Trump, August 2017: A great day at the White House!

We're talking about a country where most people's primary educations are from McDonalds ads.

― carpet_kaiser, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:31 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Holy shit is this true

ACLU on top of things: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/08/02/kris-kobach-trump-voter-registration-deposition-241257

many xposts

don't throw stones in glass houses, i know, but i have trouble trusting that Windbag Index above because they misspelled Kaine's name in a way that clearly wasn't the result of a mere typo

stephen miller on jim acosta's "cosmopolitan bias" = duke sucks

this immigration thing has a 0% chance of passing, right?

this has a good rat-a-tat-tat to it https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2476

"It's hard to pick what is the most alarming number in the troubling trail of new lows for President Donald Trump," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

"Profound embarrassment over his performance in office and deepening concern over his level-headedness have to raise the biggest red flags.

We're talking about a country where most people's primary educations are from McDonalds ads.

― carpet_kaiser, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:31 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought the fear at least used to be that McDonalds and other similar firms were distorting education by almost direct advertising being placed in in terms of sponsorship etc. Logos on every possible item and information propmoted in line with corporate wishes.

Hopefully that's long gone. But I could see it returning under current leadership.

Why are all systems of power huge disasters? One key part is probably that power literally changes people's brains https://t.co/6uMBmR61yU pic.twitter.com/GSeiPEmUbe

— Jon Schwarz (@tinyrevolution) August 2, 2017

this immigration thing has a 0% chance of passing, right?

it's not zero but a) it has to get through committee first, b) it has to be brought to the floor for a vote and c) it will need 60 votes (ie, entire GOP + some Dems). Given that this was announced in coordination with Trump (and not McConnell), would seem to indicate it's a steep climb. Have to think there would be some corporate pushback against this (both from tech firms and others) as well as resistance from various states with big latino populations (lookin at u, Heller) plus a fairly unified Dem opposition (I suppose they might peel off Heitkamp and Munchin).

Stephen Miller's parents:
http://www.ymcllc.com/management-team/

Stephen miller band

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Steve_Miller_Band_Ravinia.jpg

er Manchin

xxp

It's legitimately great that language requirements, which are baked in to the immigration systems of Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, are so toxic in the US.

I had no idea that was the case, that's insane

what's the historical/political rationale behind that, I assume it's some colonial holdover

well there goes that puppet stuff... Medvedev is on FB?

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, said the new sanctions were tantamount to a "full-scale trade war".

He said that the move showed the Trump administration was utterly powerless. "The hope that our relations with the new American administration would improve is finished," he wrote on Facebook.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/02/donald-trump-signs-russia-sanctions-bill-calls-significantly/

no rational person thinks Trump is Putin's "puppet"

well, youre setting a high bar for Keith Olbermann

what's the historical/political rationale behind that, I assume it's some colonial holdover

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 22:37 (forty-six seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Only in as much as everything in the UK is a colonial hangover. Language requirements were first introduced around 2009.

The focus in all four is on skilled migration and the perception is that you can't work effectively if you can't speak English (or French in Quebec). Beyond that, it's absolutely about the politics of integration.

trump won't see it on facebook, but he also tweeted it

The Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way

— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) August 2, 2017

I know he's Russian, but I can't read that as anything other than Hans and/or Franz.

Re the Medvedev tweet:

We Are Now in Cold War 2.0

Only six months into his presidency, Moscow has assessed that Trump is a naif, an incompetent weakling who cannot deliver what Russia needs. He is therefore expendable. As stereotypical Chekists, Putin and his retinue wanted chaos in America in 2016 and that surely Trump has delivered, with myriad assistance from Russia’s intelligence agencies...

Now that Trump is expendable to Moscow, he ought to worry that leaks unflattering to him and his entourage may go public. We know that Russian hackers pillaged Republicans as well as Democrats in 2016, while only the latter have been disseminated by Kremlin fronts. Not to mention Trump’s decades of shadowy financial dealings with Russian oligarchs, which the Kremlin surely knows all about. Putin is biding his time and, right now, he’s holding most of the important cards. He may ultimately decide Trump’s political fate, which now resides in Moscow’s hands.

Verrrry interesting. (Yes, lame source, but they appear to have the scoop.)

https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-loyalist-ezra-cohen-watnick-fired-from-nsc-sources-say#sthash.boutfp3c.uxfs

Saw a Tweet the other day that Kelly coming in would mean little so long as Cohen-Watnick, Gorka and Bannon were still around. And now, one's gone.

Who wrote that the villain from cats and dogs xp

John R. Schindler is a never-Trump conservative who served a decade+ as a naval officer in the NSA, but got booted for texting a dick pic. He's no angel, but does seem to have contacts within the IC, and on Twitter is in a moderate camp between the loonies (Mench et al) and the rather late to the game major media.

