Withholding tables have not yet been revised. The earliest estimate was for them to be released in February. Taxes are not taken out magically, the feds send out information to employers for guidance.

Thanks. I hadn't seen that the withholding tables weren't updated.

Well you know you've made an enemy of Donald Trump when he gives you a nickname...

Trump jabs 'Sneaky Dianne Feinstein' for releasing Fusion GPS transcript - POLITICO

Sneaky Dianne just doesn't have any pizzazz. Though I disagree with this list - Low Energy Jeb is clearly his best imo.

Deceitful Dianne or Dimwit Dianne would have been better.

He only knows about 12 adjectives, so let's not go crazy.

Dirty

Nasty

Ding Dong

Jackan

Winner

Bannon is now persona non grata and has seen his power and influence drop like a rock since Alabama and Moore. Now, it's Trump, who continues to only rely on his position as his means of power. He's completely losing the policy and political war. Not even to D's. He's losing it by continuously burning every bridge behind him and choosing to go to war with everyone. He can't put a coherent policy together, because he has no idea how all the pieces fit together. He's completely ignorant and can barely formulate differentiating words to his frontal cortex.

He like a mouse in a maze.

The Market will falter if he goes to a trade war. He's working on losing his best supporters and alienating his remaining supporters who won't kill for him. He's well on his way to being a lame duck and irrelevant by the end of year 2.

Not sure if you can say he's losing the policy war after that tax reform scam got passed. Also despite "burning bridges" he still gets people like Lindsey Graham to fawn all over him.

I'd call having control of senate, house, and the Presidency and only passing one major policy in the first year a loss. I'm pretty sure both parties expected Republicans to be able to get more done.

Don't overlook the judiciary. McConnell's bottling-up of Obama's judicial picks until a Republican could fill those vacancies and elimination of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees has been a win for Republicans with much longer-term ramifications for conservative ideology than whether or not ACA got repealed.

Big Trump supporter, some thought he had big aspirations (and a chance) to be president one day. Not sure this would have been more than "just another scumbag politician" years ago but in this new era may have sank a rising star before he even rose.

Blackmail alleged as Governor Greitens admits to extramarital af - KMOV.com

If the allegation that he tied her up, blindfolded her, took a picture and tried to blackmail her is true, it certainly should end his career.

No doubt. It is odd that he is the one blackmailing her and not the other way around. Seems to be a missing part of the story. But he again is the typical "family values" dirtbag. Don't know why people vote for people on this criteria but I guess he was elected governor so what do I know?

Really enjoyed his book The Heart and the Fist. Hadn't agreed with him politically, but still had hope/thought that he was a decent guy.

Yeah I liked how he dealt with the civil unrest in St. Louis last year and was able to avoid the city burning by being pretty involved on both sides ahead of time and during the events. As a teacher he is a terrible governor for public education but that comes with territory working in Missouri. An affair probably won't hurt your career just look at Bill Clinton/Donald Trump etc but when you try to make it your persona it certainly isn't going to help.

So obviously now making a play for Trump's support on the heels of announcing he would run for office by digging this back up. He is such an embarrassment to this state.

Arpaio: Congress should examine presidential birth certificates

I would say it should be the end of his freedom for several years.

I don't know if MO has any revenge porn laws or if this would be under any blackmail law, but even if it isn't criminal it should be easy enough to say it's disqualifying for elected office.

Unless the whole tying up and taking nude pictures was consensual, this wouldn't fall under revenge porn.

It sounds like to some degree it was and proving that it became non-consensual would be extremely difficult.

But if there's a legal case to be made against the guy, I'm all for it. It became abusive and predatory behavior even if the initial act was consensual.

Speaking of Revenge Porn:

Top U.S. Government Computers Linked to Revenge Porn Site


I think we now know what Trump is doing during his "Executive Time"

So Walmart made a big deal about raising minimum wage to $11/hour and giving bonuses to certain employees. Strangely enough they didn't make a big deal about how they were also closing a bunch of their Sam's Clubs...in fact they didn't tell their employees or communities until they showed up for work and found the door locked and chained. They are going to convert a few into e-commerce warehouses so they can better compete against Amazon.

That's not how any of this works.

