How Do They Feel Now?
Several months ago -- November 6, 2017, to be accurate -- a news story broke on the Internet. I am looking at the version on LinkedIn:
The videotape was going to be released in November. Now it is February, and still no tape.
The thing that I want to know is, how do the people who believed that story feel, now that there is still no video? I see on the Internet that they still believe that Hillary is part of a Satanic child-molesting and human-trafficking ring, but does it bother them at all that the evidence keeps not appearing?
A skeptical lefty such as myself might start to think that maybe there is no such video. Maybe, just maybe, Hillary Clinton is actually not a Satanic pedophile human-trafficker. I mean, where's the tape? Somehow the conclusion persists rock-solid, but the proof seems to have gone out for a drink and never came back.
Or -- here's another example, closer to home. A few years ago a group right here in our little suburban county put out a statement (well they put out lots of statements, but here is one) that said:
The thing that I want to know is, how do these people feel about the fact that, in the ten years since the bill passed, there has not been one single case of any man going into any ladies room in our county, doing anything prurient, and claiming to be transgender?
Why were they so sure that would happen? What kind of mind latches onto a hateful falsehood like that and leaves the house, day after day, to stand in a parking lot with petitions, frightening strangers with their lurid fantasies?
Those are good psychological questions, but they are not, to me, the most interesting ones: I want to know how those people feel now.
The Citizens for a Responsible Whatever rallied the masses, whipped up countywide fear that perverted men would dress as women and lurk in ladies rooms if the bill passed, and it passed, and they did not lurk. They had tens of thousands of signatures, including thousands of illegal ones that caused the referendum to be thrown out -- they had a lot of people upset. Dozens of churches collected signatures in Jesus' name to allow good Christians to discriminate against our county's transgender citizens. It was a pretty big deal at the time. We were one of the first "bathroom bill" regions, with shower-nuts stopping random citizens to tell them that men would be walking right into the women's bathroom and claiming to be women while they leered at innocent wives and daughters and grabbed them and who-knows-what-horrible-thing.
It didn't happen here, and it didn't happen in any of those other places, either. It was a totally fabricated story, a lie based on prejudice, intended to stir up discrimination.
It is possible that those people sit at home in the evening now shaking their heads, ashamed, staring vacantly at the TV and muttering, "Wow, we sure were wrong that time." Maybe in order to make up for their error they have organized a new "tolerance" group that passes out flyers in parking lots promoting tolerance for people who are different from themselves. Not just gay and trans people, but also immigrants and refugees, black people and Muslims, the homeless, fair pay for women, clean the Bay and other wholesome and positive things. Maybe those same people, who swore the county would become an attraction for pedophiles and predators who would hide in the womens' bathrooms and showers, have thought about it and realized they were wrong, and now are trying to atone for their previous bigotry by doing good things, being kind and loving and helping others.
They were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake, they spent a lot of intentional energy on making life harder and more dangerous for transgender people. They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that.
Bombshell: Hillary Clinton ‘Pedophile Sex Tape’ About to Be Released ?.The story was written by "Dr. Jorge Mata Torres, International Univeristy Professor." In it he relays the blockbuster fact that a videotape was found on Anthony Weiner's computer showing Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin engaging in some kind of sexual behavior with an underage girl. You can find this story all over the Internet.
Career criminal Hillary Clinton and Benghazi, Email-Server scandal, busted for Treasonous Uranium One deal with Russia, and now this... ?
...
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has confirmed that a “sickening” pedophile sex tape featuring Hillary Clinton is about to be released to the public...
The videotape was going to be released in November. Now it is February, and still no tape.
The thing that I want to know is, how do the people who believed that story feel, now that there is still no video? I see on the Internet that they still believe that Hillary is part of a Satanic child-molesting and human-trafficking ring, but does it bother them at all that the evidence keeps not appearing?
A skeptical lefty such as myself might start to think that maybe there is no such video. Maybe, just maybe, Hillary Clinton is actually not a Satanic pedophile human-trafficker. I mean, where's the tape? Somehow the conclusion persists rock-solid, but the proof seems to have gone out for a drink and never came back.
Or -- here's another example, closer to home. A few years ago a group right here in our little suburban county put out a statement (well they put out lots of statements, but here is one) that said:
If someone chooses to identify themselves as of different genders on different days, our local government, in its infinite wisdom, thinks that is a group that needs special protection in every workplace, in all public areas, like theatres, and, seemingly, even in their choice of which bathroom to use. A "get out of jail free" card for sexual predators who are caught in the wrong public bathroom or public shower.The county had passed a gender-identity nondiscrimination bill and these people wanted a referendum to relegalize discrimination. They had petitions and stood at shopping centers and churches all around the county, telling people that a Montgomery County gender identity nondiscrimination bill was going to make it legal for predators and pedophiles to lurk in the ladies rooms, molesting our wives and daughters with impunity by claiming to be women and using this new law as a "get out of jail free card."
The thing that I want to know is, how do these people feel about the fact that, in the ten years since the bill passed, there has not been one single case of any man going into any ladies room in our county, doing anything prurient, and claiming to be transgender?
Why were they so sure that would happen? What kind of mind latches onto a hateful falsehood like that and leaves the house, day after day, to stand in a parking lot with petitions, frightening strangers with their lurid fantasies?
Those are good psychological questions, but they are not, to me, the most interesting ones: I want to know how those people feel now.
The Citizens for a Responsible Whatever rallied the masses, whipped up countywide fear that perverted men would dress as women and lurk in ladies rooms if the bill passed, and it passed, and they did not lurk. They had tens of thousands of signatures, including thousands of illegal ones that caused the referendum to be thrown out -- they had a lot of people upset. Dozens of churches collected signatures in Jesus' name to allow good Christians to discriminate against our county's transgender citizens. It was a pretty big deal at the time. We were one of the first "bathroom bill" regions, with shower-nuts stopping random citizens to tell them that men would be walking right into the women's bathroom and claiming to be women while they leered at innocent wives and daughters and grabbed them and who-knows-what-horrible-thing.
It didn't happen here, and it didn't happen in any of those other places, either. It was a totally fabricated story, a lie based on prejudice, intended to stir up discrimination.
It is possible that those people sit at home in the evening now shaking their heads, ashamed, staring vacantly at the TV and muttering, "Wow, we sure were wrong that time." Maybe in order to make up for their error they have organized a new "tolerance" group that passes out flyers in parking lots promoting tolerance for people who are different from themselves. Not just gay and trans people, but also immigrants and refugees, black people and Muslims, the homeless, fair pay for women, clean the Bay and other wholesome and positive things. Maybe those same people, who swore the county would become an attraction for pedophiles and predators who would hide in the womens' bathrooms and showers, have thought about it and realized they were wrong, and now are trying to atone for their previous bigotry by doing good things, being kind and loving and helping others.
They were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake, they spent a lot of intentional energy on making life harder and more dangerous for transgender people. They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that.
posted by JimK at 8:29 PM
200 Comments:
Devin Nunes admits he didn't view the underlying intelligence his memo was based on
The House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes admitted on Friday that he did not view the underlying intelligence on which he based a memo that accuses the FBI and the Justice Department of improperly surveilling Trump associates during the 2016 election.
Hours after the memo came out on Friday, Nunes gave an interview on Fox News during which anchor Bret Baier asked him if he wrote the memo. "Yes," Nunes replied, saying other Republican lawmakers, like House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy, also contributed.
"Did you read the actual FISA applications," Baier asked, referring to the documents that the memo cites in part as evidence of improper conduct by US law-enforcement officials.
"No, I didn't," Nunes said, before adding that Gowdy was part of a designated group that reviewed the intelligence, took notes, and reported it back to committee members.
Nunes defended the release of the memo, saying "I'm sad that we had to get to this point. We should have never been here. It's unfortunate."
He continued: "I didn't want to have to do this, but the sad part is that I have an obligation to the American people when we see FISA abuse," Nunes said referring to the process by which federal officials seek authorization for domestic surveillance.
President Donald Trump declassified the memo and authorized its release on Friday. It came out soon after. Among its several claims, the memo alleges that top US law enforcement agencies improperly surveilled the former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who was one subject in the investigation of Russian meddling in the US election.
The memo accuses FBI and DOJ officials involved in the Russia investigation of acting out of bias against Donald Trump. The document has been widely disputed by current and former officials from the FBI and DOJ, and by Democratic lawmakers, who characterize it as an attempt to cast doubt on the federal agencies investigating Russian interference.
http://www.businessinsider.com/devin-nunes-admits-he-didnt-view-memo-intelligence-russia-investigation-2018-2
The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion this fiscal year — Trump's first full year in charge of the budget.
That's almost double what the government borrowed in fiscal year 2017.
Here are the exact figures: The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It's the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year.
Treasury mainly attributed the increase to the “fiscal outlook.” The Congressional Budget Office was more blunt. In a report this week, the CBO said tax receipts are going to be lower because of the new tax law.
I appreciate that people like to use Jim's blog as a venue to express opinions on the issue of the moment, but I would be more interested in reading comments that respond to the blog-post at hand.
Thank you, Jim, for stepping back and pointing out some of the history of our County and wisely asking what people who stirred up, or acquiesced to, the hate spewed a few years back now think of what has transpired.
I agree with David
Jim wrote this post to distract from all the trouble the Dems are currently in and you guys are ruining it for him
give poor Jim a break...
"Bombshell: Hillary Clinton ‘Pedophile Sex Tape’ About to Be Released ?"
you know I read a lot and I never heard about this
it's a big country by somehow Jim finds all the fruits and nuts
maybe they're related
"The county had passed a gender-identity nondiscrimination bill and these people wanted a referendum to relegalize discrimination. They had petitions and stood at shopping centers and churches all around the county, telling people that a Montgomery County gender identity nondiscrimination bill was going to make it legal for predators and pedophiles to lurk in the ladies rooms, molesting our wives and daughters with impunity by claiming to be women and using this new law as a "get out of jail free card.""
well, technically, doesn't the law make that possible?
it did make that legal, right?
"The thing that I want to know is, how do these people feel about the fact that, in the ten years since the bill passed, there has not been one single case of any man going into any ladies room in our county, doing anything prurient, and claiming to be transgender?"
you know it's probably like so many laws passed in the People's Republic of Monkey County, it's not adhered to and not enforced
"What kind of mind latches onto a hateful falsehood like that and leaves the house, day after day, to stand in a parking lot with petitions, frightening strangers with their lurid fantasies?"
day after day?
really, no one did that
"I want to know how those people feel now.
"The Citizens for a Responsible Whatever rallied the masses,"
they did?
I thought you used to say they were only a handful
were you kidding about that?
"whipped up countywide fear that perverted men would dress as women and lurk in ladies rooms if the bill passed,"
I know it's hard for TTF to realize it, because they're anti-woman, but females like having their own bathroom
it makes the feel safe, even if that's irrational
that's women for you
they're just not as smart as the average TTFer
"They had tens of thousands of signatures, including thousands of illegal ones that caused the referendum to be thrown out --"
oh those were real people that wanted to express their opinion and right to vote
of course, democracy scares TTF
"they had a lot of people upset. Dozens of churches collected signatures in Jesus' name to allow good Christians to discriminate against our county's transgender citizens."
aren't all gender bathrooms discriminatory?
so what?
"It was a pretty big deal at the time. We were one of the first "bathroom bill" regions,"
it was a big deal to TTF but the world at large was kind of bored
usually covered on page 3 of the Post's Metro section
btw, let's do a poll
how many newspapers do you read a day?
"with shower-nuts stopping random citizens to tell them that men would be walking right into the women's bathroom and claiming to be women while they leered at innocent wives and daughters and grabbed them and who-knows-what-horrible-thing"
remember that horrible Dana Beyer, a county council employee,going out to the petition sites and lobbying the business owners to kick the petitioners out and telling random citizens it was illegal to sign the petitions
twice Dana try to run for office after that and the voters made it real clear what they thought of Dana
"It is possible that those people sit at home in the evening now shaking their heads, ashamed, staring vacantly at the TV and muttering, "Wow, we sure were wrong that time." Maybe in order to make up for their error they have organized a new "tolerance" group that passes out flyers in parking lots promoting tolerance for people who are different from themselves. Not just gay and trans people, but also immigrants and refugees, black people and Muslims, the homeless, fair pay for women, clean the Bay and other wholesome and positive things. Maybe those same people, who swore the county would become an attraction for pedophiles and predators who would hide in the womens' bathrooms and showers, have thought about it and realized they were wrong, and now are trying to atone for their previous bigotry by doing good things, being kind and loving and helping others."
pot legalization can't happen fast enough
TTFers need something to help them mellow out
"They were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake,"
that's true
they were right
business owners should be free to set their own policies on who can use their rest rooms
"they spent a lot of intentional energy on making life harder and more dangerous for transgender people."
yes, what an unbearable hardship to have to use the bathroom of your gender
"They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that."
well, if you are saying a prediction is a lie, then you're lying
Adam Schiff, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, among seemingly dozens of Democrats, not to mention half the mainstream media, had been warning us for days that the release of the memo authored by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee would place our national security at grave risk. "Sources and methods" would be revealed.
Now that we have seen the memo, it's clear that was an absolutely bald-faced lie of the most obvious sort. Nothing in it impacts national security in the slightest. There's no mention whatsoever of any "sources and methods."
Unless they were lobotomized, those Democrats and their dependable PR team (aka the media) must have realized they were blatantly lying to the American public. Evidently, they didn't care. How're we now supposed to trust what these people say about anything? Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
Their latest meme is "cherry picking." The memo was cherry-picked and therefore to be ignored. That's like saying a murderer who has a clean driving record and is a good cook is not a murderer. Whatever else happened, the FBI clearly used a slanderous fictional document to get a FISA ruling to surveil Carter Page without telling the court the document was a pack of lies paid for by the Clinton campaign and written by a creepy spy with old-line Soviet connections. And they did it multiple times.
So what was up here below the surface? It can't just be the "evil party" trying to live up to its nickname, although that certainly happened.
It seems this particular lie was a last line of defense — for now — against a coming potential Armageddon for their party. This memo, bad as it is, is apparently only the first of many, a small percentage of what is to come. And the Democrats know it.
Fear is operative. Maybe panic. An entire weltanschauung is under threat — jobs, friends, self-image, who knows what. If this goes on much longer and much more comes out, some Democrats -—not apparatchik Schiff, needless to say, but others — might have to face reality and say something. A few journalists (not at CNN, but maybe someplace else) might have to report the truth. It happened with Watergate. Republicans turned against Nixon. But, of course, they're "the stupid party."
But speaking of stupid, something else occurred that few are mentioning, but may be of more significance than anything. What were these FISA judges thinking who allowed for the surveillance? They actually read the Steele dossier, one would assume. Were they imbeciles or as biased as McCabe, Strzok and the rest of that seedy FBI cabal? Whether they were told that document came from the Clinton campaign or not, it read like an outtake from the back pages of the National Enquirer — and not one of the good issues (John Edwards, etc.). The dossier was ludicrous on its face, yet the supposedly great legal minds of the FISA court accepted it as what appears to be the most important evidence for the case.
Think about that.
What we need, obviously, is the old word transparency. The public needs to see the full details of what went into the FISA decisions — and we don't need to hear any of that fake palaver about national security. Everybody's security depends on the FISA court working in a one-hundred percent unbiased manner. Otherwise we're living a nightmare.
That court, and its workings, and its personnel should be a key part of any investigation going forward. New rules and regulations have to be put in place.
FINALLY: Looking good in all this is Senator Rand Paul. He warned us about our fragile privacy. Looking especially bad, the American Civil Liberties Union who are defecating on their charter. Looking even worse: Barack Obama. He led the charge to turn the intelligence agencies against the people. Looking lost — Robert Mueller. How will he get half the country to believe anything he says at this point?
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "business owners should be free to set their own policies on who can use their rest rooms".
If you want to run a business you're obligated to follow rules that benefit all citizens and prevent harm to them. You don't want to do that you're free to close your business and do something else.
The fact is a lot of people would be hurt by preventing transpeople from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with. And no one is hurt in the slightest by allowing them to do so as history has clearly shown.
There is no valid reason to ban transpeople from the bathrooms they want to use and need to use to be safe.
When it costs society nothing to make a minority's lives better society is morally obligated to do so.
The Tremendous Costs Of Pollution From Fossil Fuels
In 2010, it is estimated that fine particle pollution from US coal plants resulted in 13,200 deaths, 9,700 hospitalizations, and 20,000 heart attacks. The impacts are particularly severe among the young, the elderly, and those who suffer from respiratory disease. The total health cost was estimated to be more than $100 billion per year. This is just from some of the pollution from coal power plants alone. The deaths, illnesses, and costs from all the pollution from the burning of all fossil fuels is several times higher!
You can thank Trump for killing regulations that limit pollution, prevent illness, save billions, and most importantly of all, save lives. And why does he do this? Because Liberals don't like pollution. Republicans would rather bedevil and frustrate liberals than maintain a livable environment for their children and grandchildren.
Remember when the unemployment rate was cut in half to 5% under Obama and Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said unemployment was still terrible because allegedly the labour participation rate was so low? Yeah, now suddenly when Trump is president and the unemployment rate is similar to what it was under Obama magically the unchanged labour participation doesn't mean unemployment is terrible, things are fantastic! They're such bullshitters!
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous are just as dishonest as Trump. When Obama was president and the unemployment rate was really good Trump claimed the real unemployment rate was as much as 10 times higher. Now when he's president suddenly that isn't the case even though the unemployment rate is measured the same way by the same people.
The (allegedly horrific) labour participation rate is something Republicans like Wyatt/Regina only talk about when a Democrat is president and the economy is doing well.
Trump and Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous - take the same economic situation and if a Democrat is in power the situation is "terrible! The worst ever!" and if a Republican is in power the situation is "Wonderful! The best its ever been!".
"If you want to run a business you're obligated to follow rules that benefit all citizens and prevent harm to them. You don't want to do that you're free to close your business and do something else"
no, running a business is a right and not a privilege granted by the government
your any obligation is to your customers and they enforce the obligation by choosing to do business with you or not
the government is not a crutch for people who want to act in a unlikable manner and then expect the government to bail them out by forcing others to do business with them
obviously, people who insist on acting in an unlikable manner would disagree
but they can patch it up by either acting in a likable manner or finding people who think their behavior is likable
it's called life
"The fact is a lot of people would be hurt by preventing transpeople from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with."
rest rooms have been segregated by gender for years
there is no evidence this has harmed anyone
"And no one is hurt in the slightest by allowing them to do so as history has clearly shown."
And no one is hurt in the slightest by using the bathroom assigned to their gender as history has clearly shown
"There is no valid reason to ban transpeople from the bathrooms they want to use and need to use to be safe."
there is no valid reason why this needs to be a blanket policy
simply let an owner of a bathroom decides his own policy for who can use their rest room
"When it costs society nothing to make a minority's lives better society is morally obligated to do so."
only a convinced communist would consider freedom and individual property rights to be nothing
you are a communist, right?
"When Obama was president and the unemployment rate was really good Trump claimed the real unemployment rate was as much as 10 times higher. Now when he's president suddenly that isn't the case even though the unemployment rate is measured the same way by the same people."
remember when Obama was President and Priya said the unemployment rate was great in spite of the low labor participation rate?
hypocrisy alert!!
the unemployment rate is now lower, over a year into Trump's presidencies, taxes are down, workers are getting bonuses and raises, businesses are coming back to the U.S. and have announced plans to invest trillions
and Nancy Pelosi mopes through the State of the Union message
she knows the future is grim for Dems
Great GOPiourettes, Gyna.
All to distract from "Special counsel zeros in on cover story for Trump Tower meeting with Russians"
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/special-counsel-zeros-in-on-cover-story-for-trump-tower-meeting-with-russians/
you mean someone met with Russians at Trump Tower?
wow, you're really on top of things
what, did you find some old newspapers in the nuthouse trash room?
you do know that meeting with Russians remains legal in America, right?
yep, a lot of TTFers don't know this, but we're a constitutional democracy
also, you can receive information from anyone, even Russians, although it doesn't sound like the Russians gave out any
do you remember just last week when Dems were screaming we couldn't release a memo because it contained sources and methods?
they were lying
do you remember just last week when Dems were saying you can't question or over-rule the FBI because that would cause a constitutional crisis?
you should have heard them carry on about the FBI back in the 60s and 70s
the republic survived
yep, a lot of TTFers don't know this, but we're a constitutional democracy
questioning authority is what we DO
and TTFers aren't singing "mister we could use a man like J Edgar Hoover again" anyway
any more questions
The Shameless Hypocrisy of the Nunes Memo
The Trump administration released the now-infamous Nunes memo on Friday and it just highlights how shamelessly hypocritical he, Nunes and the entire GOP at this point is on the subject of the FBI, the FISA court and the need for safeguards to protect privacy in those proceedings.
I’m sure you know the gist of the memo by now. The argument, at least by implication, goes something like this:
1. During one of at least three times that the FBI and DOJ asked for a wiretap on former Trump adviser Carter Page (which started before he was a Trump adviser), they used some unspecified information from the Steele dossier.
2. The Steele dossier was paid for by the Democrats and Christopher Steele did not want Trump to win the election.
3. The FBI did not mention that bias when they requested the warrant.
4. Therefore, the entire Russia investigation is a sham cooked up by the Democrats to destroy Donald Trump and Robert Mueller and everyone else involved should be put to death for treason. Or something.
All of this, of course, is utter nonsense. The surveillance of Carter Page began before he was a Trump adviser and was spurred by the FBI having caught him on wiretaps speaking to Russian intelligence agents, and seen his name mentioned as being an asset they were developing in the United States. That alone is way, way more than enough probable cause to get such a warrant issued and, since it started long before the Steele dossier ever came to the FBI and before he was a Trump adviser, the accusations of bias are totally irrelevant.
