority, because their agenda is unpopular, and afraid of their own voters, because they created a media cult that means anyone can run as an "outsider" or "more conservative," and there are no longer actual principles that make it true or false.
Modern movement conservatism has utterly obliterated any definition of what "conservative" means except, as cleek pointed out more than a decade ago, "the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily." Just as some fundamentalists let politics corrupt them to distort "christian" from anything resembling the teachings of Jesus to "team white conservative."
In this environment, it's no wonder both that Trump can win the evangelical vote and cow the entire Republican Party from acting as a check on his power, even if his regime does not ultimately benefit them.
posted by Gelatin at 7:54 AM on July 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
Every Democrat who goes on TV or talks to the media needs to say this sentence twice. Yes, they're afraid of voters -- afraid of the Democrats who are in the majority, because their agenda is unpopular, and afraid of their own voters, because they created a media cult that means anyone can run as an "outsider" or "more conservative," and there are no longer actual principles that make it true or false.
Modern movement conservatism has utterly obliterated any definition of what "conservative" means except, as cleek pointed out more than a decade ago, "the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily." Just as some fundamentalists let politics corrupt them to distort "christian" from anything resembling the teachings of Jesus to "team white conservative."
In this environment, it's no wonder both that Trump can win the evangelical vote and cow the entire Republican Party from acting as a check on his power, even if his regime does not ultimately benefit them.
posted by Gelatin at 7:54 AM on July 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
I'm just trying to figure out what makes the power levers move up and down and then use that understanding to help me figure out what the fuck to do.
Right now my thoughts are:
Conservatives fighting "leftism at all costs" and "preserving our republican ways" includes "demonizing neoliberal democrats and everyone to left of them as unredeemable militant commies", and that political strategy is leading this country off the edge. Given my current viewpoint, I am having a hard time seeing how anyone outside the Conservative party can reach the political levers of power.
I know that my current thinking is wrong. I know we can reach the levers of power. I really don't know how. I want to know how.
posted by nikaspark at 7:54 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Right now my thoughts are:
Conservatives fighting "leftism at all costs" and "preserving our republican ways" includes "demonizing neoliberal democrats and everyone to left of them as unredeemable militant commies", and that political strategy is leading this country off the edge. Given my current viewpoint, I am having a hard time seeing how anyone outside the Conservative party can reach the political levers of power.
I know that my current thinking is wrong. I know we can reach the levers of power. I really don't know how. I want to know how.
posted by nikaspark at 7:54 AM on July 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
just very weird for me to imagine a tankie even wanting to go to a DSA meetin
It’s probably entryism, which is something I hope DSA chapters are prepared for, as the latest Hot New Thing. They’re most likely less interested in the DSA as such, and more interested in taking over the local chapter apparatus and using it to turn people their way politically.
posted by corb at 7:57 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
It’s probably entryism, which is something I hope DSA chapters are prepared for, as the latest Hot New Thing. They’re most likely less interested in the DSA as such, and more interested in taking over the local chapter apparatus and using it to turn people their way politically.
posted by corb at 7:57 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm just trying to figure out what makes the power levers move up and down
Propaganda enabled by billionaires and devised by reactionaries inside the government. Aka Fox News.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:58 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Propaganda enabled by billionaires and devised by reactionaries inside the government. Aka Fox News.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:58 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
I know that my current thinking is wrong. I know we can reach the levers of power. I really don't know how. I want to know how.
Every age group and every demographic show up come hell or high water for every election. You fight like hell in primaries, vote for who you want, come to Jesus, Kumbaya, then you fucking VOTE for whoever the primary electorate decided.
If we showed up at the same rate that Republicans reliably do at mid terms the Republican party would cease to exist nationally. Everything but the hardcore south would turn blue back down at the statehouse level. If we take our balls and go home because someone isn't socialist enough or too milquetoast then we lose. Those levers of power? They're not about having reliable votes for our pie in the sky legislation. It's about being in control of committees. It's about being in control of floor votes in Congress. It's about being in control of nomination processes of judges and cabinet secretaries.
