Some good stories for the morning, first:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-06/in-trump-s-white-house-everything-s-coming-in-two-weeks
President Donald Trump has a plan. It’ll be ready in two weeks.From overhauling the tax code to releasing an infrastructure package to making decisions on Nafta and the Paris climate agreement, Trump has a common refrain: A big announcement is coming in just “two weeks.” It rarely does.On Feb. 9, Trump boasted that his administration was “way ahead of schedule” on a tax overhaul.“We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure,” Trump said while meeting with airline executives.Eleven weeks elapsed before the White House released a one-page outline of the tax plan.In an April 29 interview on “CBS This Morning” Trump said of his promised $1 trillion infrastructure construction program: “We’ve got the plan largely completed and we’ll be filing over the next two or three weeks -- maybe sooner,” Trump said.No legislation has been filed. The White House has yet to outline the plan, beyond broad principles described in Trump’s proposed budget.
From overhauling the tax code to releasing an infrastructure package to making decisions on Nafta and the Paris climate agreement, Trump has a common refrain: A big announcement is coming in just “two weeks.” It rarely does.
On Feb. 9, Trump boasted that his administration was “way ahead of schedule” on a tax overhaul.
“We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure,” Trump said while meeting with airline executives.
Eleven weeks elapsed before the White House released a one-page outline of the tax plan.
In an April 29 interview on “CBS This Morning” Trump said of his promised $1 trillion infrastructure construction program: “We’ve got the plan largely completed and we’ll be filing over the next two or three weeks -- maybe sooner,” Trump said.
No legislation has been filed. The White House has yet to outline the plan, beyond broad principles described in Trump’s proposed budget.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:40 (six years ago) link
Next
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/05/trump-russia-war-room-239170
The White House’s Russia investigation “war room” may have been killed before the battle.Just days before former FBI director James Comey’s Senate testimony about his firing, President Donald Trump decided that all inquiries related to the scandals engulfing his administration should be handled by his outside lawyer in New York instead of by a team based inside the White House, according to four advisors close to Trump.The so-called “war room,” similar to a Clinton administration crisis operation created to deal with Monica Lewinsky-related inquiries, was taking shape as of last week, with plans for two former campaign aides to take over rapid response on Russia questions, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations.Former deputy campaign manager David Bossie was being considered to join the West Wing in a senior position. Corey Lewandowski, a former campaign manager who was fired in June 2016, was scouting office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last week for a White House team.The president decided that Bossie and Lewandowski would be “more valuable on the outside than on the inside fighting back against the Russia narrative specifically,” said a person with knowledge of the conversations....While the Clinton White House integrated lawyers into a larger rapid response operation, the Trump team has so far relegated all inquiries related to the Russia scandal to Trump’s long-time attorney in New York Marc Kasowitz.There’s still debate over whether Kasowitz will be aided by an outside public relations team to handle media inquiries. Bossie and Lewandowski may assist in that effort to defend the president from the outside, according to the person with knowledge of the conversations.
Just days before former FBI director James Comey’s Senate testimony about his firing, President Donald Trump decided that all inquiries related to the scandals engulfing his administration should be handled by his outside lawyer in New York instead of by a team based inside the White House, according to four advisors close to Trump.
The so-called “war room,” similar to a Clinton administration crisis operation created to deal with Monica Lewinsky-related inquiries, was taking shape as of last week, with plans for two former campaign aides to take over rapid response on Russia questions, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations.
Former deputy campaign manager David Bossie was being considered to join the West Wing in a senior position. Corey Lewandowski, a former campaign manager who was fired in June 2016, was scouting office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last week for a White House team.
The president decided that Bossie and Lewandowski would be “more valuable on the outside than on the inside fighting back against the Russia narrative specifically,” said a person with knowledge of the conversations.
...
While the Clinton White House integrated lawyers into a larger rapid response operation, the Trump team has so far relegated all inquiries related to the Russia scandal to Trump’s long-time attorney in New York Marc Kasowitz.