Add to that the fact that in the middle of the campaign, Page traveled to Russia, met with the 2nd highest ranking man in the Russian government and gave a speech against the United States and praising Putin. That was the primary basis for restarting the wiretaps, not the Steele dossier. And nowhere does the memo say what information from that dossier was used or why it might have been inaccurate. If that information was not inaccurate, the accusations of bias become even more irrelevant.
But here’s the even more important part, the shameless hypocrisy. As Julian Sanchez correctly notes, the very same people crying crocodile tears about how terribly unfair it was that Page got his communications tapped pursuant to a legal FISA warrant have voted repeatedly in favor of totally warrantless wiretaps in all national security investigations that don’t include Trump advisers.
"Conspicuously, however, many of the representatives who’ve most vocally touted the supposedly explosive contents of the Nunes memo do not appear to believe the systemic abuse of intelligence authorities they’re alleging demands a rethinking of any of those authorities. As national security blogger Marcy Wheeler notes, the same Steve King who thought the Nunes memo documented abuses “worse than Watergate” not only voted to extend section 702 for another 6 years, but voted against an amendment that would have imposed a warrant requirement on queries of the 702 database pertaining to Americans. So did Nunes himself, as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis.
This should seem incongruous on its face. One need not believe that there are ongoing partisan conspiracies within the FBI and Justice Department to support more stringent civil liberties safeguards on the broad spying authorities the intelligence community has accumulated over the past two decades. But it is very hard to understand how one could believe such a conspiracy exists—indeed, continues to be covered up by sitting officials—yet reject even the idea of pausing to debate such safeguards before renewing precisely the sorts of powers one claims have been abused."
In fact, Nunes co-authored the legislation that expanded FBI powers and reauthorized Section 702 of FISA to allow the DOJ to use it to crack down on political dissent without any judicial review.
So for those scoring at home: Not only are they in favor of totally warrantless wiretaps for everyone else, and not only are they in favor of using national security investigations to shut down political dissent, but they will shame anyone who voted otherwise as clearly anti-American and probably Kenyan Marxist Muslim terrorists too. But they are suddenly overwhelmed with concern over the privacy rights of Carter Page, who was wiretapped due to a completely justified warrant issued by the FISA court. They can’t even pretend to be anything other than shameless hypocrites.
Holocaust denier poised to claim GOP nomination in Illinois race for Congress
Arthur Jones — an outspoken Holocaust denier, activist anti-Semite and white supremacist — is poised to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat representing parts of Chicago and nearby suburbs.
“Well first of all, I’m running for Congress not the chancellor of Germany. All right. To me the Holocaust is what I said it is: It’s an international extortion racket,” Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Indeed, Jones’ website for his latest congressional run includes a section titled “The ‘Holocaust Racket’” where he calls the genocide carried out by the German Nazi regime and collaborators in other nations “the biggest blackest lie in history.”
Jones, 70, a retired insurance agent who lives in suburban Lyons, has unsuccessfully run for elected offices in the Chicago area and Milwaukee since the 1970s.
He ran for Milwaukee mayor in 1976 and 13th Ward alderman on Chicago’s Southwest Side in 1987.
Since the 1990s to 2016, Jones has jumped in the GOP 3rd Congressional District primary seven times, never even close to becoming a viable contender.
The outcome will be different for Jones in the Illinois primary on March 20, 2018.
To Jones’ own amazement, he is the only one on the Republican ballot.
“And given the fact that I’ve got no opposition in the primary, OK, I win that one (the primary) by default all right,” Jones said during an interview in a coffee shop in Lyons.
That leaves Illinois Republicans saddled with a nominee who is well known for his racist and white supremacist activities...
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/holocaust-denier-arthur-jones-republican-3rd-congressional-district-lipinski-newman/
The popular vote losing pussy-grabber says Democats not applauding for him at the State of the Uniom address are guilty of treason.
Now there's a glimpse into the mind of a dictator after Hitler's own heart.
Dow Plunges Nearly 1,600 Points In Biggest Intraday Point Drop In History
That's Trump, the biggest drop in history.
"The popular vote losing pussy-grabber says Democats not applauding for him at the State of the Uniom address are guilty of treason"
poor Dems
someone said they were guilty of treason
you know, kind of like they've been doing to Trump all year
they can dish it out
but they can't take it
"Now there's a glimpse into the mind of a dictator after Hitler's own heart."
words of wisdom from a true horse-crap-eater
if Trump's a dictator, he sure is an incompetent one
the anti-Trump media flourishes
the judiciary has no problem over-ruling him
nor does the legislature follow his lead
large movements resisting him flourish without harassment from his administration
indeed, what dictator would allow the abuse the Trump gets from all sides?
and he must have forgot to arrest them
then, there's Obama who prosecuted journalists for investigative journalism under the espionage act
and jailed Dinesh D'souza for making an anti-Obama movie
and would simply order an illegal executive order whenever the Congress didn't give him his way
oh, and he used the IRS to suppress dissent groups during his re-election campaign
and before his predecessor took over, he used FISA warrants to spy on Trump's campaign and his FBI paid a British spy to pay Kremlin sources for dirt on Trump
but, yeah, I guess the dictator
if you believe that, you probably also think Priya is in the upper half of the Carlinian divide
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
TTF's Trump Thug Troll has been reduced to hurling personal insults, once again.
Meanwhile, in the real world:
Democrats Win Special Election In Missouri District That Went Big For Trump
Democrats have dominated at the ballot box during Trump’s time in office.
Democrats flipped a Missouri state House seat Tuesday, marking the 35th seat that has changed from red to blue since Donald Trump become president.
Mike Revis, 27, defeated his Republican opponent in a special election Tuesday by 3 percentage points.
The 97th District in Jefferson County went for Trump in the presidential election by 28 points. The area is historically Democratic but has recently tilted Republican.
In other words, the district has swung 31 percentage points toward Democrats since Trump won last year.
“Rep.-elect Mike Revis’s victory tonight will undoubtedly send another shockwave through the GOP as we continue to run the best candidates focused on addressing local issues and improving their neighbors’ quality of life,” said Jessica Post, executive director of a group dedicated to electing Democrats at the state level. “The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee continues to be impressed by our dedicated and talented slate of candidates, who have stepped up to run in these precedent-setting special elections.”
Revis is a procurement manager at Anheuser-Busch Inbev. He ran against Republican David Linton, 59, who stressed his opposition to abortion rights and his support for the Second Amendment.
In addition to the 35 state legislative seats Democrats have picked up, they have also flipped the governorship in New Jersey and a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. Republicans, meanwhile, have flipped four state legislative seats from blue to red during Trump’s tenure.
Last month, Democrats also picked up a seat in Wisconsin’s state Senate, where Democrat Patty Schachtner defeated her opponent by 11 percentage points, taking a seat Republicans had held since 2001. The district was solidly red: Trump won by 17 percentage points in 2016, and Republican Mitt Romney won it in 2012. The Republican incumbent state senator won her re-election race in 2016 by 26 points...
"TTF's Trump Thug Troll has been reduced to hurling personal insults, once again."
oh, and TTFers would never do that
the accusations of dictatorship are risibly offensive
you don't have to be a Trump supporter to see that
"Meanwhile, in the real world:
Democrats Win Special Election In Missouri District That Went Big For Trump
Democrats have dominated at the ballot box during Trump’s time in office.
Democrats flipped a Missouri state House seat Tuesday, marking the 35th seat that has changed from red to blue since Donald Trump become president."
that is the real world
yet more evidence that Trump is not a dictator
in polls out today, the Economist puts Trump's approval at 45% and Ramussen has him at 48%
and Nancy Pelosi tries to turn the momentum with an eight hour marathon
Progressives are tying themselves in knots to avoid giving President Trump credit for anything positive. Take the economy. It isn’t really booming, they say, but even if it is, President Obama is the man to thank.
The claim doesn’t add up. In 2010 the Obama White House forecast gross domestic product growth would “accelerate in 2011 to 3.8%” and “exceed 4% per year in 2012-2014,” consistent with the 4.3% growth rate in the other 10 recoveries since World War II. That never happened. Actual post-recession growth averaged an anemic 2.1%. And Mr. Obama’s last year in office saw measly 1.5% GDP growth—hardly the springboard to our current expansion.
Former Obama administration economists have circled the wagons in an attempt to explain away their boss’s dismal economic record as a product of structural factors rather than policy. Austan Goolsbee has called Mr. Trump’s growth goals unrealistic. In May Larry Summers declared that accepting the Trump administration’s forecast of 3% GDP growth was like believing “in tooth fairies.”
These claims have made it difficult for progressives to explain the 3% average GDP growth rate during Mr. Trump’s first three full quarters in office. They’ve resorted instead to diminishing the president’s economic record by pointing to 2017’s full-year GDP growth of 2.3%—relatively close to Mr. Obama’s 2.1% post-recession average.
The problem for Mr. Obama’s progressive defenders is that analysts traditionally attribute the first quarter of a new presidency to the previous administration. President Bush, rather than Mr. Obama, got the blame for the negative 5.4% growth during the first quarter of 2009. What was fair then is fair now. The attempt to saddle Mr. Trump with responsibility for the economy’s performance during the first quarter of 2017 is disingenuous.
A bigger problem for progressives is that Mr. Trump’s numbers easily could have been much better. Two hurricanes held GDP growth down in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, businesses were waiting to see if Congress would pass tax reform setting lower tax rates and enabling them immediately to write off 100% of their investments in plant and equipment. I was a CEO for 17 years; I would have waited too. This hampered fourth-quarter growth but should accelerate growth in the first quarter of 2018. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model is forecasting first-quarter growth of 4%.
The jobs numbers are similarly positive. In 2017 the economy added approximately 2.1 million jobs. Progressives counter that job growth actually slowed from the 2.2 million jobs added in 2016. But job quality also matters. The Obama economy was a “part time” economy that failed to generate the full-time jobs Americans need.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people working full time increased by 2.4 million in 2017, compared with only 1.6 million in 2016. In other words, the overall number of jobs added was lower in 2017, but only because hundreds of thousands of people left part-time for full-time jobs.
Both 2016 and 2017 set some year-end records. In 2016, BLS recorded the highest number of people working part time at year’s end since it began recording the data in 1968. In 2017, it recorded the highest number of people working full time at year’s end since 1968 and the fewest working part-time since 2011.
Regulatory relief and tax reform are bringing more growth and better jobs. It’s a Trump Boom, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says the president should “thank Obama.” Perhaps, but only for setting economic bar so low.
You can’t expect a political party to be rigorously intellectually honest on any consistent basis. They’re trying to win elections—and to achieve policy results they genuinely believe to be desirable, and rigorous honesty sometimes has to take the back seat. And anyway, their embarrassed members will argue, the other side does it, and you can’t unilaterally disarm.
That said, it strikes me that the Democratic Party has been taken this to a self-harming extreme. For if the voters catch you stretching the truth and exaggerating the other side’s misdeeds, your credibility will suffer. Even when you state plain truths or make reasonable arguments, many people won’t, or will be reluctant to, believe you.
On what issues are Democrats taking such risks?
(1) Their undisguised faith that Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Vladimir Putin’s Russia to steal the 2016 election. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think this happened or that it has or will come anywhere close to being proven.
(2) The Republican tax bill was a “scam” that was going to take money away from those with modest incomes. A look at the tax rate schedules in the Republicans’ bill should have told Democrats that this argument wasn’t sustainable, and perhaps they made it in the hope—which didn’t seem too far-fetched at the time—that enough Republicans would waver, the bill would never pass and their characterization, with predictable help from the mainstream media, would stick. But the bill passed, modest and low-income people are getting raises and bonuses, and just about everyone will get a bigger paycheck later this month.
(3) Their claims that the Republicans were responsible for shutting the government down last month over DACA. Democrats knew that DACA was widely popular, but overestimated its importance to voters. It turns out they didn’t want the government shut down to help even deserving illegal immigrants. It’s hard for the party of more government to lose an argument over who caused a government shutdown, but they managed to do it.
(4) Their arguments that release of the Nunes memo would endanger national security, when it was obvious to anyone who read the memo that it wouldn’t. And then there's their ludicrous supporting argument that you should never harm the image of the FBI. Democrats have long been willing to criticize the FBI and other law enforcement agencies when they think it will help them politically, or when they think there has genuine abuse; the first is understandable and the second often commendable. How is this different?
This looks very much like those who live in an anti-Trump cocoon have such utter contempt for their fellow citizens outside that cocoon that they expect them to fall for unsustainable arguments. They have the excuse of knowing that most of the mainstream media will do so, but they seem not to have learned that a very large part of the American electorate no longer has respect for or pays heed to the mainstream media.
Political debate requires understanding how persuasive—or unpersuasive—arguments are and will prove over time. I’m surprised that Democrats aren’t doing a better job at this, and I suspect they’re reducing their credibility with many voters they have been taking for granted.
The Pussy Grabber's Chief of Staff, General John Kelly called multiple wife abuser who is his own Staff Secretary, Rob Porter, a "man of true integrity."
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly first found his credibility being challenged in October when he leveraged his standing as a retired four-star Marine Corps general who had lost a son on the battlefield to try to contain a political crisis over President Trump’s calls to the families of fallen soldiers.
His reputation took another hit when he later refused to apologize for falsely attacking a Democratic congresswoman. And another when he called Confederate general Robert E. Lee “honorable” and blamed the Civil War on a lack of compromise. And yet another when early this week he said some immigrants known as “dreamers” were “too lazy to get off their asses.”
Then came the Rob Porter saga.
After the White House staff secretary was accused of domestic violence by both of his ex-wives, Kelly publicly defended Porter as “a man of true integrity and honor and I can’t say enough good things about him.” Privately, Kelly reportedly urged him to stay in his job.
Kelly’s actions left his critics — as well as some West Wing subordinates — questioning how much credibility he has left.
“To have a chief of staff defend the integrity of a person who’s been credibly accused of being a wife beater is just stunning . . . and unconscionable,” said Peter Wehner, who has served in the three previous Republican administrations.
We have in this country an essentially unchanging disagreement about what model of governance will produce the best economic and social results. Democrats advocate what we might call weak social democracy: relatively high taxes (though lower than those of our peer countries), combined with a relatively strong safety net (though again, not as strong as other countries), spending on needs like education and health care, and economic regulation to protect workers, consumers and the environment.
Republicans, on the other hand, advocate low taxes, less social spending and less regulation. Both sides have moral arguments for why their models are better, but they also make practical arguments. They say that their model works, and that when it is implemented, we see positive results.
While the moral argument may not be resolvable, the practical argument can be tested. And right now we’re seeing tests take place all over the country. I want to focus on one such test, in the deep-red state of Oklahoma, and what it says about what Republicans are doing in Washington.
Like many states controlled by Republicans, Oklahoma has for some time been putting the GOP theory into practice: low taxes, little regulation and weak social spending. On the tax front, it has been particularly aggressive, since state law mandates that no tax increase can pass without a three-quarters majority in the state legislature. This has created a one-way ratchet, in which any tax cut is effectively permanent and taxes can only go down.
And has it produced the boundless prosperity Republicans predict? Well, no. In fact, the state is now in a full-blown fiscal crisis. Here’s a summary of the situation from NPR:
'Riding high on the oil boom of the late 2000s, the state followed the Kansas model and slashed taxes. But the promised prosperity never came. In many cases, it was just the opposite.
Around 20 percent of Oklahoma’s schools now hold classes just four days a week. Last year, highway patrol officers were given a mileage limit because the state couldn’t afford to put gas in their tanks. Medicaid provider rates have been cut to the point that rural nursing homes and hospitals are closing, and the prisons are so full that the director of corrections says they’re on the brink of a crisis.'
Just to reiterate: The state has so little money that 1 in 5 schools is open only four days a week. Gov. Mary Fallin and Republicans in the state legislature are debating a plan to increase taxes to try to address some of these problems, including giving a raise to teachers. Which is sorely needed, because Oklahoma pays its teachers less than any other state in the country.
That’s not to mention the other problems the state could be addressing, but isn’t. For instance, like many Republican states, Oklahoma refused to accept the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, and partly as a result it ranks eighth on the list of states with the highest proportion of its population without health insurance.
So if you suddenly became governor of a state somewhere, would you say, “We really need to duplicate what they did in Oklahoma”? Before you answer, consider that Oklahoma ranks 43rd in household income. And if you look at that list, you’ll find that of the top 10 states with the highest income, seven are strong Democratic states, two are states where Democrats and Republicans share power (Virginia and New Hampshire), and only one, Alaska, could be described as a red state. At the other end, nine of the 10 poorest states are Republican-controlled (New Mexico is the exception), where somehow their genius governing model has failed to produce the results they predict...
...If Oklahoma’s experience sounds familiar, it’s because something similar happened recently in Kansas. Sam Brownback was elected governor in 2010 and promised a grand “experiment” in Republican economics that would turn the state into a paradise of prosperity. Taxes were slashed, particularly for the wealthy, including the elimination of state taxes on “pass-through” income, not dissimilar from a provision in the tax cut Republicans in Congress recently passed (though in the latter case it was a giant deduction, not a complete elimination of the tax).
What was the result? Something resembling a catastrophe. Revenues plummeted, requiring brutal cutbacks in social services. The state’s bond rating got downgraded. The promised growth didn’t materialize — in fact, the state grew at a lower rate than the rest of the country through the recovery of the Obama years. Job growth in the state between the time the tax cuts were enacted and when they were scaled back in 2017 — after saner Republicans in the state revolted against the governor — was less than half of what it was in the rest of the country, and lower than every one of Kansas’s neighbors except one. Want to guess which state had lower job growth even than Kansas? That’s right: Oklahoma.
There are two lessons here. The first is that trickle-down economics just doesn’t work. Giving benefits to the wealthy and corporations doesn’t produce prosperity for all. It just doesn’t. Every time Republicans propose a tax cut, they say that this time will be different, but it never is. And second, people actually value the services government provides — like having schools that stay open five days a week. When you slash revenue so that you can’t afford those things, the public isn’t happy about it.
So is the same thing going to happen to the whole country now that the Kansas/Oklahoma model is being implemented at the federal level? The answer is, it’s complicated. Unlike states, the federal government doesn’t have to balance its budget every year, which means you can slash revenue without having to cut spending to compensate, at least not immediately. Which is exactly what Republicans just did: Because of their tax cut, the deficit in 2019 is projected to exceed a trillion dollars, a level it hasn’t hit since 2012. And we’re approaching a budget agreement that will increase spending, which will limit the damage.
Nevertheless, Republicans are still going to try to implement the spending side of their governing model: They’re trying to make Medicaid harder to get, and they’d like to privatize Medicare and cut back on things such as food stamps. That combines with a deregulatory agenda that will take away workers’ rights, make our air and water dirtier, and pull back on efforts to address climate change.
So on the whole, while Republicans in Washington won’t be able to turn the entire country into Oklahoma overnight, they’re going to give it their best shot. And they’ll keep saying that if we just cut taxes for the wealthy and slash social spending, everything will work out great. No matter how many times they’re proved wrong.
U.S. stock market down again today. Trump better tweet another threat to it and tell the stock market its making a "big mistake" by not going up when he tells it to.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Its funny because Trump is stupid, lol.
@realdonaldtrump:
"Even on positive news, the stock market is like death and un-American. Un. American. Many people are saying "treasonous." I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Can we call that treason? Why not?"
Republican Hypocrisy:
Repulicans rant and rave about how the deficit is out of control when a Democrat is president and couldn't care less about it when a Republican is president.
In the post Jimmy Carter U.S. the deficit has risen under every Republican president and fallen under every Democratic president.
Obama cut it by 70%, Bill Clinton eliminated it and now that trend is continuing under the popular vote losing pussy grabber with a 1.5 trillion dollar tax cut and a 300 billion spending bill over the next two years that Trump supports.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous, you should really get out of the stockmarket and put all your savings into Bitcoin, its doing really well, you'll make a killing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/trump-blocks-release-of-memo-rebutting-republican-claims.html
http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/08/how-the-media-buried-two-huge-fbi-stories-yesterday/
Russia Scandal: Bit by bit, piece by piece, the growing scandal of the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign is being revealed for what it is: an effort to weaponize the federal intelligence bureaucracy for use by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.
Recent revelations point to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and a secretive group of supporters and hangers-on both inside and outside of the FBI and Justice Department as having a far deeper personal involvement in the investigation than first thought.
Fears of a politicized and manipulative "deep state" are looking less paranoid by the day.
The involvement of Hillary Clinton campaign aides in both the FBI's and Robert Mueller's investigation of Russia's supposed ties to the Trump campaign in 2016 now seems deeper, and more nefarious, than first thought.
The British left-wing newspaper the Guardian reported this week that the FBI has a second Trump dossier, in addition to the one compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
This second dossier allegedly was put together by Cody Shearer, a long-time aide and fixer for both Bill and Hillary Clinton going back to the 1990s.
The Steele dossier, upon which the FBI's investigation appears to have been based, was financed by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. The second dossier, the one allegedly collected by Shearer, likewise was a Clinton team production.
So was the entire Russia election scandal and the ensuing investigation nothing more than a Clinton operation all along? Starting to look that way.
Last month, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made a criminal referral on Steele to the FBI. A heavily redacted version of that letter was released this week.
The letter refers to "a foreign source who gave information to an unnamed associate of Hillary and Bill Clinton, who then gave information to an unnamed official in the Obama State Department, who then gave the information to Steele."
It's unclear who the "unnamed associate of Hillary and Bill Clinton" was, since the name was redacted.
