I hope we one day reach the point where partisans stop trying to humiliate their opposition with instances of them being human. On a similar note, I'd like them to stop covering for their horrible human behavior, but I feel that I'll get neither.
American Politics thread: No Nazis Allowed
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Dancing about with joy? Can you imagine being so out of touch with the common man? I bet this Ocasio person has never had a single servant horsewhipped for impertinence!
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In the original video, they're even dancing to Lisztomania, so I even like her taste in music more now.
Thanks, The Right, for bringing this to my attention.
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Mitt Romney savaged Trump's leadership, saying he "has not risen to the mantle" of his office and his "words and actions have caused dismay around the world," in a Washington Post op-ed. Trump responded by tweeting: "I won big, and he didn't. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!" (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/donald-trump-mitt-romney-oped/index.html
The enemy of my enemy is my friend?
Oh no guys.
! Like some kind of degenerate jezebel! Checkmate Liberals.
Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow could not be reached for comment.
[hide]Why are all the Right's attempts to make her look bad so… stupid?...[/hide]
Well damn, I guess she's a total skank now, isn't she?
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/03/day-714/
Day 714: Foolish
1/ Trump and congressional leaders failed to resolve the partial government shutdown that's now stretched into its 13th day. The meeting was billed as a a "border security briefing," but turned into Trump asking Department of Homeland Security officials to "make a plea" for his $5 billion border wall with Trump rejecting an offer from Democrats to reopen the government, because he "would look foolish if I did that." Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, reaffirmed her refusal to accommodate Trump's border wall demand, saying: "How many more times can we say no? Nothing for the wall." Sen. Lindsay Graham, meanwhile, has been pressuring Trump to hold firm as well. "If he gives in now, that's the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president," Graham said. "That’s the probably the end of his presidency." (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
- Mitch McConnell: The Senate will not consider the House Democrat bills to end the government shutdown if they don't include Trump's demand for a $5 billion border wall. "The Senate will not waste its time considering a Democratic bill which cannot pass this chamber and which the president will not sign." (Reuters)
- Trump falsely accused Democrats of shutting down the government in order to take the presidency in 2020. He went on to praise "all of the achievements of 'Trump.'" (Politico)
- Trump put a large "Game of Thrones" poster of himself on the table in front of him during a cabinet meeting with the words "SANCTIONS ARE COMING NOVEMBER 4" across the middle. Nobody in the meeting talked about the poster and the White House did not respond to questions about it. (New York Times / Washington Post)
- Trump issued an executive order freezing federal workers' pay for 2019, after initially announcing a 2.1% across-the-board pay raise that was set to take effect in January. (CNN)
2/ The House of Representatives elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi as speaker for a second time. The 116th Congress convened with Democrats taking control of the House and Republicans maintaining control of the Senate. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
- The congressional freshman class of 2019 is the most racially diverse and most female group of representatives ever elected to the House, and includes the first Native American congresswomen, the first Muslim congresswomen, and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Pelosi suggested it's an "open discussion" whether Trump can be indicted by Robert Mueller while still in office, challenging the Department of Justice's guidelines that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The incoming speaker also added that "everything indicates" that Trump "can be indicted after he is no longer president of the United States." Pelosi's statements make her the highest ranking politician to suggest that Trump can be indicted while still in office. (NBC News / Axios / Politico / USA Today)
- The Incoming House Judiciary Chairman plans to re-introduce legislation to protect Robert Mueller. The legislation would provide recourse for Mueller and future special counsels to challenge any firings in the court system. (CNN)
4/ Democrats plan to ask for 10 years of tax returns for presidential candidates in their first piece of legislation in 2019. Vice presidents would also be required to turn over the last decade of their tax returns. The documents would then be posted on the FEC's website for the public to view. The legislation, however, is not expected to pass the Republican-controlled Senate or signed into law by Trump. (CNN)
5/ Russia charged an American with espionage. Paul Whelan faces 20 years in Russia if convicted. Russia's Interfax news agency said Whelan was arrested on Dec. 28 "while on a spy mission." Another Russian news outlet, Rosbalt, claimed that Whelan, a former U.S. marine now detained in Moscow by Russia's Federal Security Service, was arrested minutes after receiving a USB drive that contained the names of people employed at a top secret state organization. Whelan's arrest comes weeks after Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July. She agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. (The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / NPR / CNN)
Notables.
