Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

The WSJ paywall-workaround (googling the headline and going to the story from the results page) doesn't work for me anymore.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obamacare-repeal_us_58c04851e4b0ed71826945f1?0dea5u1g7zj8aor

god these fucksticks really are going to play chicken with our entire healthcare system, aren't they? Trump can't back down because he has to look like the guy who Gets Things Done. and all the seemingly "principled" GOP legislators are petrified of a presidential Twitter rebuke. not saying this is definitely how things will go but seeing it all laid out this way, it's depressingly plausible.

are we really left with cheering on Bannon's sheer insanity? strange bedfellows.

that Esquire link gave me (on zing) a full-screen can't-be-dismissed pop-up asking me to enter my email to unlock Esquire's list of 80 must-read books

a) how on earth is this a winning strategy for attracting return eyeballs
b) can someone c+p the article here

Holy shit, "World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017," get the fuck out!

the sequel to the World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act of 2016 (HR 5284, sponsored by Pete Sessions): https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5284

Ben Kingsley seems more likely.

image search for Krishna Bhanji

Yes, sign me up!
or
No, I don't want to unlock the list of 80 must-read books because I hate knowledge and books and I am everything that is wrong with the future and past, take me straight to the article and do all of my thinking for me since I can't read a book apparently

xp to sic

Give the current administration credit. It's managed to energize American politics in the most unlikely places. And as I know from personal experience, and from a campaign a long time ago in an election far, far away, one of the hardest places to energize secular politics is in among the Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania. That takes a master's hand, as we can see from this report from McClatchy, courtesy of The Wichita Eagle.

"Hey Smucker," said the sign, written in red, green, and blue marker. "300 years ago our Mennonite family took sanctuary in PA, just like yours did. "Lancaster values immigrants." The anger might have been directed at Smucker, but Martin and Corbo were really there – like 100 others – because of President Donald Trump.The two women were among a hundred newly engaged activists assembled in Republican-heavy Lancaster County – an area that went to Trump in November by 57 percent – braving toe-freezing temperatures to protest Trump and the lawmaker, who was 200 yards away at a chamber of commerce breakfast. That Martin and Corbo were protesters was – by their own admission – a remarkable development. Both are members of the Mennonite Church, a religion that encourages its members to stay away from politics just as it asks them to shun the wider culture. For most of their lives Martin, 57, and her daughter, 30, did just that, occasionally voting for Democrats but rarely paying attention to politics outside the polling booth. "I've never been politically active . . . because we have a really strong belief in separation of church and state," Martin said. "Mennonites have always felt our allegiance is to Christ, and not to our state."

The Mennonites are the kind of stubborn people of faith for whom the First Amendment was designed and for whom the American principles of religious freedom was a beacon—namely, those against whom the power of the state was exercised in a fashion more direct than having to provide birth control to their heathen employees.

The first of them fled to America to avoid persecution in Europe at the invitation of William Penn. In 1688, the Mennonites wrote the first formal protest against American slavery. They declined to serve in the military in any American wars, including the Revolution itself. (This became particularly acute during the Civil War, when the Mennonite opposition to slavery collided with their opposition to military service. In Pennsylvania, their great patron was abolitionist Senator Thaddeus Stevens.) Their idea of a separation of church and state is ironclad, but it's the product of centuries of debate and serious contemplation. Being apolitical during a war is a very political act.

So, while it's unusual to see Mennonites as active as they are today, it's hardly inconsistent with their history.

And maybe the most unexpected members of that movement are Mennonites such as Martin and Corbo. Interviews with on-the-ground liberal activists and leaders of Mennonite churches reveal that many in the community have seen Trump's inauguration as a call to action, in some cases reversing a lifetime of political reclusiveness to oppose the president's policies. Two of the four organizers, in fact, of the morning's protest were Mennonites. Organizations connected to the church have written in opposition to the immigration ban, decrying it as contrary to the church's values. Maybe most famously, it was a Mennonite pastor from Harrisonburg, Virginia, who conceived of a sign with the words, "No matter where you are from, we're glad you're our neighbor," written in English, Spanish and Arabic. The signs have become a nationwide phenomenon, sold even on Amazon. "For Mennonites, a lot of times the standard is you're supposed to turn the other cheek," Corbo said. "But it also is not meaning to turn a blind eye, you know?"

The Mennonites are in the street. Something's building out there.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
MAR 8, 2017

Would you say they're ... circling the wagons?

Oh that makes me deliciously happy

xp not that

cheers!

ZS you can't even go straight to the article!

tough luck, if you can't even bother to join a mailing list so you can make sure you read the best manly books then maybe you don't deserve the wisdom of charles pierce

now if you'll excuse me i have to clean and re-organize my Art of Shaving kit

Fun times!

http://www.businessinsider.com/breitbart-establishment-trump-this-is-war-obamacare-2017-3

An additional story by Matthew Boyle, the website's Washington editor, went after Spicer for "inaccurately" claiming the bill "fully repeals Obamacare."