However, in a subsequent interview with Fox News, House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy all but spilled the beans: the "associate" was longtime Hillary aide Sidney Blumenthal.
So Hillary Clinton covered all the bases, having her own long-time associate, Cody Shearer, put together a dossier and at the same time, having Blumenthal and possibly also Shearer feed questionable information to Steele.
The referral letter is important for another reason. It suggests that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) was duped by the "apparent deception" of Steele and, of course, Shearer.
Using questionable information, Clinton, Steele, Blumenthal and Shearer were able to get the government to launch an intelligence surveillance operation against her political foe — something that should never happen.
The letter says that the "bulk" of the application for surveillance against Carter Page, a fringe adviser to the Trump campaign, came from the Steele dossier. But it was never made clear to the court that the dossier was financed by Hillary Clinton's political campaign.
So Clinton got the FBI's counterintelligence apparatus and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, in essence, to do her political dirty work.
Grassley and Graham tread lightly in their referral on the apparent ineptitude of FISC in assessing the quality of the information that the dossiers provided. It was, the referral letter said, "only minimally corroborated." Even former FBI Director James Comey called it "salacious and unverified."
So, to sell FISC on the idea that the information was widely known, the FBI supplied a Yahoo News piece written by Michael Isikoff that contained many of the same details as the Steele dossier. What they didn't say was that the Isikoff piece was based on information given to him by Steele.
It was an evidentiary echo chamber.
But while Grassley and Graham spared FISC from criticism for its slapdash work, it's clear that the FISC verification of the information was "so inadequate it resembles a concerted effort to conceal information from the (FISA) court."
Questions naturally arise, especially about a number of things that had previously been mysteries:
Was former President Bill Clinton's impromptu meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch at a Phoenix airport in June of 2016 to coordinate strategy on Hillary's email scandal or the Russian investigation — or both?
Most importantly, it now looks as if the FBI's "Russian collusion" case was based almost entirely on information doled out by Hillary Clinton operatives and a foreign spy, Steele, who was paid by Clinton and the Democratic Party and who had openly expressed an intense loathing of Donald Trump.
The big question is just how deeply did Clinton get involved in pushing a politicized investigation whose increasingly clear intent was to take down, first, a major political foe, and, second, a sitting president?
Hillary escaped charges in the email scandal, largely due to favorable handling by the FBI and by prejudicial remarks made by President Obama. Will she be charged with crimes this time if her direct involvement is further corroborated by facts, testimony and emails?
Poor, sad & sullen TTF
It's now clear what Hillary and Obama did
And TTF was not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake, they spent a lot of intentional energy on making life harder and more dangerous for America. They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that.
They know they done wrong
Anon... nobody knows what you are talking about. Hillary didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Obama. They were smart people who worked within a complex dynamic world system to keep America strong and preserve peace when posisble. Go to bed, man, it's late.
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Fake news. Gone.
JimK
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Wow that is one elaborate conspiracy theory, anon. Go back to 4chan.
JimK
Yes, it's elaborate. But two things distinguish it from the Russian-Trump conspiracy hoax:
1. the things Trump are accused of are not crimes, the things Hillary did were
2. there are actual facts that back up the "theories" about Hillary, as opposed to the Russian-Trump conspiracy hoax
"The county had passed a gender-identity nondiscrimination bill and these people wanted a referendum to relegalize discrimination. They had petitions and stood at shopping centers and churches all around the county, telling people that a Montgomery County gender identity nondiscrimination bill was going to make it legal for predators and pedophiles to lurk in the ladies rooms, molesting our wives and daughters with impunity by claiming to be women and using this new law as a "get out of jail free card.""
"""well, technically, doesn't the law make that possible?
it did make that legal, right?"""
No, it didn't. But keep pretending like it did if it makes you feel better.
you're a little behind, CO
hate to get all obvious on yo ass
but if a person is to be whatever gender they claim, there is nothing to stop them from using that for despicable motives
not saying that will happen, but if women don't want to worry about it, that's their prerogative
the TTF position is anti-women
the Captain is so obviously stupid, obvious is even part of his name
obs-magobs, man
It has always been legal for a man to go into a ladies restroom. Or for a woman to go into the men's room. It actually is not a problem, obviously.
You might say it is a "possible" problem, but that's ony because you're an idiot.
"hate to get all obvious on yo ass"
Your unhealthy preocupation with where transsexuals urinate and my ass is...
disturbing.
As for predicting other people's motives, don't waste too much time on that. With any luck, you'll be able to use the many hours you free up to learn better sentence structure and grammar.
"it's a big country by somehow Jim finds all the fruits"
"twice Dana try to run for office after that"
"It was an evidentiary echo chamber."
"oh, and he used the IRS to suppress dissent groups"
"simply let an owner of a bathroom decides his own policy"
Maybe then it won't sound like you're just another angry and jealous "bottom half-er" raging at the "elites" who got passing grades in 6th grade English class.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "but if a person is to be whatever gender they claim, there is nothing to stop them from using that for despicable motives".
And yet somehow after all these decades of transwomen using the women's bathroom there hasn't been any problems in women's bathrooms.
Don't listen to the transwomen bathroom alarmists, they're failing miserably to make something out of nothing.
Bigoted women are the minority, and they don't have a right to pick and choose who else gets to use the bathroom with them.
Satellites show warming is accelerating sea level rise
Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of sea level rise, new satellite research shows. At the current rate, the world’s oceans on average will be at least 2 feet (61 centimeters) higher by the end of the century compared to today, according to researchers who published in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
Sea level rise is caused by warming of the ocean and melting from glaciers and ice sheets. The research, based on 25 years of satellite data, shows that pace has quickened, mainly from the melting of massive ice sheets. It confirms scientists’ computer simulations and is in line with predictions from the United Nations, which releases regular climate change reports.
“It’s a big deal” because the projected sea level rise is a conservative estimate and it is likely to be higher, said lead author Steve Nerem of the University of Colorado. Outside scientists said even small changes in sea levels can lead to flooding and erosion.
Global sea levels were stable for about 3,000 years until the 20th century when they rose and then accelerated due to global warming caused by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, said climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute in Germany, who wasn’t part of the study.
Two feet of sea level rise by the end of the century “would have big effects on places like Miami and New Orleans, but I don’t still view that as catastrophic” because those cities can survive — at great expense — that amount of rising seas under normal situations, Nerem said.
But when a storm hits like 2012′s Superstorm Sandy, sea level rise on top of storm surge can lead to record-setting damages, researchers said.
Some scientists at the American Geophysical Union meeting last year said Antarctica may be melting faster than predicted by Monday’s study.
Greenland has caused three times more sea level rise than Antarctica so far, but ice melt on the southern continent is responsible for more of the acceleration.
“Antarctica seems less stable than we thought a few years ago,” Rutgers climate scientist Robert Kopp said.
So much for Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous's bullshit about the extra weight of melt water lowering the bottom of the ocean and preventing sea level rise.
Obviously the ocean floor isn't sinking, the water is rising at a faster and faster rate.
That's those feedback loops that will cause the rate of global warming to increase
Wyatt/Regina/Bad Anonymous said...
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February 11, 2018 10:14 PM
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February 12, 2018 5:56 AM
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February 12, 2018 5:57 AM
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February 12, 2018 6:03 AM
Mental illness is not pretty.
Get some help Wyatt/Regina
"It has always been legal for a man to go into a ladies restroom. Or for a woman to go into the men's room. It actually is not a problem, obviously."
hate to get all obvious on yo ass
but, you're right and I favor keeping it legal
what we don't need is the government setting bathroom policy
that's the gay agenda
pretend the other side is trying to make some law
then send big brother in to force everyone to let demented males use the girls' room
if a business wants to do that, I'm fine with it
some women may not frequent the place but it should be legal for a business to take the gamble
but we don't need your gay fascist state policing all the nations' restrooms
"Your unhealthy preocupation with where transsexuals urinate and my ass is...
disturbing."
I actually wasn't aware you were transsexual
disturbing
"learn better sentence structure and grammar."
I love my own special grammar and the way it drives TTF mad
I can't help it if the 99% is jealous
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February 11, 2018 10:14 PM
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February 12, 2018 5:56 AM
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February 12, 2018 5:57 AM
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February 12, 2018 6:03 AM
Mental illness is not pretty."
oh, come on, that's not fair
Jim's have a little trouble dealing with the revelations about Hillary
but it's not full blown mental illness
he'll recover
at least he just deletes the posts of others
unlike you, who routinely makes multiple posts only to immediately delete them as you immediately change your, uh, "mind"
"I love my own special grammar and the way it drives TTF mad"
We're re not mad, we're glad you're here!
You prove that even though worst stereotypes that people believe about conservatives are far too kind.
You're like Archie Bunker with a brain aneurysm and Tourette syndrome, but entirely bereft of any of the qualities that made Archie grudgingly likable.
In the decade or so since Montgomery County passed the discrimination law including gender identity in their codes for housing, employment, transportation services, the US has endured many self-inflicted wounds like the 2008 Bush economic collapse, and a drug-industry fueled opiod crisis that are costing the US tax payers BILLIONS of dollars.
Conservatives could have played important roles in averting both of these crises, and spared our country both treasure and lives, showing by example how careful stewardship of capitalism can improve the lives of everyone.
Instead, conservatives spent most of the last decade demonizing LGBT people, who they married, where they went to the bathroom, pushing a vast conspiracy theory about Obama's birth certificate, and Benghazi hearing after Benghazi hearing that utterly failed to indict their favorite target: Hillary Clnton.
When you look at it this way, it is really no surprise Republican voters abandoned arguably reasonable (and certainly more qualified) establishment candidates, and in a frustrated fit of nihilism chose Trump instead.
Priorities man; priorities.
Trump’s Budget: More Guns, Less Butter
Congress passed a bill authorizing a boost in both defense and domestic spending, but Trump wants to shift that balance much further toward defense spending along with deep cuts to social assistance programs, including Medicare and Medicaid despite promissing not to cut them.
"The White House released a tax and spending plan Monday that would not eliminate the federal budget deficit after 10 years, its first public acknowledgment that large spending increases and the $1.5 trillion tax cut are putting severe pressure on the government’s debt…
The plan would continue to markedly increase military spending and set aside money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It seeks to authorize $4.4 trillion in spending for 2019, up 10 percent from the amount of money the government spent in 2017.
The plan also calls for major cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other social programs — reductions that conservatives have long sought.
But even with these reductions, which add up to more than $3 trillion in cuts over 10 years, the proposal would not bring the budget into balance because of the lost tax revenue and higher spending on other programs.
The White House projects a large gap between government spending and tax revenue over the next decade, adding at least $7 trillion to the debt over that time. In 2019 and 2020 alone, the government would add a combined $2 trillion in debt under Trump’s plan."
But gee, he was going to not only eliminate the deficit in 8 years, he was going to pay off the entire national debt in that time, which would require an annual surplus of $2.5 trillion. He said it would be easy to do. He said this several times on the campaign trail. No rational person could possibly have believed him, of course. I mocked him for it at the time because it was a promise so ludicrous that the only possible response was pointing and laughing. But he said it, over and over again. Now he’s doing the exact opposite.
And the notion that we need to spend more on defense is simply ridiculous. We already spend almost half of all the world’s expenditures on “defense” (read: bombing and invading other countries; it really should be called offense spending). What would it take to make these people feel safe? Home of the brave? How about home of the perpetually afraid and the easily manipulated? We almost instinctively get behind every war because we fall for the marketing campaign for them every time, and those marketing campaigns are always based on an irrational fear. Seriously, before 2003 were you kept up at night by the fear that Saddam Hussein could ever have done any harm to you or this country in your wildest imagination? Or Vietnam? Or Grenada? Or Panama? Yet we fall for it, every damn time.
Trump loves military leaders and generals, perhaps he should listen to Dwight Eisenhower, one of the few five-star generals this country has ever had. On April 16, 1953, shortly after becoming president, he gave a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in which he argued that we must decrease military spending in order to take care of our people instead. “Every gun that is made,” he said, “every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
He continued: “This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
The cost of a single F-35 fighter jet ranges from $178 million to $337 million, depending on which version you look at (the versions for each branch of the military are different). One plane. And that doesn’t count the more than $400 billion it took to develop it or the costs of flying it, which are higher than for any other plane in history. Trump wants more guns; the country needs more butter.
"We're re not mad, we're glad you're here!"
well, it's nice to be appreciated
every time I take a hiatus, Jim and Priya say I won't be missed
"You prove that even though worst stereotypes that people believe about conservatives are far too kind"
oh yeah, the rabid left is so kind to conservatives
I've noticed that
"You're like Archie Bunker with a brain aneurysm and Tourette syndrome, but entirely bereft of any of the qualities that made Archie grudgingly likable."
oh, so you're a boring old fart, huh?
"In the decade or so since Montgomery County passed the discrimination law including gender identity in their codes for housing, employment, transportation services, the US has endured many self-inflicted wounds"
actually, many of our problems stem indirectly from the embrace of the fascist gay agenda
"like the 2008 Bush economic collapse,"
you mean the Barney Frank collapse?
for the first six years of Bush's presidency, the economic was remarkably resilient through crises like 9-11, anthrax, Katrina
it was only when Dems took over Congress in January 2007 that things began to collapse
"and a drug-industry fueled opiod crisis that are costing the US tax payers BILLIONS of dollars."
isn't it just like a TTFer to misspell opioid?
the AIDS crisis screwed up our drug system
"Conservatives could have played important roles in averting both of these crises, and spared our country both treasure and lives, showing by example how careful stewardship of capitalism can improve the lives of everyone.
Instead, conservatives spent most of the last decade demonizing LGBT people, who they married, where they went to the bathroom,"
actually, both of those were concocted by the type of creeps that frequent this page
conservatives simply reacted
"pushing a vast conspiracy theory about Obama's birth certificate,"
liberals spent and spend more time talking about that than conservatives
"and Benghazi hearing after Benghazi hearing that utterly failed to indict their favorite target: Hillary Clnton."
nobody tried to indict her for that, nothing criminal was alleged
the hearing simply examined how despicable her actions in the incident were
posterity has the facts now
"When you look at it this way, it is really no surprise Republican voters abandoned arguably reasonable (and certainly more qualified) establishment candidates, and in a frustrated fit of nihilism chose Trump instead."
yes, and Dem voters actually preferred a octogenarian socialist who never was a Democrat until he ran for President
maybe Jeb should have bought the Republican National Committee and fixed the primaries like Hillary did!!
"Priorities man; priorities."
oh yeah, priorities... like making sure guys can use any girls room they want to
"FEBRUARY 13, 2018 11:43 AM
Blogger Priya Lynn said...
Trump’s Budget: More Guns, Less Butter"
Priya, America's budget is none of your business
right now, the Congress and the intelligence community is investigating hostile foreigners like yourself who try to interfere with our Democratic process
Good thing Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous makes every sentence a paragraph. That way you can tell at a glance which comments to ignore.
STACK OF BIBLES: Pastor Claims Innocence After Being Found In Car With Naked Man Bound In Ropes
A Homestead-area pastor is being accused of open lewdness and indecent exposure, but he says what police say happened is not what really happened. Officers were sent to the 800 block of Beechland Street around 11:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a suspicious vehicle parked outside of a home.
According to a criminal complaint, when the officers arrived on the scene, they could see two men inside the vehicle. Police say one man — identified as 61-year-old George Nelson Gregory, of Munhall — was in the back seat, and the other man was completely naked and bound with nylon rope in the front seat.
The criminal complaint says when officers asked what was going on, Gregory told the officers that they “were just playing” and he and the other man “meet up from time to time to play with each other.” The other man confirmed that what they were doing was consensual. Gregory, however, says none of that is true and “that conversation never happened.” “I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong,” Gregory said.
The pastor claims he and his wife have been counseling the “young man with a drug problem” for years, adding, “I won’t deny that he began to take his clothes off and propositioned me, but I will deny, on a stack of Bibles with God as my witness, that I did nothing.” Yup.
CALIFORNIA: Fugitive Pastor Surrenders On Charges He Sexually Assaulted Preteen Girl At Hotel
The Christian Post reports:
A California pastor accused of forcing his way into a hotel room and sexually assaulting one of two young girls under the age of 13 who were visiting from China, says he was just at the “wrong place at the wrong time” after surveillance video showed him lurking around at the hotel prior to the attack. On Sunday morning at about 11:00 a.m., Pastor Douglas Rivera, 40, presented himself at the Covina Police Department with his lawyer, where he was arrested and booked on multiple charges, including sexual assault, indecent exposure and burglary with intent to commit a crime. He posted bail set at $280,000 and was released three hours later.
Police allege that last Wednesday evening, Rivera drove through the parking lot of the Vanllee Hotel and Suites until he saw a lit room with drapes open. He then parked his truck facing the interior of the hotel room the two minors were inside and masturbated as he watched them. Rivera later exited his vehicle and stood outside of the window of the girls’ hotel room and pretended to be on the phone for more than 30 minutes. He then walked through the hotel and forced his way into the room when the minors opened the door thinking it was their chaperone. He assaulted one of the girls then fled in his truck, police say.
After being identified from the hotel’s surveillance video, Rivera evaded capture for several days during which he posted an Instagram clip proclaiming his innocence and begging for prayers.
we see again that Priya is obsessed with finding any Christian who committed a crime
they do, like any other segment of society
but, Priya regularly argues that Christians are the cause of all the world's trouble
whether these two are guilty will be decided by a court of law
meanwhile, Priya is to Christians what Nazis were to Jews
with a few differences: no one pays any attention to Priya and Priya has no followers and no influence of any kind and rarely leaves the nut house
Oh look at that, the holier than thou TTF troll is once again stooping to make personal attack against Priya Lynn.
Do they teach you that in church?
How deplorably Trumpian of you.
Evangelicals and religious types who side with the pussy grabbing compulsive liar for political gain will learn Amercans do not support them as more red seats turn blue:
"SARASOTA, Fla. — Democrats continued a streak of special election wins with a victory along the Gulf Coast of Florida on Tuesday, the 36th red-to-blue switch in a state legislative race since the 2016 election.
Democrat Margaret Good triumphed by seven points in the Sarasota-based 72nd District, defeating Republican candidate James Buchanan in an area that backed Donald Trump for president in 2016 by more than four points.
The upset is likely to reverberate through the two major parties as they gear up for the midterm election cycle. Although Republicans have been buoyed in recent weeks by the sense that their tax legislation will be popular among voters, and by new polling showing that Trump’s popularity has ticked up, Tuesday’s outcome offers yet another data point that voter enthusiasm lies with Democrats.
“They’re winning elections in places where they shouldn’t be,” said Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, at a Sunday afternoon rally for the Republican candidate. “We’ve seen them win statehouse seats in Wisconsin. We’ve seen them win big mayor’s races in New Hampshire. Fifty seats have already changed hands, from Republicans to Democrats, since President Trump took office. Make no mistake: The Democrats are unified.”..."
Sean Hannity✔
@seanhannity
Obama's portrait - a stark contrast to predecessors with inappropriate sexual innuendo
David Mack✔
@davidmackau
sean hannity has deleted this tweet about how sexy he finds obama’s portrait
2:41 PM - Feb 13, 2018
Charlie Sykes✔
@SykesCharlie
Can we all agree that Hannity and the "secret sperm" story is the best part of infrastructure week so far? https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/963483300609314816 …
4:42 PM - Feb 13, 2018
Peter Gleich✔
@PeterGleick
To staff for powerful jerks, beware:
Today, EPA's Pruitt blamed his 1st-class air tickets on staff. Hannity blamed his nutjob sperm/sexually innuendo/portrait post on staff. The White House blamed the Porter crisis on staff. “The buck stops here”now only applies to real money.
8:43 PM - Feb 13, 2018
"Oh look at that, the holier than thou TTF troll is once again stooping to make personal attack against Priya Lynn"
not sure what I've said that would fall into the category of "holier than thou", bu if you have something specific, I'd love to consider it
and you think that pointing out that Priya tends to make broad generalizations demonizing a certain group is a personal attack?
OK...
here's some facts Jim will want to delete fast before get out:
While the media is filled with stories and theories about Trump’s interactions — or lack thereof — with Russia, not enough attention is being paid to revelations about pro-Hillary Clinton operatives’ use of opposition research that ostensibly came from Russia. With the Democrats unable to govern and lacking much of an affirmative agenda, they want Russia to be the story. Yet with each passing day, more seems to be revealed that not only undercuts the absolute faith Democrats have in the Trump-Russia collusion narrative but also demonstrates just how much they did and how far they were willing to go to establish an improper or embarrassing link between Trump and Russia.
There is no better illustration of this than what we now know went on between Clinton allies Sidney Blumenthal and Jonathan Winer and the author of the infamous dossier, Christopher Steele. We know that Steele was paid with Clinton campaign money and that he was “passionate about [Trump] not being president.” We know that Winer, an old Washington hand and former John Kerry staffer was Steele’s man at the State Department and, incredibly, admitted to distributing more than 100 of Steele’s commercial business documents within senior offices at the State Department. Soon enough, we will know who Steele’s clients were that paid for their views to be disseminated within the Obama administration and what Russian interests were involved. And by the way, it turns out Blumenthal, a long-time specialist in the political dark arts, had his own anti-Trump dossier, authored by political activist Cody Shearer, which he gave to Winer; Winer passed it to Steele, and Steele passed it to the FBI. Presto. Keeping someone between the political operatives and the FBI: That’s how real pros do it in the swamp.
