All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Tami]

The Latest: Dems cite insults, quit Trump meeting on Turkey

Democratic congressional leaders say they walked out of a briefing with President Donald Trump on Turkey after hearing little but insults from Trump.

The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, says Trump insulted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by calling her a "third-rate politician." Schumer says the meeting "was not a dialogue. This was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts."

Pelosi tells reporters outside the White House that "what we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown."

Pelosi claims Trump appeared visibly "shaken up" after House passage of a bipartisan condemnation of his decision to order the withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria.

Pelosi says Democrats "couldn't continue in the meeting because he was just not relating to the reality of it."

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During meeting, Trump trashed Mattis, his first defense secretary, calling him “the world’s most overrated general. You know why? He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take 2 years. I captured them in 1 month.” (Per Democratic official.)

Twitter Link

[Theleviathan]

If you are part of the establishment you will naturally accomplish more. Biden was always in the majority consensus in his party. He’d very misleading when he likes to act like he spearheaded others accomplishments like Warren. Also when you are in the majority and will be on the winning side of votes when your party has power, the decisions you make on bad policy is particular relevant. And Biden practically stumped for Bush on Iraq and was responsible for a lot of disasterous ****. There’s a reason he was a nonfactor in 08 and a junior Senator with few accomplishments made more headway..Also you can’t compare a President to a Senator. A President leads the party and sets agenda. Bernie made moves where he could based on his policy positions.

And it’s foolish to say it’s naive to attack Biden for terrible shot he did. More people suffered because of things Biden pushed for and supported than anything on Sanders it Warren’s end. And it’s preposterous to dismiss that because he got some other **** done by always being aligned with the biggest group. There’s a lot the Obama admin accomplished that Biden advised against that he wants to take credit for now.

Biden’s probably going to lose every early state but South Carolina. Warren is leading in Iowa, and New Hampshire and has been gaining in Nevada. SC is his only early spot with a huge lead. He loses 3 out of 4, historically he’s done.

Bernie will most likely support Warren if she pulls away. He courted her to face Hillary last time. He’s smart enough to know it’s better for his agenda for him or Warren to win. In 2016 it suited his agenda to push Hillary as left as possible and get his policies in the national discourse before he stumped for her.

I think much of this is coming from your personal bias against Biden and for Sanders. As someone who will vote for a well dressed cat if they get the nomination...I'm trying to look at things objectively. Biden is the current front runner in many demographics of Democratic voters. And, frankly, the front runner in the most reliable blocs of the base. That means a lot, but losses in Iowa and New Hampshire could certainly rattle a lot of cages. Then again, the people below him have surged and fallen and he has been steady. Steady support is easier to bank on than emotional roller coasters. Sometimes the emotions work (Obama), but sometimes they just aren't enough to overcome the steady hand.

Yes, Biden takes credit for a lot of things he was merely in the orbit of accomplishing, but Bernie can't even lay claim to that. I'm sorry, but it's simply true that Bernie has done virtually nothing in terms of meaningful legislation. You can credit him with moving the conversation and maybe that's far more important to you. That's fine, but he gets zero points on anything regarding actual legislation or policy. Has Biden had mistakes? Absolutely. Has he had successes? Absolutely. (We've been over this. The two things I said just now are truths, try to be objective) He's been involved in solutions and, since no one is perfect and public service is always complicated, he has a mixed record. But he means well. He's stable and would help push this country in the right direction. We can argue if it's enough, but certainly it will turn things for the better. Bernie? His run the last few years has a lot of positives I won't take away from him. But voters in key swing states will ask the very questions Biden did last night and he knows it. For Bernie those questions have no good answers.. His track record of accomplishments is non-existent in terms of regulation and policy. In a job where you are to pass regulations and policy....that sorta matters.