- The confirmation of 70 of Trump's judicial nominees remains in flux after Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer failed to reach an agreement on how to move the nominations forward. The pending nominations will now be sent back to the White House to be re-nominated. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hold an extra-long session at some point in the next few weeks to consider all the remaining nominees who were awaiting a vote on the Senate floor or waiting for a committee vote. (Politico)
- Trump's Bedminster golf club shielded at least one undocumented immigrant from a list of workers vetted by the Secret Service during the 2016 campaign. Emma Torres told a human resources employee that she did not have legal status. The woman replied: "'It's O.K. No problem.' She scratched me off the list." Torres later made sandwiches for Secret Service agents when they began visiting the property. (New York Times)
- The Trump administration is considering a rollback of anti-discrimination rules. The rollback would dilute federal rules against discrimination in education, housing and more. (Washington Post)
- The Justice Department is examining whether Ryan Zinke lied to the Interior agency's inspector general investigators – a potential criminal violation. (Washington Post)
- The national debt is $2 trillion higher since Trump took office. At the end of 2018, the debt stood at $21.974 trillion. (CNN)
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/04/day-715/
Day 715: Contentious
1/ House Democrats approved a series of spending bills to reopen the federal government without Trump's border wall money, but the legislative spending package is expected to be dead on arrival in the Senate where Mitch McConnell has vowed to not "waste its time" with proposals that Trump will veto. Congressional Republicans called the effort pointless political theater. (CNN / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)
2/ Trump is reportedly considering declaring a national emergency in order use $4 billion in Department of Defense funds to build his wall. The move would sidestep Congress if he doesn't get money for his border wall. During his press conference, Trump acknowledged that he was considering using national emergency powers to get the wall built "for the security of our country." He likened it to "the military version of eminent domain," which is not a real thing. [This story is developing…] (ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ Trump threatened to keep the government partially shutdown for "months or even years" following what Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi described as a "lengthy" and "sometimes contentious" meeting at the White House. Trump, however, characterized it as a "very, very productive meeting," during a Rose Garden press conference. "I think we've come a long way" as he defended the shutdown, adding: "I'm very proud of doing what I'm doing. I don't call it a shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do." The shutdown, which entered its 14th day, has left about 800,000 workers without pay, limited several federal agencies, and slowed the court system. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Hundreds of senior Trump administration officials are scheduled to receive a $10,000 raise tomorrow as some 800,000 federal employees are currently unpaid due to the partial government shutdown. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Shortly after being sworn in, freshman Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib told supporters: "We're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherfucker." House Democratic leaders immediately tried to quell the impeachment talk, saying they should wait for Robert Mueller to file a report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the comments, saying it's proof that Democrats are playing politics rather than pursuing oversight. Trump responded to Tlaib's call for impeachment, saying: "You can't impeach somebody who's doing a great job." (Politico / The Guardian / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)- Robert Mueller's federal grand jury has been extended by six months. (CNN)
Notables.
