They've also been around for quite a while. Alibaba started in 99.

There's no comparison. The middle eastern airlines are state supported, have been getting money directly from the coffers of the country to operate. As a result, they have eroded European and US carriers market shares.

There is no government subsidy that comes to US airlines. Those carriers have been supported an average of 4bln per year, before all the attention came. That's above bar money. If the government gave any of the US carriers that much we'd be able to fly around half empty, on unprofitable routes too.

Each country has different tracking and security measures (in addition to the US), so the reasoning may be that they are more comfortable with one area over another for screening and passenger information. Additionally, the number of flights from that part of the world to the US is fairly small. It's not like we're talking Rochester NY instead of Buffalo with all the flight opportunities. Only direct flights.

There aren't any US carriers that operate directs from those countries to the US anyway. There's a lot of tracking of passengers that goes on behind the scenes. If someone had a ticket, changed a ticket to avoid the rules, I'm guessing that would be flagged somewhere in the system. You're talking about only direct flights to the US from these countries. So maybe 15-20 flights a day total? If you figure 2 flights per day from each (total guess), but it illustrates that it's a little easier to find people when you're looking at a few flights vs. hundreds that we have domestically in the US.

The GOP House Intel members spent all day Monday demanding the FBI prosecute leakers and today the GOP chair told Trump and the press about the secret targets of FISA warrants.

This was a surprised to me, not sure if its some sort of gamesmanship/bluff but actually okay with it. Easy to see Trump moving on, hard to see Ryan and other GOP letting it go though ...

If it loses the vote tomorrow, my vote is move on to other things. I'm more interested in changing up tax reform, immigration etc.

Live updates: Freedom Caucus members still oppose repeal bill - POLITICO

I think the bill will be pulled if they don't have the votes. They seem to be 7-8 votes short based on reports I've seen. The freedom caucus doesn't really have any incentive to support it. They won't be primaried from the right. I hope it fails and they move on. Tax reform would get bipartisan support.

Regardless of the house, it is dead in the senate. Not sure why they would want to vote on something that will fail the senate.

My guess is so they can blame it on the Senate during election time.

The same GOP chair that doesn't seem to understand the difference between incidental and targeted collection.

They passed a bill a couple of years ago that repealed Obamacare only and it was never getting past the Senate. If they bothered then....

Well, considering the last twelve months, I've learned to say "Never say never", but if Trump has pulled a rabbit out of a hat before, this may be pulling a hat out of a rabbit. Much messier.

You just grab the rabbit by the pussy. He can do it, he has tiny hands.

Still nothing to see:

US officials: Info suggests Trump associates may have coordinated with Russians

So the House is expected to vote on a healthcare bill today.

A bill which no one has a clear idea of what's included
Will have no CBO score
Includes special deals for individual states
Is planned to be passed by reconciliation
Will only be passed(if at all) on a partisan vote
etc....

It's enough to make me think the process arguments against the ACA weren't sincere.

Well. I'm headed to New York in April for the office to meet the staff in NY. Via Etihad Airways, Manila to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to New York. This should be fun.

I guess you won't be playing the newest FOF on the plane.

Indeed. I hope the in-flight entertainment is good. :)

So you are just now concluding that America's plutocracy is corrupt? Or is it still a partisan thing where the GOP is corrupt and the Democrats are trying their darnedest to clean everything up?

We should have a poll to see how many of us think you will be detained when you reach America :)

No, I simply think he was simply highlighting the hypocrisy. And the irony.

No doubt. And yet the two parties will still pull 95%+ of the vote in the next election. Maybe the politicians aren't so dumb? Maybe it's the American people who not only vote for them but debate back and forth on message boards about them for four years and then still think they can only pull one of two levers so as not to "waste" their vote.

A billion different political parties aren't going to suddenly stop the corruption or oligarchy. Anarchy isn't the answer either.

No doubt. Just amused by the hoard of posters here who not only incorrectly think this just started in 2016 (though Trump's admin seems to not give a crap about hiding it) or that something is going to actually change in 2018/2020.