There are so many things we stand to benefit from even if we elect imperfect candidates who won't vote with Democratic Socialists 100% of the time.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:01 AM on July 5, 2018 [48 favorites]
Every age group and every demographic show up come hell or high water for every election. You fight like hell in primaries, vote for who you want, come to Jesus, Kumbaya, then you fucking VOTE for whoever the primary electorate decided.
If we showed up at the same rate that Republicans reliably do at mid terms the Republican party would cease to exist nationally. Everything but the hardcore south would turn blue back down at the statehouse level. If we take our balls and go home because someone isn't socialist enough or too milquetoast then we lose. Those levers of power? They're not about having reliable votes for our pie in the sky legislation. It's about being in control of committees. It's about being in control of floor votes in Congress. It's about being in control of nomination processes of judges and cabinet secretaries.
There are so many things we stand to benefit from even if we elect imperfect candidates who won't vote with Democratic Socialists 100% of the time.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:01 AM on July 5, 2018 [48 favorites]
I'm just trying to figure out what makes the power levers move up and down and then use that understanding to help me figure out what the fuck to do.
I have been leaning on Donella Meadows list of leverage points in systems design to help my understanding. She wrote a great primer on Systems Thinking, quick and easy to read. There’s also this PDF available specific to leverage points: Leverage Points, Places to intervene in a System.
I have been leaning on Donella Meadows list of leverage points in systems design to help my understanding. She wrote a great primer on Systems Thinking, quick and easy to read. There’s also this PDF available specific to leverage points: Leverage Points, Places to intervene in a System.
PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEMposted by erisfree at 8:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [30 favorites]
in increasing order of effectiveness
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards).
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).
9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change.
8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against.
7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops.
6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information).
5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints).
4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure.
3. The goals of the system.
2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises.
1. The power to transcend paradigms.
Someone can spout the most astonishing garbage about Stalin and also be right about a lot of things, so I try to focus on the "keeping us honest through uncompromising critique" angle rather than the "either trolling or badly misinformed" angle.
In light of exactly this, my focus is on "Capitalism has failed to provide things that aren't PROFITABLE, yet still needed. Socialism doesn't care about profit. Shouldn't schools be free from the requirements of rent-seeking?"
Capitalism is the right toll for making sure my lunch is delivered to my office in a timely way.
But it's wrong tool for the job of providing Government Services promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
posted by mikelieman at 8:14 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
In light of exactly this, my focus is on "Capitalism has failed to provide things that aren't PROFITABLE, yet still needed. Socialism doesn't care about profit. Shouldn't schools be free from the requirements of rent-seeking?"
Capitalism is the right toll for making sure my lunch is delivered to my office in a timely way.
But it's wrong tool for the job of providing Government Services promoting Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happineff.
posted by mikelieman at 8:14 AM on July 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
More attacks on due process.
@realDonaldTrump
Congress must pass smart, fast and reasonable Immigration Laws now. Law Enforcement at the Border is doing a great job, but the laws they are forced to work with are insane. When people, with or without children, enter our Country, they must be told to leave without our.............Country being forced to endure a long and costly trial. Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn. Hiring thousands of “judges” does not work and is not acceptable - only Country in the World that does this!
Literally "old man shouts 'get off my lawn' at children" writ large. He knows his base, for sure.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on July 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Congress must pass smart, fast and reasonable Immigration Laws now. Law Enforcement at the Border is doing a great job, but the laws they are forced to work with are insane. When people, with or without children, enter our Country, they must be told to leave without our.............Country being forced to endure a long and costly trial. Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standing on your front lawn. Hiring thousands of “judges” does not work and is not acceptable - only Country in the World that does this!
