The Swamp

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:39 am**

I'd love it if LeBron wore a "Say NO to Nazis" shirt with this picture on it:

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:26 am**

It really is remarkable how much the Trumpists love going after black athletes. Someone like LeBron, who’s not only an immensely talented athlete but has also built a powerful business brand, must really drive those assholes nuts. Especially since he truly has worked his way up from nothing, unlike Trump, Kushner, etc. who were born into their wealth and privilege.

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:15 pm**

Joe K wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:26 am It really is remarkable how much the Trumpists love going after black athletes. Someone like LeBron, who’s not only an immensely talented athlete but has also built a powerful business brand, must really drive those assholes nuts. Especially since he truly has worked his way up from nothing, unlike Trump, Kushner, etc. who were born into their wealth and privilege.

Yep. And, jerks like Laura Ingraham don't realize the widely-held respect there is out there for people like Lebron. She incorrectly thinks taking on a black athlete is an easy win for her.

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:19 pm**

I am pretty sure that LeBron didn't leave high school a year early. As far as I remember, he graduated and went into the NBA draft.

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:44 pm**

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:19 pm I am pretty sure that LeBron didn't leave high school a year early. As far as I remember, he graduated and went into the NBA draft.

And even if he did, so what. Bryce Harper left high school a year early and you don’t see these assholes implying he’s an idiot.

Posted: **Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:54 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:44 pm
DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:19 pm I am pretty sure that LeBron didn't leave high school a year early. As far as I remember, he graduated and went into the NBA draft.
And even if he did, so what. Bryce Harper left high school a year early and you don’t see these assholes implying he’s an idiot.

Turns out he TRIED to leave high school early, but the NBA rules didn't allow it.

And Chris Long, from the WORLD CHAMPION EAGLES has a great thread on Twitter showing all the people that Fox News does have on to discuss politics, going from Ted Nugent to Kid Rock to Joe Namath.

Posted: **Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:43 pm**

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:19 pm
degenerasian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2018 2:00 pm sorry, i got the stories mixed up, i didn't think the 2nd girl was drunk or invited home as well.
He's creepy.

For the rest of you guys, this is the guy we're talking about.

I always said, that he looks like he should be wearing an armband.

so now it's getting crazy. Brown is suing CTV for the original story. It's revealed that one of the accusers is good friends with one of the lead CTV reporters on that original story. He's saying that his resignation was released without his permission. And he's now entering the leadership race that only exists because of his resignation. And he's doing this as still an MPP but out of the Conservative caucus.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:16 pm**

Koch Brothers and N.R.A. Reach Timeshare Agreement Over Ownership of Paul Ryan

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:11 pm**

How An Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken

So glad liberals like to eat their own (cough Gillibrand cough) due to some moral superiority in a one sided game they're designed to lose instead of coming up with creative ways to get as dirty as this.

Donald Trump is still president. Roy Moore hasn't conceded. But my god, the horror over a dumb picture and a crusade to remove nuance from something as significant as sexual assault. Aziz Ansari = Harvey Weinstein after all.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:16 pm**

If you presume Franken resigned because of and only after the Tweeden story came out (which just isn't true) and you can trust the reporting at Newsweek these days, which is a tire fire stacked on top of several other tire fires, then yeah.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:25 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:16 pm If you presume Franken resigned because of and only after the Tweeden story came out (which just isn't true) and you can trust the reporting at Newsweek these days, which is a tire fire stacked on top of several other tire fires, then yeah.

You're conflating things here. The larger story here is the cyber war angle, just below that would be the Democrats and their penchant for sucking their own cocks and below that is Al Franken being asked to fall on his own sword.

Edit: I agree with you re: Newsweek (as well as elsewhere I've seen this (RawStory). If this picks up with more trustworthy sources, then yeah, it's a huge deal.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:34 pm**

I still don't see this story as being anything that isn't already known to anyone paying attention. Even as it was happening, Franken and the DNC knew the story was being pushed by Russian bots just as they know all kinds of pro-Trump/anti-Democratic propaganda is spread daily by same.

