I was just wondering yesterday how many plots were planned for July 4th and where. Sad that I had that thought, but it's the world we live in.

The day manufacturing jobs come back will be the day the united States is 3/4 through a historical collapse into a third world country.

I get Republicans get all nostalgic for the 40s and 50s, but maybe let's let the history be history and not help our enemies?

Something else for the GOP to ignore.

Financial disclosures show @MelaniaTrump has been paid six figures by Getty Images since President Trump took office for use of restricted photos of the First Family that are only available to news outlets writing "positive stories" under an unusual deal https://t.co/sPKAF8rRRz pic.twitter.com/jYvulA8PXI

— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) July 2, 2018

Exactly. China doesn't have to worry about elections either.

It's interesting how a family that has "billions" scrapes for every little bit of revenue they can.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/0...imes&smtyp=cur

Well, we're not the only ones going batshit crazy at least.

We're giving children the Abu Ghraib treatment.

Not children, animals. Try to keep up.

One of his best

Now that Harley-Davidson is moving part of its operation out of the U.S., my Administration is working with other Motor Cycle companies who want to move into the U.S. Harley customers are not happy with their move - sales are down 7% in 2017. The U.S. is where the Action is!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2018

The US is where the action is?

Is this a country or NBCs Wednesday night lineup?

So let me get this straight, Harley moved operations overseas in 2018 and it hurt their 2017 sales? How is Vegas still operating if we are this fucking clairvoyant?

Or can I just do this? Yes, $100,000 on the Eagles to win Superbowl LII please.

I sense new memes coming from Twitter on this bit of stupidity.

So Twitter is "abuzz" this morning about Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio and member of the Freedom Caucus. When he was assistant coach of the Ohio State assistant wrestling team, many wrestlers now coming out and said he covered up sex abuse allegations from the team doctor:


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...l_nbn_20180703

Considering how the Republicans reacted to Roy Moore, Jordan will probably replace Paul Ryan as head of the GOP House after this.

I'm pretty sure the GOP could turn Hastert, Moore, Trump and Jordan into the party of child molesters. I hope the Dems aren't that uncivil.

Thank God for the senate intelligence committee. They are still acting like responsible politicians and bi-partisan. They released a report today confirming the intelligence agencies findings on how Russia influenced the 2016 election and tried to help Trump win it:


http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3...ssian-election


And one of the endless conspiracies coming from the right came to an end today. Imran Awan accepted a plea deal over a false bank loan application and also said they found no evidence that "The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer system."



He worked for Debbie Wasserman Schultz as an IT specialist, and the right was all over him about hacking the DNC computers prior to the 2016 election and distributing sensitive information to the Pakistan government.


Of course the right has already been on Fox about it the corrupt Justice Department...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/polit...aud/index.html

There's a GOP delegation in Moscow that plans on holding no press meetings with the Russians and Trump wants to meet with Putin with no other Americans in the room.

Is this a good time to point out that not only have the Russians paid no price for interfering in the 2016 election, they are also already interfering in the 2018 election? It would sure be nice for the Dems to point this out.

Results Matter: PRESIDENT TRUMP Tops Obama in Approval Numbers at Same Point in His Presidency

From a Rasmussen poll

So, one of Obama's bad stretches to Trumps highest moment is something to celebrate? I dunno...

Who cares?

I've been reading the responses to #SecondCivilWar on Twitter. Some pretty good ones if in need of a laugh.

There is a protestor on the statue of Liberty. Looks like it might be a black woman-not sure how she got where she is, but there's a rescue effort underway. They have been talking to her and are working on some ladders and pullers to get to her. They had to close the island.

Hard to believe it took a true american president this long to have a better approval rating than an illegal Muslim one. I think that's the prime takeaway.

Rasmussen isn't exactly the most accurate pollster. They I believe still only call landlines and use automated polling which are less accurate. And they poll approval based on likely voters which skews more Republican.

Polling averages are a better way of doing it. Not sure if they have the historical information readily available for Obama. I don't think there would be a huge difference as the country is pretty split and entrenched into whatever the party tells them.

There's a whole lot to think about here. A lot to unpack about the future, threats, and ability to sell out democracy for political gain that ultimately, ends the republic we have.



SCOTUS battles show danger of changing rules

I'm not sure what to think of the filibuster. On one hand it does prevent radical changes in a sense. On the other, it gives far too much power to the minority party.