- House Democrats unveiled an ethics reform package that would put new checks on the White House and require Trump to release his tax returns. The legislation is unlikely to be approved by the GOP-held Senate. (Politico / Vox)
- A watchdog group accused Ivanka Trump of violating a conflict of interest law by participating in the implementation of "opportunity zones," a program that gives tax breaks for investing in economically distressed communities. (CNN)
- U.S. employers added 312,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate went up to 3.9 percent, and the average hourly pay rose by 3.2 percent from a year ago and 0.4 percent since the previous month. The slight uptick in the unemployment rate is seen as an increase in job seekers, a positive signal. (Associated Press / CNBC)
- Trump blamed the recent stock market sell-off on the fact that the Democrats took control of the House. In October, Trump blamed Democrats for market turbulence. He has also blamed the Federal Reserve or a "glitch" for recent troubles with the stock market, while claiming credit when stocks are up. (CNBC)
- A bipartisan pair of Senate lawmakers proposed legislation forcing the Trump administration to take a stronger stance against China. The proposed measure would establish an Office of Critical Technologies & Security at the White House to coordinate efforts and develop strategies to combat state-sponsored technology theft. (Politico)
- House Democrats filed a motion to intervene in a federal court case in Texas that poses a threat to the Affordable Care Act. A Texas judge ruled last month that the ACA is unconstitutional without the individual mandate, which Congress effectively eliminated by reducing the penalty to $0, which started this year. Since the Trump administration is not defending the ACA, a coalition of Democratic states is appealing the judge's ruling. The move to intervene is largely symbolic, however, and critics say lawmakers would be better off simply passing new legislation to address the issues in the lawsuit. (CNN)
- The American man held on espionage charges in Moscow also has British, Canadian and Irish citizenship. Russia arrested Paul Whelan on Dec. 28th, and charged him with espionage. [Editor's note: Not in itself very newsworthy, but I wanted to pin this in the event Whelan turns out to be a player.](Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
- A federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration on a policy of restricting military service by transgender people. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington D.C. that blocked the policy, saying it probably violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members. (The Guardian/ HuffPost)
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Trump put a large "Game of Thrones" poster of himself on the table in front of him during a cabinet meeting with the words "SANCTIONS ARE COMING NOVEMBER 4" across the middle. My favorite response to this I saw on Twitter was "You have never made anything come"
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2/ Trump is reportedly considering declaring a national emergency in order use $4 billion in Department of Defense funds to build his wall. The move would sidestep Congress if he doesn't get money for his border wall. During his press conference, Trump acknowledged that he was considering using national emergency powers to get the wall built "for the security of our country." He likened it to "the military version of eminent domain," which is not a real thing. [This story is developing…] (ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
I'm fearing the Trump is going to ruin Presidential emergency powers for future presidents. This is clear and blatant abuse.
Also, according to the sack's twitter he's make an assumingly televised address on this issue tonight? I don't think I'll watch it, but I assume it'll be either pathetic or damaging to the nation, if not both. Maybe more bald drones will be used? Who knows.
Edit: Oh, rather he's doing this Tuesday.
President Trump will give a prime-time address Tuesday from the Oval Office to make his case for closing parts of the government over his demand for $5.7 billion in funding for a wall on the Mexican border.
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/07/day-718/
Day 718: Prime-time1/ The White House will order the IRS to pay out income-tax refunds, despite 90 percent of its workforce not working. A little over 10 percent of IRS employees are still on the clock through the partial government shutdown attempting to implement the sweeping Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The effort adds to bureaucratic backlog as the shutdown drags into its 17th day. (ABC News / New York Times)
- Senate Democrats are considering blocking all future legislation in order to maintain focus on the shutdown. Chuck Schumer told the Democratic caucus he will only focus on bills that would reopen the government. (CNN)
2/ The Department of Agriculture wouldn't say for how long it will continue to pay out food stamps during the shutdown to the nearly 39 million people who depend on the service each month. Senior officials said the program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has enough funding to cover the rest of January—but not enough for February. Congress has never let SNAP funding run out. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Trump's latest offer to end the shutdown includes a demand for $5.7 billion in funding "for construction of a steel barrier for the Southwest border," plus another $800 million to address "urgent humanitarian needs" related to unaccompanied minors arriving at the border. The White House refused to detail how the requested funding would be spent or why the amount is larger than what the administration requested a few months ago. Members of Congress made no progress in negotiations over the weekend. (Washington Post)- Jimmy Carter became the latest former president to deny telling Trump he regrets not building a wall along the southern U.S. border. "I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump and do not support him on the issue," Carter said. (The Hill)
4/ Trump wants to deliver a prime-time address Tuesday night to discuss the government shutdown and what he calls "the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border." All major networks—ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC—confirmed they had received requests to air the broadcast during the 9 p.m. Eastern slot, but producers have not yet decided whether or not they will do so. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ The president of the World Bank resigned and will leave his post at the end of the month, three years before his term was set to end. Jim Yong Kim was nominated in 2012 by President Obama, and his early departure grants Trump the power to nominate a successor. Kim gave no reason for his sudden resignation. The CEO of the Bank will take over on an interim basis. (NBC News)
Notables.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments at the Supreme Court for the first time in more than 25 years as she recovered from surgery. It is not clear when she will return to the bench, but a spokesperson said Ginsburg, 85, continues to work from home as she recuperates. Doctors removed two cancerous growths from her lungs on December 21. (Associated Press)
- Former GOP Sen. Jon Kyl became the second person to turn down Trump's offer to replace Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Ret. Gen. Jack Keane also turned Trump down shortly after Mattis resigned late last month. (Politico)
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to several Middle Eastern nations to reassure America's allies in the midst of a flurry of contradictions and confusion regarding Trump's plan to pull U.S. forces out of Syria and Afghanistan. (ABC News)
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Stormy Daniels to fold laundry in her underwear during Trump's adress.
