Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Tax the fucking rich. F. T. W.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

If we've learned anything in the last ten years, it's that we need Presidents who are larger than life figures, Presidents who will solve all of our problems without the messy process of negotiation and building consensus and policy and the law and all of that other shit no one wants to think about. Find the personality, form your cult, and Bob's your uncle.

Bingo!
 

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...75&oe=5CC21DD7

TM

Re: Bingo!
 

Where are the squares for Charles Murray "Whites are inherently smarter than blacks" and the "I don't see why rich black kids should have preference in college admissions"....

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Why is Labour calling a no-confidence vote if they don't think they'll win it?

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Corbin is a moron?

Like, seriously. They could have spent the last two years or whatever organizing around how brexit is stupid and harmful and (at minimum) the wrong approach to the problems that voters were concerned about he be in a position to win big majorities. If nothing else, be the opposition.

Instead, he’s gitthey standing for nothing.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

It appears to me that there are three substantial groups of voters in the UK: Those who are for Remain, those who are for Brexit, and those who are for Brexit under notional conditions that will never come to pass in the real world. None has a majority. So there's a majority for Brexit in the abstract, but a majority against May's Brexit plan.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

What specific things wrecked this, or what your third group wants? Was Brexit passed by a large margin?

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

The Brexit referendum passed by a non-large margin, but Theresa May's proposal today got crushed in Parliament. If you assume that Parliament represents the country on this, which it may not, then many Britons are for the abstract idea of Brexit, but against the actual Brexit deal which this government has been able to negotiate. Anyone who has been paying attention has to believe that the May government has done about what could be expected, given that it has no leverage vis-a-vis the other 27 EU member states. So the problem is that there are many Britons who like and voted for some notional Brexit, but who don't like actual Brexit.

eta: Sort of like the way that Donald Trump got enough votes to win against Hillary, but most of the country has been unhappy with him. Sort of.

eata: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Eu8AA...88K/s-l500.jpg

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Right, the job is to move the third group to Labour. I’m not close enough to know whether that’s by pushing the impossibility of a deal those voters will like, the harms of a bad deal or the positives of remaining, but Corbyn’s “I’m secretly for Brexit” doesn’t seem to be working.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Confidential to Hank: have you explored whether Guernica was inspired by Gaudi’s iron work, in particular on the balconies of La Pedrera?

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Corbyn appears to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Some majority of Britons appear to want the trade advantages of the EU without the liberal immigration. The EU has to take an all-in or all-out posture. Otherwise, every other country can arm-twist for a bespoke “membership.”

What will be interesting is if a no deal Brexit proceeds and somehow the economic impact to GB is not as significant as expected. This would embolden problem debtor nations in the EU to push against austerity dictates from Brussels. The EU could run into enforcement problems regarding other members if GB survives a hard Brexit.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Pelosi knows how to play the game, and the reporters who said she was "asking" the White House to do anything should go back to school to learn what's what.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

One more norm violated.

Good move on her part. Fight fire with fire.

He’ll say he doesn’t care and try to do it live from Oval. Winners: Networks. Losers: Everybody else.

But this and Cohen’s testimony look to be some wild entertainment. Pathetic, but also weirdly fascinating.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

"play the game?" as to Trump? GTFOH. Do you remember trying to deal with Penske socks? Knowing how to play the game helped how?

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

I see shutting down the government as violating a norm, and pretending that things continue normally when it's shut down as additional violation. So in that sense, saying that the speech should wait until the government is open seems restorative. Not sure that the shutdown will go another two weeks, so I would not be surprised if there's a deal before then and that even if Trump backs down, his getting to do the SOTU on the original date will be painted (by him) as Pelosi caving.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Don't think I view Pelosi as the norm violator here. I'm just citing the fact that in this bizarre set of affairs, another norm (that the President give a SOTU before Congress) has been violated. Has that ever happened before?

I think Pelosi was smart to do what she did. I'd have done the same. You can't give a bully a pedestal to make a political speech to Congress lambasting half the room for refusing to get behind his request for $5bil for a wall that is never going to be built and even if it were going to be built would be largely futile.