And I think that's the crux of the argument here. You can't have someone in power who so totally gives no fucks about what his actions are. The Republicans are trying really hard to let him have leeway, but at some point they can't allow this man to simply bandy about flaunting everything in their faces. He isn't larger than the office. His support will crumble if even 5% more of the public drops away from him. Congress will be forced to act "for the good of the counrty" or whatever that means to them, but it'll be to preserve the support at home that pushes them to do it.

I hope not. :) that would suck.

I hope not too

Let me be the dummy who raises his hand to admit that he does not think the supposed leaders of our government were working together with the Russians that much prior to around 2016.

Your posts in these threads are SO HELPFUL. Thank you for showing us all the light.

I apologize for interrupting the circle jerk of the same 5-6 posters saying over and over how awful Trump is and thinking that the corrupt Congress is actually going to do anything about it. Back to your regular complaining about Russia and how "We got him dead to rights this time guys!"

I'm sure you fit a profile somewhere. Remember, don't act up or throw a fit, just go with it.

Better than a 1 man Libertarian circle jerk. Apology accepted.

Sorry, I mean "Libertarian".

What's the point in complaining about posts because they aren't the right thing to complain about? Be a libertarian, that's fine, but most people don't want to be libertarians, not because they are too dumb, but because they genuinely think there are better alternatives.

For all the, IMO, overblown talk of Dems being condescending, there's really no equivalent to the common complaints of two party voters are sheeple!

Co-signed +1

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features.../?ex_cid=538fb

Very cool numbers and Math and science enclosed.

No vote today, and no Ryan press conference either. Sounds like they couldn't get the HFC to bend.

edit: I do feel bad for Sean Spicer, who has roughly the same job that the Iraqi Information Minister had.. to stand there with a straight face and pretty much try to convince everyone that things are fine, that there was no iceberg, the ship isn't sinking... Reminds me of "Man" in this bit from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God. The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,'" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing." "But," says Man, "The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED." "Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. "Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.”

the_Donald - politics results are so incredibly telling, and also completely unsurprising.

Delayed till Fri. Seems to me they need more time than that but we'll see ...

The difference is Baghdad Bob actually believed what he said till the very end.

The difference is Baghdad Bob actually believed what he said till the very end.

They want the bill to fail in the Senate so they can use it against all the Dems running in the Senate in 2018. Isn't it 20-22ish?

Then if they can get 60 senate Seats, they'll pass a real motherfucker of a bill in 2019.

Right?

The bill is polling at 17-56. Democrats aren't the ones that need to fear their vote.

And that poll was before whatever changes happen tonight.

They've run on repealing Obamacare for 3 elections now. If they can't when they have both houses and the presidency, there is no way Republicans go into the next election looking good.

I'm not too concerned about Immigration, I've got proper documents and I've been to and fro the US the last half-decade or so. Just a little bit inconvenienced. It's an 8 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, then a 14 hour flight to New York. Not having my PS Vita or Ipad will suck.

Is a Vita larger than a cell phone?

A little bit yeah, think 6-7 inch tablet size (not as wide but about as long).

Breitbart is now referring to it as Ryancare and attacking it. So Trump knows it's not going to pass and it's now a competition between Trump and Ryan as to who takes responsibility.

I have learned that with airline and TSA regulations, erring on the safer side of things saves much headache and hassle.

More like RyanDontCare amirite... huh...

Indiana Restaurant Owner To Be Deported Friday | News - Indiana Public Media


I think that this gets to something about President Trump's appeal. There's a simplicity to him (and Bernie for that matter) that I missed. Most politicians put out policies or outlines of policies that create winners and losers.

Trump just said "I'll help the good and hurt the bad" without any clarification. And, because most people assume that they are good, he won.

I mean, someone whose husband was here illegally voted for Trump because Trump said that the good people wouldn't have to worry. Her voting for Trump makes no sense if you think of the policies on which Trump campaigned. It makes perfect sense if she believed that Trump would, personally, help anyone who needed it.

For all of my attempts to try and make things about policy, this era of politics has nothing to do with policy. I'm still coming to grips with that.

