US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

One thing for sure: one day this will end without a catharsis commensurate to the anger we have all built up. It will be a shame if so much indignation dies on the vine and doesn't manifest in longer-term electoral/legislative change.

It looks like Manafort and Gates are mostly on the hook for things that have little to do with Russia, though that could just be the opening shot.

I mean, in so far as Ukraine is not literally Russia (yet), but we're not talking six degrees of Vladimir Putin here. Even if the Manafort/Gates stuff was not directly related to Russia, it's not like a complete investigative non sequitur.

Also worth keeping in mind that the non-stop controversy and investigation has likely kept the worst potential shit from even happening. The impetus for all this stuff was not to take down Trump, but to prevent a bad actor (Russia) from doing worse.

haven't our intelligence communities already said that Russia's likely going to target midterms in the same way, and that our ability to do anything about it has been kneecapped by the fact that the Executive Branch still thinks the culprit is a 400 lb. guy in his mom's basement?

Have a blessed day! MAGA!

Will never not see this as MAGMA and forlornly dream of far, distant Kobaïa.

God damnit, I'm just so mad about this Donald Trump !!!!!!!!!

― frogbs, Friday, February 2, 2018 8:16 AM (ten minutes ago)

xpost
Trump and Vander = both neo-nazis who speak in a strange language of their own

Not directly related to this, but the handwringing in the war between FBI and Trump because 'they are both bad' is a categorical mistake. It's not about good or bad, it's about left and right. FBI is too far to the right, but Trump is trying to yank it even further to the right. The easy answer on what to do is to defend the institution from the attempt of rightward-yanking, and then yank it leftwards when we get the chance.

Seeing more and more reports that the memo is a bit of a wet blanket. It'll be spun, of course, but even so.

doesn't the whole Magma story begin with a colony of people escaping a tyrant

Forgive the link to Breitbart, which is a very bad website, but they got audio of Trump's speech to the RNC last night, and he bragged that "there aren't a lot of people" who can pass a dementia test like he can pass a dementia test. https://t.co/OUskfI5CWt pic.twitter.com/G2aMHOkJw4

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 2, 2018

Actually, what we should really be talking about is the fact that the one guy with the power to instantly end life Earth has a very diseased brain

doesn't the whole Magma story begin with a colony of people escaping a tyrant

By going to another planet, yes, not really a viable new direction for the Democrats though.

oh and by the way the Democrat lead in the generic Congressional ballot has cratered in the last few weeks so good luck with that "blue wave"

xp they would push a centrist program for ship-boarding priorities and try to make sure it included a bipartisan allotment of seats for the tyrant's side

So, um, what if they don't release the memo?

Fuck polling about elections 10 months away.

xpost That would be funny. Apparently unlikely at this point, but funny.

just chiming in here to say homan is a fascist and it's imperative that we dismantle ICE before he starts trying to arrest mayors & city council members. my stomach lurches at the shift of the wind that could bring about.

we need to be activating constituents to pressure Roybal-Allard in CA 40, Cuellar in TX 28, Price in NC 4, & Ruppersberger in MD 2 to commit to defund enforcement & removal operations & then we need to follow suit with whichever house dems get added to the House Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee after we take it back in November.

Mostly lawyerly speculation but some good quotes/viewpoints:

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/02/trump-russia-indictment-mueller-probe-384969

The ending is what I found most interesting:

One of the Russia defense attorneys also suggested what he called a “jujitsu move”: naming Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in a larger obstruction of justice case that targets one or more associates.

Whatever Mueller and his deputies have planned, the attorney said, it is not likely to be anticlimactic.

“There’s a sense of confidence I feel when I’m with them,” said the same lawyer. “Their level of confidence has grown, and that’s a body language thing.”

actually what we should really be focusing on is everyone getting Super Ebola AIDS in three years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/01/cdc-to-cut-by-80-percent-efforts-to-prevent-global-disease-outbreak/?utm_campaign=buffer&utm_content=buffer6a5e6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=.4316ebf41085

but hey at least all those hardworking people at Home Depot got their $200 bonus checks

Just to be clear: We are really and truly at a historical moment where actual adults are discussing whether the President of the United States is good or bad at a test that includes "identifying sketches of animals."