There’s still debate over whether Kasowitz will be aided by an outside public relations team to handle media inquiries. Bossie and Lewandowski may assist in that effort to defend the president from the outside, according to the person with knowledge of the conversations.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:42 (six years ago) link
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9v-33jcEDk4/maxresdefault.jpg
― Beret McKesson (jaymc), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:42 (six years ago) link
Phil Murphy is your next Goldman Sachs Democrat guv of NJ (maybe)
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:43 (six years ago) link
And finally for now, the WSJ editorial board finally going "What the fuck is WRONG with you?"
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-buck-stops-everywhere-else-1496705412
If this pattern continues, Mr. Trump may find himself running an Administration with no one but his family and the Breitbart staff. People of talent and integrity won’t work for a boss who undermines them in public without thinking about the consequences. And whatever happened to the buck stops here?Mr. Trump is also sabotaging the legitimate legal basis for the travel ban, and the stakes are bigger than the ban itself, which we think is counterproductive and unnecessary. He is exercising core presidential powers over foreign affairs that the courts may restrict if Mr. Trump keeps daring them to do so.Two appellate courts have ignored the order’s text and cited legally irrelevant campaign statements to rule that the ban is really intended to discriminate against Muslims. And now President Trump has given liberal judges Twitter evidence to conclude that his motives may be suspect. At the very least he is making it harder to corral a Supreme Court majority.In other words, in 140-character increments, Mr. Trump diminished his own standing by causing a minor international incident, demonstrated that the loyalty he demands of the people who work for him isn’t reciprocal, set back his policy goals and wasted time that he could have devoted to health care, tax reform or “infrastructure week.” Mark it all down as further evidence that the most effective opponent of the Trump Presidency is Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Trump is also sabotaging the legitimate legal basis for the travel ban, and the stakes are bigger than the ban itself, which we think is counterproductive and unnecessary. He is exercising core presidential powers over foreign affairs that the courts may restrict if Mr. Trump keeps daring them to do so.
Two appellate courts have ignored the order’s text and cited legally irrelevant campaign statements to rule that the ban is really intended to discriminate against Muslims. And now President Trump has given liberal judges Twitter evidence to conclude that his motives may be suspect. At the very least he is making it harder to corral a Supreme Court majority.
In other words, in 140-character increments, Mr. Trump diminished his own standing by causing a minor international incident, demonstrated that the loyalty he demands of the people who work for him isn’t reciprocal, set back his policy goals and wasted time that he could have devoted to health care, tax reform or “infrastructure week.” Mark it all down as further evidence that the most effective opponent of the Trump Presidency is Donald J. Trump.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:44 (six years ago) link
(Also, speaking of lawyers)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/four-top-law-firms-turned-requests-represent-trump-122423972.html
Before Kasowitz was retained, however, some of the biggest law firms and their best-known attorneys turned down overtures when they were sounded out by White House officials to see if they would be willing to represent the president, the sources said.Among them, sources said, were some of the most high-profile names in the legal profession, including Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly; Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Paul Clement and Mark Filip of Kirkland & Ellis; and Robert Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell.The lawyers and their firms cited a variety of factors in choosing not to take on the president as a client. Some, like Brendan Sullivan, said they had upcoming trials or existing commitments that that would make it impossible for them to devote the necessary time and resources to Trump’s defense.Others mentioned potential conflicts with clients of their firms, such as financial institutions that have already received subpoenas relating to potential money-laundering issues that are part of the investigation.But a consistent theme, the sources said, was the concern about whether the president would accept the advice of his lawyers and refrain from public statements and tweets that have consistently undercut his position.“The concerns were, ‘The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen,’” said one lawyer close to the White House who is familiar with some of the discussions between the firms and the administration, as well as deliberations within the firms themselves.
Among them, sources said, were some of the most high-profile names in the legal profession, including Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly; Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Paul Clement and Mark Filip of Kirkland & Ellis; and Robert Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell.
The lawyers and their firms cited a variety of factors in choosing not to take on the president as a client. Some, like Brendan Sullivan, said they had upcoming trials or existing commitments that that would make it impossible for them to devote the necessary time and resources to Trump’s defense.
