Wow.

Support Trump all you like, hate a sportsman all you want, but you’re more intelligent than this. Opening up a school for at-risk students immediately means he’s not useless, and has a depth and altruism that most sportsmen don’t.

If Trump is able to make people like Jon, who I almost always strongly disagree with but had always credited as being very intelligent, blindly repeat everything he says, the situation is worse than I thought

:+1:

Nah

Trumps confesses to collusion.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...r-insults.html

This is from 2 years ago so I'm sure the number has grown exponentially. The guy is an asshole no doubt but not everything is about race.

...and Maxine Waters is an idiot.

Nah, he started around his second term. His first term was actually trying to accomplish things. (Not my cup of tea but most big government on both sides isn't) His 2nd term was blaming Republicans for why he didn't do anything.

And you know what? Obama's 2nd term and Trump's first term with true opposition (The first a Congress that wouldn't do anything, the second a media that actually decided to start covering the mess in Washington DC) could be some of the best from panerd's perspective. I mean outside of the 10K posts in this thread about Trump going down (like my parents always thought Clinton was going down for Whitewater) his presidency really hasn't effected me at all. Got a decent tax break, great economy, not a big fan of how he makes the United States look to the world but already saw when George W. Bush had single digit ratings in some countries it quickly changes once we elect somebody closer to a socialist so no surprise there, and I may be one of the few that doesn't mind our leader being nice to another nuclear superpower.

So maybe I like populist ideologues? If only because they are all talk but don't "accomplish" anything.

He instilled a bunch of tariffs that have now caused him to hand out billions in welfare to the industry he hurt.

A President who uses government to mess with the free market and then tax dollars to cover it up will win the heart of a libertarian every time I guess.

Yeah he's the first to mess with free market. Not really a fan of any of them but like I said in my post above his presidency, Clinton's 2nd term, and Obama's 2nd term rank fairly high in my lifetime for least damage done by the federal government. Guess what they had huge oppositions to all of their ideas. It's like asking JPhillips who his favorite Reds starter is right now. He will have to pick somebody... Castillo, Harvey? Doesn't mean they all don't suck.

EDIT: I mean the dream would be mass opposition elected this fall or GOP winning both houses in 2020 with a Democrat president. A libertarian president? Nah we wouldn't want somebody like Gary Johnson in the oval office with a high quality choice like Donald Trump!

No, it's like asking which Mets starter you like best and saying none because they all let up runs.

Tariffs and trade wars are a really far-left economic stance. Like farther to the left of even Bernie Sanders. And that whole free trade thing is one of the most important tenets of libertarianism.

Maybe the problem with libertarians in this country is they actually don't seem to care much about libertarian principles (Rand Paul for example).

A cordial relationship with Russia would be pretty high on their list as well but it seems.like half the county welcomes WWIII if it means getting Trump out of office. I love how me saying Obama's 2nd term and Trumps presidency have the advantage of having opposition has turned into me.being opposed to free trade.

It didn't happen.

It probably didn't happen.

If it did happen, Trump didn't know about it.

If it did happen, Trump probably didn't know about it.

It happened.

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, but is it technically a crime?

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, and it is certainly not a crime.

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, and it is certainly not a crime, and it is done all the time and good politics.

We're, what, maybe 6 months away from Republicans in Congress bringing impeachment charges against Hillary Clinton for the High Crime of not colluding with Russia?

And, yes, Hillary Clinton technically does not hold office, but do you really see the Freedom Caucus letting a technicality like that stand in their way?

A cordial relationship with a country that is actively hostile to you is difficult to pull off.

And I know libertarians have been friendly with Russia of late despite their supposed opposing views on governance. Russian state media gives them air time and won't ask them basic foreign policy questions like what is happening in Aleppo.

A cordial relationship with Russia is dangerous as long as Putin is in power. He desperately wants to see the destabilization and possible destruction of our country.

Wanting to see Russia punished and called out for the bullshit they're pulling does not equate to wanting to see WWIII. Russia wants war with another global power less than we do, however, they have no problem taking advantage of idiots, destabilizing our government, and spreading distrust in our electoral system. Their government is walking all over us right now, but I guess our choices are millions die or we roll over.