Sure, he's a known sexual predator and white-supremacist sympathizer. But let's seriously drill down on the important issue of: Can he correctly name a picture of a bunny?

a bit early for a stiff drink, but what the fuck, #nothingmatters

Countries where the CDC is planning to scale back include some of the world’s hot spots for emerging infectious disease, such as China, Pakistan, Haiti, Rwanda and Congo. Last year, when Congo experienced a potentially deadly Ebola outbreak in a remote, forested area, CDC-trained disease detectives and rapid responders helped contain it quickly.

v sensible decision, good work everyone

where's the tax returns? president trump is conspiring with former KGB agents to break up the USA the way the USA broke up the USSR

I think I would be okay with that. Why didn't they just come right out and say so, they'd get a lot of support.

oh and by the way the Democrat lead in the generic Congressional ballot has cratered in the last few weeks so good luck with that "blue wave"

― frogbs, Friday, February 2, 2018 2:50 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

short-sighted.

Yeah, was just thinking the other day how good a job someone(s) has done at dividing the US. I feel like there's a phase which traditionally follows a 'divide' phase in the history of geopolitical maneuvering but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is.

cuddle puddle iirc

Thaaaaat's it, thx.

No idea how much faith to put into this, but I want to believe:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/opinion/sunday/republican-taxes-texas-blue.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur

That's not possible, because the Post says there might not be a blue wave.

Good point

Should've known posters would start freaking out about one poll showing tightening in November ten months out. Might as well stay home in November!

there’s a pretty rich mix of evidence — polling, special elections data, retirements, the history of the “out” party performing well in midterms — suggesting that the political winds favor Democrats. Now one of those indicators — an important one, the generic ballot — doesn’t look as good.

But if you had a model that blended all those indicators together, how much would a 5-point swing on the generic ballot in January affect your prediction for November? I don’t know, because we don’t start building those sorts of models until late in the election year. But I’d guess you’d have to discount it pretty heavily; so maybe a 5-point swing in January translates to a 1-point or 2-point swing in your November prediction, or something.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-happened-to-the-democratic-wave/

The democrats pathetic cave on the shut-down would doom them in most years. Fortunately the news cycle moves at such speed these days that it'll probably be forgotten by the time the clocks change let alone november

The clocks go forward and back in Murrica, right?

Kinda feel like any data that keeps the Dems from feeling cocky and complacent is a good thing. Stay hungry.

pretty sure the last year has proved that stateside clocks only go back xp

Rephrase: TO THE EXTENT that it keeps Dems hungry, it's a good thing. Not so much if it actually pans out, obvs.

if trump fires rosenstein, and then mueller, then new york state indicts the trumps / kushners, season 2 of "the president" will be loads of fun

US clocks give the illusion that they're going forward only to occasionally go 'sike' and reveal that they've been standing still for half a decade.

alfred otm

It's entirely about money.

I agree with this re Russia, and as the cause of Yam's beating heart.

idk most conspiracies hinge on people doing in secret the sort of things that Trump is just doing out in the open

Conspiracies have been mostly unnecessary in this country since 1980. Just describe your malfeasance as beneficence and hardly anyone will challenge you.

The plethora of "bombshell stories" is one reason Jane/Joe Bigbox Worker may never get a handle on most of this. It's all one nonstop maelstrom of shit.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxposts even the people who are paid to pore over these stats on a daily basis wouldn't conclude "bye bye Democratic wave" based on the latest.

unless there's a mandatory 8 month hibernation coming up that I wasn't aware of

Actually, what we should really be talking about is the fact that the one guy with the power to instantly end life Earth has a very diseased brain

― frogbs, Friday, February 2, 2018 8:47 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, that he is bragging about acing a dementia screen might be more embarrassing than his whole electoral college bullshit

not that anyone really needs reminding but the last ten (eleven, really) questions of the MOCA are: remember the five words we asked you three minutes ago, and name the date/month/year/day/place/city

the whole point of the test is that virtually any human without dementia will get close to perfect score

just so you all can follow along at home: http://www.mocatest.org/pdf_files/test/MoCA-Test-English_7_1.pdf

I guess the Dems will have to run some non-generic candidates. Admittedly not their strength.

naming Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in a larger obstruction of justice case that targets one or more associates.

Classic revive from the '70s!

xpost Come on, this is the first test Donnie was able to pass without his daddy paying off a teacher. Let him have this.

I wonder if he hung it up on the fridge next to his finger paintings.

xp Morbs I dunno I wonder if there won't be a real appetite for vanilla after all this

Lantern jawed centrist "not a criminal"

I dunno Hadrian, what flavor was HRC?

Rocky Road?