"We are Breitbart," Boyle wrote in a Slack conversation about his story, according to a screenshot obtained by Business Insider. "This is war."

Boyle added: "There are no sacred cows in war."

And going back a couple of weeks:

According to the two sources, Bannon was so furious he phoned Boyle after the publication of the story and unloaded on him. Boyle had not sought to notify Bannon he was publishing the story in advance, the sources said.

Bannon further aggravated Boyle that week when he instructed him not to publish additional articles critical of Priebus, prompting the Washington editor to tell others Bannon had betrayed Breitbart and was guilty of "treason," according to a source.

lmao

Waiting for "BANNON IS A RINO" headlines.

thx business insider for the visual of steve bannon 'unloading' on matthew boyle

There's a market...somewhere.

"We are Breitbart," Boyle wrote in a Slack conversation about his story

i am groot

Were I not so dismayed and terrified I would think this is delicious.

Purist/activist gadflies are angry with someone who is in the arena actually trying to do stuff. This person-in-the-arena lashes backward at his former comrades in gadflydom, for (being in the arena) he must sometimes make compromises, sometimes lay down with strange bedpriebuses, and sometimes make less-than-ideal deals as incremental steps on the way to purist glory.

irl lol at "bedpriebuses."

priebuses is too close to proboscis for my liking

priebus' proboscis

lol this is so predictable, of course Rand wouldn't pass up on an opportunity to play righteous libertarian warrior

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rand-paul-trump-obamacare-235826

and unlike McCain and Huckleberry Butchmeup, he actually votes against his party

since i played a role in spreading false (FAKE?) information here and on facebook, i should try to contain it a little.

the pete sessions-sponsored bill with the terrible title (the World's Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017) was NOT the one that the current GOP legislation is modeled on. Instead, Ryan and co. modeled their legislation on Tom Price's bill ("Empowering Patients First Act").

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/08/gop-lawmaker-introduces-world-s-greatest-healthcare-plan-of-2017.html
http://www.spin.com/2017/03/worlds-greatest-healthcare-bill-obamacare/
https://www.speakerryan.com/2017/03/03/opportunity-lives-exclusive-speaker-ryan-says-price-bill-will-obamacare-replacement/

nothing to see here

https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-hundreds-of-officials-trump-has-quietly-installed-across-government

good link, thanks

This Beetbort battle is fantastic, and exactly what I'd expect from people who always need an Other to scapegoat. There's no real loyalty within this tribe, and shit like this was bound to happen once the rebellious firebrands became the establishment they'd railed so hard against. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of folks.

re: the Mennonites, Lancaster, PA (the city, at least) has a history of accepting refugees at higher rates than nearly anywhere else in America

https://theoutline.com/post/985/where-the-refugees-go-lancaster-pennsylvania-immigration

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/lancaster-refugees-trump-travel-ban.html

this is what the democrats consider 'resistance', i guess we're definitely fucked then

https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/839583058894422017

...

Dem opposition to this bill is total. None of them support it (not even Manchin) and in the House they are actively obstructing the bill by forcing procedural votes and delaying its progress.

yeah but they haven't beaten anybody up yet

Guys I think we should just vote Republican from now on - these Dems just hate Americans

El Tomboto, can I poop on your chest

that Esquire link gave me a full-screen can't-be-dismissed pop-up

congratulations

larry appleton, can I burn down your house with you inside

Like Manchester By The Sea, but meaningful

lol fuuuuck

spoilers

Woah! From chest pooping to arson and murder. Let's take this one degree at a time, Tombot my man. Fun and games shouldn't get too scary here.

shout-out to Lancaster, PA Mennonites

contenderizer, priceless

xxxp

http://i65.tinypic.com/e9ce1k.jpg

if only liberals were less condescending to conservatives

The Democratic and liberal establishment have no credibility whatsoever at this point, so why are people surprised at how little they're able to accomplish? The only coalitions I've seen the Dems hold are "holy shit the Republicans are even worse," and "I'm comfortable, so let's keep this up."

Take this for an example. The DNC had Lena Dunham as one of their speakers. She's a greasy, shameless child molester who's only on the public radar because she was born into wealth and influence. Where do you think that insane Pizzagate stuff comes from? The Dems do themselves no favors whatsoever with the way they behave, they are so disconnected from ethics, morality, and decency that nobody gives a shit what they think or do at this point. And they're just fine with it! They hire operatives to attack other Democrats who even question this kind of stuff and it further alienates their support--that's how out of touch they are, and how little they care about it. Their bones have become fragile from sitting on plush couches for too long, and use corrupt money to kill the opposition.

And these are the people who are the alternatives to the Republicans. What the fuck happened?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoFlMEl1_h8

Again w the lena dunham bullshit

Yeah again, because it's important. "Lol what's he talking about", and then later you see it used as an effective weapon used against the Dems.