Then again the Senate is the most undemocratic part of our government so maybe making it harder for them to do stuff is a good thing.

Finally!:


Embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt resigns - The Washington Post

Of course the guy taking over from Pruitt is a former coal lobbyist, but maybe he won't be as much of an ethics violator.

Frying pan. Fire.

I've been in favor of keeping the filibuster, but only if it's a real filibuster. This means they'd have to stay up all night, miss time with their families, important dinners with big donors, etc. That's a way you could balance it between giving the minority some power and preventing the filibuster from making it essentially a 60 vote requirement to pass anything.

Hopefully Congress and the media hold his feet to the fire if he does make it worse just like they did Pruitt.

I like a temporary filibuster.

Have your committees, debates, amendments, etc. At some point, the majority puts up a final bill.

Then, 41 senators can filibuster that bill for up to 60 days. That gives the people against the bill and in favor of the bill time to make their case to the people.

If, after 60 days, the bill can get 51 votes, then it passes the Senate.

It takes more changes than just the filibuster. The reason it is so easy now is that actual drawn-out filibusters hurt the majority more because they burn legislative time. There isn't much time in between elections, so something like a 60 day filibuster would have to include other rule changes, but if you make things too easy for the majority the 60 day rule is basically an elimination of the filibuster as the majority could just introduce anything and wait for sixty days to vote.

edit: Maybe the answer is some sort of rules change that allows the majority to move things faster during a filibuster, so the minority can still block things, but at the expense of losing on other things.

Pruitt resigns with one of the weirdest resignation letters in at least the last 150 years.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/bet-...bor-force.html

BET founder: Trump's economy is bringing black workers back into the labor force

"You have to take encouragement from what's happening in the labor force and the job market," Johnson told "Squawk Box." "When you look at African-American unemployment, ... you've never had African-American unemployment this low and the spread between African-Americans and whites narrowing."

Why acknowledge something that the one half of the 'debate' doesn't care about, this being the half with whome he has even a remote chance of gaining traction with in the future ? Might as well play that sympathy card, hard. And never, ever forget to kiss the ring, even on the way out.

This whole Trump era will be so damn baffling to historians revisiting this in a couple of hundred years when they read this and try to figure if that file is really sorted correctly under "America, 2018" and shouldn't really be under "North Korea (translated), 2018" or maybe "England 1718".

It reads like a creepy love letter.

It totally read like something of revolutionary times, whether on the colonies side or the red coats, take your pick.

Yeah, that too. Or a letter to the pope from the middle ages.

Putin literally was in charge of it.

Trump mocks his critics for saying "'President Putin is KGB' and this and that. You know what? Putin's fine."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 5, 2018

Shorter Pruitt letter:

In Michael Cohen news, he has hired none other than top Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis to be his lawyer, presumably to deal with the Mueller/federal part of whatever deal he can get.

Yeah I hate to always jump in the Trump side here because I don't really care that much about him but the Trump hate/misinformation is almost as bad as what people get fired up about him doing. The Putin/KGB thing is dumb. It's a stepping stone in Russia to move up in government. Just like George HW Bush and the CIA. And yes the CIA and KGB are essentially the same. One could argue they are both evil and have cost many lives but it's not something that is exclusive to the KGB.

The offensive part is Putin is fine.

He jails and kills his opponents. He murders people in foreign countries. He shot down an airliner. He invaded Ukraine. He killed thousands in Chechnya. He helps Assad gas his own people.

Oh, and he attacked our election in 2016 and is already doing it again.

He's not fine and the President of the United States shouldn't be friends with him.

It's unclear what's going on here, but in connection with the rest of Trump's actions it looks bad.

AP NewsBreak: The U.S. Army has moved in recent weeks to discharge dozens of immigrant recruits and reservists who enlisted through a program that promised them a path to citizenship. https://t.co/OFMawYeMRm

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 5, 2018

He's a lot less destructive to the U.S. than the Democratic Party, so he's got that going for him.

Plus, he's simply more likable.

I'm guessing the pictures of a topless man sitting on a horse sets your loins on fire.

Eh, I didn't say the guy wasn't over the top.

But, as being "fine" goes, I hold him in exponentially higher regard than anyone aligned with the (D). He's shows consistently better judgement & acts far more rationally.

If Trump says "hey, Pelosi is 'fine' " then I'll worry. As is, he's just being honest.

Party of Reagan.

So why do you hold Putin higher then Democrats?