So according to Trump and his lawyers,

The Trump campaign met with Russians offering dirt on their opponent.

Trump dictated a statement lying about the purpose of the meeting.

Trump fired the FBI Director for investigating Trump's relationship to Russia.


I know it won't be, but this should be enough to end his presidency.

I believe Trump is racist, if nothing else because he said that the "Mexican" judge born in Indiana shouldn't be able to judge his Trump U case.

I'm just slightly offended at the logic in mckerney's post. He cherry-picked three people who are black that Trump has called low IQ and assumes Trump is racist because of that. The thing is Trump has called many white people low IQ/dumb as well. It just seems to be a standard insult for him.

So I believe Trump is racist but I disagree on how the previous post implies that conclusion. I think he did use the insults because they opposed him in some way.

Ah got it . Thanks for the response and clarification.

poof, the end.

I put the LeBron stuff in the “Trump is too much of a thin-skinned wimp to handle any criticism whatsoever, yet he watches CNN to see if they’re criticizing him and then lashes out when they do” bucket, not the “racist” bucket. I saw people talking about how it plays to his base and all that. Sure it does, but that’s not why this happened. He’s not playing 6D chess or even 2D chess. This was just a toddler getting his widdle feewings hurt by the mean people on CNN, and then throwing a temper tantrum.

We're also supposed to believe that he had no knowledge of a "totally legal" meeting that took place at Trump Tower involving his son, son-in-law, and campaign manager while he was in Trump Tower.

I don't know. Lebron didn't really go hard after him in that CNN interview.

The targeting of successful black people has been a racist dog whistle for some time. The implication that they aren't "real Americans" plays heavily in this. And his base loves having a new dark-skinned enemy (women enemites work too) to lay their anger and jealousy at.

Don't get me wrong, the fact that Lebron is a legitimate self-made billionaire and not just someone who plays it on TV has to drive him nuts. The fact that he is adored for giving back to his community in such grand ways while he just ran a scam school does too. Lebron is what he wishes he was in a way.

So I agree that this is a tantrum. But I also think at a time where he's essentially admitted to committing light treason, this aims to be a distraction.

So you might think the President would console those who lost everything in the CA wildfires and let them know the govt is there for them right? Instead we get...


Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago




California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!

12,979 replies 6,967 retweets 26,069 likes

LeBron said something like "I wouldn't sit down with Trump. I would have sat down with Obama." Isn't that like the ultimate insult to Trump? Especially given his previous fandom. ;)

This explains it all... lmao #DearStan I just think it’s fucked up you don’t answer your fans...! Lol 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 S/O @eminem

A post shared by matt_barnes9 (@matt_barnes9) on Aug 4, 2018 at 11:09am PDT

But seriously, of course it's likely that Trump's reaction was even stronger because it was two black guys. All I'm saying is that I'm not giving him credit for this being a "strategic" attack in any way, or even a distraction. It may end up being one of those, sure. But I strongly suspect it was just a plain ol' tantrum.

Speculate all you want. A single comment, tweet, or sentence doesn't represent anything. You have to look at the entire body of work, laid end to end, then attempt to make an informed opinion on trump.

Focusing on one thing at a time, then spouting that this is the straw that broke the camels back just moves the rest down the line of importance. Instead, it needs to be added and mentioned along with everything else, every single night. The list is long and the body of work in logical ELI5 terms will play much better over and over, than just screaming about the latest idiotic ploy.

For those unaware, this is based off a weird right-wing conspiracy that's been around for awhile. Basically some land owners out West built these giant lakes (with dams and everything) on their property and diverted water to them. They were told you can't do that because it messes with the water supply for everyone else.

So it turned into a conspiracy that the evil government was preventing these true patriots from building lakes to suppress fires. In reality they were building these lakes to fish and go boating. That if they had been allowed to build these lakes, the wildfires would never happen. That the government was purposely letting all the water run off into the Pacific Ocean instead (when in reality it's going into the water supply for the residents).

Oh dear.