No one was being snookered here.

There a point to be made that Americans should be continually reminded that this is going on and if that's the argument then sure, I 100 percent agree.

If the story is that Franken was "unfairly" forced to resign because of said bots, then I'm not so sure I agree there.

ETA: I'll further agree that it was an alt-right bot network as moderately interesting, but again not anything that isn't happening literally every day. The newsworthy-ness is still there for making sure that Americans are being informed about it, but not any kind of specific disbelief that it's happening nor any credit to them for "forcing" Franken to resign which was probably going to have to happen anyway once additional narratives came out.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:00 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:34 pm I still don't see this story as being anything that isn't already known to anyone paying attention. Even as it was happening, Franken and the DNC knew the story was being pushed by Russian bots just as they know all kinds of pro-Trump/anti-Democratic propaganda is spread daily by same.

No one was being snookered here.

There a point to be made that Americans should be continually reminded that this is going on and if that's the argument then sure, I 100 percent agree.

If the story is that Franken was "unfairly" forced to resign because of said bots, then I'm not so sure I agree there.

ETA: I'll further agree that it was an alt-right bot network as moderately interesting, but again not anything that isn't happening literally every day. The newsworthy-ness is still there for making sure that Americans are being informed about it, but not any kind of specific disbelief that it's happening nor any credit to them for "forcing" Franken to resign which was probably going to have to happen anyway once additional narratives came out.

The goal is to hem the Democrats in by limiting their options. There’s zero time for damage control when the narrative’s completely evaporated.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:06 pm**

Eh, I'm more on steve's side as far as the realpolitik of the situation. Franken was an acceptable bit of collateral damage to ensure the whole #MeToo movement didn't devolve into "both sides-ism" which ultimately it didn't. He was replaced by a Democrat and his seat will almost certainly remain Democratic. I think the Democratic Party as a whole also managed to acquit itself very well dealing with the realization that it/we shouldn't have defended Bill Clinton for the last couple of decades.

In the meantime, lots of other Congresscritters -- most or all of whom were/are worse than Franken -- were also forced to resign or retire. Maybe they do and maybe they don't if Franken doesn't fall on his sword.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:14 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:06 pm Eh, I'm more on steve's side as far as the realpolitik of the situation. Franken was an acceptable bit of collateral damage to ensure the whole #MeToo movement didn't devolve into "both sides-ism" which ultimately it didn't. He was replaced by a Democrat and his seat will almost certainly remain Democratic. I think the Democratic Party as a whole also managed to acquit itself very well dealing with the realization that it/we shouldn't have defended Bill Clinton for the last couple of decades.

In the meantime, lots of other Congresscritters -- most or all of whom were/are worse than Franken -- were also forced to resign or retire. Maybe they do and maybe they don't if Franken doesn't fall on his sword.

Those two things aren’t entirely mutually exclusive though. I hope this #metoo stuff is actually translatable into votes. I’m not convinced of the actual currency to it.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:28 pm**

Yeah, it's fair to say the jury's out on that and any kind of real effect might not be known until the midterms at the soonest.

Even then, it could take a decade or a generation to fully play out.

Not to change the subject, but similarly it feels like last week was a definite turning/pivot point for the gun control movement. It's rare to see these things as they're happening in real time, but maybe that's the case.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:35 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:28 pm Yeah, it's fair to say the jury's out on that and any kind of real effect might not be known until the midterms at the soonest.

Even then, it could take a decade or a generation to fully play out.

Not to change the subject, but similarly it feels like last week was a definite turning/pivot point for the gun control movement. It's rare to see these things as they're happening in real time, but maybe that's the case.