Reports are that Ryan is heading over to tell Trump they don't have the votes

If this was a fake story, I'd hope that getting him deported was all a part of her secret plan to get her husband out of the picture so she could keep her kids and the business. Maybe she has a young lover to move in.

I mean "accidentally" crossing over into Canada could all have been a part of her secret plan.

Hamilton You Don't Have the Votes - YouTube

Never underestimate general gullibility.


Also, pretty sure it's "Beristein."

Sure looks like Mcconnell is the smartest man in Washington at this point.

It was before the Cubs won, that's when we switched to the dark timeline.

so any chance this is a "snow job" by the President and Ryan to make the media look bad after they have said they don't have enough votes to pass? Not sure I've seen anyone in the media say it will pass.

Well 33 Congressmen on the GOP side said they won't vote for it. Anything over 23 and it would fail. So unless Trump and Ryan got Congressmen to lie about their votes...

Also the Hamilton "You Don't Got The Votes" is perfect.

That's funny, because from what I've seen they're going out of their way to avoid making a call on it. They are saying it looks like it'll be close, and that the Reps are worried that it won't pass, but I really haven't seen them outright say it will not pass as if it's fact.

What I heard is that if it passes, it'll be by 1 or 2 votes if they get all 20ish of the wavering GOP Reps . If the vote is held and they begin to see they don't have those few, it'll implode and be 35-40 short as members abandon ship.

What are the odds Ryan is still Speaker a year from now? 100-1?

Who's going to want that job? They had to beg him to take it.

what I saw on cnn and msnbc was the Ryan was meeting with Trump (around noon) to tell him not enough votes, and CNN's Breaking news ticker saying GOP source saying not enough votes to pass.

I'm sure they'll find someone even worse. The last 5 have been Paul "Kegger" Ryan, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Denny "Molester" Hastert, and Newt "Serial Adulterer" Gingrich. It's like the opposite of the 27 Yankees.

God help us if we ever hear the phrase "Speaker of the House, Louie Gohmert".

President Trump just called me. Still on phone.
"We just pulled it," he tells me.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 24, 2017

Doesn't have to be a congressmen. Donnie will want Ivanka as Speaker.

Should have grabbed it instead.

Art of the deal, ladies and gentlemen.

Who knew healthcare was complicated? Tricky, even.

This Costa angle is...interesting.

What a convo. I'll type it up quick.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 24, 2017

Trump keeps losing so much he must be tired of losing. Move on to tax reform. When the Dems sweep back into power in 2018 because of health care he can work with them on a single payer.

So you had 7 years + to come up with your own plan and strategy to get health care done once a Republican came into office, and this is the result. Well done, GOP, well done.

I don't think tax reform will be much easier.

The problem for the GOP is that income taxes aren't a big problem for most of the population. The 47% bit means that most Americans won't get a tax cut regardless of how deeply marginal rates are slashed. It will be hard to have an income tax cut be seen as anything other than a giveaway to the wealthy.

Most Americans do pay payroll taxes, though. They could cut those, but that will severely cripple the life of Social Security and Medicare. Polling shows most people are willing to pay the payroll tax as long as it means they get SS and Medicare.

They could also try a major reform lowering rates while removing deductions, but that's got a minefield around every deduction they remove.

Maybe a corporate tax reform with a border adjusted tax instead, as has been rumored. That's already being framed as a giant sales tax increase by the Retail Federation, and seems unlikely to have strong public support.

How about just mail people a thousand dollar check the way Bush did? That would be popular, but if the Freedom Caucus lets that happen I'd be amazed.

In the end, while not as difficult as healthcare, tax reform is no golden egg for the GOP either.

Weird he'd turn to the "fake news" Washington Post to spin this.

That sound you hear is Paul Ryan alone after a night of kegging.

I think it's easy. They did it over a decade ago. Huge tax cuts for the rich and throw a bone to the middle class and it'll go through.