Literally "old man shouts 'get off my lawn' at children" writ large. He knows his base, for sure.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:18 AM on July 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
Lookit, I'm a straight-up Bookchinian and I joined the DSA. Not merely for reasons of entryism, either.
Just as the DSA can exert a leftward pull on the Democratic party, I (imagine I) can have a leftward influence on my local DSA, without either binding it to a course of action its other members wouldn't approve of or myself becoming complicit in something disgusting. You jump up and down on whatever levers are available to you, especially when you simply don't have very many good ones to choose from.
Fuck a tankie though.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:29 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Just as the DSA can exert a leftward pull on the Democratic party, I (imagine I) can have a leftward influence on my local DSA, without either binding it to a course of action its other members wouldn't approve of or myself becoming complicit in something disgusting. You jump up and down on whatever levers are available to you, especially when you simply don't have very many good ones to choose from.
Fuck a tankie though.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:29 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Pretty much all the analogies these dipshits try to make about immigration::your house end in America being that mean old guy down at the end of the street that everyone hates and parents warn their kids about, who one day goes too far and winds up on trial for manslaughter because a local teen was out looking for his lost dog and knocked on his door by accident and the news trucks come and all the interviews are like, "We've been warning the council about this shitty old coot for years but no one could ever do anything about him."
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:31 AM on July 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane: ‘Angry Baby’ Trump Blimp Will Grace London’s Skies
An activist group won the right to fly a nearly 20-foot “angry baby” Trump blimp from Parliament Square Gardens in London during President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK next week, according to a Thursday Sky News report.posted by kirkaracha at 8:34 AM on July 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
Protesters gathered thousands of petition signatures and raised more than $20,000 to fly the inflatable Trump, diaper-clad and holding aloft an iPhone in its minuscule hand, during two hours of the President’s visit and an accompanying “stop Trump” march in central London on July 13.
I'll bet $100 right now that every single member of the House of Windsor, including the Queen, will be taking an unreleased selfie with that blimp.
posted by ocschwar at 8:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 8:37 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
No, no, they'll all line up for an official yet unofficial family portrait beneath it!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 AM on July 5, 2018
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 AM on July 5, 2018
I'm in London this week and so so so many people are totally pissed that Trump is coming. The say in the second breath "Brexit, I know, what the fuck who are we to talk" but nonetheless they are activated mad about the visit.
posted by nikaspark at 8:47 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by nikaspark at 8:47 AM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
According to her Twitter bio, Tiffany Trump is working as a research assistant this summer for Shon Hopwood--the man who spent 13 years in prison for bank robbery, helped a friend with a habeas case while incarcerated and won it at the Supreme Court, went to law school after he got out, and became a law professor at Georgetown. Maybe Hopwood's legal work will inspire Trump to use his pardon powers for good? It seems impossible, and yet everything that Hopwood has already accomplished seemed impossible too.
posted by Emera Gratia at 8:50 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Emera Gratia at 8:50 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
1. I do not think that the political shape of the United States lends any support to the theory that older people are more empathetic, unfortunately.
2. This is a mischaracterization - it's not that they say there are "no drawbacks", it's that they see them as worth it. Which is a pretty common and serious position for people to take allll over the political spectrum.
4. Yes, otherwise mundane and nice-seeming folks have committed many atrocities before. Pretty much of all of the atrocities. Do you think that the folks in previous wars, like, suffocated bunnies in their spare time? People can love animals (or have whatever soft side) and be cruel to other people, absolutely.
6. This could be said about any political ideology in the country. Do libertarians have some good politics on abortion? I'd say so. Doesn't mean that's what I'm focusing on.
1. Perhaps I should have said "on the left", which is my experience.
2. The Stalinists I've encountered don't admit drawbacks, because The Revolution. It's good and healthy to be a prison guard as long as it's a Stalinist prison.