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That was better than I thought he'd be lol
but I guess the bar is pretty low
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Well…that was boring. Pretty much just the same thing Trump has been saying for weeks, but told through a teleprompter.
I guess I should be glad it wasn't worse. It was awful and stupid, but that's the a norm now--I say bitterly.
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Hey, it takes two for a robbery to occur. One to rob and one to be robbed.
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Ratfucker cuts off funding to California fire victims to change subject from useless speech, ignores main cause of problem (climate change) and recent major state legislation to directly address fire safety.
What a great fucking way to start the day.
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Ratfucker cuts off funding to California fire victims to change subject from useless speech, ignores main cause of problem (climate change) and recent major state legislation to directly address fire safety.
What a great fucking way to start the day.
I really wish the GOP would leave California alone. Talk like this makes me entertain the possibility of Trump declaring war on that state before leaving office. There's no chance of course, but it's depressing enough thinking that Trump has probably thought about it. I have to wonder which Fox News story set him off?
Meanwhile, it seems like discussions are not going well:
"Unfortunately, the President just got up and walked out," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "He asked Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi, 'Will you agree to my wall?' She said no. And he just got up and said, 'Then we have nothing to discuss,' and he just walked out. Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way, and he just walked out of the meeting."
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[qimg]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DweXVxsWsAUxhZR.jpg:large[/qimg]
Direct link to the tweet, for anyone who wants to see it at the source:
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Well, this is fairly surprising. Fox News calling out Trump on his bull crap.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-border-speech-fox-news_us_5c356ed3e4b0dbd06601649c
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/09/day-720/
Day 720: A total waste of time.
1/ Trump abruptly walked out of a closed-door meeting about the partial government shutdown with congressional leaders. Sen. Chuck Schumer said Trump stood up and "just walked out of the meeting" after Nancy Pelosi said she wouldn't fund his border wall even if he ended the shutdown. Trump then confirmed Schumer's story in a tweet, calling the meeting "a total waste of time." He tweeted: "I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!" (NBC News / BBC / CNN)https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-trump/index.html
Trump once again warned that he might declare a national emergency in order to bypass Congress to build his border wall. "I have the absolute right to do national emergency if I want," Trump said when asked what he would do if he is unable to reach a deal with Democrats to fund the wall. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/us/politics/trump-wall-national-emergency.html
The Democratic response to last night's national address received slightly higher ratings than Trump's actual remarks. Trump's remarks scored a combined 28.1 in the preliminary numbers from Nielsen, while the Democratic response scored a 29.3 across the same networks. (The Hill)
2/ The Supreme Court refused to intervene in a mysterious case that is believed to involve Robert Mueller and an unidentified foreign-owned company. Mueller subpoenaed "Company A," as it is referred to in court documents, but the company insists it has immunity and that complying with a U.S. Grand Jury subpoena would violate the laws of its home country. The court offered no explanation as to why it declined to intervene in the case and many case details remain shrouded in secrecy. The company is believed to be a foreign financial institution. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ A law firm that has represented both Russian interests and the Republican Party is involved in the mystery subpoena case between Robert Mueller and "Company A." The high-powered law firm Alston & Bird previous represented the Republican National Committee in an effort to obtain some of Hillary Clinton's emails. Alston & Bird also represented Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who loaned Paul Manafort $10 million. It is unclear whether Alston & Bird is currently representing "Company A," the country that owns "Company A," or the regulators of that country. (CNBC / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/russian-interests-law-firm-mueller/index.html
4/ The leaders of seven committees in the House of Representatives called on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to explain why the U.S. decided to ease sanctions against companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The committee chairs wrote to Mnuchin and called on him to explain a December announcement that the United States will lift sanctions against three companies connected to Deripaska, including an aluminum manufacturing giant called Rusal. The move still keeps Deripaska on a blacklist of sanctioned oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin, but Democrats say the deal allows Deripaska to maintain "significant ownership" of one of the companies. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
https://www.apnews.com/7eef88abcb51496390407796f2397800
Notables.