Others mentioned potential conflicts with clients of their firms, such as financial institutions that have already received subpoenas relating to potential money-laundering issues that are part of the investigation.
But a consistent theme, the sources said, was the concern about whether the president would accept the advice of his lawyers and refrain from public statements and tweets that have consistently undercut his position.
“The concerns were, ‘The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen,’” said one lawyer close to the White House who is familiar with some of the discussions between the firms and the administration, as well as deliberations within the firms themselves.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:46 (six years ago) link
Primary Elections today in New Jersey, says twitter. So... anyone know anything worth looking out for? Any good leftist candidates trying to primary centrists?
Just voted. I had been thinking about voting for one of the leftier candidates, but when the whole Paris accord thing happened, and the governors of CA, WA and NY all teamed up in their "Climate Alliance," I looked on every NJ candidate's website in the days that followed to see which of them had promised to sign on if elected, and the only one who did was Phil Murphy, the guy every other Democratic candidate was busy calling a corporate shill in their TV ads. The guy I had specifically thought about voting for? The only news releases on his site were "Phil Murphy must apologize for this" and "Phil Murphy did that." So I voted for Murphy.
― grawlix (unperson), 6. juni 2017 15:31 (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Oh, thanks, didn't realize the gubernatorial primary is today as well. That's interesting! Is there any info on the prospects for November at this point?
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:47 (six years ago) link
That's the thing, the people who own the earth share our interest in the earth not being destroyed
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:53 (six years ago) link
Also Trump seems to be tweeting about Qatar being horrible. Pity about the huge US military base there.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:53 (six years ago) link
The Saudi Orb is passing him instructions.
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:56 (six years ago) link
Orbo Ordus Seclorum
― godley and creamsicle (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:58 (six years ago) link
Dan Scavino, his social media director
he has a social media director?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 13:59 (six years ago) link
Trump treating his little memo issuance yesterday like a major bill-signing is the Trump-est thing ever.
At an East Room event that was choreographed like the elaborate ceremonies for enacting major legislation, Mr. Trump signed a memo and letter to Congress outlining his principles for overhauling the nation’s air traffic control system. He handed out pens to lawmakers who had been invited to attend, and reveled in several rounds of applause.But Mr. Trump’s announcement did not have any binding effect, and Democrats quickly denounced the proposal.
But Mr. Trump’s announcement did not have any binding effect, and Democrats quickly denounced the proposal.
― Old Lynch's Sex Paragraph (Phil D.), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:02 (six years ago) link
as would-be despots go, he's closer to a Lewis Carroll version than anything
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
It's not about Reality, it's all about a salary
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:25 (six years ago) link
― Frederik B, Tuesday, June 6, 2017 9:22 AM (one hour ago)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LEfqueATEbAMVZSc1cdmqyAklgHOfWMS7xADzjXEowk/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:26 (six years ago) link
Strange but true...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Scavino
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:35 (six years ago) link
(And his own posts are as bad as Trump's. So I honestly do wonder!)
I just realized that I want to be a social media director
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:37 (six years ago) link
lol, I must have missed this one:
Over the July 4, 2016 weekend, controversy arose when Trump's Twitter account posted an image selected by Scavino of Hillary Clinton with a text in the shape of a Star of David calling her the "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever"; said image had originally appeared on an anti-Semitic, white supremacist message board. Trump's team defended its use saying that the star was a "sheriff's badge", before eventually deleting it and posting a new picture with a circle replacing the star.[3]
― jmm, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:42 (six years ago) link
i don't know how you could've! i think it was #48 in the 386 Things That Were Going to Finish Trump.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:43 (six years ago) link
oh god, blast from the past
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 14:46 (six years ago) link
that shit feels like a thousand years ago
distorted perception of time is a side-effect of long-term exposure to the simulation we're all trapped in iirc
― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:07 (six years ago) link
'circle crudely overlaid on the star but you can still see the points' is my recollection.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:11 (six years ago) link
Oh how young and we innocent we were in those days
― Bio-Digital Jezza (kingfish), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:19 (six years ago) link
we
Even if were to drop dead this afternoon, there's easily enough material for an ambitious writer to make Trump's the longest multi-volume presidential biography yet.
