US Politics, November 2018: "There is no blame. There is no anything."

It makes almost no difference now.

However, I find the prospect of future American History textbooks, which will treat Trump no better than Albert Fall (of Teapot Dome noteriety) or Robert Bork (of Watergate), pretty delicious. There are going to be a half-dozen movies about this era, as the political classes are more incensed about a Queens slumlord gaining the presidency than they were about some willfully ignorant Texan scion starting pointless wars.

i was wondering for just a sec how LBJ was a "scion" but nevermind

plus he was unwillfully aware

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/414551-cruz-suggests-orourke-campaign-money-is-funding-migrant-caravan?amp

slow clap for tracer, that’s been in my head since thread went up

LBJ was no angel, but his decisions were little different than those that might have occurred with any other 1960 or 1964 frontrunner. Every "serious" foreign policy thinker was all about containment, based on the "lesson" of 1938 Munich.

We saw a similar effect during the Obama presidency. I don't think Obama was personally inclined to spreading US vs. Islamist conflict to Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Mali, but it happened. Whether its McNamara and the hundreds of Vietnam think tank hawks in the 1960s, or the similar set of think tank hawks from Samantha Powers on down in the Obama presidency, presidents choose between the options they're given. Almost no presidents enter with enough knowledge of the foreign policy establishment to select advisors that buck the consensus.

GWB was worse than the norm, as he outsourced his vetting to Cheney and other neocons, so all of his intel served the preexisting neocon agenda of deposing Saddam Hussein. Sending Scuds to Isreal in 2001 doomed him. GWB was never briefed on conflicting evidence from the intelligence community, was never briefed on the internal divisions of Iraq, was never briefed on history. He was too willfully ignorant to seek knowledge from independent sources, and did as his advisors advised.

I don't think LBJ was willfully ignorant in the same sense. My sense of his presidency is that he felt betrayed by the limited intel he received from the start of his presidency, and somewhat trapped within existing policy and foreign policy norms. He never cared as much about Vietnam as he did about civil rights and Great Society programs.

It matters that the people we elect are intellectually curious. When some Queens slumlord claims that he knows everything, and that he and only he can solve the world, it should have been automatically disqualifying.

That last paragraph is A+.

Actual Gilead manual:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/washington-state-legislator-circulates-proposal-on-exterminating-liberals

Shea replied to Rowe and the Seattle Times in a Facebook video of his own, furiously claiming that he wasn’t angry over the incident while showing off his historical knowledge by claiming that the Mayflower compact was “a covenant with God to advance Christianity.”

“The counter-state is working overtime,” he said, adding that “there are two main counter-states in America: Marxists and Islamists.”

He went on to criticize a recent Rolling Stone profile of him as an example of a “Maoist insurgency model.”

“In fact, I’ve been wanting to do this video for a long time,” Shea said, repeating angrily that he wasn’t upset. “Yesterday, the Rolling Stone posted an 8,000 word article that was essentially a slander smear piece – a hit piece – against me.”

lmfao

the name paul krugman brings back memories of a foregone time when nobel laureat's op-eds didn't make any difference, either

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/opinion/republican-party-lies.html?

Judge Orders Georgia’s Brian Kemp To Give Thousands More People A Shot At Voting

A federal judge in Georgia on Friday ordered state Secretary of State Brian Kemp to establish additional procedures to guarantee that voters flagged by the state as potential noncitizens can vote in the 2018 election if they can prove their citizenship.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross is a win for voting rights groups who are suing the state over its so-called “exact match” system for registering new voters. The ruling is expected to affect 3,141 people who registered but whose registrations were considered pending because the state couldn’t verify their citizenship. Overall, there are about 53,000 people whose voter registrations are pending because of a system that critics say is inaccurate and discriminatory.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-brian-kemp-voters_us_5bdc92cee4b09d43e31ecee7

lol Kemp's gonna do that... over the weekend?

but it's good news, I'll take it

Sure. He'll work a late night.

