On the net neutrality front, individual states are already pushing to write their own regulations. Basically telling the FCC…
American Politics thread: No Nazis Allowed
-
-
Trump disbands controversial voting commission, citing 'endless legal battles'
WASHINGTON*— President Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday disbanding his own election integrity commission after less than eight months, saying he didn't want to waste taxpayer money fighting with state governments over their voter data.
“Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry," Trump said in a statement through his press secretary.
"Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action.”
When he created the commission in May, Trump cited a repeatedly debunked claim that three millionpeople voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election— a number that, if true, would have explained Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote.
But many states, citing their own voter privacy laws, refused to provide the commission data on their voters without an act of Congress. Those troublesground the commission's work to a standstilllast fall.*
Civil and voting rights groups who had fought the effort said the commission was an attempt to justify new laws restricting the right to vote and suppress*voter turnout, particularly among minorities.
"This is a major victory for every activist who has called out this sham commission for what it is. Good riddance to bad rubbish," said Marge Baker of the People For the American Way.
-
So, like, the Trump administration could totally win, but it was too hard on the American people so they quit. Makes sense.
Gee now I want to know how much money in total was sunk into this sham of a commission. I also want to see Kris Kobach get his ass whipped in November now that he's out of one job.
-
Feels like one of those "pieces of good news that will end up bad news." Executive Order still falsely claims evidence of widespread voter fraud. Might just skip the appearance of legitimizing it and go straight to voter suppression.
-
Someone probably explained to him it would cost six whole golf trips to keep going and he decided he'd rather have more vacations.
-
He's moving the voter fraud stuff to the Homeland Security department; the possibility of ICE agents patrolling the voter lines would not be surprising.
Also why are people taking the Bannon Trump thing with a lick seriousness?
-
@CCC:
1. Further splintering of the deplorable base into Trump camp and Bannon camp (Trump loses alt-right, Bannon and his candidates lose Trump cultists) is good for all of humanity, so…great!
I disagree with the bit in bold. Aside from the fact that the alt-right is pretty irrelevant size wise, as far as I'm aware, they're really not all that feverish over Bannon. Trump is the one who receives their adoration. It's God-Emperor Trump this, saviour of the white people Trump that, Kek chose Trump, praise Trump, Pepe is with Trump, /pol/'s guy is the orange overlord…. trump trump trump. Bannon never held much sway with the alt-right, he just pandered to them and "made trump /ourguy/". Same with Milo and the other folks at Breitbart. Trump is the heavy hitter who directs the narrative. So much so that when Trump's admin wanted to get rid of NetNeutrality, the alt right was the only group in favour. When Trump does crazy things, the alt-right rejoices, always. Because they're the meme-people, they want the nutty macho president to set the world ablaze, they wanna have a laugh.
So I think it won't directly damage the alt-right reputation trump holds for the reasons mentioned above.
Now if I have to guess... these recent Trump moves will actually be quite popular with the mainstream disenfranchised reagan republicans. Bannon's always been portrayed as the Nazi, so Trump insulting him is probably gonna do good for his ratings with the sensible Nazi hating mainstream demographic of republicans who would've voted Reagan.
I say this because my dad's basically my yardstick for Reagan republican (despite him being a cosmopolitan italian business-person… :wassat:) and he seemed
A) pretty content with Trump's Nuke tweet - despite still calling trump a moron, he called him a funny moron, then mentioned how Hillary could not have made that response because she has no dick (childish I know), and then said anyway Trump is good for the economy so he's excused from the crass humour (ugh)
B) pretty happy with the Bannon development because in his words "Bannon's a nazi and Trump is doing well calling him insane"So yeah. I kinda disagree with your assessment. If anything this'll make his base grow, as ridiculous as that might sound.