The abnormality here isn't that the govt is shut down. That's happened quite a few times before. The abnormality is that the govt is shutdown over something that is a pure political stunt. At least in the past when it was shut down, there was a real dispute, an actual disagreement over something that was going to happen. The wall is complete fiction. From a construction standpoint it cannot be built. This dispute might as well be over whether Congress will allocate funds for Trump to build time machines.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Per Pelosi’s letter, sotu messGeswere given in writings til the Wilson administration.

Yup
 

But we'll never do this because it gives up guaranteed revenue streams for states and local govts.

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/e...nal-licensing/

I'd like to buy the world a shave...
 

this = this

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Trump and the Republicans are taking hostages to try to get leverage to do something that is unpopular. They have done this before. Negotiating with them encourages them to do it again.

The way this should end is with a bigger deal that gives both the GOP and Democrats a win on something they care about. But the wall is about dominance for Trump, and he is too worried about being criticized by the right wing of his party.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Trump Fires Back. This is childish, on both sides.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Pelosi's move left open the possibility that they could strike a deal and Trump would then get to do his speech. No one really cares if Pelosi goes to Afghanistan -- it's just petty.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

I guess I stand corrected. I still think it was wise to preclude him from using SOTU before Congress to grandstand and attack.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Agreed. But the way the immigration issue should end is with a deal for sensible reform coupled with some more robust security at borders. Everyone gets something.

$5.7 billion for a wall is a Monty Python skit. He should be mocked openly and regularly for this.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

As always, Nevada never disappoints - https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b08aaf7a86b9e4

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Yes, but Trump's minority wants to end immigration, not reform it, and they also want to stick it to the libs, so there is no deal they can accept.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Agreed. But politics has a finish line. This nonsense has to end for economic reasons. You’ve had your fun, Donald. Now capitulate, and Nancy, give him a face-saving exit.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but if they can cut a quick deal, the Donald can do the SOTU on the original date and say that Nancy backed down on that.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

That doesn't save face. She needs to give him a few dollars plus some future commitment to enhanced border security (that'll ultimately never happen).

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

I think the Mutha Fucka needs to start getting rid of some of the alligators he's let loose so he can focus on his criminal and impeachment defenses.

He needs to beg for mercy. He's just so fucked. It's so bad that even Buzzfeed is getting in body blows.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

They gave him more than that. He said no in order to try further restrict legal immigration. He showed bad faith on a deal already, he needs to eat the loss.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

No doubt, it needs to be part of a larger deal.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Sebastian, still wondering if you think there's nothing to the Russia story.

eta: Someone I don't know on Twitter:

Imagine 10 years ago getting this fortune cookie: *Buzzfeed* News will break the story on President *Trump* obstructing justice to conceal *collusion with Russia*

Bexit Signage
 

Re: Bexit Signage
 

Too wordy.

Hank (the only one here to ever make the New Yorker Caption Contest finals) Chinaski

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

He can’t beg. Alienates the rabid base. He’s going to keep swinging and deny everything Cohen says.

Expect him to appeal to the base even more. I think his only way out is to do what Stone recommended: Galvanize his followers and create the fear his impeachment would create widespread social unrest. Only problem for Trump there is that this idiotic shutdown is hurting that base.

He’s at war on all fronts. One of the toughest enemies, perhaps the toughest, is his own impulsivity.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

I don’t think there will be collusion involving him directly. I think this latest Cohen admission is Trump trying to cover up a business deal that might create a conflict of interest investigation. That’s different from collusion.

It’s a classic “cover up is worse than crime” scenario.

I think he’s just dumb enough to have had no idea there was a crime/fraud exception to atty/client privilege, or that Cohen could be made to talk.

Re: We are all Slave now.
 

Since the word "collusion" is ambiguous, it's hard for me to tell what you think we're not going to find. The big picture is that Trump had financial dealings with the Russians, directly involving the Russian government, for some time, and at the same time has used his position (as a candidate and as the President) to benefit Russia. Are you saying there won't be proof of an express quid pro quo? If there isn't, and there is proof that (e.g.) Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress, it's not that the cover-up is *worse* than the crime -- the crime is still worse, but he gets nailed for the things that prosecutors can prove.

Anyway, the idea that there's no evidence of collusion is laughable. It's right in front of us.