No prob :banana:

This is on a personal note but I'm trying to be more articulate in my responses. I've always been a shy insular person and I never thought I've communicated my responses clearly. I'm trying to work on that. Hopefully in the future you guys will be hearing more from me :popcorn:

The_Donald and some other right wing places that fed into the QAnon bullshit for months have been scrambling the past couple of days to distance themselves from it.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...-is-probably-a

Interesting. Haven't followed that story line at all. Is local water availability a major problem in fighting the wildfires? I would think if so, so reservoir aquifer probably makes sense. But there are environmental impacts to be considered for sure.


I used to have a fishing buddy, who was an ecology and wildlife biology professor at Clemson before moving to DC for some advisory role with, I think, the USFS during the Obama administration. Now he had multiple PHDs in environmental science and biology related fields. He was fascinating to fish with, but he could go so far beyond my understanding so quickly I'd daze off at times.



But he was an adamant believer that we were the cause of the wildfires, specifically through fire prevention. He was as left leaning and tree hugging as you can imagine. But he would explain the fuel build up in leaf litter and how it created a powder keg ready to erupt. Ive heard the rant a couple times. Sadly I cant do it justice to repeat it. But in short he maintained that the western US forest had evolved over millenia through a repeated and regular series of semi controlled fires. From early man intentionally setting blazes to farm the land, to include less fire prevention from things like lightening strikes which were allowed to burn out. I wish I could hear his thoughts on the current situation. I just left him a voicemail and a text. He was passionate about it though calling Smokey Bear a horror and said his slogan should have been "Only you can delay Wildfires"

#NothingMatters

Yes, because our two choices are Donald Trump or WWIII.

Dude.

This is absolutely true. I've seen the before and after first hand. Back in the early 90s I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. Before the land was donated to the Boy Scouts, the land had been heavily timber harvested, with no regard at that time for environmental practices like rotating harvest zones or monitored replanting. They just took every tree out, and moved on.

So what happened were that areas where there were supposed to be 150-200 trees per acre, there ended up being 6000+ trees per acre. Where the trees were supposed to be 100+ feet tall, they were 8-10 feet tall.

We worked a timber stand improvement project, where we culled out many of the trees, and cleared off the forest floor of most of the fallen pine needles and deadfall. Over the course of 5 summers around 30 acres were cleared.

In 2004, a really bad fire swept through, burning around 25,000 acres. The sections where nothing had been done since the trees had been clear cut, the damage was enormous. The fire stayed burning longer, and sterilized the soil, due to having all of the 6000+ trees per acre, plus the accumulated years of pine needles and branches that had fallen. In the areas where we did timber stand improvement, the fire burned through quicker, due to much less fuel.

Now nearly 15 years later, the untreated areas are still in really bad shape. Nothing much is growing back except for scrub stuff. Pine cones need fire to release their seeds, but the fire was so hot it destroyed the pine cones. In the timber stand improvement areas, trees are growing back.

So occasional fires are absolutely necessary to clear out accumulated undergrowth and allow pine cones to reseed. When nothing is done and things are allowed to build up until a catastrophe happens, it is really, really bad.

Alex Jones videos, etc get removed from several social media sites:


Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify remove content by Infowars' Alex Jones

It was up in the air whether Rick Gates was going to testify in Manafort's trial. Not any longer-he's up next

And apparently I'm a liar. Gates not testifying now, even though every indication he was going to be next.

.

I don't know if there is an issue in water availability for fighting the fires. I think the issue was always about having enough water for people to drink and for the agricultural industry (which is a huge part of California) to stay sufficient.

Gary Harrington is one of the names I remember from it. But there have been others in California and Nevada that have butted heads with the government. Whenever fires like this start up the conspiracy theories start flowing about how this would have prevented it and we let all this water just flow into the Pacific (which is untrue).

As for fighting the fires, I know there has been a lot of flack given to the government about their methods. Some scientists believe they should be doing things differently. Doesn't really relate to this but you can find that stuff online.

It's also unfortunate that he didn't thank the firefighters. When I was in college I spent a Summer out West as part of a team that fought wildfires. The pay was crazy good for a college student ($35/hour plus tons of OT back in 2000). It was the most grueling work you can imagine and it took my body months after to fully recover. And I wasn't even one of the guys on the front lines doing the most dangerous work.

I can't imagine what it's like fighting fires like this. A change in wind can mean death. And just putting your bodies through that for months takes an enormous toll on you physically and mentally.