Anyway, you would think this operation would warrant appropriate news coverage and multiple follow-up questions from the mainstream media. But instead, it is mostly crickets. Compare the coverage of the Blumenthal-Steele-Winer troika and their work to influence the FBI and supply anti-Trump campaign dirt to the media with the coverage of a single meeting that took place with a Russian lawyer and Trump campaign personnel. Ask yourself which is most significant: Donald Trump Jr. — the hapless, amateur son of then-candidate Trump — having a one-off, stray meeting in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer who perhaps promised, but did not deliver, compromising information on Clinton, or Winer, Blumenthal and foreign national Steele all playing a role in getting campaign dirt through Steele’s and State Department channels into the hands of the FBI? With all the breathless scrutiny surrounding Trump Jr.’s meeting, one would think there would at least be a modicum of interest in Blumenthal, Winer and Steele.
The idea that the Democrats were the ones who solicited and utilized Russian-supplied, damning information about Trump instead of Trump using Russian-supplied, damning information about Clinton is something that Trump’s opponents cannot process. So, today, when the Democrats and their allies in the media insist that we need to know what the Russians did to influence the election and interfere in the democratic process, it is fair to ask which Russians are they talking about? Are they talking about the Russians who were solicited by Steele and his Democrat paymasters? What were the Russians’ interests and were any of them paying Steele? (A new story links Steele to Putin ally Oleg Deripaska.) And what about the sources that Shearer solicited for the anti-Trump dossier he gave to Blumenthal? It seems that there were a lot more meetings with Russians and information collected from Russians on behalf of the Clinton campaign than there ever was on behalf of the Trump campaign.
It may be difficult for Democrats to accept this, but their outrage towards the president doesn’t change the fact that neither he nor his campaign colluded with the Russians. And it must be difficult knowing that more evidence or downright admissions keep surfacing pointing to Democrats facilitating Russian influence in the 2016 campaign. Russian fingerprints are all over the work of Blumenthal, Winer and Steele. Exploring their actions must be a priority for the media.
Trump’s Instability Creates a Tasmanian Devil-like Revolving Door
Five people in high-level positions in the Trump administration resigned last week alone, prompting Peter Baker of the New York Times to compare the attrition rate under Trump to previous presidents. Turns out he’s breaking all the records when it comes to senior personnel being fired or resigning. And you know how Trump loves breaking records.
"The doors at the White House have been swinging a lot lately. A deputy chief of staff moved on. A speechwriter resigned. The associate attorney general stepped down. The chief of staff offered to quit. And that was just Friday…
More than a year into his administration, President Trump is presiding over a staff in turmoil, one with a 34 percent turnover rate, higher than any White House in decades. He has struggled to fill openings, unwilling to hire Republicans he considers disloyal and unable to entice Republicans who consider him unstable. Those who do come to work for him often do not last long, burning out from a volatile, sometimes cutthroat environment exacerbated by tweets and subpoenas…
“We have vacancies on top of vacancies,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has studied White House turnover over the last six administrations. “You have initial vacancies, you have people who left in the first year and now you have people who are leaving in the second year.”
According to a report by Ms. Tenpas, Mr. Trump’s 34 percent turnover rate in his first year is more than three times as high as President Barack Obama’s in the same period and twice as high as President Ronald Reagan’s, which until now was the modern record-holder. Of 12 positions deemed most central to the president, only five are still filled by the same person as when Mr. Trump took office.
Mr. Trump is on his second press secretary, his second national security adviser and his third deputy national security adviser. Five different people have been named communications director or served in the job in an acting capacity. The president has parted ways with his chief strategist, health secretary, several deputy chiefs of staff and his original private legal team. He is on his second chief of staff — and some wonder whether a third may be in the offing soon."
And that doesn’t include virtually the entire senior diplomatic corps in the State Department, the entire boards of advisors who have quite en masse in the Interior Department, or been disbanded at the EPA, or the thousands and thousands of positions they haven’t even bothered to fill in the first place more than a year after taking office. Partly this is because of loyalty tests that they demand, but at this point it’s mostly because no one actually wants those jobs after watching how Trump has treated those who already had them.
There’s a tidbit in Michael Wolff’s book about Sean Spicer, who was reluctant to take the job of press secretary when it was offered (he wasn’t Trump’s first choice; the job was actually offered to Tucker Carlson and several others first). He knew that Trump could end up being a major disaster and he asked friends if he took this job, would he ever be able to work again or would it kill his career? After he spent six months being an embarrassment on the job and being Trump’s whipping boy before being shown the door, the answer to that is clear.
Why on earth would anyone take John Kelly’s job? You have a president who is uncontrollable, who makes decisions based on momentary emotional whims, who flips and flops back and forth on virtually everything, who throws people under the bus like he’s getting paid to do it. He’s pretty much the worst person in the world to work for and everyone now knows it, so their chances of finding anyone to take a job in the White House who isn’t just a desperate mediocrity, if not an outright fool, are slim and none.
Obviously Clinton colluded with the Russians. How else could she take her lead in most pre-election poll to such a staggering electoral college loss!!
Check out the winning Trumplandia economy!
America is “winning” so much these days it can sometimes feel like we are spinning around and around the toilet bowl of civilization! U S A! U S A! Big box behemoth and duplicitous self-promoter Walmart is back at it. Last month Walmart announced that they were giving everybody wage increases—because of the proposed Republican tax giveaway. It was bullshit of course, and something they were going to need to do in the hopes of stemming the tide of activism and workers asking for much bigger wage increases. They coupled this “exciting” news by forgetting to publicize that they were also going to be closing 63 Sam’s Club stores, excising more than 10,000 jobs in the process. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports, with its most delicate headline to date, that Walmart will begin a new round of layoffs. The report, titled “Walmart to Trim Store Management Ranks,” is awash with all of the optimism a rising stock price brings to the Journal.
"The retailer this week is eliminating two department manager positions in some of its 4,700 U.S. stores, including managers who oversee cellphone departments and online-grocery pickup areas, according to a person familiar with the plans."
For any “deplorables” amongst us, using my second grade addition skills, that is roughly 9,400 jobs in management—usually a position where one is making more than minimum wage—that will be gone. Business Insider reminds everyone exactly how much winning has been going on at Walmart in this brand new 2018.
"The new round of cuts comes one month after the retailer said it was removing 3,500 salaried co-managers and adding 1,700 lower-paid assistant store managers. Walmart also said last month that it was closing 63 Sam's Club stores in a move that would impact roughly 9,400 employees."
Walmart’s spokesperson told the Journal something about how “retail is changing.” The spokesperson is right, and part of what’s changing is that less and less Americans are able to afford the things that are sold in retail spaces—online or in store.
And of course another school shooting in the States.
Thoughts and prayers everyone, wouldn't want to take any action when you've got thoughts and prayers.
And its always too soon to talk about gun control.
And remember people, as Paul Ryan said "Prayer works!".
Yes, it works so very well.
Marco Rubio✔
@marcorubio
Just spoke to Broward School Superintendent. Today is that terrible day you pray never comes.
4:34 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
Replying to @michele5411 and 2 others
$3,303,355
4:47 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Cory Gardner✔
@SenCoryGardner
I am heartbroken for the students & family of those involved in this horrible tragedy & I'm praying for our first responders as they act swiftly to contain the situation.
4:08 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
$3,879,064 https://twitter.com/SenCoryGardner/status/963882756731293696 …
6:30 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Rob Portman✔
@senrobportman
Heartbreaking news out of Florida. Jane and I send our prayers to the school, the community, and the victims of this tragedy.
4:34 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
$3,061,941.00 from the NRA to make sure Americans buy guns. https://twitter.com/senrobportman/status/963889332984647681 …
6:31 PM - Feb 2018
Bill Cassidy✔
@BillCassidy
Praying for the students, teachers and first responders affected by the tragic shooting in Florida. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
4:58 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
$2,861,047.00 from the NRA to make sure Americans keep buying guns. https://twitter.com/BillCassidy/status/963895217161211904 …
6:33 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Senator Thom Tillis✔
@SenThomTillis
Tragic news out of Florida. Please keep the victims, their families, first responders and the community in your thoughts and prayers.
5:19 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
$4,418,012.00
Four million four hundred eighteen thousand and twelve dollars from the NRA. https://twitter.com/SenThomTillis/status/963900580707098625 …
6:35 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Joni Ernst✔
@SenJoniErnst
Please join me in praying for the students, faculty, and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, as well as their loved ones. Let us also show our gratitude to the courageous first responders.
5:03 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
$3,124,273 from the NRA. https://twitter.com/SenJoniErnst/status/963896476580614145 …
8:08 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Ronna McDaniel✔
@GOPChairwoman
My heart breaks for all the families, teachers, and students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Praying for all affected by the tragic shooting in Florida today.
4:24 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
In the 2015-2016 election cycle alone, GOP candidates took $17,385,437 from the NRA. https://twitter.com/GOPChairwoman/status/963891127169572865 …
6?46 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
Replying to @bessbell
This is NOT counting the $21 million given to President Trump.
6:46 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
Replying to @bessbell
God have mercy on your NRA-kept souls:
Richard Burr
$6,986,620
Roy Blunt
$4,551,146
Thom Tillis
$4,418,012
Cory Gardner
$3,879,064
Marco Rubio
$3,303,355
Joni Ernst
$3,124,273
Rob Portman
$3,061,941
Todd Young
$2,896,732
Bill Cassidy
$2,861,047https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/04/opinion/thoughts-prayers-nra-funding-senators.html …
4:44 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Bess Kalb✔
@bessbell
Replying to @bessbell
Sorry to be crass but we have the motherfucking receipts, @joniernst @RoyBlunt @SenCoryGardner @marcorubio @senrobportman @SenToddYoung @SenThomTillis @BillCassidy.
5:00 PM - Feb 14, 2018
Why are America's cowards so obsessed with guns? Here's one explanation: Why Guns?
Canada House also home to Pride House during 2018 Olympics
Canada House — decked out in maple leafs and serving up poutine — is bursting with extra pride at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.
In what is a historic first, Canada House is the official host of Pride House throughout the Games. Launched at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Pride House was created to be an inclusive and safe space for LGBT athletes, fans and allies from all over the world.
It's the first time a national Olympic committee has directly affiliated itself with Pride House.
"The COC stands behind its commitment of inclusion and diversity in the global sport landscape," says Chris Overholt, the Canadian Olympic Committee's chief executive officer.
Overholt says they understand and recognize that diversity is Canada's greatest strength.
"Inclusion is the very foundation of what makes the heart of Team Canada."
Good anonymous said "Why are America's cowards so obsessed with guns? Here's one explanation: Why Guns?
That explains a lot.
Germany Reports an Increase in Hate Crimes Motivated By Right-Wing Extremism
Despite having supposedly quashed anti-semitism decades ago, Germany has seen an uptick in the number of anti-semitic attacks.
In 2017, police recorded over 1,400 crimes against Jewish people or institutions. Those crimes included 32 violent crimes, 160 cases of property damage and 898 cases of incitement.
Because statewide data has not been finalized, the German government expects these numbers to rise. The data came in response to a government inquiry.
Police found a right-wing motive in 95 percent of the cases. Non-Muslim foreigners committed only 33 of the crimes. German or foreign-born Muslims committed only 25 of the crimes.
Many people would like to associate this increase with the increase of refugees and migrants, but the math does not support this xenophobic theory. A mandate was recently proposed to require migrants to visit a concentration camp in order to reduce anti-semitism, but the numbers clearly show that non-Muslim Germans, not immigrants, perpetuate most of the crimes. The call is coming from inside the house.
Jews are not the only group targeted by hate crimes. In 2016, Germany saw more than 10 attacks per day against migrants. In just the first quarter of 2017, more than 200 anti-Muslim crimes were committed.
“Unlike the racist attacks on refugees, there has been no decline in explicitly anti-Muslim attacks,” Congresswoman Ulla Jelpke told DW. “That suggests that Muslims in Germany have become a particular object of hatred for violent far-right extremists.”
By comparison, there were 97 anti-Christian hate crimes recorded in 2017.
Other forms of hate crimes also show an increase in far-right extremism and bigotry. About 300 homophobic or transphobic crimes were committed in Germany in 2017. In just the first half of 2017 these types of hate crimes were up almost 30 percent from the same time the year before. Authorities believe the actual number and that many of these crimes go unreported due to stigma...
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/02/15/florida-high-school-shooting-suspect-nikolas-cruzs-instagram-profile-shows-him-wearing-maga-hat/23362848/
Trump really is appalling in every way.
RICHMOND — A prominent Republican state legislator from southwest Virginia announced his support Thursday for expanding Medicaid, an about-face that could make it easier for other rural conservatives to get on board after four years of steadfast opposition.
Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott), chairman of the powerful House Commerce and Labor Committee, said his struggling coal-country district would get the “hand up” it desperately needs if more uninsured Virginians were made eligible for the federal-state health-care program.
“For my district, for my part of the state, it’s the right thing to do,” Kilgore said. “At the end of the day, I think you’ll see a lot of folks feeling that way.”
Kilgore’s announcement came a few weeks after House Speaker M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) began signaling a willingness to expand Medicaid if work requirements could be imposed on able-bodied recipients. Cox’s party nearly lost control of the chamber in the November elections in an anti-Trump wave, with many Democrats running on the issue of health care.
Kilgore is the first House Republican to explicitly call for expansion, doing so in a Roanoke Times op-ed and on a radio program. More were expected to follow, given Cox’s tacit support. House Republicans met in a closed-door session Thursday to discuss Medicaid.
“Del. Terry Kilgore (R) Breaks The Republican Dam On Medicaid Expansion For GOP,” conservative radio host John Fredericks tweeted after Kilgore announced his change of heart on his show.
The fate of expansion remains unclear in the state Senate, where, like the House, Republicans have a two-seat majority.
When the expansion debate began in earnest four years ago, three moderate GOP senators supported it, but the House was dug in against. Now only one of the three, Emmett W. Hanger (Augusta), remains in the Senate. No one else from his side of the aisle has come out for expansion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/rural-republican-legislator-from-southwest-va-comes-out-for-medicaid-expansion/2018/02/15/f2924950-1276-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html
"This is an unspeakable tragedy." = "This is a tragedy we won't speak about."
"Thoughts and prayers" = "You wouldn't criticize God, would you?"
"Don't politicize this." = "The shooter wasn't a Muslim and/or an immigrant."
"Wait for the facts to come in." = "Please don't Google Tiahrt Amendment"
"This was the act of a disturbed individual." = "Shit, he's a white supremacist isn't he?"
"Now is not the time to talk about guns." = "It's Infrastructure Week (again)!"
Trump the asshole mentioned the shooting and talked about addressing mental health but never mentioned guns. The only thing that asshole has ever done about mental health is pass a law that makes it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=t9aKFGVp1wM
Mother of dead 14 year old Stoneman Douglas HS shooting victim calls out Trump for his inaction on gun control and public school safety.
Now that the Department of Justice has handed down those indictments of 13 Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 election with "operations [that] included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ("Trump Campaign") and disparaging Hillary Clinton," let’s revisit some greatest tweets from the occupier of the Oval Office.
Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump
The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?
5:46 PM - May 8, 2017
Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump
The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?
5:44 AM - Sep 22, 2017
Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump
Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!
9:19 AM - Jan 16, 2018
The public sure gets it now that Mueller's closing in.
Have fun escaping to FL on the taxpayer's dime, yet again.
Trade Deficit Grows More than $50 Billion in Trump’s First Year
Donald Trump loves to take credit for everything good in the economy since he took office, and even before that, but he never manages the bad news. And since he seems to think the trade deficit is the most important economic measure in existence, you’d think the fact that it grew to its highest levels in almost a decade in his first year in office might be worth noting.
The U.S. trade deficit in December and for the full year both rose to the highest levels since 2008, complicating efforts by President Trump to fulfill his vow to reduce the gap.
The deficit in December rose 5.3% to $53.1 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a $52.2 billion gap…
In 2017, the U.S. trade gap leaped 12.1% to a nine-year high of $566 billion.
And it was even worse when you look at the two countries that Trump has singled out for particular demonization when it comes to trade, China and Mexico. $375 billion of that total deficit is with China alone, a new record. The deficit with Mexico also hit a new all-time high. Oh, did I mention that those are the two countries where almost all the products under the Trump brand, including his clothing line, are made? I’m sure that’s a total coincidence.
Seriously, how gullible are Americans? They voted for this guy largely on the basis of his claim that he would bring the factories back home to employ Americans when his own products are made in those countries. Anyone who believed that is too stupid to chew their food without a reminder, much less to cast an informed vote.
White House Lied About Porter Timeline. Film at 11.
Okay, you might want to sit down for this. I wouldn’t want you to be so shocked that you fall over and hit your head on something and get a hematoma or concussion. Trump’s handpicked FBI Director, Christopher Wray, told a Congressional committee that the White House is lying about when they found out about Rob Porter’s spousal abuse.
Oh, he didn’t actually say that, of course. He just blew up their entire timeline and their claim that they fired him as soon as they found out about it by telling the committee that the FBI had finished its investigation of Porter for a security clearance in January and delivered that report to the White House. It included the abuse of his ex-wives, presumably to explain why he wasn’t being approved for a clearance.
"The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, said on Tuesday that the bureau delivered final results in January of its background investigation into Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned in disgrace amid spousal abuse allegations. But the White House allowed Mr. Porter to continue serving in his post until the accusations surfaced publicly in press reports last week.
In testimony on Capitol Hill, Mr. Wray upended the White House’s timeline of the events that led to Mr. Porter’s departure, contradicting the contention of top officials that his background investigation was “ongoing” at the time of his resignation.
Mr. Wray also told lawmakers that the bureau delivered its first report on Mr. Porter to the White House in March, months earlier than White House officials said they learned of the problems with his background check. Mr. Wray did not disclose the contents of that initial report, but Mr. Porter’s two ex-wives have said they told F.B.I. agents of the abuse in interviews conducted in January 2017."
Wait, this White House lied? Next you’ll be telling me that Wakanda isn’t real and that Trump didn’t see thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey from his penthouse miles away. Or that he isn’t going to pay off the entire national debt in 8 years. Or that he has his products made in the very countries he demonizes as having taken our jobs. But those things would be crazy. Who would lie like that? I mean, other than anyone and everyone connected to Trump?
"And of course another school shooting in the States"
yes, there is too much mental illness among youth in America because of a sick culture that glorifies promiscuity and violent resistance
we could start by banning hostile foreigners (like certain Canadians) from our social media, where they try to meddle in our politics
"Thoughts and prayers everyone, wouldn't want to take any action when you've got thoughts and prayers."
oh, prayers usually lead to action
it's a good place to start
it changes attitudes
"And its always too soon to talk about gun control."
it always will be until there's some evidence that it would save lives
what's interesting is that the same people who want to let gay boys in the girls' room because there is NO EVIDENCE that it will cause attacks
those same people want to ban guns even though there is no evidence it saves lives
hypocrisy alert!!
what seems to save lives is when someone is present who can shoot back
a couple of teachers were killed saving students
just think if they were armed and could have defended themselves
now that we've prayed about it, let's actually protect kids by arming and training teachers how to take down shooters
You know, on this hoax about collusion between Russia and Trump, TTFers were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake, they spent a lot of intentional energy on trying to overturn the will of the voters and paralyze our country. They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that.
Anon, I'm sorry if you didn't get the memo. We don't call it a "hoax" any more.
Another talking point we have abandoned: "no evidence it saves lives", see Australia.
Please update your notes, comrade.
Parents Sue to Stop Trans Son from Having Hormone Therapy for Religious Reasons
These parents (and I use that term loosely) are suing to stop their 17-year-old transgender son from getting hormone treatments and therapy, all because they say the process violates their "religious beliefs". They also told their son he should kill himself because he’s “going to hell anyway,” which tells you everything you need to know about why they don’t deserve custody.
The teen’s court-appointed guardian says that his grandparents, and not the parents, deserve custody. Medical experts also testified that the father’s treatment of the boy, refusing to call him by his chosen name and telling him to kill himself, has “triggered suicidal feelings,” CNN reports. Which makes anti-gay christians like this happy because their talk of "love" is a cheap facade for their hate.
According to a transcript of closing arguments, the grandparents said they are prepared to make medical decisions with the child, which may include starting hormone therapy.
“Father testified that any kind of transition at all would go against his core beliefs and allowing the child to transition would be akin to him taking his heart out of his chest and placing it on the table,” according to a transcript of the prosecutor's closing argument.
That’s a ridiculous analogy because it presumes this father has a heart.
In addition to telling their son to kill himself because he’s “going to hell anyway,” something he reported at a crisis chat service, they’re also accused of stopping the child’s mental health counseling. They apparently wanted to send him to a Christian "therapist" instead.
The teen said he was forced to sit in a room and listen to Bible readings for over six hours at a time, according to the complaint.
The judge says she’ll issue a ruling on the case by Friday. But anything less than giving this teenager the support he needs would be downright cruel.
"Anon, I'm sorry if you didn't get the memo. We don't call it a "hoax" any more."
you apparently don't understand the memo
everyone knew that Russia tries to influence politics around the globe
they've been doing that since the 1930s
what assholes like you have been saying is that the GOP presidential nominee colluded with them
Mueller confirmed that no US citizen was involved
there was never any proof of that and malicious liars like TTF thought it was their duty to the "resistance"to pretend there was
American voters will take that into account in November
"Another talking point we have abandoned: "no evidence it saves lives", see Australia."
we're not abandoning facts
mentally deranged shooters flee when resisted
arming and training teachers will save lives
"Please update your notes, comrade."
freudian slip, alert
your allegiance has been noted
Greetings, comrade, but I am afraid you are mistaken. There are now more than twenty confirmations that the kompromat "pee tape" exists, and even more confirmation that our Dear Leader is being blackmailed by those who hold it. If journalists have this knowledge, we can be sure the Special Counsel has it.