Schindler may or may not still have contacts, but any of us monkeys could have written that essay.

Also interesting re NSC removals.

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/535725/

I should add it's hilarious Michael Anton is the one reduced to no-comment stuff about the type of thing he loves getting trashed.

A preview of my upcoming Observer bombshell:

"This was not the way it was supposed to turn out. Six months after a contentious election in which Trump's best defense against accusations of being a Russian puppet was 'no, you are,' with evidence of collision or worse piling up at a seemingly unsustainable pace, it's Putin, and not the American public, that has pulled the plug, dismissing the would-be enabler as an incompetent dud, and betting on a more contentious and traditional adversarial stance rather than continue hoping Trump could come through on years of winks, hints, and barely veiled messages that he would be a willing and able assistant to Putin's dreams of renewed global dominance.

And yet, it's Trump that should be most concerned. With Putin moving on, that leaves Trump behind. And what a behind he has! Ample, supple, like an enormous fruit loose in the giant khaki back-sack of his pants. Wobbling to and fro with every pendulum swing of the golf club, inspiring awes from those fortunate enough to be stationed behind his tee, the hypnotic slap of his butt-flesh against itself echoing like a human executive desk toy, the constant applause of two cheeks for the man setting them in motion ..."

so, do we get pee tape now

Ample, supple, like an enormous fruit loose in the giant khaki back-sack of his pants.

well there's next month's thread title

Are they blackmailing him or not?

no

Whew, good news:

Senate GOP leaders have openly flouted Trump’s attempts to steer them back to repealing and replacing the ACA, an endeavor that collapsed in failure last week. On Tuesday, McConnell laid out the rest of the Senate’s plans before adjourning for the summer recess. Health care was not among them.

Instead, Alexander signaled he would go around the president. He and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) announced they would hold fall hearings to shore up the individual health insurance markets. It was the most concrete sign yet of bipartisan work in the Senate on strengthening the existing health-care law, and it followed a proposal offered Monday by a bipartisan group of 43 House members.

whatever the Senate comes up with will die in the House, I expect, because Ryan won't bring up anything he needs Democratic votes to pass. Can't piss off the Freedom Caucus.

Quite remarkable that Congress not only pressured him to sign the sanctions under duress, but that he needs their explicit permission to change them. Like a child.

feel like we're close to Trump having this moment w/ a reporter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwU6ZcadU44

Let the fun begin

New: Congressional investigators set their sights on Donald Trump Jr.'s phone records https://t.co/aQv6BImL2U

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 2, 2017

Schindler is less of a loon than Mensch but he's spent months spouting the same bullshit about how Trump is invoking the WRATH OF THE DEEP STATE and ANY DAY NOW HE'S GOING DOWN, rinse and repeat.

Twitter grifters gonna Twitter grift.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html

such beautiful numbers

What am I reading

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/trump-says-u-s-losing-afghan-war-tense-meeting-generals-n789006

To underscore his view that the veterans who fought in the war may be better positioned to advise him on an Afghanistan strategy, Trump compared the policy review process to the renovation of a famed New York restaurant in the 1980s, officials said.

Trump told his advisers that the restaurant, Manhattan's elite '21' Club, had shut its doors for a year and hired an expensive consultant to craft a plan for a renovation. After a year, Trump said, the consultant's only suggestion was that the restaurant needed a bigger kitchen.

Officials said Trump kept stressing the idea that lousy advice cost the owner a year of lost business and that talking to the restaurant's waiters instead might have yielded a better result. He also said the tendency is to assume if someone isn't a three-star general he doesn't know what he's talking about, and that in his own experience in business talking to low-ranking workers has gotten him better outcomes.

dear Hades

Separately: the fun bit? He says he's doing it because being pro-Trump was 'bad for business.'

Right-wing troll Mike Cernovich says he's doing a “big pivot” away from Trump: https://t.co/O2gTiCVBs4 pic.twitter.com/VKtCkgpfhA

— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 2, 2017

What if being president was as easy as being a drunk duffer at a high-class bar at 3 am when the owner wants to close and go home

Hannity always delivers the laughs, although I do wince every time when I get out of the car and think about how I could have instead devoted x number of minutes catching up on the dozens and dozens of CDs I have backlogged.

He was conspiratorially assuring his audience tonight that a) he can't say he everything he knows, but b) he does know people, and he does know things.

Those who need not worry: 1) Trump, 2) his administration.
Those who should be very worried: 1) Hillary Clinton, 2) DNC operatives who met with Ukrainians, 3) Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, 4) James Comey.

He did spare Barack Obama, Samantha Power, Zoë Baird, and Cristophe.

why

Had to cut to a commercial for one of the seven thousand suspect products he vouches for--Protect Your Parakeet from Identity Theft or some such.

it's really disturbing to me, how you view this situation as a spectator sport

?