:)

I can't stop lying just like Donald Trump. Gates on the stand now...or is he?

Should have stuck to your guns.

Gates is testifying and said he committed crimes with Manafort.

Gates first asked if he had committed crimes with Manafort and involved in any criminal activity with him. Says yes to both questions. Says they had 15 foreign accounts they did not report to the federal govt and it was at Manafort's order.

Lying and guns? Little did I know I worked for the NRA :)

Ha. QAnon is the same as Anonymous, without the false sense of importance. Bored kids saying shit to amuse themselves, laughing in disbelief when idiots in the masses pick up on it and then seeing how far they can take it.

At least this one is far sillier than anonymous, which people to this day still think is a real group. Not just a message board of random teens with single click DDoS tools my 9 month old could literally operate.

Gates admits he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort

Well sure - your boss has illegal/unreported accounts, what's he going to do if you steal from him, snitch? ;)

Yeah, that's all well and good as long as your boss isn't this guy.

Not sure if we have an international news thread but did anyone see the Saudis put up a tweet basically threatening a 9/11 on Canada?

It's been so long I had to check to confirm this was from what I thought it was (and even then, all I had was "right, the one where the missile blew up the cartel house").

I watched it again fairly recently on either Netflix or Prime. Good flick!

It was taken down, but here's a screenshot:

Now deleted, here a screenshot of the threatening Saudi "infographic" featuring an airliner headed for the Toronto skyline. pic.twitter.com/LrkCLxxjFk

— Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) August 6, 2018

Well if we've learned anything from trump it's that this is the fastest way to safer world.

Great news everybody, Asbestos is back! I thought it was a bit strange how often I saw the Mesothelioma lawsuit commercials when I was in the US a few years back, but I guess they're set for a big comeback roughly 40 years from now:


The bolded part is particularly interesting - the EPA is not considering the effects on the...well... environment with its risk assessments going forward.

What I said about this when we first talked about what he was doing with asbestos still holds true. There are going to be so many lawsuits about this I think.

Trump has said asbestos is a mob conspiracy.

No worries, as long as we keep that evil Marijuana as a schedule 1 drug.

But I agree, this is going to be a legal morass for the EPA.

Of course, this won't cover good benefits like corporate welfare, tax credits, farm subsidies and the like. This is targeted specifically at ending the American dream.

Huh? Seems pretty easy to me. People who have already came in illegally and then forged documents to obtain benefits they are not entitled to, IE people who are already of suspect character and shown a wllinigness to break the law to benefit their selves exclusively, will be prevented from becoming legal citizens. Since we want to discourage immigration from criminals.

If that's what the proposal did, you would have a point.

But, the proposal is for "immigrants living legally in the U.S."

And it applies if anyone in their household has ever used these benefits--even if they were legally entitled to them.

So, let's say that you were nave enough to actually believe the Republicans when they said things like "We are only concerned about illegal immigration." Or when they said that they want "people to do it the right way."

And you came here legally and got resident status and are working toward your green card (i.e. the right way). And your U.S. Citizen child used a benefit (CHIP, etc.) to which he was 100% entitled at the time and which, at the time, had no impact on your green card status.

They want to then say that you can't become a citizen.

That's a horrible proposal.

dola: This comes from reporting on the proposal, which isn't public yet.

If thats the finalized proposal, that people who used benefits tey were legally entitled to are punished, then yes. That's wrong.



That's not how I read it initially.


Picking nits here but it also says hindered not prevented.

I imagine part of what the admin is doing here is floating various proposals out there through the media, gauging the reaction, and then planning to issue an actual proposal based on pubic response to the reports. So we really won't know what it's going to say until they go public.

And, theoretically, even if the person legally entitled to the benefits wasn't a member of the household. Depends on how broadly it's written and interpreted, but you're a legal immigrant? Got a green card?

Meet a girl in college, fall in love, get married...find out that she used SCHIP as a child, 20 years before she even met you?

That counts against you. It might not prevent you gaining citizenship...but it might, too.