The Mueller indictments did not name Dear Leader or any of our other other esteemed comrades by name because Mueller is sewing up the case so tight Trump and his mobster ring are going the way of Al Capone. You may crow the glory of vindication but you will crow prematurely, just like how you do a certain other thing. Yes, comrade, we have the tapes.
Prepare to circle the wagons. And remember, take the signal from Comrade Sarah Huckabee Sanders most recent wording, "hoax" is now not to be used.
"Greetings, comrade, but I am afraid you are mistaken. There are now more than twenty confirmations that the kompromat "pee tape" exists, and even more confirmation that our Dear Leader is being blackmailed by those who hold it"
oh yeah, so many people have confirmed it
let's see...there's Bill, Hillary, Chelsea, Sidney Blumenthal, the guy and his girlfriend at the FBI, the guys at the Kremlin that Hillary paid, Meryl Streep, Steele, Adam Schiff, Loretta Lynch, James Comey, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Ashley Judd, Jeb Bush, Rosey O'Donnell, Kim Jong-un, Susan Rice, Jimmy Kimmel
"If journalists have this knowledge, we can be sure the Special Counsel has it."
well, he has it - but gossip and knowledge are rarely the same
"The Mueller indictments did not name Dear Leader or any of our other other esteemed comrades by name because Mueller is sewing up the case so tight Trump and his mobster ring are going the way of Al Capone."
he went out of his way to say NO US citizens wittingly colluded with these Russians
I guess your fantasies help you get through the day but there is no evidence to back them up
"You may crow the glory of vindication but you will crow prematurely,"
I'm not "crowing" about anything
the facts are just plain to see
I'm not deluded like you but that's not saying much
As the New Yorker put it: "The indictment did not make a judgment as to whether the results of the election were impacted, or whether collusion occurred between the Trump campaign and Russia in any other instances."
I am not judging whether Dear Leader is compromised, I hope he his not as the future of our white race depends on him, but many Russian sources have confirmed that the pee tapes exist and he is being blackmailed.
"As the New Yorker put it: "The indictment did not make a judgment as to whether the results of the election were impacted,"
they didn't have to
anyone with half a brain knows that anything a Russian may have said would only be one more cricket chirping in the thunderous summertime forest that is our election
the whole idea is ridiculous
"or whether collusion occurred between the Trump campaign and Russia in any other instances."
oh, but you see, it didn't make a judgement about whether collusion occurred between you and the Russians either
that's the funny thing
lack of evidence could mean anything
which means it means nothing
"I am not judging whether Dear Leader is compromised,"
quoting your last post:
"The Mueller indictments did not name Dear Leader or any of our other other esteemed comrades by name because Mueller is sewing up the case so tight Trump and his mobster ring are going the way of Al Capone."
"I hope he his not as the future of our white race depends on him,"
oh yes, any time a TTFer is called and cannot answer, there's always the race card to play
You know, on this hoax about Trump being a racist, TTFers were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake, they spent a lot of intentional energy on trying to overturn the will of the voters and paralyze our country. They spread malicious lies, provable lies. None of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that.
"but many Russian sources have confirmed that the pee tapes exist and he is being blackmailed."
when you sources are Russia, where everything is a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, you'll spend a lot of time confused
that's the nature of their game
We have no idea how many heart attacks occurred in Washington Friday due to Special Counsel Mueller's indictment. And how many political careers will be thrown into the toilet today.
The creatures of the Washington swamp for the past year have invested almost all of their political capital in fanning the story of Trump's criminal conspiracy with Vladimir Putin. They were helped by the echo chamber of well fed courtier journalists and the higher-ups of the American intelligence agencies. They secured the appointment of a special prosecutor, Mueller, to hold Trump accountable.
In other words, Mueller's investigation was the rocket that was to kick Trump out of the White House.
The rocket's blow was stunning – Mueller's investigation fully vindicated Trump. But Russian internet trolls were selected as the scapegoats.
In fairness, it should be noted that there is still a dose of reality in the indictment published by the Department of Justice on Friday. Some of the thirteen Russians who obtained a tourist visa to the United States provided false information about their employment and the purpose of their visit. If this allegation is proven in court, they will be banned from entering the U.S. forever.
However, they lied not only to the American government. They also lied to the Russian government when they promised to influence the formation of public opinion in America. The budget of the disinformation activities of the Russian intelligence is merely ludicrous – several million dollars. For comparison, to seriously affect the election of just one congressman in an uncharted rural district in New Jersey, you need to spend five to ten times more.
Also, Russian internet trolls illegally used the stolen Social Security numbers and the dates of birth of real American citizens to open bank accounts and PayPal accounts and organize political rallies in the United States (both pro and contra Trump). Illegal banking operations are a federal crime.
That's all, folks. Neither Trump nor his staff, as expected, is tarnished. On the election results, the activity of the trolls did not affect much of anything (and how could they affect with the laughable penetration of the entire U.S. political advertising market to the tune of 0.001%?).
The missile, launched by the Obama's Deep State, fell into the Trump White House but did not penetrate.
The criminal consequences for thirteen Russian scapegoats are more or less understandable (although few in America are interested). But politically, the implications for those American politicians who not only became anti-Trumpists, but also burned all the political bridges behind them will be severe. The political opposition is legal in America, but the delegitimization of the legally elected president is not.
Mueller finishes his investigation victoriously, although not at all as he intended. After all, the State Department issued a visa to these Russians under the leadership of Obama. And the FBI under the direction of Obama did not move a finger in this matter, although the organized activity of Russians on the English-speaking internet was known since 2015.
What will Obama's Deep State do if Israel and the United Kingdom officially file charges against one of Obama's lieutenants, Jim Messina, for precisely the same interference (and with the same result) in the democratic elections as what the Russians did?
In term of prognosis, it looks as though the word "impeachment" will disappear from the lexicon of the inhabitants of the Washington swamp from now on. And all of a sudden, they will be able to see through Christopher Steele's "Russian dossier" on Trump. As if nothing had happened, they will begin to speak as a matter of course of the "active measures" disinformation campaign of the KGB or FSB. Nothing sensational – the Russians have been doing this in the West since the mid-1930s.
They have had some successes over the years. But not at this time.
Comrade, your notes are indeed out of date. We have passed the days when "racism" is a dirty word, banned by political correctness, something shamful hidden behind code-words. No, today we the white race own "all three branches of government" -- country AND Western. We can implement Anglo-American justice as God intended it to be, and hopefully we will soon privatize the entire prison system so that the thugs and rapists and Sharia-loving ragheads will have a place to go if they won't go back where they came from.
Let us march proudly, holding our tiki-torches high as we send the inferior races back to the shithole countries they came from. You know, just this week I saw a news story where an illegal immigrant killed a child while he was driving drunk -- see what I mean? Let us send them back to their shithole countries so we can make America great again, like us.
I realize that the effective end of institutional racism in America means that Dems have lost an issue that floated them for decades
but constantly trying to inflame racial tension is despicable
why don't you go to a shithole country like Russia or North Korea?
basically, go anywhere and stop contaminating America with your divisive rhetoric
Please to not call Mother Russia a "shithole," comrade. And North Korea, that's difficult, they're kind of white, aren't they? Do they all have that guy's weird hair-do? Well, at least they aren't hippies. And they are great at computer programming and helping you with the SAT and stuff. Also, great parades -- we should have some like that, honoring Great Leader on Pennsylvania Avenue. Let us work shoulder to shoulder to make this great dream come true, and oppose the unpatriotic libtards.
The geography books of the future will follow Dear Leader's example and label Haiti and all the countries of Africa, that is, countries populated by people with black skin, as Shithole Countries. And the classroom maps that are printed now are showing Norway in a special golden color, because we want people from places like that.
And please be optimistic and do not complain. Once the Great De-Migration is completed, there will be no divisiveness in America, comrade. It will be nothing but glorious white people and America will be Great Again.
Florida student to NRA and Trump: 'We call BS'
Emma Gonzalez, a student at the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 people were left dead after a mass shooting, calls out President Trump and the NRA by name at an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Source: CNN
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/02/17/parkland-florida-student-emma-gonzalez-anti-gun-rally-fort-lauderdale-full.cnn
11 minutes every human being should all hear
Longtime Republican donor calls for new gun laws, vows to withhold cash
"A longtime Republican Party donor based in Florida vowed not to contribute any more money to candidates or electioneering groups until they pass legislation banning the sale of assault weapons to civilians.
Al Hoffman Jr., a real estate developer and former ambassador to Portugal, has donated millions to Republicans over the years. On Saturday he sent an email to a half-dozen Republican donors, encouraging them to boycott candidates who oppose new gun legislation, the New York Times reported.
'Ana Navarro✔
@ananavarro
Very proud of my friend, Al Hoffman, for taking a stand. He’s a West Point grad. He’s a veteran. Has served in many capacities. He is a Republica. A father. A husband. A patriot: Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons, via @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/us/prominent-republican-donor-issues-ultimatum-on-assault-weapons.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share …
8:02 PM - Feb 17, 2018
Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault We...
Al Hoffman Jr., a powerful Republican donor based in Florida, said he would end his contributions to candidates and groups that oppose
nytimes.com'
“For how many years now have we been doing this — having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings — and how many years has it been that nothing’s been done?” Hoffman said. “It’s the end of the road for me.”
Hoffman warned that unless the government intervenes, more gun massacres are going to occur.
“If we go from Orlando to Las Vegas, and now Parkland, you just have to know that there are others around the country just dreaming about staging another mass murder,” he said.
Peter S. Rummell, another Florida-based GOP donor, said he was on board with Hoffman’s plan and would only support candidates who were in favor of banning assault weapons.
Click here for more from the New York Times."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/18/longtime-republican-donor-calls-for-new-gun-laws-vows-to-withhold-cash.html
"Please to not call Mother Russia a "shithole," comrade"
this is Teach the Facts, pinko, and facts are, well, you've been to Russia, you know what kind of hole it is
seriously, you guys need to fix the place up
remember the embarrassing Winter Olympics there?
a little democracy would help to create something nice
"And North Korea, that's difficult, they're kind of white, aren't they?"
you Russians would also do well to drop the fixation on everyone's race
your racism adds to your shithole atmosphere
"Also, great parades -- we should have some like that, honoring Great Leader on Pennsylvania Avenue. Let us work shoulder to shoulder to make this great dream come true, and oppose the unpatriotic libtards."
that's a Commie thing
we don't do military glorification here in the democracy which elected Trump its leader
"The geography books of the future will follow Dear Leader's example"
if you're talking about Trump, we don't think of Trump as a "dear leader"
polls show most people think he's a crass misanthrope
unlike your country, we're free to criticize the leader here
we will probably re-elect him, though, because he has, unlike most politicians, kept his promises and also presided over a humming economy
but I don't think anyone will refer to him as "dear" anytime soon
"and label Haiti and all the countries of Africa, that is, countries populated by people with black skin, as Shithole Countries."
he was actually referring to all third world countries where the masses are uneducated and the government is corrupt
there are a lot of white ones that fall into that category, depending on how racists like yourself define "white"
"And the classroom maps that are printed now are showing Norway in a special golden color, because we want people from places like that."
did you know Trump brought up Norway in the meeting because he had just come from a meeting with the head of the Norwegian government?
of course you don't
the Washington Post didn't tell you that
"And please be optimistic and do not complain. Once the Great De-Migration is completed, there will be no divisiveness in America, comrade. It will be nothing but glorious white people and America will be Great Again."
America will be great again with all the people who have come from around the globe to live here
we assimilate all and will never be exclusively white
"Emma Gonzalez, a student at the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 people were left dead after a mass shooting, calls out President Trump and the NRA by name at an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida."
Emma, don't let the media turn you into a fool
remember Coach Feis?
he died throwing himself in front of some of your friends and took the bullets
if he had had a gun, he would have been able to protect them without dying
if he had had a gun, he'd still be alive
and if Trump made guns against the law, no demented teenager is going to say: "I can't go kill a bunch of people with a gun today. Guns are against the law."
news flash: murder is against the law and that didn't stop it
the only thing that has been shown to stop madmen murderers is if someone fires back
News from Australia, where they are trying an attempted mass murderer:
A Canberra university student accused of trying to murder his tutor and classmates felt he had a "higher purpose" to hurt people, a court heard on Thursday...
Days before the incident, Mr Ophel, 18, looked up how easy it was to kill someone with a baseball bat, as well as ACT murder laws and life sentences, court documents say...
On August 25, Mr Ophel was allegedly yelling incoherently when he suddenly stood up during his Australian National University statistics class and attacked several students and the tutor with a metal baseball bat...
Another student intervened and Mr Ophel allegedly redirected his attack towards them.
Why didn't he just shoot them??? Oh yeah, this was Australia and he couldn't get a gun to do the job.
fascinating...
wouldn't work here
millions of home of military families and police and security personnel would still contain guns that can be stolen, borrowed and resold
one incident down under is a bit much to draw such sweeping conclusions from anyway
in America, half the kids are on drugs with psychotropic effects - ritalin to daze kids so the won't cause problems for teachers and accutane to clear acne
we know nothing about what effect this is having on their mental health, and what happens when they stop taking their meds, but there is clearly an epidemic of psychiatric disturbance in our schools
do something about that and provide armed security in schools
disarming the law-abiding population doesn't work
Hee hee, mate, good one. It worked perfectly well in Australia. Only the US has this kind of problem. No other country on earth is so stupid they think guns will reduce violence.
we have plenty of cities that have instituted gun control in America
always the most violent places in America
DC had an extreme gun control law before it was found in violation of the Constitution
since the SCOTUS eliminated it, violence has dropped in DC
and places without strict gun control in America are less violent than places with
there's just no evidence that gun control saves lives
any other countries you want to consider?
what about some shithole countries, as you so elegantly put it?
how's gun control and violence playing there?
Comrade Anonymous, you might find these statistics interesting: America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 17 maps and charts.
As you will see America proudly leads the world by a huge percentage in its successful usage of guns to eliminate one's enemies and also annoying strangers and innocent passersby. We are number one! We are number one!
Let us stand shoulder to shoulder with the National Rifle Association to eliminate the enemies of the white race and make America great again.
what we lead the world in is personal freedom
if you don't like it, move to Australia
or North korea
Yes, comrade, America is incredible. We are a Double Winner -- we not only lead the world in self-delusional "personal freedom," but we also have its opposite, The Highest Prison Population in the World. Yay! Let's shoot off some firecrackers, comrades!
If you read the link, which is just Wikipedia, as we don't have to look far to find mention of this great honor, you will see that we are sadly failing in an important measure, however. Our Great Country is far back in second place, behind Seychelles, in per capita imprisonment of citizens.
Like you I don't know where Seychelles is, or what it is, but they have 735 people in jail out of a population of 92,000. Come on, America, let's be Great Again! We can beat those punk Seychelles, let's get more people locked up! Come on, we can do it!
"Yes, comrade, America is incredible. We are a Double Winner -- we not only lead the world in self-delusional "personal freedom,""
yes, this is what Communist always say
freedom has no value, it's delusional and we need Big Brother to oversee our every thought and moment
"but we also have its opposite, The Highest Prison Population in the World. Yay! Let's shoot off some firecrackers, comrades!"
oh, I agree
we have too many laws and lock people up too lightly
the main culprit is the inane drug law structure
of course, making ownership of guns illegal will only increase the ssize of the prison nation
and, of course, in your dream state, Russia, they don't bother to fill the prisons
if anyone causes any trouble, they just kill them
"If you read the link, which is just Wikipedia, as we don't have to look far to find mention of this great honor, you will see that we are sadly failing in an important measure, however."
nice to see you have realized your arguments in favor of government confiscation and against the second amendment have failed and so you changed the subject
no need to reference anything, I believe you
"Our Great Country is far back in second place, behind Seychelles, in per capita imprisonment of citizens.
Like you I don't know where Seychelles is, or what it is,"
actually, I know exactly where the Seychelles are
I use to have a friend from there and I've been there
it's a paradise
"but they have 735 people in jail out of a population of 92,000. Come on, America, let's be Great Again! We can beat those punk Seychelles, let's get more people locked up! Come on, we can do it!"
yeah, let's start by locking up anyone who has a gun to defend themselves and their families
what a stupid and maliciously facetious hypocrite!
first he whines that we need to make more laws and then that we have too many people in prison
more laws mean more people in jail, stupid
"nice to see you have realized your arguments in favor of government confiscation and against the second amendment have failed"
true dat
it's obvious from the discussion above that we need to stop drugging our kids, we need to make our schools more accommodating to religious activity, and we need more security in schools- not confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens
What is it that makes America great? What, really, resonated so much with his supporters when Donald Trump promised to make America great again? What was it that we had lost? Why did so many people perceive the eight years of the last administration as a period of decline? It helps, I think, to take a broad perspective here, and to recognize that the genius of America, as those in the 19th century used to call it, is actually fairly complex.
There is no single factor that accounts for America’s exceptionalism, but, rather, there is a combination of traditional American values which does effectively differentiate us from other countries, and accounts for the fact that, historically, ours became the richest and most powerful nation in the world.
There are at least four basic principles which have animated our development since the break with Great Britain in the late 18th century. These are 1) an abhorrence of arbitrary power, and a commitment to the rule of law, 2) the belief that sovereignty properly belongs only in the American people themselves, and not in a King or a hereditary aristocracy, 3) a commitment to economic progress and social mobility, and 4) the understanding that there must be limits to the power of our government, and that some space must be permitted for the development of private property, individual freedom and conscience (including morality and religion).
These four principles lead to particular corollaries. For example, there ought to be a separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers, to prevent excessive oppression and arbitrary action. There ought to be checks and balances through such mechanisms as dual state and federal governments. No private property should be confiscated without compensation.
Generally speaking, our country has flourished when the four principles are simultaneously operative, and we have encountered difficulty when one or more of the four are forgotten at the expense of others. This is made more complicated by the obvious fact that the four principles are in conflict. Too much emphasis on popular sovereignty (democracy) can lead to arbitrary power, and the suppression of individual rights; too much emphasis on economic progress can lead to dangerous levels of inequality which threaten popular sovereignty, and corruption which threatens the rule of law itself.
That we have generally managed to implement all of these contradictory principles might well be thought to be miraculous, and this accounts for Americans’ longstanding faith that there is a higher power which actually guarantees the success of the American experiment. In God we Trust is not only a national motto but an inescapable reality.
There has been a constant need for Americans to exercise popular sovereignty with vigilance to ensure that arbitrary power has not triumphed and that our government remained limited. Sadly, during the Obama Administration, this vigilance failed, and Trump’s election and the continuing battle between the administration and the media and our two political parties is the result.
In particular, during the Obama years, the notion prevailed at the highest levels of the federal government that it was the responsibility, particularly of the executive branch, to monitor and to supervise (in Obama advisor Cass Sunstein’s phrase, “to nudge”) all American life, from preschool to grave; thus the takeover at the national level of one-sixth of the economy itself through Obamacare. The conviction that the federal government and the executive knew best was so strong in Barack Obama’s mind, apparently, that he assured us that through the use of his phone and his pen, and through the issuance of executive orders and administrative guidance he could act if Congress failed to do so, and he and his administrative agencies did. President Obama, really, became the exponent of the very kind of arbitrary power our framers feared.
Because the policies he chose to implement—redistribution of wealth, legitimization of undocumented immigrants (particularly children), and a reduction in American military might, among them—were popular with the national media, and because the media was deeply unaware of the complexity and multiplicity of American values, many Americans in and out of the government became convinced that what was being done was proper, even though the means used clearly betrayed our traditions. To this day Obama’s party seems committed to what he did, and it should be no surprise that we are now beginning to discover that so great was their belief that what they were doing was the only right and proper approach, that so many Obama-era federal officials in the highest reaches of the government, may have believed that President Trump must be stopped at any cost.
This battle continues, with the media carrying on the work of the now disgraced Obama officials, and using any means at its disposal, including slander, innuendo, and salaciousness to seek to turn Americans against the current administration. The latest manifestation, for example, is to use the purported marital abuse of an aide to President Trump’s chief of staff General Kelly as a way to embarrass and remove Kelly, in order ultimately to strike at Trump. Marital misconduct, is, of course, to be condemned, but we have other institutions, in particular the domestic courts and the criminal process to deal with such matters, and it is irresponsible, to say the least, to seek to undermine an administration through such means.
To struggle against the still dominant politically correct ideology is not easy, since most operating the great media organs, and many still left in the federal government adhere to the pernicious philosophy which dominated during the Obama years, and still dominates in the academy, in much of the legal profession, and in many of our courts. If the progress begun under Trump in restoring limits to the power of the federal leviathan, in restoring the engines of economic growth, in restraining the arbitrary power of federal agencies, and in restoring the implementation of the sovereignty of the people itself is to continue, it is the responsibility of those who wish to preserve true American Greatness to remember what created it and to seek, perhaps with divine guidance, to continue to correct the errors of the prior administration and its accomplices.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I realize that the effective end of institutional racism in America..."
Mental illness is not pretty. Get help Wyatt/Regina.
What We’ve Been Reduced To: Telling Foreign Leaders to Ignore Trump
This weekend was the Munich Security Conference, a major gathering of the world’s foreign policy leaders, including members of the Trump administration and Congressional leaders. They spent their time telling foreign leaders that they should ignore Trump’s tweets and public statements. Seriously.
"Amid global anxiety about President Trump’s approach to world affairs, U.S. officials had a message to a gathering of Europe’s foreign policy elite this weekend: Pay no attention to the man tweeting behind the curtain.
U.S. lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — and top national security officials in the Trump administration offered the same advice publicly and privately, often clashing with Trump’s Twitter stream: The United States remains staunchly committed to its European allies, is furious with the Kremlin about election interference and isn’t contemplating a preemptive strike on North Korea to halt its nuclear program…
The determination to ignore Trump’s foreign policy tweets has been bipartisan.