-
Il Douche's lawyers sent a cease and desist order to Bannon ordering him to stop saying mean things about Glorious Leader. Otherwise, they'll sue and nobody wants that. Especially Trump since those lawsuits don't go so hot for him.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
-
Maybe the most interesting thing to come out of this Wolff stuff is more details on the NDA that Trump makes all his lackeys sign. Makes Priebus's general lack of meaningful contribution post-firing more transparent.
…I'm assuming they're not, but I would think a personally-shifted NDA is something that should be illegal for a government employee.
-
I say this because my dad's basically my yardstick for Reagan republican (despite him being a cosmopolitan italian business-person… :wassat:) and he seemed
A) pretty content with Trump's Nuke tweet - despite still calling trump a moron, he called him a funny moron, then mentioned how Hillary could not have made that response because she has no dick (childish I know), and then said anyway Trump is good for the economy so he's excused from the crass humour (ugh)Yeah that just sounds like a Trump Republican. At this point the reverse species you're actually thinking of is Romney Republicans, and that's not how they operate or talk at all.
Trust me, Connecticut's main species of Republican is the latter. My uncle might be the perfect specimen in fact.B) pretty happy with the Bannon development because in his words "Bannon's a nazi and Trump is doing well calling him insane"
If your dad lived in the US he would not be taking this stance. He doesn't have the cult like attachment to these figures to develop the full delusions. And your A suggests if he lived here he would.
-
Despite Virginia Dems winning State House races with 55% of the overall vote, Republicans will retain control of the House, Speakership and every committee chair after a literal coin flip.
-
For the Bannon betrayals I have two theories.
1. Hedging Bannon: Bannon has given up on the Trump administration as a potential vehicle for his terrible vision for the US, and has decided that at this point the whole teetering mass is more a liability for the alt-right dream than a boon. Maybe he's decided that it both needs to go, and the sooner the better. Perhaps he hopes to help topple or weaken it, or is merely trying to start drawing a distinction between Trump and his continued idea of an alt-right brand.
2. Nihilism Bannon: Bannon's big goals with Trump have failed but so too have his post-White House ambitions. Or at least they're looking like it. The Moore failure was colossal, and apparently he recently lost one of his major financial backers. Maybe he's not just given up on Trump, but also his prospects for his horrible horrible dream. And in his bitter state of mind he's lashing out.
3. Calamity Bannon:
-
Some less prominent highlights from https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/01/04/day-350/
The White House banned staff from using personal cell phones in the West Wing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited security concerns for the ban. Staff will now be required to use their government-issued devices in the West Wing, which don't accommodate texting. The White House weighed a similar move in early November, after leaks to the media from within the administration angered Trump.
More than a dozen members of Congress met with a Yale University psychiatry professor last month to discuss Trump's mental state and recent behavior.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/03/trump-25th-amendment-mental-health-322625
-
Seth Abramson's narratives always feel a little too convenient to be fully correct. If it was all that easy then Mueller would've put the entire GOP behind bars already.
Also if your tweets regularly go over 100/x then you should probably start a blog or something.
Actually, he emphasized that this will be an enormously long and complicated investigation and we shouldn't expect this to end soon.
(Correct me if I'm overlooking something, I'm not that much into this whole subject matter, but stumbled across Abramson's tweets a while ago).
-
Some less prominent highlights from https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/01/04/day-350/
The White House banned staff from using personal cell phones in the West Wing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited security concerns for the ban. Staff will now be required to use their government-issued devices in the West Wing, which don't accommodate texting. The White House weighed a similar move in early November, after leaks to the media from within the administration angered Trump.
Gee, I'm stumped. I can't think of any way to beat this ironclad security method.
Also, Fire and Fury's release date is being moved up to tomorrow.
-
Gee, I'm stumped. I can't think of any way to beat this ironclad security method.]
It's such a shame that it's impossible for the leakers to actually talk to people rather than text them, take lunch breaks or say things when they go home.
I know at least two people who had no interest in Fire and Fury but have now ordered copies after Trump's cease and desist. He's just drawing MORE attention to it.