I'll believe that when I see it

OTOH the Sandy Hook was elementary school kids, so you had the parents, but the students coudn't speak out like this
There may be more impact with this because you have HS kids who are engaged and know how to use their position

I sure as hell hope so. But the NRA must already have a plan, and we will probably see some minimal legislation to blint the anger and the NRA wont block it but use their proxies in congress to minimize the impact

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 6:10 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:28 pm Yeah, it's fair to say the jury's out on that and any kind of real effect might not be known until the midterms at the soonest.

Even then, it could take a decade or a generation to fully play out.

Not to change the subject, but similarly it feels like last week was a definite turning/pivot point for the gun control movement. It's rare to see these things as they're happening in real time, but maybe that's the case.

I'd love for you to be right, but I don't buy it. Call me jaded, but "fuck off, I like my guns" resonates. Other peoples' dead children fade from view.

Avram wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:35 pm I'll believe that when I see it

OTOH the Sandy Hook was elementary school kids, so you had the parents, but the students coudn't speak out like this
There may be more impact with this because you have HS kids who are engaged and know how to use their position

I sure as hell hope so. But the NRA must already have a plan, and we will probably see some minimal legislation to blint the anger and the NRA wont block it but use their proxies in congress to minimize the impact

It'll get phrased that the GOP legislators are heroes, and the Democrats will have to shut up and take what they can get.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:57 pm**

Johnnie wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:11 pm How An Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken

So glad liberals like to eat their own (cough Gillibrand cough) due to some moral superiority in a one sided game they're designed to lose instead of coming up with creative ways to get as dirty as this.

Donald Trump is still president. Roy Moore hasn't conceded. But my god, the horror over a dumb picture and a crusade to remove nuance from something as significant as sexual assault. Aziz Ansari = Harvey Weinstein after all.

Not to pile on, but Liberals didn't eat Franken until additional allegations started to come out, and Franken didn't deny them. As for Aziz Ansari, everything I've seen and heard differentiated his actions from Weinstein. A lot of Liberal women came out defending Aziz, saying he may have been a bad date, but not a despicable rapist or even a sexual harasser.

Posted: **Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:38 pm**

Yet another reminder that GOP politicians are always going to fall in line behind Trump:

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:09 am**

I'll own up to being a little surprised by how quickly he rolled over.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:27 am**

It's surprisingly easy for these guys to stand up for their morals and speak out against their party when they aren't running for anything.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:27 am**

Shirley wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:27 am It's surprisingly easy for these guys to stand up for their morals and speak out against their party when they aren't running for anything.

Yup. And a corollary to this is that Trump is way more popular with rank and file GOP voters (and not just the uneducated rubes!) than people would like to think. Which makes opposing him a huge gamble for any Republican with future electoral hopes.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:21 am**

Crazy thing is Mitt doesn't need Trump. He's a lock in Utah.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:27 am**

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:21 am Crazy thing is Mitt doesn't need Trump. He's a lock in Utah.

Yeah, I've seen a couple of people note that he doesn't need Trump's endorsement to win in Utah. Even if he called Trump a dope every day he'd probably still cruise in the Republican primary (i.e. the actual election).

ETA: Though this does set the stage for what would be an outstanding heel turn if after Romney wins on a night where the Republicans are hopefully likely to get their asses kicked from one end of the country to another if he flip-flops AGAIN and starts dogging out Trump during his victory speech.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:01 pm**

Odds on Trump claiming credit when Romney wins?

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:06 pm**

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:01 pm Odds on Trump claiming credit when Romney wins?

500000% .... and if by some miracle Romney were to lose, 500000000% guaranteed that Trump would call him a weak candidate who blew a sure thing.

Trump can never fail, he can only be failed.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:19 pm**

I suspect that's the whole motive of the endorsement. He just wants to chalk up a win.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:49 pm**

Gotta keep your base as wide as possible for another potential run at the presidency.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:53 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:27 am ETA: Though this does set the stage for what would be an outstanding heel turn if after Romney wins on a night where the Republicans are hopefully likely to get their asses kicked from one end of the country to another if he flip-flops AGAIN and starts dogging out Trump during his victory speech.