“There is a lot more support for continuing our past policies than it might appear from some of the statements,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told an audience on Sunday that was made up mostly of Europe’s foreign policy elite. “The unanimity comes from those folks who are actually operationalizing policy.”
“The values are the same, the relationships are the same,” said Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio). “What you do see is this administration willing to put pressure upon the systems.”
The question of whom they should believe — the president or his advisers — has befuddled European officials. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel confessed Saturday that he didn’t know where to look to understand America.
“Is it deeds? Is it words? Is it tweets?” he asked."
I just finished reading Michael Wolff’s book and one of the primary things that stands out in it is the degree to which virtually everyone around him, with the possible exception of Hope Hicks, who seems to be an absolutely unquestioning Trump toady, views their job in the administration as preventing Trump from being even worse than he is. They go to great lengths to coddle him, constrain him, hide things from him that might send him off on another rage-filled tirade that will cause him to make terrible decisions. Even his own children, Jared and Ivanka, see themselves as playing that role (though their advice has often caused him to make his worst decisions, like firing James Comey).
This is what we’ve been reduced to. We have a toddler in the White House and everyone is trying to keep him from crapping on the rug. With the ouster of Steve Bannon, one would have thought that his worst influence, the one most likely to lead him down a dangerous path when it comes to foreign policy, was gone. And it’s true that Jared and Ivanka, the only ones left with serious influence on him, have a much more mainstream view of such matters. But Trump, in the end, is uncontrollable. The combination of his endless ignorance, overwhelming ego (and thus supernatural confidence in his own gut instincts and snap judgments) and tendency to self-sabotage is a very, very dangerous one.
My only hope at this point is that we can get him out of office before his term is up and that the country manages to recover from this appalling and embarrassing reality.
we'd like to respond, Priya, but our unelected Special Counsel has created a new law: any foreigner who voices an opinion on our politics has to register with the FEC as a foreign agent
otherwise, they're guilty of meddling in our politics and "conspiracy against the United States" so engaging with you would make guilty of collusion
btw, the NY Times is reporting tonight poll results that more than half of the nation now favors the tax cut
this could an anomaly in November
the GOP, the majority, may pick up seats in the first midterm of a new President
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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Your cut-and-paste is wasting bandwidth anon. If anyone wants to read the rightwing idiocy I deleted, feel free to follow this link:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/02/russian_investigation_offers_a_ludicrous_indictment.html
It isn't fair to readers to make them scroll through this crap.
JimK
Wyatt/Regina/Bad anonymous said "we'd like to respond, Priya, but our unelected Special Counsel has created a new law: any foreigner who voices an opinion on our politics has to register with the FEC as a foreign agent".
Well, get yourselves registered as foreign agents and respond then.
Trump insists only way to stop a bad mentally ill guy with a gun is a good mentally ill guy with a gun
Obviously teh gheys have chariots of iron or something!
Parkland Survivor: GOP Ignores Mass Shootings But Not Gay Wedding Cakes
A survivor of the Parkland shooting last week, Cameron Kasky, recently spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper where he harshly criticized Republicans for selling their votes to the NRA.
In a poignant statement, Kasky slammed conservative politicians who offered nothing more than thoughts and prayers when what we need is real action in tightening gun control laws.
But his most damning statement was about Republicans’ deeply misplaced priorities. This “pro-life” party, he said, refuses to do anything to prevent more kids from being murdered in their schools, yet they lose their freaking minds if Christian bakers are asked to make cakes for same-sex weddings.
“There is a segment of this society that will shrug this off and send their thoughts and prayers but march for hours over a rainbow wedding cake,” he added.
That's just how phuqued up Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous are, they're obsessed with oppressing LGBT people who harm no one but adamant that nothing be done about mass murders like this. Really, could their priorities be any more out of whack? These people are sick!
"Well, get yourselves registered as foreign agents and respond then"
well, you see, I'm not a foreigner
you are
I always thought we lived in a land where free speech to everyone
but liberals have for years have been saying that speech about elections can be regulated
and now, daringly, the prosecutor who is desperate to save face has decided that foreigners who dare to have an opinion on our politics have to register as foreign agents or they are guilty of defrauding the UNITED STATES and are MEDDLING in our elections
remember all those lies you said about Trump
that's now fraud for foreigners
"Trump insists only way to stop a bad mentally ill guy with a gun is a good mentally ill guy with a gun"
I haven't heard him insist that
but obviously, the way to secure the schools is to have the teachers armed
this morning the Post has a poll of Americans saying that 77% think Florida happened because we are not treating mental illness
it has nothing to do with the second amendment
there is an epidemic of mental illness among our young people because
1. teachers' unions & public schools have pushed psychotropic drugs on them to sedate them and make the job of teachers
2. they are exposed to non-stop porn on smartphones, from gays and other perverts
3. religious institutions have been systematically excluded from public schools
solve those problems and this small population of kids won't be so insistent on murdering their classmates
"But his most damning statement was about Republicans’ deeply misplaced priorities. This “pro-life” party, he said, refuses to do anything to prevent more kids from being murdered in their schools,"
actually, this is a hypocritical statement
the GOP has pushed school choice for years so that parents can take their kids out of schools that they deem dangerous
how's that for doing something?
"yet they lose their freaking minds if Christian bakers are asked to make cakes for same-sex weddings."
no, they calmly and cooly oppose tyrannical government trying to force bakers, or anyone else from celebrating perversion
"“There is a segment of this society that will shrug this off and send their thoughts and prayers but march for hours over a rainbow wedding cake,” he added."
interesting that prayer is mocked as offensive but consciousness raising are not
more hypocrisy
"they're obsessed with oppressing LGBT people who harm no one"
how oppressive...they have to find a baker that shares their view of perversion
actually, the people who sued chose those particular bakers on purpose to oppress their right to their beliefs
"but adamant that nothing be done about mass murders like this"
oh, I want something done
I want the unarmed football coach who was gunned down protecting teen girls to have a weapon to protect the kids next time
now, go register before Mueller finds out about you
"It isn't fair to readers to make them scroll through this crap"
finally, some concern for what readers have to scroll through
finally, someone will start deleting it when Priya posts 20 cut and pastes at a sitting
I mean other than Priya..LOLOLOLOL
hey, wait a minute
no, don't delete Priya's posts
Priya likes Hillary!!
that kind of delusion is very rare!!
hey, did you guys notice that suddenly no one's talking about "collusion" anymore?
the latest word is "meddling"?
how does one meddle in an election?
isn't participate just a euphemism for meddle?
did you hear what one of the crimes the 13 Russians committed was?
they hired someone to impersonate Hillary and took a picture of her in jail
apparently, impersonating someone is also a crime
the Feds will be stopping by 30 Rock Saturday night
did you hear that the 13 also promoted Bernie Sanders?
and that after the election, they organized anti-Trump rallies?
and that Michael Moore showed up to one?
no wonder no one's talking collusion anymore
look, we all know the Dems never believed the collusion hoax
TTFers were not just "kinda" wrong, they didn't just misunderstand or make a mistake
they spent a lot of intentional energy on trying to overturn the will of the voters and paralyze our country
they spread malicious lies, provable lies
none of what they predicted happened and now I wonder how they feel about that
but, they don't have time to think
they are in a panic
it's beginning to sink in that Americans now know they are liars
a poll out this week has Nancy Pelosi as the most unpopular politician in America
wonder why?
maybe because when you're raising a family of four on 40K and some rich one-percenter liberal Democrat calls your two thousand dollar tax cut "crumbs", you kind of resent it
ya think?
Its a good thing that Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous writes by making every sentence a paragraph. That way you can tell at a glance which posts to ignore without having to actually read their idiocy and hatred. : )
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"you can tell at a glance which posts to ignore without having to actually read their idiocy and hatred"
how many people think Priya actually read the post and just can't handle the truth?
that would be everyone!
hahahahahahahahahaha
"But his most damning statement was about Republicans’ deeply misplaced priorities. This “pro-life” party, he said, refuses to do anything to prevent more kids from being murdered in their schools,"
isn't safety a local issue?
here's an idea:
we have millions of cops across America enforcing moronic worthless traffic laws like seat belt laws and rolling stops and cutting through the wrong neighborhood at rush hour
it's the main activity of most police departments
put them in schools where they can protect children and actually do something valuable with their lives
Michelle Obama to speak in Saskatoon
So nice to have her come here. She's one of those women who epitomize feminine goodness, unlike Regina/bad anonymous who epitomizes toxic masculinity.
Arctic temperatures are soaring, and scientists are freaking out
The planet keeps heating up and melting ice at a "frightening" pace.
It was the warmest December on record in the Arctic, and 2018 has already set a string of records for lowest Arctic sea ice.
Unfortunately for America and the rest of the planet, the best science makes clear that what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. “We long ago anticipated that warming would be greatest in the Arctic owing to the vicious cycle of melting ice and warming oceans,” climate scientist Mike Mann told ThinkProgress via email.
“But what we didn’t anticipate is the way that changing wind patterns could accelerate that process — and along with it, a host of nasty associated surprises.”
Mann, who won the 2018 AAAS Public Engagement with Science Award last week from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, explained that those surprises include “including slowing down of ocean currents, and whacky weather patterns in North America associated with weather extremes like droughts, wildfires, floods, and superstorms.”
And those are in addition to the “nasty” associated impacts that scientists have long predicted would result from Arctic warming, such as faster melting of the land-based Greenland ice sheet, which in turn drives the speed up in sea level rise that scientists reported last week.
“We are seeing what scientists have predicted for years,” professor of thermal sciences John Abraham told ThinkProgress via email. “The temperatures in the Arctic are off the chart. This matters for the rest of us because this is the time of year when the Arctic ice should be growing. But it isn’t growing like it should. So, this summer, there will be less ice and more open waters that will lead to more warming.”
In light of the lack of aggressive action to address climate change, Abraham warns that “We’ve started a feedback loop that we cannot stop.” And indeed, Arctic sea ice levels have been at record lows most of 2018, according to Japan’s National Institute of polar research.
“What is particularly frightening is that this is happening in a La Nina year, when if anything, the Earth should be a little bit cooler than normal,” Abraham added. “If this isn’t a clarion call to take action, I don’t know what is.”
And indeed, last month was the warmest January on record for a year in which there is a La Nina cooling phase, as both NOAA and NASA reported.
Anti-gay bigot Billy Graham died. The world just became a very slightly better place. : )
“Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war," 18 year old Samuel Zeif said through tears.
It Just Passed 80 Degrees in Washington on the Earliest Day Ever
Here’s an unnerving thing to think about when you go out and enjoy the unseasonably warm and sunny weather today: About 2 PM Wednesday, the temperature in Washington hit 80 degrees at the earliest point in any year since modern weather readings were first recorded in 1872.
The National Weather Service recorded the temperature at Washington Reagan National Airport at 81 degrees this afternoon, breaking the previous daily record for February 21 of 75 degrees, which was set in 1953. It’s also the second consecutive day on which DC broke a heat record; Tuesday’s high of 78 broke the previous mark for February 20, set in 1930...
https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/02/21/washington-dc-weather-80-degrees-record/
So, since the Parkland shooting Trump has been talking like he has some interest in doing something about it. He tweeted "Whether we are Republican or Democrat we must now focus on strengthening background checks!".
Sounds promising but with Trump you have to focus on what he does, not what he says because they are usually two differnent things. In fact since Trump has taken office he's moved on multiple fronts to weaken the background check system for guns. The Trump administration has narrowed the legal definitions that define someone as ineligible to buy a gun. That means more people are eligible to buy guns. One way to be disqualified for buying a gun is if you are a fugitive from justice which makes sense, if you're wanted by the law you shouldn't be able to buy a gun under those circumstances.
The FBI used to consider people "fugitives from justice" if there were outstanding warrents for their arrest. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, its changes. A "fugitive from justice" will only be disqualified from buying a gun if he or she has also fled across state lines to intentionally avoid prosecution. The Trump administration has also just thrown out tens of thousands of law enforcement records that used to be included in the background check system.
Certain forms and aspects of mental illness in the background check system also used to disqualify you from buying a gun. Trump has narrowed those definitions meaning more people can buy guns. Also famously in the first substantive standalone legislation that was passed by Trump and the Republican congress, they overtly went out of their way to change the law so people who have been adjudicated seriously mentally ill by the social security administration are no longer included in the background check system at all.
And as if that wasn't enough, in its recently released budget for the coming fiscal year President Trump proposed slashing millions of dollars from the budget of the background check system.
So, that's what the Trump administration is doing, very different from what Trump is saying. Trump is quietly making changes to allow more such shootings to happen while he's trying to falsely convince you otherwise.
Trump also made headlines last night when he said he would ask the Justice Department to consider regulations regarding "bump stocks" which make a semi-automatic gun fire like a machine gun. But you should know, in terms of what he asked to happen (requested the Justice Department to come up with regulations on these) well the Justice Department has already considered regulating those kinds of devices.
Diane Feinstein author of the assault rifile ban during the Clinton Administration that George Bush allowed to expire, today released a letter from five years ago, reminding everyone that Democrats have been asking for years the DOJ to promuligate regulations to stop such add-ons and accessories that make semi-automatic rifles fire like automatic rifles. The justice Department is already on record explicitly saying that they are not allowed legally to promuligate those kinds of regulations, it is not within their power, Congress has to do it and of course the Republican controlled congress at the time wouldn't allow such action to be taken.
So, if Trump wants to ban bump-stocks or trigger cranks, or any of these other accessories there is definitely a way to do it. Its clear, the only way to do it is to ask Congress (which is controlled by his party) to pass a law that would ban those things. But despite the headlines from last night that the president has directed action against those accessories, there is no signs of any legislation request coming from the Whitehouse and there is no sign that the Republican controlled congress plans to do that. Because Trump and the Republicans want to pretend they're open to the least they could do in terms of common sense gun gun control measures while behind the scenes doing the exact opposite and weakening existing regulations controlling guns.
This is standard operating procedure for Republicans, publically promise one thing (like they won't cut Medicare and Medicaid) and then do the exact opposite of what the public wants and what they said they would do. The lying and deception by Republicans is outrageous.
In a meeting with shooting surviviors Trump required Cliff notes on how to be human.
Empathy doesn't come naturally to him.
Trump logic 101
"I never said "give teachers guns" like was stated on Fake News CNN & NBC, I said "give some teachers guns!"
The Department of Justice has confirmed that if Trump is indicted he will be tried as an adult.
"Anti-gay bigot Billy Graham died. The world just became a very slightly better place. : )"
That Jim deletes anything that reveals the truth about Hillary or implies that people are the gender they're born and leaves this maliciousness up, tells you all you need to know about this vile cesspool
no more posts here until this message from the Westboro Ethical Society is deleted
have fun listening to yourself
Anon, it is not symmetrical. If you actually posted "anything that reveals the truth about Hillary" I would be happy to leave it up. Unfortunately a mythology has sprung up around her where it is considered permissible and even admirable by some to accuse her of anything, no matter how bizarre, from murdering a bunch of people to selling American's uranium to Russia to running a human trafficking ring for pedophiles. To me, the willingness to believe these kinds of untrue stories is the worst of America, the worst of the Internet, and the worst of humanity, and this site will not provide a host for it.
Billy Graham represents the "Again" in "make America great again." He goes back to a time when homosexuality was a sin and a crime, when "the American way of life" was straight white Christians' way of life. He buddied up with Presidents and world leaders but his kind of views made life miserable for millions of Americans. Over the years the demographic profile of the nation has shifted and minorities don't have to take that any more. We are a republic that strives to represent all its citizens. I understand your anguish, but history has moved on. You can be part of it or you can continue to look wistfully backwards. I am sure there will still be a place for people like you.
Priya Lynn's opinion about Graham's passing is not hers alone, I have been surprised to see how widespread that sentiment is. Lots of people are glad to see those days go. The pain that domineering hypocrites like Billy Graham inflicted is more than a memory, it was an influence that shaped personalities and made innocent people wear a suit of shame that they have finally been able to cast off.
I have deleted Priya's comments plenty of times and probably will again, but hers is a valid complaint, and your "anything that reveals the truth about Hillary" is sickness. I will continue to delete those; you can go to 4chan to post that stuff.
JimK
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "[Jim] leaves this maliciousness up, tells you all you need to know about this vile cesspool".
Talk about the pot and the kettle. This from someone who repeatedly advocated shoving the heads of LGBT children in toilets filled with urine and feces and supported the imprisonment and execution of innocent gays.
When it comes to a malicious cesspool, you are the epitome of that and no one else is even in the same galaxy.
The hypocrisy of Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous is astronomical!
And then there were three...
Rick Gates just pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements to the FBI.
For someone who claims he is innocent Trump sure acts an awful lot like he's guilty with all the attempts to derail the investigation into him and Russia. Its hard to imagine that something won't turn up on Trump.
Lesbian Couple Denied Right to Foster Refugees in Texas
Like many states now, Texas allows religious adoption agencies to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, which means they can refuse to allow a gay couple or individual to adopt or foster a child who needs a home. And it even applies to refugees, those perhaps in the most need of help.
Three years ago, as they wore long gowns and exchanged vows surrounded by people who love them, Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin imagined a growing family. But like so many couples who dream of having children, they keep hitting roadblocks.
They tried IVF treatments and had no luck. They would have liked to adopt domestically, but state-funded agencies in Texas, where they live, are free to exclude same-sex couples. They say they can’t afford the tens of thousands of dollars it takes to adopt privately.
So early last year, they turned their attention to the idea of fostering refugee children. They were sure they had found their answer. They didn’t get far, though, before they were proved wrong.
During an informational phone call with the organization in charge, Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, they say, they were told that same-sex couples are ineligible to apply because they don’t “mirror the Holy Family.”
You know what? To hell with your “holy family.” There’s nothing moral about bigotry and discrimination. Not for one second would virtually anyone say that Catholic Charities, or any other adoption agency, could refuse to allow a black couple, or an interracial couple, to adopt or foster a child. It would be viewed as unthinkable and clearly a violation of the principle of equal protection. But when it involves gay people, suddenly it’s okay. That’s crap. The courts need to put a stop to this because there’s too much bigotry out there for elected officials in some states to do it. I hope this lawsuit is the one that brings an end to this discrimination.
Ted Cruz says Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson
How stupid do you have to be to think its a burn to be compared to Lisa Simpson, the kindest and most intelligent character on the show?
Says a lot about Republicans that they hate that type of person.
One business after another is dumping their partnership with the NRA.
Hee Hee Hee!
Hopefully this is a turning point for the American gun nut culture.
15 brands have now ended their relationship with the @NRA:
1. @MetLife
2. @symantec
3. @BestWestern
4. @Wyndham
5. @Alamo
6. @NationalPro
7. @Enterprise
8. @FNBOmaha
9. @Hertz
10. @Budget
11. @Avis
12. @NortonOnline
13. @northAmericanVL
14. @SimpliSafe
15. @ChubbNA#BoycottNRA
People Are Sending Checks Worth “Thoughts and Prayers” to NRA-Backed Republicans
The Russians won a gold medal in hockey.
It's their biggest win since the 2016 American presidential election.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/25/poll-americans-support-tougher-gun-laws-dont-expect-congress-act/371104002/
As President Trump sends mixed signals about what he'll support when it comes to gun legislation, his approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in the USA TODAY survey since he was inaugurated last year. Just 38% now approve of the job he's doing as president; 60% disapprove.
That's a steep drop from the president's standing one year ago, in March 2017, soon after his first address to Congress had received good reviews. Then, 47% expressed approval, a high-water mark for him in the poll; 44% expressed disapproval.
What's more, the intensity of feeling is hardening against the president. Now, the percentage who "strongly disapprove" of him is more than double the percentage who "strongly approve," 39% compared with 16%.
Other polls show Trump's approval rating even lower
Either way, its bottomed out again. Remember several months ago when Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said Trump's approval rating had bottomed out and would only go up from there?
Gee, I guess he missed the mark by just a little bit again.
The sun won’t rise at the North Pole until March 21, and it’s normally close to the coldest time of year, but an extraordinary and possibly historic thaw swelled over the tip of the planet this weekend. Analyses show that the temperature warmed to the melting point as an enormous storm pumped an intense pulse of heat through the Greenland Sea.
Temperatures may have soared as high as 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) at the pole, according to the U.S. Global Forecast System model. While there are no direct measurements of temperature there, Zack Labe, a climate scientist working on his PhD at the University of California at Irvine, confirmed that several independent analyses showed “it was very close to freezing,” which is more than 50 degrees (30 degrees Celsius) above normal.
The warm intrusion penetrated right through the heart of the Central Arctic, Labe said. The temperature averaged for the entire region north of 80 degrees latitude spiked to its highest level ever recorded in February. The average temperature was more than 36 degrees (20 degrees Celsius) above normal. “No other warm intrusions were very close to this,” Labe said in an interview, describing a data set maintained by the Danish Meteorological Institute that dates back to 1958. “I was taken by surprise how expansive this warm intrusion was.”becoming more routine, research has shown.
Such extreme warm intrusions in the Arctic, once rare, are becoming more routine, research has shown. A study published last July found that since 1980, these events are becoming more frequent, longer-lasting and more intense.
“Previously this was not common,” said lead author of the study Robert Graham, from the Norwegian Polar Institute, in an email. “It happened in four years between 1980-2010, but has now occurred in four out of the last five winters.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/02/26/north-pole-surges-above-freezing-in-the-dead-of-winter-stunning-scientists/
Yeah, its pretty scary what's going on with global warming. Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous always tried to make a big deal out of the occaisional cold spell in the north eastern U.S. but that little bit of local cooling is vastly swamped by the heating in the arctic and elsewhere in the world.