4. It's not that they're nice, it's that committing violence is difficult and people have to be socialized into it - you know how hard the army has to work to break down people's inhibitions against violence. (In WWI some huge percentage of ground troops never even fired their guns.) If you're an actual Stalinist, you're proposing killing large numbers of enemies of the people in cold blood at scale over an extended period. Unless there is, eg, a big war, actually existing Stalinists are unlikely to be socialized into this type of violence.
I've spent my entire young adult and adult life around marxists of various stripes and I really do not think that arguing with actual committed Stalinists about how we should proceed to Stalinism is worth it. I've also known enough of them to consider it, frankly, pretty bullshit - the one I know best is a very gentle person in the caring professions; the one I know second-best is an English major.
Now, if Stalinists manage to get into the DSA on purpose to be obnoxious and with the secret aim of working specifically toward Stalinism*, the risk seems far greater that they'll drive others out than that they'll steer us toward five year plans that a child could see through.
*Which you could always push them on - almost every "and what IS Stalinism really" interaction I've ever read or seen boils down to "but Stalin was working to save the revolution, also he defeated the Nazis, we should defeat Nazis" plus some mumbling about heavy industry and how Trotsky wasn't any better than Stalin, really. I am not sure there really is Stalinism the way there's Leninism or Maoism.
posted by Frowner at 8:52 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
2. This is a mischaracterization - it's not that they say there are "no drawbacks", it's that they see them as worth it. Which is a pretty common and serious position for people to take allll over the political spectrum.
4. Yes, otherwise mundane and nice-seeming folks have committed many atrocities before. Pretty much of all of the atrocities. Do you think that the folks in previous wars, like, suffocated bunnies in their spare time? People can love animals (or have whatever soft side) and be cruel to other people, absolutely.
6. This could be said about any political ideology in the country. Do libertarians have some good politics on abortion? I'd say so. Doesn't mean that's what I'm focusing on.
1. Perhaps I should have said "on the left", which is my experience.
2. The Stalinists I've encountered don't admit drawbacks, because The Revolution. It's good and healthy to be a prison guard as long as it's a Stalinist prison.
4. It's not that they're nice, it's that committing violence is difficult and people have to be socialized into it - you know how hard the army has to work to break down people's inhibitions against violence. (In WWI some huge percentage of ground troops never even fired their guns.) If you're an actual Stalinist, you're proposing killing large numbers of enemies of the people in cold blood at scale over an extended period. Unless there is, eg, a big war, actually existing Stalinists are unlikely to be socialized into this type of violence.
I've spent my entire young adult and adult life around marxists of various stripes and I really do not think that arguing with actual committed Stalinists about how we should proceed to Stalinism is worth it. I've also known enough of them to consider it, frankly, pretty bullshit - the one I know best is a very gentle person in the caring professions; the one I know second-best is an English major.
Now, if Stalinists manage to get into the DSA on purpose to be obnoxious and with the secret aim of working specifically toward Stalinism*, the risk seems far greater that they'll drive others out than that they'll steer us toward five year plans that a child could see through.
*Which you could always push them on - almost every "and what IS Stalinism really" interaction I've ever read or seen boils down to "but Stalin was working to save the revolution, also he defeated the Nazis, we should defeat Nazis" plus some mumbling about heavy industry and how Trotsky wasn't any better than Stalin, really. I am not sure there really is Stalinism the way there's Leninism or Maoism.
posted by Frowner at 8:52 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
I am not sure there really is Stalinism the way there's Leninism or Maoism.
There is, but less than half of it is on the Left: a growing contingent of the alt-right really likes Stalin. An authoritarian personality cult that actively persecuted Jews and (in their eyes) acted in defense of its Motherland? What's not to like! To them Stalinist "National Bolshevism" is really not substantively different than National Socialism and (nazbol gang jokes aside) I can't say they're completely wrong.