The Food & Drug Administration suspended routine inspections of the U.S. food supply because of the partial government shutdown. Most food safety inspections have been stopped, but the FDA is planning resume at least some of them if it can force furloughed workers to return to work without pay. "It’s not business as usual," said FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, "and we are not doing all the things we would do under normal circumstances. There are important things we are not doing." (NBC News / Washington Post)
TSA officers have started quitting their jobs after being forced to work without pay during the shutdown. "Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown," said Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees' TSA Council. (Daily Beast)
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will step down and leave the Justice Department after Mueller finishes his investigation. Rosenstein originally planned to remain as the deputy AG for about two years, and will remain on the job until after a new attorney general is confirmed. Trump nominated William Barr, who is scheduled to begin his confirmation hearing on Jan. 15. There has been no indication that Rosenstein is being forced out by the Trump administration. (ABC News / NBC News / Reuters / CNN)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-rosenstein-idUSKCN1P31AI
Roughly $5 million from Trump's farm bailout program will go to a Brazilian-owned meatpacking company. JBS is one of the largest meatpacking companies in the word and has roughly 73,000 employees and 44 plants in the U.S., but JBS is owned by a company based in San Paulo, Brazil. (Washington Post / The Hill)
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
A bit of weird prescience:
What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER'S NAME
(And watch until the end) https://t.co/6FA3p6KC00According to a reply, explaining the video in the tweet, "The show is called Trackdown, it ran on CBS in 1958, and the name of the episode is "The End of the World.""
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Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through
A photo demonstrated that the steel columns could breached with a common industrial tool. -
She's running.
"She" being Kamala Harris.
Sen. Kamala Harris has decided to seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, sources close to her told KCBS Radio. She'll announce her candidacy on or around Martin Luther King Day, probably at a campaign rally in Oakland, the sources said.
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Harris-O'Rourke is still my dream ticket. Go get 'em, girl.
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/10/day-721/
1/ Mitch McConnell blocked two House-passed bills that would have ended the now-20-day-long government shutdown. McConnell refused to take up the Senate versions of bills advanced by the House to reopen the parts of the government that have been shut down since late last month. McConnell has said that he will not consider any bills related to the shutdown that he doesn't believe Trump would sign. He added: "Political stunts are not going to get us anywhere." (CNN / The Hill)
2/ The Pentagon has started preparing options to build a wall along the southern border in the event that Trump declares a national emergency. "The Department of Defense," said Navy Capt. Bill Speaks, "is reviewing available authorities and funding mechanisms to identify options to enable border barrier construction." Trump once again warned that he was considering using an emergency declaration if talks with Democrats ultimately fail to result in an agreement. "If this doesn’t work out, probably I will do it – I would almost say definitely," Trump said. "We have plenty of funds if there’s a national emergency." (USA Today / Reuters)
3/ Michael Cohen agreed to voluntarily and publicly testify in front of the House Oversight Committee before he goes to prison next month. Trump's former personal attorney said he appreciates the opportunity "to give a full and credible account of the events that have transpired" during the time that he worked for Trump. Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings said the committee is "in the process of consulting with Special Counsel Mueller’s office," and promised more information about the Feb. 7 hearing in the coming weeks. Cohen will also answer questions from lawmakers about the Russia investigation during a closed-door session before the committee "in the near future," according to Adam Schiff. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / The Hill)
4/ Robert Mueller asked for information directly last year from one of Trump's campaign pollsters who also used to do business with Paul Manafort. Campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio was interviewed by Mueller's team in February 2018, a meeting that was previously unreported. The interview is even more significant in light of recent revelations that Mueller has been investigating how Manafort shared polling data with an associate who had ties to Russian intelligence. (CNN)- Day 719: Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort's lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort's interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort's attorneys meant for Mueller's line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)
Notables.
