All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Malvolio]

No it does work. You just prefer one more. The Wall was far closer to the signature promise of the Trump campaign than repealling the ACA was. There's a reason why this is the one he's willing to shutdown the government for and declare national emergencies for despite not getting his way on other things.

Right. Repealing the ACA was something pretty much every Republican in Congress was pushing for almost as soon as Obama signed it into law. The Wall, on the other hand, is almost entirely Trump's baby.

[Kevinroc]

No it does work. You just prefer one more. The Wall was far closer to the signature promise of the Trump campaign than repealling the ACA was. There's a reason why this is the one he's willing to shutdown the government for and declare national emergencies for despite not getting his way on other things.

Republicans had control of the House and Senate for two years, with which they could have used to start funding the wall. The Republicans don't actually care about the Wall. And I question how much Trump actually cares about it when he didn't push very hard for it when the GOP controlled the House. It was only when Democrats took the House that he threw a temper tantrum and closed down the Federal Government.

But Trump hates the ACA because it's viewed as Obama's signature legislative achievement. He doesn't understand how it works at all. All he knows is that it's Obama's legacy, so he wants it gone. The GOP as a whole also wants it gone, but they're also afraid of the ramifications of it going away (they know they lost the House over their repeal attempts).

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I lost a Job thanks to the ACA and still lack health insurance, so I'll make it clear that this isn't a matter of preference. BTW the reason he's willing to do all this BS is because the House is no longer in GOP hands, and when you consider all the norms and traditions that have been shat upon in the last few years to advance an ultra-conservative agenda it's clear the Wall isn't the first thing that they've pulled out all the stops to ram through. This isn't Apples and Oranges, but Redheads and Orange Cats.

Don't forget, he was all set to compromise until Ann Coulter and Faux News raised a stink.

I'm sorry about your job. Still disagree about the argument

[Dalak]

I'm sorry about your job. Still disagree about the argument

You even disagree with "He was on record willing to compromise on this before Faux/Ann complained and it became a MUST PASS SPEND EVERYTHING WALL"? That's kinda factual.

[Mister Mets]

My standard is that someone who is innocent is unabashed in their desire do a thorough investigation rather than continually going around the question or going back to evidence you, yourself, provided (the calendars). Given that, his entitled attitude, and the real level of credibility shown by the victim, I think that I’m within my rights to believe the accusation against him.





Go to 1:50 in the video. While the rest is an indignant defense of himself, which comes across like an entitled child, that is the important part. “Revenge on behalf of the Clintons”? Using the “George Soros” line? “Democratic members of this committee”? I can tell you right now that Obama would’ve pulled a nominee if they had behaved like that and said those things. Full stop.



Largely debatable. Again, he wasn’t even on the initial list of potential justices provided by the Federalist Society. He wasn’t stellar enough to get recognition on that level. So, again, why was Kavanaugh the hill that Republicans like Susan Collins were willing to die on? Because, especially given his recent dissent, it’s gonna be tough for her to explain what she did.



If Ford had a credibility problem and it got that far, why not just start from scratch? Or could it be because Ford was credible that we believed others as they came out?

An innocent man wouldn't necessarily want a thorough investigation given the difficulty of proving a negative, and the incentives that Democrats had in stretching out the hearing for a few months on the off-chance they gain control of Congress.

Kavanaugh mentioned "revenge on behalf of the Clintons" as one reason for the adverse reaction to his nomination, in the context of people upset about how the 2016 presidential election went. He's upset, but it's reasonable to conclude that the response response to Kavanaugh on the left was exacerbated by the outrage that Hillary Clinton lost to a sexual predator.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.d717ace1d62e

There's no reference to George Soros in the transcript.

There were some dumb questions earlier by members of the committee. A reasonable person can agree that "behavior of several of the Democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment." There was Cory Booker's Spartacus moment, and Kamala Harris trying to imply a connection to the Mueller investigation. It's true that they were Democrats, but members of that party were more likely to be against a Trump/ Federalist society candidate. Republican members of Congress could embarrass themselves when a Democratic President appoints a Supreme Court nomination.

The allegation by Ford was kept quiet until late, released without her consent, and led to unambiguously BS allegations.

If we want to go after Kavanaugh's temperament, we should make it explicit that we welcome vile lies and nasty insinuations against candidates, with the insistence that candidates never show a hint of emotion in response.

As for the difference between the first and later Supreme Court lists, that might just have been due to Trump's preferences. He listed a few state supreme court justices outside of the federal courts, and could have been averse to someone who served in the Bush administration.

https://www.heritage.org/impact/supr...ndation-helped

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ces/875983001/

As for copycat allegations (and we can agree that there were demonstrably BS allegations of sexual assault involving Kavanaugh regardless of whatever happened to Ford and Ramirez) there are people willing to make crazy allegations who aren't creative enough to come up with a unified theme. If the allegations hadn't been about sexual assault, but about a different theme (blackface, homophobia) there would have been BS claims about that.

The situations aren't really comparable though. Obama simply miscalculated the level of racism inherent in the GOP and went out of his way to try and reach a compromise when in hindsight it was obvious that the Republicans were never going to support anything he put forward simply because they were so dang mad the black guy won. Trump on the other hand is facing a pretty pliant Democratic opposition that is just dying for some kind of bipartisan solution, and could probably have gotten everything he wanted by now if he just threw them a few bones, but decided to overplay his hand and pissed off everyone so much that it forced the Democratic leadership to stiffen their resolve and push back harder.