― Prince & the Yearbook Committee - '2cool2B4gotten' b/w 'LYLAS' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:20 (six years ago) link
Covfefe: The Trump Year Vol. 17 (May to early June 2017) (793 pgs.)
― Prince & the Yearbook Committee - '2cool2B4gotten' b/w 'LYLAS' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
see? My thread title has paid dividends.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:23 (six years ago) link
how do you depict a central character who apparently has no inner life whatsoever tho
― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link
Imagine James Joyce answering the question in 2024.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:25 (six years ago) link
Crib a lot from Marquez's The Autumn Of The Patriarch and The General In His Labyrinth.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
just a bit of fun everyone be cool
― Who's puttin' sponge in the zings I once zung (stevie), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:29 (six years ago) link
― grawlix (unperson),
Flowers for Algernon
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
every time i imagine trump in the oval office i picture this for some reason
https://trillornottrill.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/burns.gif
― nomar, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:37 (six years ago) link
Trump 5/21: Qatar is "strategic partner," pledges to sell them "beautiful weapons" Trump 6/6: Qatar is terror hub https://t.co/aNWXaRixtb— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 6, 2017
― Bio-Digital Jezza (kingfish), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
every word of that tweet is boundlessly awful but trump tapping his 250-word vocabulary to describe weapons is particularly upsetting
― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
You can keep negging Qatar all you want, Donnie, but it ain't goin' home with you.
― Prince & the Yearbook Committee - '2cool2B4gotten' b/w 'LYLAS' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
how do you depict a central character who apparently has no inner life whatsoever thoImagine James Joyce answering the question
Imagine James Joyce answering the question
Remember how Laurence Sterne anticipated metafiction by running a whole page printed black? I can see a Joycean inner monologue of Trump that consists of 200 blank pages.
― godley and creamsicle (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:47 (six years ago) link
man the qatar world cup in 2022 is gonna be a doozy
― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:49 (six years ago) link
nah jk we'll all be dead by then
russia 2018, qatar 2022 is that latest in a long list of extremely on the nose plot twists
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:51 (six years ago) link
remember when ilx was all knowingly 'lol it's like the end-of-season-finale!' over like news international phone tapping or whatever
little did we know in a couple of years every day would be a dogpile of end-of-season-finales
― he's also fouled up with NON-FAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
Three months after President Trump abruptly fired half of the nation’s 93 United States attorneys, following the resignations of the other half, he has yet to replace a single one.“Dems are taking forever to approve my people,” the president said in a statement he released on Twitter Monday morning. “They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.”The problem is, the Democrats couldn’t obstruct any United States attorney nominations if they wanted to because Mr. Trump has not made any.
“Dems are taking forever to approve my people,” the president said in a statement he released on Twitter Monday morning. “They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.”
The problem is, the Democrats couldn’t obstruct any United States attorney nominations if they wanted to because Mr. Trump has not made any.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/opinion/us-attorneys-trump.html
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:00 (six years ago) link
sorry, meant to add an "..." between the first and second paragraphs there, as i removed some pieces for maximum ilx readability
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
http://www.avclub.com/article/hero-motorists-provide-endless-laughs-covfefe-lice-256347
― Bio-Digital Jezza (kingfish), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:02 (six years ago) link
"Mommy is taking forever to warm my milk up. She is nothing but an OBSTRUCTIONIST! Want baba!'
― Prince & the Yearbook Committee - '2cool2B4gotten' b/w 'LYLAS' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:03 (six years ago) link
...by someone who threw away all the milk
― godley and creamsicle (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
I never knew before that feeling disgust toward a human being could be such a multivalent affair, with new and previously-unimagined layers of deep loathing revealing themselves daily and sometimes even hourly.
It's also just amazing to occasionally realize that there's absolutely nothing redeeming about the man. Like, even shit has utility. But this guy?
― Prince & the Yearbook Committee - '2cool2B4gotten' b/w 'LYLAS' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 16:14 (six years ago) link