- Scientists say the oceans are warming at a much faster rate than they thought. A new study published in the journal Science found that the oceans are heating up 40% faster on average than estimates by a U.N. panel published just five years ago. The rising temperatures are killing off marine wildlife and ecosystems and the rising sea levels are making hurricanes more destructive. As the oceans continue to heat up, the impacts of those effects will become catastrophic. (New York Times)
- Steve Mnuchin agreed to give a classified briefing to members of Congress about his decision to lift sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The briefing came after the chairs of seven House committees sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary and former Trump campaign finance chair demanding to know more about the decision. (NBC News)
- Trump canceled a trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum and blamed it on "the Democrats [[I]sic] intransigence on Border Security and the great importance of Safety for our Nation." (New York Times)
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Howdy.
To recap: I’m a licensed structural and civil engineer with a MS in structural engineering from the top program in the nation and over a decade of experience on high-performance projects, and particularly of cleaning up design disasters where the factors weren’t properly accounted for, and I’m an adjunct professor of structural analysis and design at UH-Downtown. I have previously been deposed as an expert witness in matters regarding proper construction of walls and the various factors associated therein, and my testimony has passed Daubert.
Am I a wall expert? I am. I am literally a court-accepted expert on walls.
Structurally and civil engineering-wise, the border wall is not a feasible project. Trump did not hire engineers to design the thing. He solicited bids from contractors, not engineers. This means it’s not been designed by professionals. It’s a disaster of numerous types waiting to happen.
What disasters?
Off the top of my head…
- It will mess with our ability to drain land in flash flooding. Anything impeding the ability of water to get where it needs to go (doesn’t matter if there are holes in the wall or whatever) is going to dramatically increase the risk of flooding.
- Messes with all kind of stuff ecologically. For all other projects, we have to do an Environmental Site Assessment, which is arduous. They’re either planning to circumvent all this, or they haven’t accounted for it yet, because that’s part of the design process, and this thing hasn’t been designed.
- The prototypes they came up with are nearly impossible to build or don’t actually do the job. This article explains more:
https://www.google.com/…/mobile.engineering.…/amp/17599.html
And so on.
The estimates provided for the cost are arrived at unreasonably. You can look for yourself at the two-year-old estimate that you see everyone citing.
http://fronterasdesk.org/…/Bernstein-%20The%20Trump%20Wall.…
It does not account for rework, complexities beyond the prototype design, factors to prevent flood and environmental hazard creation, engineering redesign… It’s going to be higher than $50bn. The contractors will hit the government with near CONSTANT change orders. “Cost overrun” will be the name of the game. It will not be completed in Trump’s lifetime.
I’m a structural forensicist, which means I’m called in when things go wrong. This is a project that WILL go wrong. When projects go wrong, the original estimates are just obliterated. And when that happens, good luck getting it fixed, because there aren’t that many forensicists out there to right the ship, particularly not that are willing to work on a border wall project— a large quotient of us are immigrants, and besides, we can’t afford to bid on jobs that are this political. We’re small firms, and we’re already busy, and we don’t gamble our reputations on political footballs. So you’d end up with a revolving door of contractors making a giant, uncoordinated muddle of things, and it’d generally be a mess. Good money after bad. The GAO agrees with me.
And it won’t be effective. I could, right now, purchase a 32 foot extension ladder and weld a cheap custom saddle for the top of the proposed wall so that I can get over it. I don’t know who they talked to about the wall design and its efficacy, but it sure as heck wasn’t anybody with any engineering imagination.
Another thing: we are not far from the day where inexpensive drones will be able to pick up and carry someone. This will happen in the next ten years, and it’s folly to think that the coyotes who ferry people over the border won’t purchase or create them. They’re low enough, quiet enough, and small enough to quickly zip people over any wall we could build undetected with our current monitoring setup.
Let’s have border security, by all means, but let’s be smart about it. This is not smart. It’s not effective. It’s NOT cheap. The returns will be diminishing as technology advances, too. This is a ridiculous idea that will never be successfully executed and, as such, would be a monumental waste of money. *️
This is set to public. Have a blast sharing it.
. .
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^Adding to that…
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Another thing: we are not far from the day where inexpensive drones will be able to pick up and carry someone. This will happen in the next ten years,
Drones will eventually let us fly?
I can't wait!!Although I could foresee a lot of death/injury from falling or crashing into stuff if people aren't careful!
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I'd be ok if Drones just carried my stuff and delivered to me when I arrive after train conmute.
Like my lunch. Or a Gym bag (If I were to adult and do excercise).