The funny thing is, Trump's legacy would be far uglier if the wall were ever actually built, because it will almost certainly become one of those things that's too expensive to maintain, but also not worth the cost of tearing down. So the wall will just be this sort of permanent scar on the landscape that acts as a constant reminder of the worst president in history and all the nonsense we had to put up with before we grew a pair and threw him out. As it is, he still has a slight chance of slipping through the cracks and just being one of those people everyone pretends never existed, but if he were to do anything that causes permanent damage to the country like building his silly wall then that goes out the window as well.

Do you really think the response to Obama was driven by racism rather than politics, so that if John Kerry had been elected President in 2008, Republicans would have supported his agenda?

[Malvolio]

You even disagree with "He was on record willing to compromise on this before Faux/Ann complained and it became a MUST PASS SPEND EVERYTHING WALL"? That's kinda factual.

All right, so we don't know if Trump really wants a wall or not. He sure likes to talk about getting a Wall, though.

[Tami]

Mike Pence ‘visibly shook’ as nobody claps at his applause lines during disastrous European trip

Vice President Mike Pence received a cold welcoming from world leaders as he attempted to convince other countries to follow President Donald Trump.

Speaking to the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Pence told the audience he brought greetings from Trump.

Not a single person clapped.

Pence was also embarrassed while speaking to the Peace and Security in the Middle East conference in Warsaw, Poland.

Pence’s speech had an expected applause line, but it followed the Vice President demanding that the other countries follow the United States and withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

The crowd, who had assembled to discuss bringing peace to the Middle East, refused to clap.

[numberthirty]

Republicans had control of the House and Senate for two years, with which they could have used to start funding the wall. The Republicans don't actually care about the Wall. And I question how much Trump actually cares about it when he didn't push very hard for it when the GOP controlled the House. It was only when Democrats took the House that he threw a temper tantrum and closed down the Federal Government.

But Trump hates the ACA because it's viewed as Obama's signature legislative achievement. He doesn't understand how it works at all. All he knows is that it's Obama's legacy, so he wants it gone. The GOP as a whole also wants it gone, but they're also afraid of the ramifications of it going away (they know they lost the House over their repeal attempts).

Never mind that even a scenario where they had every single seat in Congress would still have to contend with that The United States doesn't own every piece of property that the proposed wall would be built on.

If it was actually a priority, they would have started on day one.

[numberthirty]

On the Jussie Smollett case...

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02...ollett-attack/

Jussie Smollett Case: Brothers Questioned By Police Bought Rope Used In Attack At Actor’s Request, Sources Say

Sources say at least one of the brothers bought the rope used in the incident at Smollett’s request. The sources also say the “Empire” actor paid for the rope, which was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store the weekend of Jan. 25.

The brothers were paid $3,500 before leaving for Nigeria and were promised an additional $500 upon their return.

They left for Nigeria later in the day on Jan. 29 after the attack.

The sources say plain red hats worn by the brothers were bought at an Uptown beauty supply store and that the attack was supposed to happen before Jan. 29.

Edit:

There is also this piece of a Newsweek piece...

https://www.newsweek.com/what-happen...-phony-1333948

“We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has, in fact, shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” Chicago police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told WBBM-TV.

[Dalak]

All right, so we don't know if Trump really wants a wall or not. He sure likes to talk about getting a Wall, though.

He talks a big game about everything under the sun, but rarely follows through even if he's talking about things that are factually true. That makes the "Can you walk the walk?" poster in the egg-photo posted earlier even funnier to me.

[InformationGeek]

The only emergency is if Trump doesn't get bacon with his omelet.

He looks soooo weird being not orange. He's almost... normal looking.

[Tami]

DNC chair Tom Perez faces blowback over convention city pick — no matter where he goes

WASHINGTON — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez could face serious pushback from his members if he chooses to hold next year's party nominating convention in Milwaukee.

And for reasons as parochial as Perez's family ties to the state and as national as Democrats' need to win back Midwestern swing voters, Democratic insiders say they think he prefers that city over Houston and Miami, which are the other finalists.

They also note that Perez may want to appeal to billionaire donor Marc Lasry — a Milwaukee convention would be held at Fiserv Forum where the Milwaukee Bucks, co-owned by Lasry, play, and his son, Alex, is in charge of the city's bid.

"I think Perez is leaning more toward Milwaukee," said Marcus Mason, a former DNC member who remains close to the organization.

The decision, due this month, is his to make — with the advice of a site-selection committee — but he can ill afford to rankle large numbers of his membership.

I think that Milwaukee is the best choice.

[Tami]

‘Bring back our #ChildHoodDiseases,’ White House official’s wife says as she criticizes vaccines

Darla Shine, the outspoken wife of White House communications director Bill Shine, has been tweeting about childhood diseases, claiming that illnesses such as measles, mumps and chickenpox “keep you healthy & fight cancer.” Health experts warn that the claim is not true and adds to misinformation that could cause harm.

Darla Shine, who has been known to tweet out stories with anti-vaccination claims, wrote Wednesday on Twitter that “The entire Baby Boom population alive today had the #Measles as kids."

She added: “I had the #Measles #Mumps #ChickenPox as a child and so did every kid I knew — Sadly my kids had #MMR so they will never have the life long natural immunity I have. Come breathe on me!”

Shine’s Twitter account has not been verified, but it notes that she is the wife of Bill Shine, “assistant to #POTUS.” The White House declined to comment about the tweets.

[worstblogever]

The only emergency is if Trump doesn't get bacon with his omelet.

He looks soooo weird being not orange. He's almost... normal looking.

He's wiped off some of his bronzer in this shot. He's half made up and half not. It's... bizarre. Like the man.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The best part of that pic is you can see the unhappiness that chef has having to cook for Trump's and his rich buddies. Like , this is my life right now cooking this for a guy who'd rather eat McDonald's.