[Tami]

Trump's letter to the Turkish President

[Skedatz]

Trump's letter to the Turkish President

Honestly I can't tell if it's parody or real. lol

[Tami]

Honestly I can't tell if it's parody or real. lol

Jake Tapper, CNN, confirmed from WH sources that it is real.

NBC confirming it as well.

[BeastieRunner]

Honestly I can't tell if it's parody or real. lol

I ... can't either.

I really don't want to know.

Jake Tapper, CNN, confirmed from WH sources that it is real.

[Skedatz]

Jake Tapper, CNN, confirmed from WH sources that it is real.

Holy sheeze.

I ... can't either.

I really don't want to know.

It reads like something one would write in parody. Especially including the line of, "History will look upon you..." and the sign off of, "I will call you later."

[Tami]

The wagons that used to protect him are now on fire, Trump is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

[BeastieRunner]

The wagons that used to protect him are now on fire, Trump is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Live camera at the White House:

[Skedatz]

Live camera at the White House:

Can't help but feel that might be representative of a bit of America right now. lol

[Tami]

Trump originally Tweeted this image, saying it was Pelosi having a problem.

Nancy got back at him by placing the image in her Twitter Profile

[Robotman]

Trump originally Tweeted this image, saying it was Pelosi having a problem.

Nancy got back at him by placing the image in her Twitter Profile

Hahaha! Say what you will about Nancy but she really knows how to figuratively bitch slap The Donald.

He's so bad at this. She looks like she's putting him in his place haha. I bet it's because he thinks whenever a woman speaks up she's having a meltdown.

[InformationGeek]

Hahaha! Say what you will about Nancy but she really knows how to figuratively bitch slap The Donald.

He's so bad at this. She looks like she's putting him in his place haha. I bet it's because he thinks whenever a woman speaks up she's having a meltdown.

Speaking of which, he just tweeted this nonsense.

Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her “upstairs,” or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I think much of this is coming from your personal bias against Biden and for Sanders. As someone who will vote for a well dressed cat if they get the nomination...I'm trying to look at things objectively. Biden is the current front runner in many demographics of Democratic voters. And, frankly, the front runner in the most reliable blocs of the base. That means a lot, but losses in Iowa and New Hampshire could certainly rattle a lot of cages. Then again, the people below him have surged and fallen and he has been steady. Steady support is easier to bank on than emotional roller coasters. Sometimes the emotions work (Obama), but sometimes they just aren't enough to overcome the steady hand.

Yes, Biden takes credit for a lot of things he was merely in the orbit of accomplishing, but Bernie can't even lay claim to that. I'm sorry, but it's simply true that Bernie has done virtually nothing in terms of meaningful legislation. You can credit him with moving the conversation and maybe that's far more important to you. That's fine, but he gets zero points on anything regarding actual legislation or policy. Has Biden had mistakes? Absolutely. Has he had successes? Absolutely. (We've been over this. The two things I said just now are truths, try to be objective) He's been involved in solutions and, since no one is perfect and public service is always complicated, he has a mixed record. But he means well. He's stable and would help push this country in the right direction. We can argue if it's enough, but certainly it will turn things for the better. Bernie? His run the last few years has a lot of positives I won't take away from him. But voters in key swing states will ask the very questions Biden did last night and he knows it. For Bernie those questions have no good answers.. His track record of accomplishments is non-existent in terms of regulation and policy. In a job where you are to pass regulations and policy....that sorta matters.

And I think trying to have a reductive discussion about who has a track record of accomplishing more and ignoring they context of why and what the consequence of it was is bias to make an argument in favor of Biden. Biden has gotten more accomplished. He generally went along with the majority. A consequence of that is he followed a lot of people in some disastrous decisions and hurt alot of people. Hillary Clinton got **** for the Iraq War vote. Biden was going around on the floor telling people how measured Bush was when he was being a war criminal.