Depending on the individuals, I might be just as inclined to suspect DSA Stalinists of right-wing entryism.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
There is, but less than half of it is on the Left: a growing contingent of the alt-right really likes Stalin. An authoritarian personality cult that actively persecuted Jews and (in their eyes) acted in defense of its Motherland? What's not to like! To them Stalinist "National Bolshevism" is really not substantively different than National Socialism and (nazbol gang jokes aside) I can't say they're completely wrong.
Depending on the individuals, I might be just as inclined to suspect DSA Stalinists of right-wing entryism.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
It took what, a few hours to go from the July 4 upsurge in DSA signups to a full blown fight over Stalinism here on the Blue?
posted by TheProfessor at 9:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by TheProfessor at 9:03 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
There is, but less than half of it is on the Left: a growing contingent of the alt-right really likes Stalin.
I think it's more complicated than that - more like, people who don't really critically think of the impacts of certain policies (like tankies) are really prey to other people who also don't critically think of the human impacts of their policies. Like, I know former tankies that have gone full Proud Boy now and other than the big switch they haven't really changed how they actually talk about things.
But I do agree that their numbers are very small, they're just disproportionately assholes and so seem bigger than their size.
posted by corb at 9:07 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think it's more complicated than that - more like, people who don't really critically think of the impacts of certain policies (like tankies) are really prey to other people who also don't critically think of the human impacts of their policies. Like, I know former tankies that have gone full Proud Boy now and other than the big switch they haven't really changed how they actually talk about things.
But I do agree that their numbers are very small, they're just disproportionately assholes and so seem bigger than their size.
posted by corb at 9:07 AM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't see any fighting, I just see a lot of people having a good time dunking on tankies, a wholesome pastime that both liberals and leftists can enjoy.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 9:07 AM on July 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 9:07 AM on July 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
It took what, a few hours to go from the July 4 upsurge in DSA signups to a full blown fight over Stalinism here on the Blue?
My friend, this is by no means whatsoever a "fullblown fight" over Stalinism (most of which involve icepicks anyway). This here is a family chat.
Probably doesn't belong in this thread, but trust me: it's casual.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
My friend, this is by no means whatsoever a "fullblown fight" over Stalinism (most of which involve icepicks anyway). This here is a family chat.
Probably doesn't belong in this thread, but trust me: it's casual.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:08 AM on July 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
ICE to open immigrant detention center in Texas at site of former prison
The prison closed in March 2015, a month after rioting inmates destroyed much of the facility, the Valley Star reported.
Optics.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
The prison closed in March 2015, a month after rioting inmates destroyed much of the facility, the Valley Star reported.
Optics.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
new thread --->
new thread --->
new thread --->
(Thanks for your patience while I submerged myself in the newsvortex. I'm going to vent in the fuckingfuck thread now.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:23 AM on July 5, 2018 [22 favorites]
new thread --->
new thread --->
(Thanks for your patience while I submerged myself in the newsvortex. I'm going to vent in the fuckingfuck thread now.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:23 AM on July 5, 2018 [22 favorites]
Yes, can we please move the DSA and DSA adjacent topics to their own thread before the next politics thread? At least the intracine “what is socialism, really” portions.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:24 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:24 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
There is, but less than half of it is on the Left: a growing contingent of the alt-right really likes Stalin. An authoritarian personality cult that actively persecuted Jews and (in their eyes) acted in defense of its Motherland?
That....has a chilling air of plausibility to it. Perhaps I too should join the DSA - I've held back what with being, you know, an anarchist - purely on the "let's not have the really, really dark timeline with white nationalist 'socialism'" front.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
That....has a chilling air of plausibility to it. Perhaps I too should join the DSA - I've held back what with being, you know, an anarchist - purely on the "let's not have the really, really dark timeline with white nationalist 'socialism'" front.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on July 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
If anyone else is in the DC or NOVA chapter regions and wants to discuss the DSA presence here or go to DSA meetings with me, please me-mail me.
