The Swamp

brian wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:05 pm I'm probably in the minority, but I'm at the point where I think anyone who parrots Fox News talking points needs to be shunned from decent society like you would someone espousing white nationalist views. Continuing to coddle and support these people by not ruthlessly mocking them at every opoortunity from business meetings to family gatherings just emboldens their stupidity.

For the record, I expose this too, and for the last few months actively promote this.

So about a year ago I moved back in with my parents as they were both going through cancer treatment (Mom: Stage I melanoma, Dad: Stage II bladder). Both have clean bills of health. So anyway, they’re both 1 generation from athe Boat, nearing 80, and they’re generally Reaganites. (For the record, they both voted for JFK, and my Dad thinks LBJ is the best President in his memory). Anyway, before being back, I just though Fox News was just CNN with a right-leaning bent.

Well I was sure wrong. When major news came out that would have egg on the GOP’s face, say like Charlottesville, the news portions generally poo-pooed it. And that dipshit Tucker with his constant look of confusion, to that utter shitnag Hannity, they completely reject basic facts.

And it’s indoctrinating. A few weeks ago my mom, a fairly intelligent if not classically educated woman, was mentioning how surprised she was the schools that “suppress free speech” included Cal.

“What the hell are you talking about, Mom?”

“Well... there were speakers that were scheduled to lecture, but the students ended up shouting them down.”

“First off, that isn’t Cal the administration silencing them. If anything, allowing people with those views to speak promotes speech. Secondly, would you want me to show you some of the speakers the students shouted down?” To which I showed her video of Milo Yappalupagus and Richard Spencer. “Are you now surprised students at CAL of all places were pissed?”

Mueller subpoenas the Trump Org

What was someone saying about shit and fans?

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:55 pm Mueller subpoenas the Trump Org

What was someone saying about shit and fans?

i would love to be a fly on the wall in The Oval Office today

Avram wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:06 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:55 pm Mueller subpoenas the Trump Org

What was someone saying about shit and fans?

i would love to be a fly on the wall in The Oval Office today

Apparently the subpoena was served "in recent weeks." That could explain some of the all-caps freakouts - possibly even the Republican rush to close the investigation and declare Trump innocent.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:27 pm

Avram wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:06 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:55 pm Mueller subpoenas the Trump Org

What was someone saying about shit and fans?

i would love to be a fly on the wall in The Oval Office today

Apparently the subpoena was served "in recent weeks." That could explain some of the all-caps freakouts - possibly even the Republican rush to close the investigation and declare Trump innocent.

Their own version of an investigation so that those amenable to alternative facts can accept his innocence.

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:26 amI sold off my stocks for the time being, because the stock market is just a bunch of skittish meth-heads with millions of dollars in assets.

I always shake my head a bit when somebody says they sold off all their stocks, assuming that is a significant amount of investments. The stock market has been so strong that anything you sell likely has a big taxable gain. So, why would you want to take all your taxable gains in the same tax year? You're going to shove all that income into a higher tax bracket. Unless you think the stock market is about to go to hell in a hand basket this year, you could save a lot of money (in taxes) by only selling selected stocks.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:01 pm

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:26 amI sold off my stocks for the time being, because the stock market is just a bunch of skittish meth-heads with millions of dollars in assets.

I always shake my head a bit when somebody says they sold off all their stocks, assuming that is a significant amount of investments. The stock market has been so strong that anything you sell likely has a big taxable gain. So, why would you want to take all your taxable gains in the same tax year? You're going to shove all that income into a higher tax bracket. Unless you think the stock market is about to go to hell in a hand basket this year, you could save a lot of money (in taxes) by only selling selected stocks.

I'm not going to speak for GPJ, but "selling" could also mean adjusting retirement savings holdings in an IRA or similar vehicle from stocks to money market accounts, etc. that would not be taxable (until withdrawal).

He sold them all to me for like 30 cents on the dollar. Complete panic move.

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:30 pm Here’s the article that Roberts was leading up to with that tweetstorm that was posted here last week.