Biden right now is nationally a front runner by about 6 points. That's a lead that has shrunk has Warren made gains. Of the first four states, Warren has leads in Iowa and New Hampshire and is breating down Biden's neck and gaining on him in Nevada. He has 1 early primary where he is a sure bet and that is South Carolina. We know historically that if you pull off wins in Iowa and New Hampshire it absolutely changes the entire primary and gives you a massive advantage. That 6 point lead completely evaporates if you lose Iowa and New Hampshire. Biden is also financially losing money and not fundraising well by most recent reports. So he's losing ground, he is losing in places that historically swing the primary, and money hasn't been looking good as it looks like a lot of donors aren't in love with him.

I mean the fact of the matter is Biden isn't just trying to take credit by being in the orbit of people who accomplished it, he's trying to take credit for things that there is evidence he pushed against and was overruled on. **** he called Obamacare "Bidencare" last night and there are key provisions in it he was arguing against. At least Bernie can say "yeah I couldn't get alot of things done, but I was on the right side of history most of the way and I got the party and dialogue to a place where things that were viewed as extreme even four years ago are now dominating the debate". Medicare for all wasn't part of the Democratic platform in 2016, free college wasn't part of the Democratic platform in 2016, Bernie helped get people elected that pushed for the Green New Deal. So now you have the most leftwing Democratic stage in history where even moderates have to give him credit on stage.

And lets be honest, Obama was a Junior Senator when he ran in a primary against Biden and Hillary. You could have made the exact same argument of legislative accomplishments against him as well.

Do I think Biden's better than Trump? Yeah. Can I say he means well? No I can't. I think he's shown he's very liable to push for a lot of harmful **** because he's stuck in an old school mentality of behind the scenes sausage making. If Biden won, I am convinced he is viewed as better than Trump but a gaffe prone, underwhelming President, who will make disasterous policy decisions that will give the Republicans ammo to villanize him, and ultimately it will lead to another unsatisified electorate that wants change and the Republican party will come back from the dead and win again. And maybe that next one won't be Trump, but it will be someone like Bush who will still harm many people.

Also at the end of the day lets be very frank, Bernie polls well and does well in swing states. Biden does well with establishment Democrats in states that tend not to go Democrat and won't go Democrat if he wins. Right now his most commanding lead is South Carolina. I got news for you, he's not beating Trump in South Carolina in a general.

[Tami]

“There Is Definite Hanky-Panky Going On”: The Fantastically Profitable Mystery of the Trump Chaos Trades

In the last 10 minutes of trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday, September 13, someone got very lucky. That’s when he or she, or a group of people, sold short 120,000 “S&P e-minis”—electronically traded futures contracts linked to the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index—when the index was trading around 3010. The time was 3:50 p.m. in New York; it was nearing midnight in Tehran. A few hours later, drones attacked a large swath of Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, choking off production in the country and sending oil prices soaring. By the time the CME next opened, for pretrading on Sunday night, the S&P index had fallen 30 points, giving that very fortunate trader, or traders, a quick $180 million profit.

It was not an isolated occurrence. Three days earlier, in the last 10 minutes of trading, someone bought 82,000 S&P e-minis when the index was trading at 2969. That was nearly 4 a.m. on September 11 in Beijing, where a few hours later, the Chinese government announced that it would lift tariffs on a range of American-made products. As has been the typical reaction in the U.S. stock markets as the trade war with China chugs on without any perceptible logic, when the news about a potential resolution of it seems positive, stock markets go up, and when the news about the trade war appears negative, they go down.

The news was viewed positively. The S&P index moved swiftly on September 11 to 2996, up nearly 30 points. That same day, President Donald Trump said he would postpone tariffs on some Chinese goods, and the S&P index moved to 3016, or up 47 points since the fortunate person bought the 82,000 e-minis just before the market closed on September 10. Since a one-point movement, up or down, in an e-mini contract is worth $50, a 47-point movement up in a day was worth $2,350 per contract. If you were the lucky one who bought the 82,000 e-mini contracts, well, then you were sitting on a one-day profit of roughly $190 million.