I have been a member for about a year, but am actually to the left of the DSA in many ways. I find that they tend to default much too much into centering white men -- in their meetings, in their action, in their policy focuses, and in their perception of the political/social landscape. There is a large minority of women who are active in the chapters here, but that is the atmosphere and focus despite the demographics. Granted, this is coming from a woman who has been an avowed feminist and socialist since her teens, but to me, the DSA is pretty much the epitome of "brosocialism" and I have different policy and social focuses than the party does.
However, I don't think it *has* to be that way and I think being involved is better than not. Creating bigger progressive political networks is a good thing -- even if, to me, the DSA is not nearly progressive enough. So yeah, let me know.
Re: Stalinism. Stalin was a fascist who used socialism/communism as a cover to gain political power, and while I do think that the problems of e.g. the Soviet Union cannot be dismissed when critiquing communism, I think that it is a mistake to classify Stalinism as "leftist." Fascism is where the extremist far left and right meet and it is defined by its xenophobia and tyranny rather than by how left or right it is.
posted by rue72 at 9:28 AM on July 5, 2018 [20 favorites]
I have been a member for about a year, but am actually to the left of the DSA in many ways. I find that they tend to default much too much into centering white men -- in their meetings, in their action, in their policy focuses, and in their perception of the political/social landscape. There is a large minority of women who are active in the chapters here, but that is the atmosphere and focus despite the demographics. Granted, this is coming from a woman who has been an avowed feminist and socialist since her teens, but to me, the DSA is pretty much the epitome of "brosocialism" and I have different policy and social focuses than the party does.
However, I don't think it *has* to be that way and I think being involved is better than not. Creating bigger progressive political networks is a good thing -- even if, to me, the DSA is not nearly progressive enough. So yeah, let me know.
Re: Stalinism. Stalin was a fascist who used socialism/communism as a cover to gain political power, and while I do think that the problems of e.g. the Soviet Union cannot be dismissed when critiquing communism, I think that it is a mistake to classify Stalinism as "leftist." Fascism is where the extremist far left and right meet and it is defined by its xenophobia and tyranny rather than by how left or right it is.
posted by rue72 at 9:28 AM on July 5, 2018 [20 favorites]
Perhaps I too should join the DSA - I've held back what with being, you know, an anarchist
Well, let's put it this way: you wouldn't be the only one.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:33 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Well, let's put it this way: you wouldn't be the only one.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:33 AM on July 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
@LisaDNews: NEW - THE SMALLEST KIDS.At last an answer. HHS says about 100 children under the age of 5, in its custody right now, were separated from parents.
posted by zachlipton at 9:35 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 9:35 AM on July 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
Perhaps I too should join the DSA - I've held back what with being, you know, an anarchist - purely on the "let's not have the really, really dark timeline with white nationalist 'socialism'" front.
I mean if you want an organization with a ton of anarchists which is also really good on fighting white nationalism... *cough* IWW *cough*
posted by corb at 9:35 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
I mean if you want an organization with a ton of anarchists which is also really good on fighting white nationalism... *cough* IWW *cough*
posted by corb at 9:35 AM on July 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
I'm so glad we had this thread
Together
Just to share a link or drop f-bombs
Seems we just get started
And before you know it
Comes the time we have to say
New Thread
🍪🍪🍶
posted by petebest at 10:33 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Together
Just to share a link or drop f-bombs
Seems we just get started
And before you know it
Comes the time we have to say
New Thread
🍪🍪🍶
posted by petebest at 10:33 AM on July 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Anyway, in case it hasn't been said, and as a callback to thread title before it's gone: if anyone is able to secure a conviction for Donald Trump, I, for one, will be happy to live it to the full.
posted by Grangousier at 10:11 AM on July 6, 2018
posted by Grangousier at 10:11 AM on July 6, 2018
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
These acts of defiance give me hope. Not a lot, but just maybe we can pull through this.
posted by jzb at 4:25 PM on June 24, 2018 [26 favorites]