Some notable excerpts:

These writers are, to a (wo)man, alienated from the animating force in US conservatism, which is Trumpism. They command no divisions. They have nothing to do with what is going on in American politics today.

They might serve the purpose of challenging liberal thinking, but they do not serve the purpose of exposing NYT readers to the people and the movement from which they are allegedly alienated.

If Bennet wants to do that, he needs to be clear-eyed about what the right is today.

So what motivates this swell of right-wing support for Trump? At this point, though many people on all sides still refuse to acknowledge it, the evidence is overwhelming: It was cultural backlash, against immigrants, minorities, uppity women, liberals, and all the other forces seen as dislodging traditional white men from their centrality in American culture.

What’s happening in the US today is not a contest of governing philosophies. Trump doesn’t have one, and his administration barely tries to pretend it does. It’s not a philosophy or a plan that won — it was a team, a tribe. They are living it up, rewarding their friends and ratfucking everything the other team did before them.

More broadly, what’s going on in American politics is a contest between those who believe America is an idea and those who believe America is a people, a particular culture — white, Christian, and patriarchal. Trump represents those who want that culture restored to primacy.

How can the NYT opinion page expose its readers to that?

Here is the scary truth that NYT editors and readers alike resist: US politics today is not a contest of ideas or governing philosophies. We are witnessing a massive revanchist upheaval — against bourgeois morality and standards of conduct, against changing demographics and economies, against assumptions about governance and respect for norms, against the status quo — by a culture that is stagnating even as the country changes around it, which it experiences as a loss of dignity and prestige.

When the Times opinion page pretends that conservatism is David Brooks or Bret Stephens when it maintains the comforting illusion that American politics is a contest of ideas, it is not exposing its readers to uncomfortable truths — it is sheltering them.

I should’ve added what’s missing from Robert’s critique of the newly galvanized NYT OpEd. Frankly, the elephant (no pun intended) in the room is the money in politics. Anything discussed within the OpEd pages by these (corporate) media outlets falls well under that fact by an order of magnitude. Simply put, it’s the $$ that determines who is represented, and who isn’t.

JFC. These fucking people.

Squinting eyes and bowing, probs.

They all found Michael Scott hilarious at face value.

Vanessa: "I'm out, bitches."

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:51 pm Vanessa: "I'm out, bitches."

we've reached the point where I can read that one of the reasons she's fed up is because of his tweets and I'm like "yeah, that makes sense"

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:39 pm

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:51 pm Vanessa: "I'm out, bitches."

we've reached the point where I can read that one of the reasons she's fed up is because of his tweets and I'm like "yeah, that makes sense"

Also, how many children do they have? She could be thinking of their well-being, too.

Edit: what's spousal privilege in this scenario?

McMaster

He’s going to move on Sessions and then....

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:27 pm McMaster

He’s going to move on Sessions and then....

Fucker really thinks he's hosting The Apprentice.

It's beyond parody.

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:44 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:39 pm

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:51 pm Vanessa: "I'm out, bitches."

we've reached the point where I can read that one of the reasons she's fed up is because of his tweets and I'm like "yeah, that makes sense"

Also, how many children do they have? She could be thinking of their well-being, too.

Edit: what's spousal privilege in this scenario?

After seeing how he deadlifts and lies about his times during CrossFit workouts, it's about time.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:44 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:27 pm McMaster

He’s going to move on Sessions and then....

Fucker really thinks he's hosting The Apprentice.

It's beyond parody.

Say that Russia deserves punishment and lose your job.

Shocking.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:10 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:44 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:27 pm McMaster

He’s going to move on Sessions and then....

Fucker really thinks he's hosting The Apprentice.

It's beyond parody.

Say that Russia deserves punishment and lose your job.

Shocking.

Or, realizing that he can finally say what he means.

Still shocking that, if that was the case, he had felt constrained previously.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:01 pm

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:26 amI sold off my stocks for the time being, because the stock market is just a bunch of skittish meth-heads with millions of dollars in assets.