Justice Dept. to target opioid manufacturers, distributors in new push to curb deadly epidemic
Next up: Justice Dept. to target gun manufacturers, distributors in new push to curb deadly gun epidemic.
Last week’s televised town hall on guns and school safety has led to finger-pointing by the father of a Florida school shooting survivor and CNN.
The network says Glenn Haab, the father of Marjory Stoneman Douglas junior Colton Haab, doctored emails to push a claim that the network told his son what to say at the forum. Colton Haab backed out of the Feb. 21 event.
CNN denies scripting any remarks and released an email exchange between a CNN producer and Glenn Haab that it says Glenn Haab altered. The altered email was sent to other news outlets, including Fox News.
Haab acknowledges omitting some words from the email but says he didn’t do it on purpose.
The spat led to several conservative website stories accusing CNN of a pro-gun control bias.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/27/glenn-haab-father-colton-haab-admits-altering-cnn-/
The record is now set straight — not that most of those who swallowed the original conspiracy theory will sample, let alone credit, the debunking.
Shocker: Democrats’ predictions about the GOP tax cut are coming true - it only benefits the rich
When Republicans put together their tax bill last year, it was not much of a surprise to see that its centerpiece was a gigantic corporate tax cut, lowering the statutory corporate rate from 35 percent down to 21 percent. This cut accounted for about $1 trillion of the bill’s total $1.5 trillion cost, but Republicans said it really wasn’t about helping corporations at all.
No, the real target was the workers: Corporations would take the money and use it to create new jobs and raise the wages of those working for them, as trickle-down economics did its magical work.
Democrats, on the other hand, said it was a scam. They charged that workers would see only a fraction of the benefits, and instead corporations would use most of their windfall for things like stock buybacks, which increase share prices and benefit the wealthy people who own the vast majority of stocks.
And of course, most of the news media treated this argument in the standard he said/she said manner: Republicans say this, Democrats say that, and the truth lies in some secret location we may never actually reach.
Well, it has been only two months since President Trump signed the bill into law, and we’re already learning what anyone with any sense knew at the time: Everything Democrats predicted is turning out to be right. Let’s look at this report in the New York Times, which describes how stock buybacks are reaching record levels:
Almost 100 American corporations have trumpeted such plans in the past month. American companies have announced more than $178 billion in planned buybacks — the largest amount unveiled in a single quarter, according to Birinyi Associates, a market research firm.
Such purchases reduce a company’s total number of outstanding shares, giving each remaining share a slightly bigger piece of the profit pie.
Cisco said this month that in response to the tax package, it would bring back to the United States $67 billion of overseas cash, using $25 billion to finance additional share repurchases. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, authorized up to $8.6 billion in stock purchases. PepsiCo announced a fresh $15 billion in planned buybacks. Chip gear maker Applied Materials disclosed plans for a $6 billion program to buy shares. Late last month, home improvement retailer Lowe’s unveiled plans for $5 billion in purchases.
While the Times does note that some businesses are raising salaries, the piece concludes that “much” of the savings from the tax cuts is going to these buybacks, with this big-picture effect:
Those so-called buybacks are good for shareholders, including the senior executives who tend to be big owners of their companies’ stock. A company purchasing its own shares is a time-tested way to bolster its stock price.
But the purchases can come at the expense of investments in things like hiring, research and development and building new plants — the sort of investments that directly help the overall economy. The buybacks are also most likely to worsen economic inequality because the benefits of stocks purchases flow disproportionately to the richest Americans.
This is exactly what Democrats warned would happen. How could Democrats have been so clairvoyant? Do they own a time machine?
Well, no. They applied logic, looked at data and understood history. Republicans, on the other hand, were spinning out a ludicrous fantasy with no basis whatsoever.
Among the things Democrats pointed out was that even before the tax cut, corporations were making near-record profits and sitting on mountains of cash; if they wanted to invest, create jobs and raise wages, they already had the means to do it. They also observed that even before the tax cut passed, corporations were saying publicly that they intended to use the money for stock buybacks.
But what about those bonuses that companies announced and that Trump kept touting? It’s true that some companies did give workers one-time bonuses. But it was essentially a PR move. Take Walmart, for instance. It made a splashy announcement that it would be giving bonuses of up to $1,000 to workers, which sounded great. But then it turned out that you’d only get that much if you’d been working there for 20 years, and the average worker would get around $190. Which is better than nothing, but it isn’t exactly going to transform your life.
And as ThinkProgress noted, the total value of Walmart’s bonuses was $400 million, which seems like a lot until you learn that over 10 years the value of the tax cut to the corporation will be $18 billion. In other words, about 2 percent of its tax cut is going to workers, at least in the short run.
How many times do we have to play this game? When a new policy debate emerges, Democrats try to make an argument that has some connection to reality, while Republicans make absurd claims in the knowledge that even if they get debunked in the occasional “news analysis” piece, on the whole they’ll be treated with complete seriousness, no matter how ridiculous they are.
Russia has conservatives right where they want them:
From:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/inside-the-study-showing-conservatives-retweeted-russian-trolls-30-times-more-often-than-liberals
"...By doing so, the team could group more than 90 percent of the American users as consistently liberal or conservative, even without directly asking the individuals for their political affiliations.
The team labeled the people who interacted and retweeted with Russian trolls the most as “spreaders.” They found 28,274 spreaders overall. Of those, 892 were liberal spreaders, and 27,382 were conservative spreaders..."
And to think, for years, it has been Republicans screaming that Democrats will be taking us down the path of the socialists. In the mean time, it's the Republicans that have been playing right into their hands.
I wonder how the Russians say "useful idiots."
Google translate says it's "полезные идиоты" but I don't know if it will show up correctly.
They’re really beginning to pile up, aren’t they? Surprise, surprise! They all have one thing in common.
Michael Flynn: Former National Security advisor pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with . . . Russians.
George Papadopoulos: Former Trump campaign advisor pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with . . . Russians.
Rick Gates: Former Trump campaign deputy chairman and organizer of inauguration pled guilty to lying to Mueller’s investigators about a 2013 meeting his partner Paul Manafort had concerning the Ukraine with a congressman known to be pro . . . Russia.
Paul Manafort: Former Trump campaign chairman indicted on multiple counts of money laundering, bank fraud, tax evasion, and failure to register as a foreign agent. The money he laundered came from the foreign government and political party he failed to disclose he was representing, the government of the Ukraine and its Party of Regions, both identified as pro . . . Russia.
Alex van der Zwaan: Lawyer who worked in the Ukraine with former Trump campaign aides Manafort and Gates, pled guilty to lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators and concealing an email from an unidentified person in the Ukraine. Van der Zwaan is the son-in-law of German Kahn, a prominent oligarch from . . . Russia.
Thirteen individuals: Indicted by Mueller for conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and identity theft. All are citizens of . . . Russia.
This week saw reports that Mueller is preparing indictments of the people and entities responsible for stealing the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. All have been previously identified by U.S. intelligence agencies as being from . . . Russia.
Also this week it was revealed that Mueller’s investigators have been questioning people about whether Trump as a candidate had advance knowledge of the released emails stolen from the DNC and Podesta. All of the people questioned have worked for either the Trump campaign, the Trump transition team, the Trump White House, or all three. The emails stolen from the DNC and Podesta are known to have been stolen by . . . Russians.
Right now baby boomers are well into peak retirement age. Very soon there are going to be disproportionately more old people than young people in this country, at a level that’s unprecedented in American history. And as these millions and millions of people get old, they will not stay healthy. They will get sick. They will fall. They will run out of money, and those lost tax revenues Trump just shoveled into the pockets of the nation’s millionaires are going to be needed to pay for the programs that keep them alive. Tax revenues in this country were already falling, thanks to Republican Congressional control of the country’s fiscal well-being for the last eight years. Now, they’re about to go over a cliff, with $2.3 trillion in projected deficits looming as far as the high can see. And those lost tax revenues are never coming back.
Remember Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan crowing and tweeting about the teacher who proclaimed the Republican tax cut was going to put an extra $1.50 a week in her pocket? He quickly took that Tweet down, but the internet never forgets. Paul Krugman knows why he he took it down:
How’s that $75-a-year saving going to look when the teacher finds out that, partly because of that tax cut, her mother’s Medicare plan has been converted into an inadequate voucher system and Medicaid won’t pay for her father’s nursing home care?
The lie that people like Paul Ryan and his Republican cohorts foisted on Americans was that these huge tax cuts for corporations were going to benefit us all by creating jobs and increasing wages. So far it hasn’t worked that way, although corporate America has made a pretty show of it, touting one-time bonuses while leaving wages stagnant. In fact the money has been used mainly by corporations not to invest in R & D, not to expand (because there’s no burgeoning market of eager consumers to expand into), but rather by giving themselves huge paydays in the form of stock buybacks which boost highly compensated corporate officers stock coffers’ on an exponential order of magnitude:
So far, we’ve seen about $6 billion in bonuses versus more than $170 billion in stock buybacks, that is, handing money to wealthy stockholders. And money spent on buybacks is money that isn’t being invested in plants and equipment, the supposed point of the tax cut.
So for the vast majority of Americans, that tax cut is going to be worth about as much as a degree from Trump University. But the real pain is yet to come, when Americans finally realize just how badly they were ripped off:
Donald Trump and his allies pretended to give you a gift, but they gave themselves and their wealthy patrons much bigger gifts — and they’re going to stick you with the bill. You’ve been scammed.
Today in Corruption: Trump Nominates Dow Executive to Run Superfund Program
Today’s report of rampant corruption comes, not surprisingly, from the EPA. Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have nominated an attorney from Dow Chemical, one of the nation’s worst polluters, to run the Superfund program that cleans up after that company and many others.
Just yet another case of Trump appointing people to positions who are determined to destroy the organizations they head.
This is not going to end well': Trump's friends and allies are worried he's spiraling out of control — and they say this time is different
President Donald Trump has become increasingly emotionally unstable in recent weeks, and his friends blame this on his obsession with TV coverage and defensiveness in the face of perceived attacks against him.
"The more pressure put on him and the more isolated he becomes, I think, his ability to do harm is going to increase," one person told the Washington Post.
Trump has felt hampered by the Russia investigation and the scandals surrounding his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
His recently unstable demeanor was reflected in freewheeling policy decisions and behaviors this week.
President Donald Trump's friends and confidantes are reportedly more worried about his emotional health than ever before.
As Trump becomes ever more focused on perceived attacks against him, constantly obsesses over TV coverage, and lashes out at friends and foes alike in public, many close to him say he is approaching "pure madness," according to the Washington Post.
Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey did not mince his words about Trump's current mental state.
"I think the president is starting to wobble in his emotional stability and this is not going to end well," he told the Post. "Trump's judgment is fundamentally flawed, and the more pressure put on him and the more isolated he becomes, I think, his ability to do harm is going to increase."
But others say things will likely get worse before they get better.
The Trump administration has been hampered by a quickening Russia investigation led both by the House Intelligence Committee and special counsel Robert Mueller, who is reportedly working his way "up the food chain" and may be eyeing Trump himself.
Trump has recently undertaken significant policy measures, like the planned tariffs announced this week on steel and aluminum, without consulting or reviewing them with his advisers.
A presidential ally who spoke with CNN said this week is "different" and that the president is spiraling.
"This has real economic impact," the source said, referring to the market's rejection of the tariffs. "Something is very wrong."
In the words of one official, Trump became "unglued" on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, he invited business leaders to the White House without allowing the Secret Service to check their backgrounds and screen them for entry, NBC reports.
On Wednesday, Trump had chided Republicans in a meeting for being "afraid of the NRA," and then invited members of the gun rights group to the White House the following night.
Trump also escalated his public feud with attorney general Jeff Sessions, attacking him on Twitter Wednesday. Then a photo leaked of Sessions dining with a top official and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia investigation since Sessions recused himself.
The Post reported that Trump was "raging" about Sessions' disloyalty to friends the following morning.
Former Rep. Timothy Roemer said in many ways, Trump's dark demeanor of late is exactly what voters asked for.
"Many people voted for Trump in order to throw a hand grenade into national politics," the Indiana Democrat told The New York Times. "It seems he has done the same thing to Capitol Hill, and no one knows from a tweet to an exchange in an Oval Office meeting what's next."
Most of the people who voted for Trump wanted a disaster in government and now they're getting it. Do you think they'll ever regret their choice?
Trump Praises Chinese President's Move to Become Dictator for Life
If you wanted more evidence that Donald Trump really yearns to be a dictator, look no further than his praise this weekend of President Xi Jinping’s move to remove term limits so he can become dictator-for-life of that country. He did this at a private dinner, of course.
U.S. President Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday after the ruling Communist party announced it was eliminating the two-term limit for the presidency, paving the way for Xi to serve indefinitely, according to audio aired by CNN.
“He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great,” Trump said, according to audio of excerpts of Trump’s remarks at a closed-door fundraiser in Florida aired by CNN.“And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday,” Trump said to cheers and applause from supporters.
The White House will claim he was joking, of course, because that’s their usual excuse. But look at that last line — “to cheers and applause from supporters.” Not only does Trump want to be a dictator, but his most rabid fans wish for that as well. What better way to end all of his problems? He could end any investigations into him with a wave of his hand. This is also why he admires Putin, because when Putin has someone challenging him, they just mysteriously end up dead.
Trump Names Mass Incarceration Advocate to Sentencing Commission
Continuing his near-perfect record of nominating the worst people imaginable to positions in the federal government where they can do the most damage, Donald Trump has nominated Bill Otis, an enthusiastic advocate of mass incarceration, to a spot on the US Sentencing Commission.
"On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced four nominees to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the powerful agency that promulgates sentencing guidelines for federal courts. Trump nominated three federal judges to the seven-member board as well as a man named Bill Otis, all of whom will require Senate confirmation. Otis’ nomination marks one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive moves against criminal justice reform, and all senators who have professed to care about the issue should vote against his nomination. A prominent pro-prosecution crusader, Otis passionately defends the same law-and-order policies that created our current crisis of mass incarceration…
In 2016, Otis lambasted President Barack Obama for commuting the sentences of many nonviolent drug offenders, calling his move “over-the-top extremism.” Otis actually goes so far as to reject the notion that it’s possible for drug offenders to be nonviolent, because addicts can die of overdoses. (Prosecutors have increasingly used this theory to bring murder charges against drug dealers.) He dismisses reformers as “pro-criminal” advocates who want to be “nice to drug pushers” by letting “robe-wearing partisans” impose more lenient sentences. And he supports life without parole for juveniles.
Naturally, Otis also despises the Black Lives Matter movement as well as intellectuals and academics who support its goals. He calls them the “Amerika Stinks” crowd and blames them, in part, for a present era “of cultural rot impersonating advanced thinking.” In 2017, Otis asserted that “black-on-black violence—an ugly, everyday occurrence in American cities—wreaks far more damage than police abuses.”."
The United States has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners — and this guy thinks that we don’t lock enough people up for as long as we should, FFS. Just when we were starting to build a bipartisan coalition for real criminal justice reform, Trump comes along and throws a wrench in the works. Conservatives were finally starting to take a more libertarian position on our mass incarceration system because of the cost, while liberals have long advocated for serious reform (after overcoming Bill Clinton’s sharp move to the right on the issue when he was president in the 90s).
The ultimate answer to this is total drug legalization. Drug use and abuse should be treated as a medical and public health issue, not a criminal one. That would eliminate the black market that brings so much violence and mayhem with it. It would keep hundreds of thousands of families together, prevent the destruction of so many lives, sharply reduce the racism in our criminal justice system, reverse the corruption in our police departments and much more.
But Trump is pushing us in the other direction because, like all right-wing populist movements, his entire agenda relies on fear and demagoguery. Keep the people afraid and you keep them compliant and, as Mencken correctly noted, clamorous to be kept safe by an ever-more authoritarian state.
WASHINGTON ― Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed new gun safety legislation into law on Monday, making the state the first to tighten its firearm regulations since last month’s mass shooting at a high school in Florida.
The bill expands an existing law to prevent intimate partners who have a domestic violence or stalking conviction from buying and keeping guns. Until now, the state’s law only applied to married partners, and the new measure closes what was termed the “boyfriend loophole.”
Trump Makes Surreal Claim About Jerusalem Embassy
Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday and during a meeting in the Oval Office with the media present, he made the surreal and bizarre claim that he’s reduced the cost of the new embassy in Jerusalem from $1 billion to only $250,000.
Trump is seriously brain damaged. Anyone this connected from reality in such a position of power is a clear and present danger to the world.
Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she was paid to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Donald Trump, sued the president Tuesday, asking the court to declare that her nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 election is void because Trump did not sign it.
In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — said she had wanted to go public with the story of her alleged decade-old affair with Trump in the weeks leading up to the election. The lawsuit was first reported by NBC News.
Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Daniels’s attorney at the time, Keith Davidson, negotiated what the lawsuit calls a “hush agreement” in which she would be paid $130,000. After delays and even a cancellation of the contract by Daniels on Oct. 17, the payment arrived on Oct. 27, 12 days before the election, according to emails reviewed by The Washington Post. Cohen said recently that he had used his own money to “facilitate” the payment.
The lawsuit suggests that Trump was aware of the agreement and that the money was intended to influence the election’s outcome. That intimation bolsters two complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission that say the payment violated election law because it was not reported as an in-kind campaign donation.
The lawsuit says: “Mr. Trump, with the assistance of his attorney, Mr. Cohen, aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the presidential election.”
Since the Trump tax bill passed corporations have announced 200 billion in stock buy backs and dividend payments which benefit the extremely wealthy and 6 billion (3%) in increases to wages. 84% of U.S. stocks are owned by the top 10% of income earners.
This was a horrible tax bill that just doubles down on past negative trends such as increasing the gap between the rich and poor. Corporations have an 80 year high in earnings but wage earners have a 60 year low in terms of earnings. Trump and his Republican cronies are doing everything possible to worsen these trends.
The latest cost/benefit report from the Trump administration shows that the benefits of Obama regulations crush the cost of Obama regulations. Obama era regulations are doing a lot more good than harm and Trump the moron is just blindly repealing them to the country's great detriment.
Trump is a disaster.
TENNESSEE: Republicans Kill Bill To Ban Child Marriage Because It Weakens Their Case Against Same Sex Marriage
These people really are lowlifes.
REPORT: Trump Vetoed Miss Universe Contestants Who Were Dark-Skinned Or Had Snubbed His Advances
Mother Jones
today published a long-read on Trump’s passionate bromance with Vladimir Putin. Near the end of the piece is this:
At each pageant, Miss Universe staffers would set up a special room for Trump backstage. It had to conform to his precise requirements. He needed his favorite snacks: Nutter Butters and white Tic Tacs. And Diet Coke. There could be no distracting pictures on the wall. The room had to be immaculate. He required unscented soap and hand towels—rolled, not folded. In this room would be videos of the finalists who had been selected days earlier in a preliminary competition and the other contestants, particularly footage of the women in gowns and swim suits. Here, a day or two before the final telecast, Trump would review the judges’ decisions.
Frequently, Trump would toss out finalists and replace them with others he preferred. “If there were too many women of color, he would make changes,” a Miss Universe staffer later noted. Another Miss Universe staffer recalled, “He often thought a woman was too ethnic or too dark-skinned. He had a particular type of woman he thought was a winner. Others were too ethnic. He liked a type. There was Olivia Culpo, Dayanara Torres [the 1993 winner], and, no surprise, East European women.” On occasion, according to this staffer, Trump would reject a woman “who had snubbed his advances.”
According to Mother Jones, Trump could sometimes be talked out of his veto if he was told the contestant was a princess or married to a soccer star. Last month it was reported that Trump tended to select contestants from countries where he had business interests. The full piece above is worth your time.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. ― A federal judge lit into Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and his lawyers for trying to introduce information in a trial over voter suppression without giving the other side a chance to review it.
In an unusual move, the Republican state official is representing his own office in a lawsuit challenging a Kansas requirement that residents prove they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote. Kobach and his legal team made a number of procedural missteps throughout the case and been reprimanded by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, a George W. Bush appointee, who is presiding over the trial.
The dispute Thursday was over the number of people who were on a list of “suspended” voters because their applications were incomplete. Kobach’s office initially provided the American Civil Liberties Union with that information in 2016, but at 10:45 the night before trial, the ACLU lawyers were given an updated list. Robinson didn’t allow Kobach to admit the updated list into evidence because she said it was unfair to spring it on the lawyers at the last minute.
But Kobach’s legal team tried to get the information into the record another way Thursday. While he was being questioned by one of the lawyers on Kobach’s team, the Kansas director of elections, Bryan Caskey, said he had recently done an updated analysis of the number of applicants whose voter registrations were considered incomplete and the number of those who had been removed from the “suspense” list for various reason.
Robinson, who had appeared to be patient for much of the trial, became visibly angry when Kobach’s team tried to introduce the evidence. When Kobach stood up and objected that the numbers were constantly changing and the court needed to be aware of the most recent information, Robinson said that the underlying data were always changing and that for the purposes of a fair trial, Kobach could not keep changing the numbers the court was reviewing.
“That’s not how trials are conducted,” Robinson told Kobach.
When an opposing attorney noted that Kobach’s office hadn’t given them an updated list since 2016, Robinson said that if the numbers were constantly changing, it was outrageous that Kobach hadn’t updated opposing attorneys for two years. When Sue Becker, an attorney helping represent Kobach, stood up to speak, Robinson angrily told her she was out of line.
Kobach’s attorneys have told Robinson that they are asking certain questions during examinations to preserve information in the record for an appeal. Robinson punctuated her rebuke of Kobach’s legal team by saying she wanted her own comments to be preserved in the record for an appeal.