So a asbestos company has come out with an image of Donald Trump on the packaging and "Approved by the 45th President of the United States. I bet you'll never guess where the company is based:


Russian company sells asbestos with President Trump’s face on the packaging - The Washington Post

One of the accountants who testified with immunity in Manafort's trial has already been fired:


Manafort accountant who admitted role in false tax returns leaves Virginia firm - POLITICO

You just can't make this shit up. Convenient timing with the increased regulation in Brazil as well. And, the company posted on FB a month ago!

Asbestos is huge in Russia. They even have a town named for it. With all the advanced countries banning it, they've relied a lot on exporting to developing countries. Probably figured this was a good chance to get back into the US market.

On the other hand, I can't see this taking off again in the United States. It'll be impossible to insure and there's an army of lawyers ready to pounce on any company who even mutters the word.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!"

Still can't be sure if he is a moron or evil. Or what is the 'worse' option ...

As someone fascinated by semiotics, the use of "diverting" here is a stellar example of his ideology at work.

trump is totally willing to point to californians and say 'hey, if you supported me, we'd send you some help, but instead, you're all Jerry Brown supporters to we're just gonna watch it burn.'



At least, that is the way it sounds when he talks about it. Like it's some kind of heavenly punishment for going against him.

Redistributing elsewhere, nice find as usual. :)

Pretty sad. Thanks for reminding the US where most of the hijackers came from.

I do think the new Prince is moving things along and it seems to be an overreaction to criticism from Canada (unless I'm missing something).

Yup, I would agree. Its nonsensical to me, the proposal is to apply this to legal immigration, just weird.

And next time he cries about kneeling being disrespectful towards the troops, remember that asbestos killed a ton of military personnel since it was used heavily in their equipment.

Just to play devils advocate: "The Saudis" here is a decently popular non-profit project. It's like equating a right wing group in support of Trump posting a picture vilifying mexicans or african shithole countries with the United States official policy/ideology. Just because in the US it's the actual head of state doing it doesn't mean in other countries any groups posts are secretely distributing stuff coming straight from the top ;)

That being said, Saudi Arabia are absolutely trying to draw some sort of red line in the sand. Also basically told 16.000 students currently in Canada to come home (or else). They kinda got into it with Germany end of last year over similar issues (foreigh secretary commenting on human rights issues) but quickly got over it. Probably as soon as the next shipment of weapons came in with the blessing of out government, because fuck integrity ...

Might just be the hardliners in the hierarchy asserting themselves or getting leeway in exchange for not blowing a casket over the more progressive actions taken recently. Even in most non-democratic societies you have to appease a "base" (so to speak) nowadays and take public oppinion into accounts. Especially if you have a comparatively big upper class like in Saudi Arabia.

Agree with whomario here. This is like taking a meme from a nutter group like Uncle Sam's Misguided Children and attributing it to Americans generally or the government in particular.

JUST IN: Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), Trump’s earliest congressional backer, arrested by the FBI on securities fraud-related charges, via @jonathan4ny

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 8, 2018

Got his son and father of his fiancee too:


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...harges-n898661

What exactly is the desired outcome from the tariff trade war with China? Serious question, no snark here. In an ideal world, what does this accomplish?

My completely amateur view is that theoretically you are looking to promote local business by making it effectively cheaper for local manufacturers to provide goods to the market as compared to foreign manufacturers. That's...pretty much the only benefit, right?

Wipe out the deficit and make America rich.

Haven't you been listening?

Apparently Collins was at the 2017 Congressional Picnic when he got the tip, and went into the White House somewhere to call his son about it

It's a long, long game, but in the end, it should raise prices enough so that American companies and consumers get accustomed to the prices that allow companies bases in the United States to provide for Americans. So if you have to go to Walmart and pay more for because we want companies to be able to pay for better healthcare for their employees, who are also Americans, and those companies can now compete with foreign companies who don't and pay $2 a day, then so be it.

The thing is, that businessmen and businesses will never allow this to really take hold. It'll never amount to anything that far down the road. Instead, it'll be crushed. When the first sign of a slowdown in the economy comes it'll be dumped.

The idea is to protect American interests. I'm lucky to work in an industry that is so vital to US commerce. Our lobbying arm is quite strong and very proactive about protecting the industry. At least it should be around for the remaining 22 years of my career.

And this is a game of chicken America simply can't win against China. If tariffs cause to much strain in the short term in America, politicians get pressured to resolve or get voted out.