I always shake my head a bit when somebody says they sold off all their stocks, assuming that is a significant amount of investments. The stock market has been so strong that anything you sell likely has a big taxable gain. So, why would you want to take all your taxable gains in the same tax year? You're going to shove all that income into a higher tax bracket. Unless you think the stock market is about to go to hell in a hand basket this year, you could save a lot of money (in taxes) by only selling selected stocks.

I don't hold stocks for anywhere near a full year and like Brian said, a lot of them are in my IRA. These aren't going to push my income into another bracket.


EDIT: Basically every time a sitting US President is under threat of indictment for borderline treason, I'll consider selling off.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:02 am

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:44 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:39 pm

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:51 pm Vanessa: "I'm out, bitches."

we've reached the point where I can read that one of the reasons she's fed up is because of his tweets and I'm like "yeah, that makes sense"

Also, how many children do they have? She could be thinking of their well-being, too.

Edit: what's spousal privilege in this scenario?

After seeing how he deadlifts and lies about his times during CrossFit workouts, it's about time.

I’ve been using a coach potato-to-5K app to get into shape. I swear to my dog there’s a little chuckle in the app’s voice a little more than halfway through any given session.

McCabe was just fired before he was set to retire on Sunday.

But the twist is he did that so there is no cause for Trump to fire Sessions. So he did it for the Mueller investigation.

Man, what a fucking load of shit.

Trump attorney accuses Stormy Daniels of violating nondisclosure agreement 20 times, claims right to seek $20 million in damages

The logic here is remarkably illogical.

Trump did nothing. The payment had nothing to do with Trump...

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has rejected the notion that Trump approved the payment to Daniels.

(The Post)

Yet there is a non-disclosure agreement in place designed to keep Stormy Daniels from discussing something that had nothing to do with Trump?

Like, don't you have to acknowledge that an NDA is in place -- and thereby the contents of it -- in order to do this?

Where's Melania? I want to see her file for divorce.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:48 pm Like, don't you have to acknowledge that an NDA is in place -- and thereby the contents of it -- in order to do this?

Where's Melania? I want to see her file for divorce.

Eh, it's the same logic as when Trump said Carter Page wasn't part of his campaign, then when it was disclosed that a FISA warrant was issued against Page after he left the Trump campaign, Trump declared that was proof that Obama spied on Trump. He plays both sides of the facts constantly, and somehow he gets away with it.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:16 pm

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:48 pm Like, don't you have to acknowledge that an NDA is in place -- and thereby the contents of it -- in order to do this?

Where's Melania? I want to see her file for divorce.

Eh, it's the same logic as when Trump said Carter Page wasn't part of his campaign, then when it was disclosed that a FISA warrant was issued against Page after he left the Trump campaign, Trump declared that was proof that Obama spied on Trump. He plays both sides of the facts constantly, and somehow he gets away with it.

I must always remember that Trump is used to fleecing those he looks down on (virtually everyone).

I mean, I wish words meant something. Normally, between that and what McCabe said in his statement today, those sentiments would be significant.

But until you rid the cancer of the Republican party, none of this matters.

I want people to go to jail, but if the bankers who crashed the economy a decade ago were let off, and a bipartisan Senate bill that rolls back protections for people was passed because Congress has amnesia, what the hell is going to truly happen?

Eh Krassenstein isn’t really the most reliable source.

brian wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:03 pm Eh Krassenstein isn’t really the most reliable source.

I have no idea who that guy is.

But I will say that as I have recently become a big fan of Ms. Daniels' films, I will be watching. If the interview lasts for more than 4 minutes, it will be the longest that I will have seen her onscreen.

4 minutes. That’s the limit of your cynicism?

That Brennan tweet... righteous anger when expressed with eloquence is a marvel to behold.

Stormy on March 25 is a pretty well-known thing. he's just trying get dem retweats

So how many Americans look at this picture and feel that they are represented?