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1/ Mitch McConnell blocked two House-passed bills that would have ended the now-20-day-long government shutdown. McConnell refused to take up the Senate versions of bills advanced by the House to reopen the parts of the government that have been shut down since late last month. McConnell has said that he will not consider any bills related to the shutdown that he doesn't believe Trump would sign. He added: "Political stunts are not going to get us anywhere." (CNN / The Hill)
Says the man doing political stunts…
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@MDL:
Drones will eventually let us fly?
I can't wait!!Heavy lifter drones can already carry 500 pounds, so they can do it now.
And they're working on duper deluxe models that can lift 1,700 pounds, almost a ton. (Even the generic mass market Amazon version can carry 40 pounds.) Those are designed for cargo, and not really designed for carrying people for extended distances, but they'll certainly be able to handle lifting 200 pounds up for minute, forward over a wall, and then back down.
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this would usually be the time where I yet again ponder "the fuck they have on Lindsey Graham?" but I'm increasingly inclined to think he's nothing less than a remora to those in prestigious political positions, adopting their tactics and policies with no personal investment
disappointing
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Graham was always bad and a media whore. He was in charge of the judiciary committee and use that position to lead the impeachment against Bill Clinton.
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He's always been awful but, yeah, they almost certainly have some major dirt on him. Likely gay-related since those rumors have been flying around for years and that's the single biggest thing that would instantly discredit Graham with his base. Being corrupt obviously wouldn't do it.
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So Sherrod Brown and Tulsi Gabbard have thrown their hats in for 2020.
These are both bad ideas, because Brown is a great senator holding a strategically important seat that we may not win back and Gabbard is an awful person who commands the loyalty of a certain subsection of the American left for some reason.
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"Gay-Hatin'" Tulsi "Assad isn't that bad, guys" Gabbard probably won't make it very far
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Fun fact: Gabbard has a more conservative voting record than Beto, yet Bernie fans hate the latter while cheering the former.
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/11/day-722/
Day 722: Embarrassing1/ The government shutdown entered day 21 as Congress left for the weekend following another round of stalled negotiations to end the shutdown – ensuring that the partial government shutdown will become the longest in history. The House and Senate, however, both passed a measure to ensure that federal workers who are furloughed receive back pay once the government reopens, which now goes to Trump for his signature. The House also passed another bill to reopen more government departments, but is likely DOA in the Senate because of a veto threat from Trump. The second-longest shutdown stretched for 21 days from December 1995 until January 1996, due to a dispute between Bill Clinton and the Republican-led Congress at the time. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ An estimated 800,000 federal employees missed their first paycheck due to the shutdown. In particular, more than 24,000 FAA employees, including air traffic controllers, are working without pay, since their positions are considered vital for "life and safety," and more than 17,000 other have been furloughed – told to stop doing their jobs. (NBC News / CNN/ Washington Post / New York Times)- Federal crop payments have stopped flowing to farmers, who say they cannot get federally-backed operating loans to buy seed for their spring planting, or feed for their livestock because of the shutdown. Farmers also can't look up government data about beef prices or soybean yields to make decisions about planting and selling their goods. Some farmers have said the loss of loans, payments and other services has pushed them to a breaking point. (New York Times)
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has curtailed inspections due to the shutdown, while the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has suspended health exposure assessments. Cash assistance to buy groceries are funded through February. (The Guardian)
- White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett compared the shutdown to getting a free "vacation" for furloughed workers and that they might be "better off" after they return to work. (Politico)
3/ The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to declare a national emergency and possibly using a portion of the Army's $13.9 billion disaster fund to pay for his border wall. The money is meant to fund civil works projects, including repairing storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico through 2020. Jared Kushner, meanwhile, has urged Trump to try to find other approaches than declaring a national emergency, but said an emergency should be invoked only if it creates a clear path for the White House to build the wall. Democrats are exploring both legislative and legal options to challenge a possible national emergency declaration. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
- UPDATE****: Trump said he is not looking to declare a national emergency "right now" for his border wall, a day after suggesting he would "probably" do so. Trump instead urged "Congress to do its job" and vote, again, on funding for the wall. Yesterday, Trump claimed his lawyers had told him that a national emergency declaration – allowing him to bypass Democrats in Congress – would hold up to legal scrutiny "100%." (Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ Trump falsely denied that he ever promised that Mexico would "write out a check" for his border wall, except he did: at least 212 times during the campaign and more since taking office. In a March 2016 memo, Trump outlined that Mexico would "make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion" for the wall. Trump has more recently resorted to a baseless claim that Mexico will now indirectly pay for the wall through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which has not been ratified by Congress, and contains no provisions earmarking money for the wall. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 74% of Americans call the shutdown "embarrassing," with 72% saying the shutdown is going to hurt the country. (NPR)
poll/ 51% of adults believe Trump "deserves most of the blame" for the shutdown. (Reuters)
poll/ 39% of Americans favor building a wall, while 59.1% oppose it. Among Republicans, 74.1% favor a wall, while 85.4% of Democrats oppose it. (Washington Post)
️Notables.