-
This is like the 100th time the Trump administration has done something, only for the offended party to do the opposite while squeezing a lemon in the eye. This year has really exposed the limits of a President. At least, one that doesn't know how his office works and never shuts up. It's really a blessing that Trump doesn't have the same connections that say, W. Bush did.
-
Why were they using personal cellphones in the first place? Wasn't this the kind of stuff that only extremely careless people like Hillary Clinton do?
-
Looks like this book is taking Bannon down.
-
Looks like this book is taking Bannon down.
I wonder if that counts as ironic, since that clearly doesn't seem to have been Bannon's intention.
-
Why were they using personal cellphones in the first place? Wasn't this the kind of stuff that only extremely careless people like Hillary Clinton do?
I have been assured by Maureen Dowd and Chris Cillizza that this is a completely different situation because shut up.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Speaking of the Great Integritude of White House Security, apparently Michael Wolff got most of the material for the book just by hanging out in the White House for like eight months and no one telling him to leave.
-
The Trump Administration has proposed a rule that will allow small businesses to band together to offer garbage "health" insurance plans. The objection that this would lead to market destablization and premiums rising in the individual market as people abandon better plans for cheaper ones that they mistakenly believe will cover them was rejected on the grounds that the Individual Mandate requires coverage.
-
Think we now know where Trump's imbalance this week has come from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/us/politics/trump-sessions-russia-mcgahn.html
This is one of the most damning articles thus far, especially as it pertains to Trump himself.
Also–and unfortunately--it's the first article I've read where I find it difficult to where all the information could be gathered without a leak internal to the Mueller investigation.
[edit] Counterpoint to my Mueller leak assumption:
-
http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/paul-ryan-nunes-justice-department/index.html
Paul Ryan is probably a traitor too.
Though more likely he's just a spineless twat.
-
http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/paul-ryan-nunes-justice-department/index.html
Paul Ryan is probably a traitor too.
Though more likely he's just a spineless twat.
He can be, and probably is, both.
-
[edit] Counterpoint to my Mueller leak assumption:
Reading it, my assumption was that it was either Priebus or another White House staffer since the article says that it's not sure if Mueller's people were aware of some of the details of it.
Paul Ryan is probably a traitor too.
Of course he's a traitor. Remember that discussion about Trump and Rohrabacher being on Putin's payroll?
Like McConnell, he went in knowing full well that Trump was compromised but willing to let that go so that he could cut taxes for the rich and sacrifice the poor to the great god Ayn Rand.
-
I kind of wonder if this is all going to end with Trump in going into "A Few Good Men" moment where he just gets so angry that he yells out the truth in front of witnesses.
There was more: Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions. It used to be inside of 30 minutes he'd repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories — now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions — he just couldn't stop saying something.
-
Reading it, my assumption was that it was either Priebus or another White House staffer since the article says that it's not sure if Mueller's people were aware of some of the details of it.
The way it continually referred to "known to the Mueller investigation" threw me, but another reading puts it in line with Reince and additional backup.
Of course he's a traitor. Remember that discussion about Trump and Rohrabacher being on Putin's payroll?
Like McConnell, he went in knowing full well that Trump was compromised but willing to let that go so that he could cut taxes for the rich and sacrifice the poor to the great god Ayn Rand.
The additional question being what, exactly, Russia and Trump have on the Republicans. There have been too many out-of-character sequences–Lindsey Graham's flip-flop and Orrin Hatch's all-in approach--to be just pure Republican kleptomania. There was something legitimately bad in the e-mails that were no doubt hacked from Republicans.
-
Trump has officially dubbed Bannon “Sloppy Steve.”
-
-
I can't wait for the history books to tell the tales of Fuckface Von Clownstick and his misadventures with Sloppy Steve and Rocket Man.