"shithole" countries... have at it

And need immigrants from Norway! I honestly thought it was an Onion article.

After he had just met with the PM of Norway. Imagine that.

Wow..

Yet again, wow.

How is US standing and respect in the world on the rise again?

PS

And if you wanted to you could totally make a racial argument there.

It's fine, nothing to worry about!

Donald Trump's new ambassador to Netherlands struggles to defend claim Muslims 'burned' Dutch politicians | The Independent

This is the defining quote in that whole mess.


Oh goody. Go us!

Well it makes sense if he didn't want the story to come out. Basically "if you blab about our affair I'll post your nudes online". Seems like a legit way to scare her into doing what he wants.

I don't know much about the guy but these ads have been running constantly on TV in Illinois and he's in it. They just pulled them after this incident.

I wouldn't have put it that way but I do agree with overall vision of getting more of the foreign bright-and-brightest and "rich" into the country vs less able.

Assuming security concerns are addressed, err on the side of taking more graduate degree students and other well educated.

Yes, there is an inherent bias with this approach and I do understand there is a need to bring families together (and other exceptions) but I really don't see a need for 50K annual lottery winners.

ICE Director on 7-Eleven Raids Targeting Illegal Workers: 'It's One of Many to Come'

Pastor Niedrumpfer's Lament (Never Again)

First they came for 7-Eleven, and I did not speak out—
Because I did not work at 7-Eleven.

Then they came for Subway, and I did not speak out—
Because I did not work at Subway.

Then they came for the dry cleaners, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a dry cleaner.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Outrage at Trump is really just outrage that he says the quiet part out loud. Was there a person alive who didn't think that this was motivating the current immigration policy? But he says it, so we all have to run to the fainting couch.

Overall, this behavior is exactly in line with the image of Trump's administration here: create or endorse fake news and do not admit to being at fault when confronted with facts.

Pete Hoekstra's endorsement of fake news sound like they're taken from the same approach as Rick Santorum on the Netherlands. So, I figured it would be interesting to google on their shared history. Turns out they were the USA's equivalent of Iraq's Minister of information in the weapons of mass destruction stories. I'm shocked. :rolleyes:

Edit: Maybe not quite the "Iraq's Minister of information", but apparently Hoekstra and Santorum together made comments on the existence of "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq. It's easy to blow it out of proportion and basically do exactly what these politicians did. :D

I just hope it doesn't take us another two years before we get around to kicking out the fucking Irish. Those ginger ghouls have had it too easy for too long.

Here's the thing Edward. The vision proposed by Trump isn't the one your referencing. Strictly speaking someone who is bring and brightest, can certainly come from one of the countries referenced. One does not beget the other.

He's very straightforwardly saying "why would we want anyone from one of those shithole countries." Anyone. It's culture war. It's you aren't on the same level as me. If I let you, you should honor me or something. It's Trump all the way. His need to feel like he's the Dear Leader in the US and that his power simply stems from his position as the man with the last word. He uses that as his leverage in nearly all situations.

Like I was saying yesterday. He's going to eventually run into the limits of that strategy in politics if the R's get pummeled this fall. He only understands that method of leadership, and uses it to justify his ignorance in most other things. It's the way he's run his show, and his business. He's not complicated. He's just a bully, who lives that bully life. It's also why he is liked by those who feel the bully pulpit of the position is underused in world policy. It's why they overlook all the other shit.

It's tough to have good relations with countries you refer to as shitholes.

Immigrants from Africa have higher rates of bachelor degrees than Americans (41% to 33%). Nigeria for instance gets graduate degrees at over twice what white Americans do (26% to 11%).

It's a myth that we're taking in "lottery winners" who live off the teet of the government from many of these countries.

I guess they can be referred to as shitholes but the people who come from those shitholes are outperforming Americans who were born with an inherent advantage.

Just saw this commercial. This is a real thing.



Reference:
Trumpy Bear has people so confused | The Kansas City Star

wow...just wow.

The Swamp has to be drained by now right?

Education Dept. awards debt collection contract to company with ties to DeVos

Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Only a couple of factual issues here:

• The deal was done announced by GWB a month before Obama came into power
• GWB stressed that the cost would be covered by the sale of the old site
• It’s closer to Westminster than the old site

That’s disregarding that the $1.2bn budget is being questioned, and the old site had 1000 people working a building designed for 800...