Kobach’s lawyers have made a series of missteps in court this week. Throughout the week, Robinson has admonished Kobach and his lawyers for not following proper procedure when introducing evidence. At one point on Tuesday, she explained how the process was supposed to work and said what she was telling them was “Evidence 101.”
Earlier in the case, Kobach was sanctioned with a $1,000 fine for demonstrating “deceptive conduct and lack of candor” in his interactions with the court.
From May 2017 until January, Kobach led the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The commission was sued several times for allegedly violating federal procedural laws. Facing legal scrutiny, the White House suddenly disbanded the panel in January.
"From May 2017 until January, Kobach led the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The commission was sued several times for allegedly violating federal procedural laws. Facing legal scrutiny, the White House suddenly disbanded the panel in January."
Oh, they are a sleazy bunch.
Appeals Court: Can’t Fire Trans Employee on Religious Grounds
In another victory for the Obama administration’s position that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression is already forbidden by the Civil Rights Act, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a funeral home violated the law when it fired a trans employee — and that RFRA did not give them an exemption from that law.
On Wednesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against transgender people. It also held that employers may not use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to justify discrimination against LGBTQ workers. The court’s landmark decision is an emphatic rejection of the legal theory that businesses may fire or mistreat female and minority workers under the guise of religious liberty. It also affirms the growing judicial consensus that existing civil rights law protects LGBTQ employees.
Wednesday’s case, EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, centers around Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who worked as a funeral director. When she started the job, Stephens presented as male, the sex she was assigned at birth. But in 2013, she told her boss, Thomas Rost, that she had a gender identity disorder and planned to transition. Rost promptly fired her. He later testified that he terminated Stephens because “he was no longer going to represent himself as a man,” and Rost believes that gender transition “violat[es] God’s commands” because “a person’s sex is an immutable God-given fit.”
Both parts of this are really interesting and important. The first part echoes the Obama administration’s position that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression is already forbidden because the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. In this case, and in all such cases, they would not have done what they did if the person was of a different gender, so that’s illegal discrimination.
The second part is also important. The defendant’s argument was that even if the Civil Rights Act did bar such discrimination, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should give them an exemption from that law. No court has ever agreed that RFRA grants exemptions from any anti-discrimination laws and this court didn’t either. And that’s very important because, once you started granting such exceptions, our anti-discrimination laws would, for all practical purposes, be gutted. The exemptions would quickly swallow the rule.
TN Legislature Allows Child Marriages to Help Fight Against Gay Marriage
This story is absolutely twisted. In Tennessee, there are loopholes in the law that allow a girl as young as 10 to be married to an adult. A bill was submitted to fix that, but Republicans in the legislature killed it to preserve an absolutely ridiculous argument against gay marriage.
"[House Majority Leader Glen] Casada cited an email he received from attorney and former state Sen. David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee.
Fowler argued that passing Jernigan’s bill could interfere with a lawsuit he is mounting to counter the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing gay marriage.
Fowler’s legal theory is that the Supreme Court’s ruling essentially nullified all Tennessee marriage licences, as it required legal marriage to be opened up beyond just a man and a women.
Therefore, according to Fowler, if the state were to move forward with this logic in a legal argument against the ruling, modifying state marriage law could acknowledge its existence.
[Rep. Darren] Jernigan questioned Fowler as to why this should affect his legislation, and Fowler responded, “Some people think the state should regulate marriage, and I do not.”
“Basically, what has happened is the Family Action Council wants to continue to let 13-year-olds get married in the state at the sake of their court case against same-sex couples,” Jernigan said later. “It’s disgraceful. I’m embarrassed for the State of Tennessee, and I can only pray that we bring this back next year and not let them get in the way.”."
First of all, Fowler is a first-class moron. That is a spectacularly stupid argument that has zero chance of winning in court. It will never even get to a full trial, it will be rejected on a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment long before that point. So even if the ends did justify the means here, there’s no way that means is going to work for those ends. Gay marriage isn’t going away no matter how many asinine arguments are thought up by ignorant dolts like Fowler.
But even if that were the case, do they really think that it’s worth having 10 year olds get married — that is, forced to be married, they cannot possibly give informed consent to that — to indulge their anti-gay bigotry? Yes, they clearly do. Because they are horrible human beings.
Assault rifles were illegal in the U.S. from 1995 to 2004. And mass shootings dropped by 37%
Take the guns away from the bad guys!
Energy Secretary Rick Perry says moving from fossil fuels to renewables is ‘immoral’
But it's okay to waste $1.6 trillion on energy sources that put millions of lives at risk and destroy the climate.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Wednesday that it was “immoral” to help poor nations shift off of fossil fuels.
“Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” said Perry in remarks after his big speech to the oil and gas industry at the annual CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. “Because as a society we decided fossil fuels were bad. I think that is immoral.”
Perry’s logic and morality are both blinkered. First, despite being in charge of a $2 billion clean energy program, Perry seems completely unaware that solar and wind are now cheaper sources of electricity than fossil fuels.
Indeed, solar power keeps crushing its own record for cheapest unsubsidized electricity “ever, anywhere, by any technology.” And in Colorado, building new renewable power plus battery storage is now cheaper than running old coal plants.
Second, what’s immoral is not shifting away from dirty fossil fuels, but blindly sticking with them. A recent study shows that 1.1 million people die prematurely every year in India from air pollution, which primarily comes from burning fossil fuels.
And a 2017 Lancet study concluded that globally, air, water, and soil pollution kill more than 9 million people a year. Air pollution alone accounts for 4.5 million deaths, and those numbers are projected to rise sharply in developing countries in the coming years. Pollution kills more people each year than war, AIDS, and malaria combined
Finally, there’s climate change, a subject Perry conspicuously never mentioned in his big CERAweek speech. But as the Financial Times reported Wednesday, “Fossil fuel companies risk wasting almost $1.6 trillion on oil, gas and coal projects that will become uneconomic” if the world adopts the policies needed to avoid catastrophic global warming.
The world is currently on track to spend $4.8 trillion on fossil fuel production by 2025, finds a new study by Carbon Tracker. But to get on the path needed to preserve a livable climate — keeping total warming below 2°C (3.6°F) as the world unanimously agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord — we should spend no more than $3.6 trillion on fossil fuels.
The failure to shift rapidly to clean energy will therefore squander trillions of dollars in the coming decades, while killing millions and irreversibly destroying the climate for centuries to come.
Back in 2015, the Pope expounded at great length in his climate encyclical on the immorality of inaction on global warming. So shifting off fossil fuels much faster than we currently are is one of the most moral things the world can do right now.
What’s immoral are the efforts by Rick Perry and his boss President Trump to undermine clean energy, reverse U.S. climate action, and thwart the Paris climate accord.
Republican logic:
Ban all Muslims because a few of them are terrorists!
You can't blanket all gun owners just because a few of them commit mass shootings!
When Trump blames video games for mass shootings remember this:
Video game sales per person per year:
Japan: $96.06
USA: $63.45
Gun deaths per 10,000,000 people per year:
Japan: 6
USA: 1016
The problem is NOT video games, its the easy access to assault rifles!
a nice little blog you've got here, Jim
if anyone ever wants to know everything that Priya the Creepy Canadian has read on the internet, it's all here
how many blogs can say that?
not coming back but I thought I share my experience when went to the Billy Graham's viewing at the Capitol last week
I was in line in front of your old friend Peter Sprigg
believe or not, you didn't come up
we just chatted about the new Bible museum downtown
and to your chagrin, contrary to your insult a coupla weeks ago, the crowd in line was as diverse as the bridge of the starship Enterprise
makes sense: Graham bravely refused to segregate his crusades in the South in the fifties
Jesse Jackson quote about Billy Graham:“He is on the plus-side of history. I remember when he opened his doors ... to integrate, and at that time, it was a tough call,”
this is the man that TTF mocked in death
TTF rightly mocked the nuts from Westboro who picket funerals and then when some TTFer ghoulishly cackled about the death of one of the greatest men of the last century, they double down instead of deleting the comment
called on it, TTF says "there is no reciprocity"
that's quite a euphemism for hypocrisy
the plus-side of history...
that's more than you could say of TTF
Gee Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous, you lasted a little longer than the last two times you said you were never coming back.
"Anti-gay bigot Billy Graham died. The world just became a very slightly better place. : )".
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said " no more posts here until this message from the Westboro Ethical Society is deleted
have fun listening to yourself"
February 22, 2018 10:37 PM
A whole two weeks.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away from "the vile cesspool".
Of course there's no comparison between that comment of mine and Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous regularly calling for sticking the heads of LGBT children in toilets filled with urine and feces and advocating imprisoning and executing gays - the hypocrisy is astounding.
No one is going to miss you Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous you lowlife.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous are the epitome of a cesspoool. The world will be a very slightly better place when they are gone.
And here I thought the troll that screaming that the Russian investigation was fake news disappeared because his name (or that of one of his comrades) showed up on one of Mueller's indictment lists.
Just a coincidence of timing I guess.
The only significant difference between a Russian troll and a conservative American troll is that the Russian troll KNOWS he spreading devisive propaganda designed to destabilize and undermine American democracy. The conservative American troll is thoroughly convinced he's got hold of "the TRUTH."
As for Billy Graham, he is notable for both opening up the doors of his church to people of color, and for NOT marching with folks like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to fight for civil rights.
There is little doubt that white resistance to the Civil Rights movement would have melted quickly if Graham had been marching arm in arm with King at the the front of those protests. I guess he had heel spurs or something.
Allow me to whisk you back in time to the year 2009. It was the worst financial crisis in 70 years, unemployment careening towards 11%, up to 800,000 jobs a month being lost and a concensus amongst economists we desperately need to inject stimulous into the economy. The whitehouse proposed a package which totaled 787 billion dollars in tax cuts and federal spending by the time Obama signed it into law a month after his inauguration.
The Republicans who had just spent the duration of the Bush years exploding the defiict through Bush tax cuts, war spending and medicare part "D" suddenly, on a dime, got deficit religion.
That Stimulus bill that president Obama was pusing got a grand total of three Republican votes in the Senated and zero, not one, zero in the House. Then two years later Republicans threatened en masse to really quite literally destroy the American economy and the global economy by threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, sending the U.S. into default. They held the global economy and the American economy hostage in exchange for the budget control act, an unbelievably severe austerity measure that effectively resulted in 1.2 trillion dollars in cuts over the next ten years. The effect of that was to slow down the recovery and to prolong the misery of millions of Americans needlessly.
Back then Republicans went on and on and on about the debts and the deficits that our children and our grandchildren, they would get weepy at the very thought of all the debt the grandhildren would have. We would be here for a month straight if we played all the tape of this type of wailing but this was the general idea of the refrain "Spends too much, borrows too much, taxes too much and burdens our grandchildren". Their hostage taking resulted in the first ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. That was still very much when the economy was in recovery mode.
Fast forward six years. The economy is approaching something that looks like full employment, Republicans soon get in power and guess what? They are doing their own recovery act. I know that sounds crazy, but they really are. Its of course one that mostly benefits large corporations, wealthy people, and defense contractors, but its a stimulus none the less. And get this, the Trump stimulus will cost more than the recovery act Republicans fought against so forcefully when Barack Obama was president.
I'm not making this up. Their recovery act comprised of the tax cut package they already passed, and the two year budget deal they hammered out that they recently passed has given hundreds of billions of dollars to the wealthy and corporations and will explode the deficit and will likely total more in cumulative tax cuts and spending and borrowing than Obama's stimulus package, even though the Obama stimulus package came at the worst moment in the U.S. since the great depression and this one arrives at a moment of near full employment.
So, after eight years of sob stories about the debt and the deficit and our children and our grandchildren, the tea party and the tri-corner hats, and the rallies and how we had lost our way during George W Bush and we need to stop spending and all that, it was all, all of it, nonsense, a lie from start to finish, all of it in bad faith - a gaggle of freedom caucus members and Rand Paul sort of not withstanding . I say "sort of" because they all just voted to increase the deficit of over a trillion dollars in tax cuts). But the most important thing to understand after all this, the most important thing to understand about American politics is that its not a debate over the size of government but a debate about who controls it and who it works for. Which is why we now have "The Donald Trump Recovery Act" in which the Republican party injects 800 billion dollars of stimulus over two years into an already full economy because this time around they control the purse strings and they can direct that money where they want it to go - the very wealthy.
If you know anything about Keynesian economics you know the idea is to borrow money whent the economy is in trouble to stimulate the economy and get it going again, and then when the economy is good you raise taxes and pay down the debt. Republicans are doing the exact opposite of that - they're going against the collecive wisdom of the greatest economic thinkers ever and exploding the debt when they should be paying it down so they can pad the pockets of the wealthy who don't need it and screw the poor people who do.
"And here I thought the troll that screaming that the Russian investigation was fake news disappeared because his name (or that of one of his comrades) showed up on one of Mueller's indictment lists."
Silly Capt O...Mueller only indicts only 2 types:
1. someone who has been stupid enough to submit to days of deposition, where somewhere along the way they could slip up and be charged with some minor perjury
or
2. foreigners who can't be extradited and can be charged with unconstitutional interpretations of laws (like lying in an election debate, which is now "conspiracy against the United States"), without Mueller having to worry about losing in court
"screaming"
could you show us an example of this? it would be amusing to see you take a stab at it
"that the Russian investigation was fake news"
forget "scream", did I ever say "the Russian investigation was fake news"?
it would be odd, because it's not what I think
I think it has extrapolated and hyperbolized activity that isn't illegal and should have never been subject to an investigation
still, I think the Russians tried to influence the election
that's not fake, although not really news
they always do that and we do the same to them
it's just part of the world of espionage
that's why Obama did nothing about it for years
it only became an issue because Hillary needed an alibi, and Trump alarms the political establishment by thinking outside their box
"Just a coincidence of timing I guess."
what timing? he's made these inane indictments several times
"The only significant difference between a Russian troll and a conservative American troll is that the Russian troll KNOWS he spreading devisive propaganda designed to destabilize and undermine American democracy. The conservative American troll is thoroughly convinced he's got hold of "the TRUTH.""
the definition of a troll is that they purposely spread DIVISIVE rhetoric
arguing for sincerely held is not something a troll does
even if his sincerely held beliefs upset the fanatics among us
what you've done here is confirm that I'm not a troll
a troll is someone like Priya, who comes here lying and insulting in a country not their own
kind of like those indicted Russians
thanks for making it so obvious, Captain O!!
Go away Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous. You said you weren't coming back as long as my post was still there saying the world is a very slightly better place now that anti-gay bigot Billy Graham is dead.
Its still here, so leave like you promised you would.
The epitome of a troll is obviously Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous who regularly calls for sticking the heads of LGBT children in toilets filled with urine and feces and sanctions the imprisonment and execution of gays and lesbians.
The definition of a troll is someone who posts things merely to anger/annoy/get a rise out of others. Obviously no one does that to the extreme that Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous does.
"As for Billy Graham, he is notable for both opening up the doors of his church to people of color,"
he didn't have a church
he wasn't a pastor
he did refuse, however, to segregate his crusades
in the South
during tense times
it was more courageous than anything you are ever likely to do
"and for NOT marching"
well, he didn't believe activism seeking governmental action was the way to change the world
kind of like Jesus didn't organize a movement to overthrow the draconian and vicious Roman authority
"with folks like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to fight for civil rights."
actually, at this time, when he was being attacked for integrating his crusades, he responded by having MLK speak at his crusades
actions speak louder than shouting
to quote Shakespeare, "Action is eloquence"
consider it
"There is little doubt that white resistance to the Civil Rights movement would have melted quickly if Graham had been marching arm in arm with King at the the front of those protests."
well, I have more than a little doubt that that is true
the Civil Rights movement came together pretty quickly
Billy Graham used his suasive powers wisely and effectively
I have no problem if you disagree with that
I have a problem with a vile cesspool that rejoices at the death of a good man
because he didn't march?
did you?
what really offends Priya and the vile cesspool here is that he held the biblical view of homosexuality
TTF's moral equation is that people who hold that position should die
that's vile
"regularly calls for sticking the heads of LGBT children in toilets filled with urine and feces and sanctions the imprisonment and execution of gays and lesbians"
ah, the troll crawls out from under the slimy rocks and unleashes more lies
well, troll, if this is so regular, do tell us that last time this was called for by anonymous
go ahead, back up your lies
if you can't, go slurp up some other vile cesspool
here's some help for you, liar
the definition of "regular":
"recurring, attending, or functioning at fixed, uniform, or normal intervals"
Pastor Hit With 47 Counts Of Molesting Boys
Anyone surprised? Yeah, me neither.
March 8, 2018 Crime, Religion
The Christian Post reports:
After allegedly threatening to take his life last month over allegations that he raped two underage boys, Ronnie Gorton, a married father and lead pastor of The Awakening Church in Atoka, Tennessee, was indicted on 47 counts of illegal relations with three underage boys.
Among the charges, according to The Leader, are five counts of aggravated sexual battery, 17 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child, 16 counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, two counts of exploitation of a minor by electronic means, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two counts of purchasing alcohol for a child, and one count of rape.
Tipton County investigators said last month that that a 17-year-old boy came forward to allege that Gorton, 39, who has been married to his wife, Rhonda, for 15 years, sexually assaulted, molested, and raped him on multiple occasions. The Atoka Police Department also reported receiving a similar charge from a 20-year-old man who alleged that Gorton sexually assaulted him when he was underage.
After his arrest last month, the church locked its doors and disabled its social media accounts.
If churches wouldn't preach this anti-gay bullshit guys like this would engage in consensual sex with an adult their own age instead of feeling pressured to hide and deny their sexual orientation until temptation makes them act out in destructive ways due to their need to hide what they're doing.
Anti-gay teaching is responsible for untold numbers of cases like this, it is one of the most destructive things christians do. This is the evil that Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous have devoted so much of their lives to. These two are a socially destructive force.
the liar bobs and weaves and ducks and dodges
but everyone notices
the vile liar has been found out
There is little reason to believe Gorton would have been any kind of normal gay man. He's just you regular run of the mill religious pedophile. There's little reason to believe religion is turning gay men into pedophiles.
There's every reason to believe religious pedophiles are trying to put up a smoke screens to keep attention focused away from them and their bad behavior. Making gay people look bad in the process is just a time honored way for them to build street cred and bring in more money.
If there is one thing we've learned from the "Me Too" movement, it's that the biggest, and most prolific offenders BY FAR are heterosexual men. Sure, there were a couple of gay guys that called out for bad behavior, but what the straight guys did? HOLY SHIT!
Some of them make Bill Cosby look tame. I'm glad I was never in gymnastics.
It is also interesting to note that for all the bad thinga that have been said about trans people and what they might do in bathrooms, not a single one has been mentioned in the Me Too movement as having harmed anyone.
Go figure.
"There is little reason to believe Gorton would have been any kind of normal gay man."
you mean other than the fact that a movie about an adult gay having an affair with an under-aged son of his boss was just nominated for the Academy award recently and the gay community celebrated?
"He's just you regular run of the mill religious pedophile. There's little reason to believe religion is turning gay men into pedophiles."
indeed, it's just as likely that a homosexual was pretending to be religious in order to conceal himself
why do gay advocates see that as some kind of vindication?
it makes gays look sneaky
"There's every reason to believe religious pedophiles are trying to put up a smoke screens to keep attention focused away from them and their bad behavior. Making gay people look bad in the process is just a time honored way for them to build street cred and bring in more money."
again, this is a gay who has infiltrated religious circles
a gay mole
"If there is one thing we've learned from the "Me Too" movement, it's that the biggest, and most prolific offenders BY FAR are heterosexual men. Sure, there were a couple of gay guys that called out for bad behavior, but what the straight guys did? HOLY SHIT!"
that's because gays generally accept what other gays do to them
there are fewer rules so few get violated
"Some of them make Bill Cosby look tame."
actually, no one makes Bill Cosby look tame
"I'm glad I was never in gymnastics."
you're likely not the only one who was glad you were never in gymnastics
"It is also interesting to note that for all the bad thinga that have been said about trans people and what they might do in bathrooms,"
this is furthering a lie
no one said anything about what trans might do in bathrooms
they said someone could pretend to be a tran to commit an evil act, if the government were to enforce certain policies about bathroom access
it may be an overblown fear, but why should women have to worry about it at all?
if they only want other women in the women's room, that's their perogative
"not a single one has been mentioned in the Me Too movement as having harmed anyone.
Go figure."
OK, let's figure
first of all, the population of trans is a very small sample size
so, there's that
second, guys who have themselves castrated and then take hormones to artificially suppress their biological sexuality are unlikely to be sexually aggressive
OK, we figured
"OK, let's figure
first of all, the population of trans is a very small sample size
so, there's that
second, guys who have themselves castrated and then take hormones to artificially suppress their biological sexuality are unlikely to be sexually aggressive
OK, we figured"
this is all so obvious, you wonder why Captain Obvious didn't see it
maybe that whole "Captain Obvious" is a wannabe kind of thing
reminds me of a post last week listing the indictments Mueller made
and saying they all had a Russian connection, as if that were remarkable
but that would be obvious since that's all Mueller is supposed to be looking for
so, duh, all the indictments have a Russian connection
it's that TTF way of stinking thinking!
it really smells bad in this vile cesspool
"the vile liar has been found out"
yes, the silence of Priya speaks volumes
Priya lies and wishes anyone who disagrees death
this is a a type of fanaticism the world has seen before
Robespierre, sending anyone without a proper commitment to egalitarianism to the guillotine
the Bolsehviks purging the Mensheviks
Mao executing the intellectuals
but now, fortunately, people with these tendencies are confined to nuthouses in Canada
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