-
I can't wait for the history books to tell the tales of Fuckface Von Clownstick and his misadventures with Sloppy Steve and Rocket Man.
if there is anyone left to tell the tale
-
I kind of wonder if this is all going to end with Trump in going into "A Few Good Men" moment where he just gets so angry that he yells out the truth in front of witnesses.
That's why I can't picture Republicans going for impeachment. Trump will drag as many as he can down with them.
-
I want to time jump to October.
-
Banana Republic Alert: FBI has been investigating Clinton Foundation for months
-
What in hell do they have on Graham? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/us/politics/christopher-steele-dossier-judiciary-committee.html
-
We know now the dossier isn't even the when the investigation started. It was because one of the idiots was blabbing on while drunk to foreign inteligence who then told our guys. The Steele dossier didn't come for a couple months after… and basically everything in it has been confirmed by other sources by now anyway.
So that talking point SHOULD be dead, but they're harping on it because it became famous with the pee pee tape allegation so people actually remember it and because the pee pee is so embarrassing.
-
The epilogue to all this is the pee pee tape being found the day after Trump's funeral.
-
But what the hell happened to Lindsey Graham? He's gone from Trump-hater and a Russian hawk to one of his coddlers.
He's always been an idiot, but now he's an idiot running exactly counter to his established character. And at a speed that's boggling.
Grassley's a different case. Grassley has always been dumber than a sack of rocks.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Also, the pee-tape thing is very amusing, because even if it existed and was leaked (heh), it wouldn't last a week of the news cycle. It's always actually been the most irrelevant part of the dossier because it does so little to change what we know of Trump, which is Obama-hating horndog.
-
But what the hell happened to Lindsey Graham? He's gone from Trump-hater and a Russian hawk to one of his coddlers.
Money or sex, and some horrific thing related to one of those.
Use your own imagination to figure out what level of depravity or corruption.
Also, the pee-tape thing is very amusing, because even if it existed and was leaked (heh), it wouldn't last a week of the news cycle. It's always actually been the most irrelevant part of the dossier because it does so little to change what we know of Trump, which is Obama-hating horndog.
The funny part is, seeing that is what would convince people that the rest of the dossier is true. Rather than evidence. Because its ALSO the pee pee tape that makes the dossier false, because that's obviously just salacious slander.
-
Lindsey Graham's flip-flop deserves much more attention but Beltway pundits will never sacrifice the viewpoint that Graham is a bipartisan moderate Republican.
-
Turns out Lindsey Graham also enjoys the Great Republican Pastime of "fuck the poor".
-
I know Theresa May is a bad PM but I sincerely doubt she'd give up a British citizen and highly regarded former government employee just so Republicans can prostrate themselves over their Dear Leader.
-
@Cyan:
Turns out Lindsey Graham also enjoys the Great Republican Pastime of "fuck the poor".
But Corker, McCain, and Flake show you can do that and still have some superficial semblance, however fake, of a backbone and self-identity [Sasse's attempt to do the same isn't even worthy of note]. Graham has dropped all the aspects that made him stand out in the first place.
-
The Washington Post has an article about the Fire and Fury book, and it includes this little blurb:
"We get an answer to the question that has long enraged Trump: the identity of the mystery leaker behind the stream of stories of White House chaos and fratricidal dysfunction that have appeared since he took office. It turns out that the president rants endlessly on the phone to his billionaire friends, who feel no duty of confidentiality. In other words, the leaker Trump seeks is … himself."
-
Did not do the damn research
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/01/05/politics/roy-moore-jewish-lawyer-alabama/index.html
-
"Well bless my heart, he had himself the BIGGEST nose so I just plum assumed!"
-
Just stumbled this "Gem", thought I'd share…
-
It's literally the Spongebob episode where he goes looking for a maniac, only to realize he's the maniac causing the anarchy in his searching for the maniac.
-
Just stumbled this "Gem", thought I'd share…
Aw that's cute, they think that's traffic.