It’s clearly got nothing to do with the fact he would see massive protests against him. No, nothing to do with that at all.

:rolleyes:

OK. Here's a thread for ya.

This is my dad. He grew up dirt poor in the 20s and 30s. As he entered adulthood, he went to work, first as a Pullman porter. Then, after the Japanese attacked us, he was drafted into the Army. He saw combat against the Nazis, 1/ pic.twitter.com/uxoTOjErqE

— Ben Lewis (@benelou) January 12, 2018

Letterman has a new show on netflix and it's starting out pretty great.

Had obama on it and he takes a walk across the bridge in Selma with Congressman John Lewis who did so in protest

wow hell of a history, ben <3

Thanks, but frankly, other than the fact that he was not born on American soil, the rest of this story is fairly common, yet something we don't think about, perhaps because we wrongly tend to view history in vignettes (heh, or perhaps a better word would be dispensations...) rather than in a more holistic manner. I mean, everyone here knows just about all of these facts off the top of their head, right?

• The percentage of black population in the Deep South far exceeds that in any other part of the country.
• In the 40s and 50s, the military was perhaps the best opportunity that black men had for somewhat-equal treatment.
• World War II ended in 1945.
• The Korean War ended in 1953.
• Brown vs. Board of Education was in 1954, but the bulk of the advances from the Civil Rights movement in the Deep South weren't made until the 60s.

Add all that up, and you had a metric buttload of black soldiers who fought the Nazis, Imperial Japan, and/or the communists in Korea and came home to an overtly racist society. True, not all of them went to OCS and earned commissions, but the rest of his narrative isn't that unusual. My impression is that between 1/4 and 1/3 of the male heads of households in my neighborhood were veterans of WW2 and/or Korea. (Now, in fairness, that was in Columbus, GA, which borders Ft. Benning--one of our largest bases--so of course the population of ex-soldiers was elevated there, but you get the point.) I can point to a least a dozen families just from my neighborhood that were headed by WW2/Korea vets whose children became the first generation in their families' histories to attend college.

Thanks for sharing Ben.

This screenshot of the word "shithole" on CNN provided me way too much joy this morning.

Hearing Rick Wilson say "I will gut you like a fish on this show" to the Trump supporter on Don Lemon made my night.

Trump is arguing for an end to the American dream.

It's the logical extension of the GOP's "Fuck you, I've got mine" policy.

Coming to the conclusion that this is the basic platform is really what moved me away from the party. I don't really feel like they want to improve anything, and if anyone else improves themselves they're just a risk of competition. They want people to have just enough as to not bitch or complain so they can live their own lives without having to think about or hear from anyone else.

Anyone else should shut up, go to jail, leave the country, or die.

That's quite a platform.

Trump never clearly stated his immigration policy preferences and said publicly that he would sign whatever the congressional leaders brought to him. Now he's attacking the bipartisan compromise and saying he'd veto, again without clearly stating what he wants done.

Even for his GOP supporters, how do you work with this guy?

Apparently he's decided to "fake news" his way out of his fuckup. It will work with the usual crowd, who likely don't care anyway and find it just great that we have a POTUS who "isn't afraid to say what we're all thinking."

I really hope there's some semblance of a Republican Party after all this has blown over. It's better for the nation to have multiple legitimate visions for policy and direction -- and this isn't one.

I did mean to say take the bright-and-brightest from any country assuming security concerns vetted, and was not implying to disregard continent of Africa or Haiti.

On the lottery winners, I actually did not find any stats on how they are doing. I saw stats on countries they came from.

I do think lottery winners have a certain level of education (e.g. the application process, reading about it in the internet etc.) but why not free up the 50K positions for foreigners that have come to the US and studied in US colleges for graduate degrees? It helps us and "hurts" our competition (e.g. China, Russia, EU etc.)

What are all the ultra-conservative folks on my FB feed who have already defended his remarks as 100% accurate going to do if he walks it back as fake news now?

Hey, they've signed up for this rodeo. Saddle up and hold on for your full eight seconds, snowflake.