Moments after the health bill was pulled, Trump told NYT that he blamed Democrats, not Paul Ryan, for its failure https://t.co/Mb50twDt9C

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 24, 2017

Maybe, but unless they're willing to kill the filibuster the tax cuts will have to expire after ten years in order to get around the Byrd Rule, and the Freedom Caucus will, at least initially, be opposed to that.. Even if it passes, it's hard to come up with a broadly popular tax cut bill that can actually pass.

That's the spirit. Let's make people suffer instead of trying to fix things, that will show them.

How in hell is the debt limit going to get extended?

In this press conference, Trump is doing as well as he possibly could under the circumstances. Given that he's speaking extemporaneously, I'd say that THIS is the most Presidential that he has been.

It isn't. Not unless socially regressive legislation is attached so that the Freedom Cock-Us can crow about how they stuck it to whomever and McConnell dispenses with what remains of the filibuster.

He's so full of shit. I mean, he's the leader of the governing party with both houses of congress. Now he's blaming the minority party and trying to pin it all on them like he is totally helpless. Newsflash, democrats owned ACA prior to the election.

Why isn't he getting heat for lying about saying that he was going to have healthcare for everyone? It's so funny when the serial complainer has to actually do some shit and can't.

did he really expect the Dems to roll over just because their candidate lost the Presidential election?

No way the Dems filibuster. They'll vote against, probably with a few defections, but they won't stop it from passing. They probably will, though, make the GOP own it, especially after the shenanigans of the past few years.

I'm happy to see this insufficient bill die. It should have never been proposed in the first place.

Its the first significant misstep of his Presidency, having come woefully short on the repeal concept. If he misfires as badly on everything he attempts, he actually might not make it to the end of his term.

GOP Rep. Joe Barton

I think he is getting heat. The WSJ editorial recently, Time's 'Truth Is Dead' interview and cover was anything but subtle(and appropriately so, I might add). One of the problems is that it's hard to keep up with them all.

Times like this I wish we had a tradition like the prime minsters questions in Britain. At least the PM has to be able to deal with defending his own policies and statements, even if sometimes they lose something when it comes to decorum.

Here's the things that has me confused: Trump's base is decidedly anti-establishment. He runs on being anti-establishment. He gets in office, and he has his first major legislation penned by...the establishment.

Wait... Trump initiated the interview with the New York Times? Doesn't he supposedly hate them? Then again, not like you can trust anything he says. What the odds he proposes single payer now? ;)

That's the problem with a WH full of people with no experience. He doesn't have anyone capable of writing legislation.

Yeah. It kinda does beg the question of the whole, whaddyacallit ... the thing where he was actually just a bait-and-switch guy.

(forgive me, there's a specific term for it, it's just been an indescribably long week & I lack the braining to come up with the stupid word)

Bzzt. That presumes it would have had to be / needed to be written internally at the WH.

They would have to have it written in a way that was acceptable to either Ryan or Mcconnell, though. The WH can't simply introduce legislation. It would have to be done in a way that included congressional leaders. They don't have the people in the WH to make that work, and their staffing is so incomplete there aren't people at cabinet agencies that could do it either.

Ready for the tax plan.

Although I voted for HRC, now that the election over and Obamacare is safe (for now), I wanna get my taxes lowered.

I believe there are members who could have gotten something to the floor without involving those two worthless sacks (edit to add) in the actual writing.

Trump would merely have needed a willing partner for the right piece of legislation. Ryan blocking it just because he wasn't involved in the writing could have very well gotten him dragged out for a tarring & feathering if not worse.

Instead, we get this lightweight flop. That's either the worst miscalculation of Trump's past couple of years OR it's an indication that he never had any intention of passing anything on this subject at all (not for 2 years anyway).

It was a weird piece of legislation. I mean if you want to repeal Obamacare, repeal it. This kind of kept Obamacare in place but neutered aspects and gave a tax cut for rich people. Like a weird in-between that benefited no one.

Part of that is because they were trying to pass something through reconciliation. Just repealing the ACA would be subject to a filibuster and would never pass. In retrospect, that would have been a better political move, but the plan was to craft something that couldn't be filibustered and would be easy to pass with GOP votes.