- The U.S. began withdrawing some equipment – but not troops – from Syria. Military officials have refused to provide details about specific timetables or movements, but a spokesperson said "the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria" has begun. He continued: "Out of concern for operational security, we will not discuss specific timelines, locations or troops movement." The number of troops or vehicles that have been withdrawn also remains unknown at this time. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times)
- The United States approved thousands of child bride requests over the past decade. From 2007 through 2017, there were 5,556 approvals for those seeking to bring minor spouses or fiancees, and 2,926 approvals by minors seeking to bring in older spouses. The Immigration and Nationality Act does not set minimum age requirements, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services goes by whether the marriage is legal in the home country. (Associated Press)
- Rudy Giuliani thinks Trump's legal team should be allowed to "correct" Robert Mueller's final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it. Giuliani went on to call it "a matter of fairness," because the special counsel "could be wrong." (The Hill)
- Steve King doesn't understand why the phrases "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" have "become offensive." The nine-term Iowa Republican and Trump ally declared himself an "American nationalist" in a statement while defending his support of "western civilization's values." (New York Times / Politico / The Guardian)
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@Cyan:
Gabbard is an awful person who commands the loyalty of a certain subsection of the American left for some reason.
Welp .
Fun fact: Gabbard has a more conservative voting record than Beto, yet Bernie fans hate the latter while cheering the former.
Irrationally (and ironically) hating or criticizing what they don't fully understand seems to be a recurring them amongst Bernie fans.
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Irrationally (and ironically) hating or criticizing what they don't fully understand seems to be a recurring them amongst Bernie fans.
Fun coincidence, getting a taste of that with the other board I follow political stuff on as a "Bernie Bro" type is trying to deflect the criticisms towards him… badly.
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Fun fact: Gabbard has a more conservative voting record than Beto, yet Bernie fans hate the latter while cheering the former.
They know Beto is a viable candidate and is a threat to Bernie in the Primary as a result. Gabbard is neither.
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Fun fact: Gabbard has a more conservative voting record than Beto, yet Bernie fans hate the latter while cheering the former.
She's also in a safe as hell district so she doesn't have the Manchin Excuse.
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there's genuinely nothing more confusing to me than the mind of a bernie fan in this day and age
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I liked Bernie. I wanted him to be the guy. And if he was younger, I'd be all for him running again. But he's going to be 77 next year. He's not the one, get over it guys.
Also I'm really tired of the "the DNC rigged it for Hillary" nonsense. She won like 35 states and was ahead by millions of votes, like 60% of the total popular votes. Even without super delegates, she handily beat Bernie. Yeah, she was the better known name, but that was the case when she was against Obama 8 years earlier as well. Bernie then stayed in far too long and damaged her campaign after Trump became the official guy for the Republicans.
(And we've learned since the Russian bots were also supporting Bernie and Stein to draw support off Hillary. So…)
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Poor Bernie. Let the poor man rest before his final days.
That said, it would have been wonderful to finally have a Jewish president.
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I'd like to put in a request for a new poltics thread since 821 pages is rather high. Maybe at the official two year mark?
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It gets a new thread when there's something worth making a new one over, a tangible legitimate splitting point. Otherwise not really any point in doing a new one.
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The Mid-Terms would have been the natural time for a new thread. Right now, there doesn't seem like much point before this summer when things will really start ramping up for next year. Well, barring Trump dropping dead or resigning.
(And we've learned since the Russian bots were also supporting Bernie and Stein to draw support off Hillary. So…)
Since? We knew that by June of 2016.