From a WH email blast this morning:


Trump made it happen! Thank you!!!!!

edit:

Along the same lines, in the same mailer this is rather ironic in light of recent events:

This is odd, given that he didn't say it.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/thomasfrank...9zZ#.xcpzYL3Gq

Probably some of the same condos:

Birth tourism brings Russian baby boom to Miami - NBC News

Amazing branding work. Now when you Google “Trump shithole” it’s not all reviews of his hotels.

I wish less of our resources went to shithole states.

Read this thread on Twitter. Thanks for posting it, Ben.

WSJ reporting that Trump's lawyer arranged a payoff of a porn star a month before the election so she wouldn't go public with an affair she'd had with him a year after he married Melania

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-l...nce-1515787678

Fascinating. WSJ gets a scoop, and they want to publish it because news, but it hurts Republicans.

Rare example of a paper burying its own scoop with the pre-3-day-weekend release.

This story would have been much juicier had she actually gone ahead and run and gained election to the Senate.

If the Dems are going to put Oprah Webfeet up as their candidate, I'm positive Trump will get re-elected.

Oh, and if anyone had any sense that Trump would not submit to blackmail to keep embarrassing information from the public . . .

Conversation going on in the White House right now:

"Sir, you have to get on Twitter and say you didn't bang the porn star."

"But... I did bang the porn star. *wide smile*"

"Sir..."

"Really really..."

"SIR!! NO!"

— RBe (@RBPundit) January 12, 2018

Does paying a porn star to cover up an he had even register as a scandal for Trump anymore?

Trump's history of breaking decorum with remarks on race, ethnicity - NBC News

I forgot about that. She was going to primary David Vitter after his sex scandal, right?

Also Greitens might be in bigger trouble than thought if the blackmail stuff pans out.

Blackmail alleged as Governor Greitens admits to extramarital af - KMOV.com

Foreign outlets struggle to translate “shithole” for their readers. This Croatian paper used “vukojebina,” meaning “the place wolves like to fuck.” No joke. pic.twitter.com/d1xGReVELl

— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) January 12, 2018

And here I thought it was bears that were into anal, not wolves.

We already do that. F-1 international students can transition into H-1B status from an employer who hires them out of school. Trump is making this more difficult but it's something we do.

Now I guess we can argue that we should only be bringing in highly educated people from other countries. But that would limit the choices to countries like Norway that have that infrastructure in place. Problem is that people from those countries don't want to come here. Norway has a higher quality of life so unless you're in a specialized profession only offered here (Hollywood for instance), you're not going to have much luck.

After that, I'd think the next best plan is to bring in immigrants who will make the country better. People who will work hard and go to school to make something of themselves (and improve the country). Seems like those "shithole" countries were doing that at higher levels than Americans were which is a good thing.

But this was never about the quality of immigrants being brought in. If it was he wouldn't trash immigrants from countries that significantly outperform Americans in this country. It was about the color of their skin.

So NBC is using the term s-hole instead of the actual word, and it sounds like they are saying asshole. Might as well just say shithole.

Except that I think "shithole" is a much more transgressive word than "asshole" in this context. People throw around the word asshole enough that it minimizes the reprehensible language.

I'm just saying, if the purpose was to avoid swearing on TV, they failed. It's kinda funny actually. No way they didn't realize they were essentially trading one for the other.

LOL, yeah, that probably wasn't thought through real well.

Yes, this does happen. But its not easy on the student to find a job within X days before they go out of status e.g. they don't have 6 months. In the 90's, there were a ton of bogus ads that these employers had to place (e.g. Computerworld) to supposedly ensure these H1-B were not taking US jobs.

All I am saying is make it easier for the 'best-and-brightest' (regardless of national origin) to stay and increase the quota by 50K (or by whatever the supply is). We educated them, let's make it easier for them to stay and contribute to the US.

I'm really talking about the F1 students that come to the US and is educated here. I see them as the low-hanging fruit that benefits the US and helps us competitively and hurts the countries they are from (e.g. China).

They have already shown an inclination to be in the US. Their families have shown the ability to support them financially. I'm sure many of them would want to stay. These are the "best-and-brightest" from their respective countries and if they can work in the US vs their respective countries, its a good thing for us competitively in the long run.