In China if you voice your frustrations on tariffs, you may get black bagged. Not to mention the cult of personality developing around Xi.

Yep, it's part of why our system isn't really able to compete with that, and why we need large international trade pacts that increase the US trade strength.

It's why we have forensic economists who look at raw materials being used in China and Russia and everywhere else, because their official numbers are always bullshit. It's how we know what's really going on, and how many resources they are actually using.

trump would love to have that kind of control over the US. It's actually what he wants and craves and sadly there are about 38% of Americans willing to sign him up for a long term, check free deal.

Gif of Collins chanting Lock Her Up?

I really don't understand how Jones has been allowed to keep this conspiracy alive all these years. He should be sued for every last dollar he has and thrown in jail if he won't stop with it.

Yup, I agree with this.

Something is in the works but I don't get why this wasn't done alot earlier.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/us/al...uit/index.html

My guess is his audience was smaller in the past and the defamation didn't have much affect on their lives. Once the President gave him credibility and his audience skyrocketed, there's way more followers capable of doing damage.

Trump's stated main goal is to reduce the deficit. I think it also includes having China treat US companies better (e.g. intellectual property, partnering with Chinese companies) and to bring back some/increase manufacturing in the US.

I like all 3 goals in concept. I would feel a lot better if I thought Trump had a real strategy to achieve all 3 vs shooting from the hip.

To your second paragraph, reducing the deficit can be done with increasing exports to China, decreasing imports from China, or a combination. Decreasing imports wouldn't mean US local businesses pick up the slack though, it could also be other countries providing the goods (e.g. Vietnam).

Before the new-normal, I would agree with you.

However, if GOP retains the House & Senate (primarily because of Trump's endorsements, strength of US economy), I can easily believe most GOP politicians will stay the course with Trump.

You just described TPP.


The trade deficit is a bit overrated and the economy is more complex than it. We had a huge trade surplus during the great depression for instance. Didn't exactly help things there. It's still something the country should be looking at.

Tariffs have never worked in helping this area. As evidence by the fact our trade deficit has increased under Trump. It likely will continue to suffer as he cuts student visas.

Plus his massive tax cuts is adding a ton to the federal deficit which forces foreign investment. The easiest way to reduce the trade deficit is to cut the federal one.

Seriously I know that nobody wants to see a bunch of dead kids but I think a few more crime scene photos(heavily pixelated) would quash some of this truther shit.

Or maybe they'd just use it to further their hate speech, wtfk

Pixelation would just mean to them that the government is covering something up.

And do you actually think these people would be persuaded by evidence? They have their conclusion and would think any evidence to the contrary would be falsified.

TPP did not include China?

I guess an argument could be made that the TPP nations, working together, will have greater leverage on China to enact substantial reforms. I don't think that was a sure thing (and neither is Trump's current approach).

Yes

No amount of evidence kills off conspiracies. Trying show evidence actually seems to do more harm than good.

I think the best approach to Sandy Hook is sue the shit out of Alex Jones. It's not going to put an end to the conspiracy, but it gets us one step closer to getting him off the air.

By design.

The primary reason TPP came together was to isolate China. That was the goal. TPP would have likely done a far better job of doing what Trump is trying to do without pissing off all of our allies.

Even the most ardent Trump supporters will turn on him if they are hit too hard in the pocket for too long and the GOP will follow. Why do you think they are already lining up payoffs to farmers?

People are still people, flaws and all, there is no "new normal".

They've voted against their economic self-interests for decades now. Trump isn't going to change that.

And like you said, they'll just up the welfare payments to those people if they feel pressure.

So Rachel Maddow played a tape tonight on her show from some progressive group that got into a Republican, no press invited, fundraiser for Kathy McMorris Rodgers, the #4 Republican in the House last week. Her invited guest was Devin Nunes. They secretly taped what he said there and sent it to NBC. To me it did not sound anything too inflamatory, but Twitter is ablaze with tweets calling what he said was Obstruction. See what you think:


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-would-n899031

Not to be lost in the important news of the day, it appears the VA is being run by a shadow council of three members of Mar-A-Lago:


The Shadow Rulers of the VA — ProPublica