My thought went to "long con" too. Get elected in a state where you're guaranteed a win and play nice then about face and lead a split within your party.

But then I'm like "He's probably a Russiapublican just like the rest."

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:16 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:27 am
P.D.X. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:21 am Crazy thing is Mitt doesn't need Trump. He's a lock in Utah.
Yeah, I've seen a couple of people note that he doesn't need Trump's endorsement to win in Utah. Even if he called Trump a dope every day he'd probably still cruise in the Republican primary (i.e. the actual election).

In fact, if Romney ran as an anti-Trump Republican, he'd probably get 90 percent of the vote. Including mine.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:05 pm**

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:16 pm
brian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:27 am
P.D.X. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:21 am Crazy thing is Mitt doesn't need Trump. He's a lock in Utah.
Yeah, I've seen a couple of people note that he doesn't need Trump's endorsement to win in Utah. Even if he called Trump a dope every day he'd probably still cruise in the Republican primary (i.e. the actual election).
In fact, if Romney ran as an anti-Trump Republican, he'd probably get 90 percent of the vote. Including mine.

I’m not convinced Romney makes it out of the primary if he opposes Trump. From a recent New York Magazine article on Trump’s increasing popularity with GOP voters:

In honor of Presidents’ Day, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and the pollster Ipsos tested the popularity of the last 12 presidents, dating back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, on a scale of one to ten. Unsurprisingly, John F. Kennedy (an average rating of 6.56) and Ronald Reagan (6.29) topped the list, with Donald Trump (4.20), Lyndon Johnson (4.17) and Richard Nixon (3.80) bringing up the bottom.

But broken down by party ID, it turns out Trump is more popular among Republicans than W. or Poppy Bush, Gerald Ford, or even the beloved Ike. At 7.20, he trails only the Gipper (8.03) in the esteem of his fellow partisans. To put that in context, Trump’s rating among Republicans is higher than JFK’s (7.09) among Democrats.

Within his own party, Trump’s actually up there in that territory where you’d expect people to start naming babies after him. You never know with a strange and erratic man like him what the future will hold; he seems entirely capable of the kind of self-destruction that brought down Nixon. But for now, the idea that he is going to be vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2020 or that the GOP will return to its pre-Trump legacy after he’s gone seems highly improbable. They love this guy.

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:10 pm**

Yeah, but Utah voters are a different breed.

They're conservative to be sure, but more educated than not only other red states, but most other states, period.

Trump got "only" 45.5 percent of the vote in Utah in 2016 (and only 13.8 percent in the GOP caucus).

Posted: **Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:37 pm**

Joe K wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:05 pmI’m not convinced Romney makes it out of the primary if he opposes Trump.

He'd win it going away here. Utah Republicans are less motivated by racial animus than other Republicans and do not like Trump's hard core anti-foreigner positions. Romney is a nationally accomplished, smooth talking Mormon who "saved" the 2002 SLC Olympics and then went on to credibly present the Mormon faith to the entire country. He is basically a General Authority. No one else here has anything close to Romney's profile. Or money.

Unless the Republicans have changed their system, any primary would be between the top two votegetters in the state Republican caucus. So if there is a primary, it would come down to Romney versus some obscure local guy.

Romney doesn't need to seek Trump's endorsement. He's just a coward.

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:53 am**

She seems nice.

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:50 pm**

Newsweek reporter (in case this was missed):

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:17 pm**

So...did Missouri's governor just get arrested?

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:28 pm**

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:17 pm So...did Missouri's governor just get arrested?

Gonna enjoy a little passive-aggressiveness with the one or two MAGA trolls at work next week.

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:35 pm**

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:17 pm So...did Missouri's governor just get arrested?

based on the indictment they totally got the hard drive where he transferred the pic

Posted: **Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:36 pm**

As my friend from work pointed out though, you can never count out a guy with a gun that makes grass explode.

The Swamp

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