The next thing I would focus on then are the professionals that we need. I'm not sure about Drs. but we definitely need Nurses. Open up the flood gates and provide some incentives to foreign Nurses (e.g. I think Philippines has alot of them) and you'll see a ton of migration. Sure they may need to get re-certified etc. but think that is easy enough to do.

I do acknowledge that this process is unfair to others less fortunate.

Oh, I would toss out dual citizenship. IMO it should not be an option for any immigrants.

Just curious as to why. I am dual American/British, not sure I see what the issue is unless you are talking as it may apply to criminal types.

No, not criminal types concern.

I see it as a lack of commitment to the country you are immigrating to. If the country welcomes you as a citizen shouldn't you be all in?

If a person does not wish to make the commitment and just wants to be able to work/live, I think many countries provide alternative means (e.g. green card which is first step to a citizenship).

Something that may just interest me ...

The Obama thread hit #8092 posts on 2/3/2010.

The Trump thread hit it today on 1/12/2018.

I suspect if Trump does 8 years, he'll easily surpass the Obama thread.

Proof that the Obama thread is sad and the Trump thread is Stable Genius.

I know quite of few people who have dual citizenship. The overwhelming reason is having back up medical care- in case they no longer can afford/buy or lose their American coverage.

If I marry a foreign woman and decide to live overseas it doesn't mean I don't still love this country and wouldn't want to frequently come back to see the rest of my family. I don't see why it should be different for people coming from other countries. I could see where like North Korea or Iran is different, but not the plurality of countries we're friendly and share common interests with.

The US citizenship oath is


Yes, the US allows it and no doubt works to the advantage of the person (which includes a US citizen with another country's citizenship).

Using the US as an example (not sure what the other countries' oaths says), I just see it as "I'll say it but no, I don't really mean it".

Some countries do not allow a revocation of citizenship. My daughter will always be a Chinese citizen due to birth and there's no way she could renounce that.

I have never even thought of that as a lack of commitment. I became a US citizen at the age of 10 when my Mother did. I have served in the US military and am in my 40th year of working, thereby contributing to SSN and paying taxes. I am also proud of my British heritage and would never renounce my English citizenship. I feel I have more than shown my commitment to the US, yet also see no reason why I can't proudly hold the citizenship of my birth country as well, considering I was brought to the US as a child.

Trump's mega-rant about how he is the smartest and best at everything, as WSJ tries to ask him about Bannon, must be read to be believed. https://t.co/WAH6qyifpb pic.twitter.com/Gw3vx2nSc7

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 12, 2018

This forum has become a mostly left leaning progressive groupthink.

You and JPhillips bring up the scenario of dual citizenships for children and decisions were made for them. And I am not saying people can't be patriotic or be good citizens.

As far as "why not", its because the oath says "I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen".

We can rationalize the reasons & benefits (and it certainly benefits US citizens becoming dual citizens of another country) but it goes against my interpretation of the oath (which in my mind is pretty clear cut).

Because its legal it means even the US acknowledges while the oath is something to be muttered in a formal ceremony, they are not willing to enforce it.

FWIW, I am an immigrant myself (e.g. long story but went thru the F-1 to H1-B to green card to citizenship). I am proud of my heritage and continue to visit my birth country.

Trump tends to illicit that reaction. The board has always been fairly left leaning and I used to engage a lot of the boards extreme left guys because of how ridiculous the stuff they said was but right now there isn’t a whole lot to criticize about what they say about Trump. He’s a fool and has no ideology whatsoever.

I will say my usual reminder that for some of us the way they feel about Trump and what they feel is a complete overreach of the federal government is how people like me feel on a lot of programs. I’m sure I will still get called out “The roads Panerd, the roads!” but at least Trump is kind of solidifying the Libertarian position of how even well intended government power becomes a complete disaster when controlled by the wrong people. A good lesson next time a Democrat controls the Presidency and the “this is just temporary” argument is put on the table for why we shouldnt worry about it. (ie Execuctive Orders by the Bush and Obama administrations that were clearly subverting the constitution but weren’t necessarily “evil” or horrible ideas. Now that Trump is using them it is easier to see why Libertarians like the division of government power)