Shea replied to Rowe and the Seattle Times in a Facebook video of his own, furiously claiming that he wasn’t angry over the incident

and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad.

— wint (@dril) December 29, 2014

Anyone who suggests I'm not on an even fucking keel is going to get mashed.

The overall numbers he claims could be 10, 12 or 20 million people

That's a sequence of numbers alright.

they're comin' to America TODAY

Asked about new @ABC News/WaPo poll finding 49% believe he encourages politically motivated violence with the way he speaks, Pres. Trump tells @karentravers, "You're creating violence by your question...A lot of the reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth." pic.twitter.com/pm4YI4VTao

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 2, 2018

another SC rebuke for Chump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/11/02/supreme-court-refuses-to-delay-case-alleging-an-improper-political-motive-in-decision-to-add-citizenship-question-to-census/?utm_term=.f4ecd1c95cee

I mean in a manner of speaking he’s right. If media had told the truth that he is a racist etc. from the start...

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/jacob-wohl-accused-of-fooling-desperate-woman-into-paying-him-for-sham-private-investigation/

tbf his solutions are indeed bespoke

man wtf w the SC today

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-refuses-to-block-kids-climate-lawsuit-against-us-government/2018/11/02/34bd7ee6-d7af-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?utm_term=.d8337e8dfa86

I mean that lawsuit seems p crazy to me, maybe they're just expecting lower courts to rule against it

"the government should seek relief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit." good luck

9th circuit is the most liberal circuit in the country...?

sorry I was being sarcastic. I was thinking the government isn't likely to win in the 9th

i am the 10,000th person to make a zodiac killer tweet edit

https://i.imgur.com/qty6qec.gif

lol

https://i1.wp.com/badbooksgoodtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/chef-kiss-gif.gif?fit=300%2C198

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have granted the Trump administration’s request to delay the trial.

lol of course

also for the climate change lawsuit:

"Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch would have stopped the suit."

I am very proud of those local kids

yes!

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/11/03/us/politics/03repubs-print/merlin_146231109_013fcbfe-9950-4b8d-81b1-f7afb991f133-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp

Myyyyyyyyy....WAR!
YOU'RE ONE OF THEM
YOU! SAY!
THAT YOU'VE MY FRIEND
BUT YOU'RE ONE OF THEM ONE OF THEM ONE OF THEM!!

Cruz demonstrating how to make a Canadian Clanger.

https://processedmedia.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/mr-show-s1-ep4-3.png

where are the tax returns

there are no tax returns, there is no anything.

this is relatively old news, from the ancient time of august 26, but just to start the day off right, here is a list of investigations that democrats are expected to launch if they take the house:

President Trump’s tax returns
Trump family businesses — and whether they comply with the Constitution's emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
Trump's dealings with Russia, including the president's preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
The payment to Stephanie Clifford — a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
James Comey's firing
Trump's firing of U.S. attorneys
Trump's proposed transgender ban for the military
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's business dealings
White House staff's personal email use
Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
Jared Kushner's ethics law compliance
Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
The travel ban
Family separation policy
Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
Election security and hacking attempts
White House security clearances

And probably lots more. Obviously some of these are in progress already under various jurisdictions.

2018-2020 (and beyond) might still be a shitshow, but at least there might be some shit to show for it.

counting chickens not yet hatched

everyone with twitter, will you please join me in yelling at steve king?
i would like to see him ratio'd to a legendary degree. i fucking hate this asshole

for some reason i'm getting a poxy fule error every time i try to post his latest tweet. it's the one that says "My opponent is the antithesis (the opposite) of Iowa values. My record proves I embody them."

system is protecting us. hail system

#IA04: Rep. Steve King (R)'s lead over J.D. Scholten (D) down to 46%-45% nearly halfway thru NYT/Siena poll. Scholten now airing *two minute* ads. https://t.co/6KqZMxRjaA

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 3, 2018

patiently waiting by my phone for a possible call from Nate Cohn

he conducts all the calls, right?