I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Agree completely. The need for new blood, whether of the shiny new penny kind or of the much rarer truly new thinking kind, is key.

It was the lack of new blood that caused this lurid reaction. Bush to Clinton to Bush to Guy Who Was Supposed to Change Things But Turned Out Pretty Conventional to... another Clinton?

To quote an underappreciated gem from a dearly departed Aussie rock juggernaut, a whole lot of us wanted new blood... and we got it.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

In both instances, you have little more than allegations, as you acknowledge.

No, I don't. In one instance, you have literally no evidence. In the other, you have actual evidence. That's a difference even if you find the evidence offered to be unpersuasive.

I also find it a little more than curious people are willing to forgive pretty clear bias on the part of a domestic law enforcement agency - which ought to scare the shit out them

It should be disbanded, and not just for this. But it won't be.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Dude, I just cited evidence that when you said I bought the framing, you were wrong. If I missed some irony, it's an awful dry vintage.

OK, that's fair.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

]I also find it a little more than curious people are willing to forgive pretty clear bias on the part of a domestic law enforcement agency - which ought to scare the shit out them - and flip out over the cyber interference of a known adversary.

No one is forgiving Comey for interfering with the election in order to please Republican Senators. Except Republicans. That's what you mean, right?

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

I began the Christmas Holidays thinking that the people on The New York Times Op-Ed page were overwrought. I owe them an apology. We are living on an Orwellian world where lies are truth, lies get "explained" away by the people who are retained to mop up after the President elect (Latest example: Trump didn't mock a disabled reporter; there are countless other examples.) We are going to see this every damn day for the entire duration of Trump's presidency. Not that we didn't see this before the election, but it only seems to have gotten worse

We are going to continue to see false equivalency on a scale previously unimaginable. We are going to see government by Tweet and petty vindictiveness by a man so thin skinned insecure that he will rise to any bait. Putin may die of convulsive laughter; he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Worse than that are the pathetic Republicans who know he is dangerous but who have chosen to forget that he insulted them, and their families personally, in a way that would get your ass handed to you in most venues. These fawning fools make my skin crawl. The people who called him a liar and a fraud and a phony crawled to Trump Tower seeking jobs in the Trump Administration. All in order to secure an agenda that will dramatically make matters demonstrably worse for the people who voted against their economic interests because they felt ignored.

The clown who hated Obamacare but loved the Affordable Care Act is by no mean an isolated case. The religious right sold their collective souls to Trump in one of the greatest acts of self delusion in modern times. The people who think they will be employed in coal mines and factories were conned. The veterans who rally around him ignore the fact that he was a draft dodger.

This emperor has no clothes except the ill fitting crap with a Trump label made by children overseas. He will govern as he has lived: as a moral cypher.

He is indefensible on any level. He is proudly ignorant. If anything good happens it will be in spite of him, not because of him. Those people on the Times editorial page, those elitists, were right.

It will get worse before it gets better. And it won't get better until the Democrats go deeper into their bench for some new blood.

This is a pretty eloquent, if terribly disheartening, summary of Our Times. I think we need to take a step back from time to time and do a little mental summary like this to remind ourselves that this is Not O.K. No, this is not some whimsical four-year jaunt into dark but ultimately harmless absurdism. I can predict the future about as well as Sebastian (which is why, unlike Sebastian, I don't spend most of my time here telling everybody what is going to happen in the future). But, to the extent I can makes guesses, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are going to suffer because of all this. And yes, this is not the End of Times, and the sun still rises every day, but as Oliver noted, the planet's continuing rotation on its axis is a pretty low standard for our expectations as to how things our going in our country and society.

All that being said, I believe that disengaging from time to time is also important, even if it is just to spend a few minutes listening to some sublime funk. Today's Daily Dose is an upbeat funky ass organ jam with Groove Holmes. "Groovin' for Mr. G."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yLJU6j_YEc

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

This is a pretty eloquent, if terribly disheartening, summary of Our Times. I think we need to take a step back from time to time and do a little mental summary like this to remind ourselves that this is Not O.K. No, this is not some whimsical four-year jaunt into dark but ultimately harmless absurdism. I can predict the future about as well as Sebastian (which is why, unlike Sebastian, I don't spend most of my time here telling everybody what is going to happen in the future). But, to the extent I can makes guesses, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are going to suffer because of all this. And yes, this is not the End of Times, and the sun still rises every day, but as Oliver noted, the planet's continuing rotation on its axis is a pretty low standard for our expectations as to how things our going in our country and society.

All that being said, I believe that disengaging from time to time is also important, even if it is just to spend a few minutes listening to some sublime funk. Today's Daily Dose is an upbeat funky ass organ jam with Groove Holmes. "Groovin' for Mr. G."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yLJU6j_YEc

Come on, you can't really dismiss end times as a possibility, right? I mean, you know when they open the second seal there is an orange haired horse who emerges spitting venom - isn't that where we are? And after opening the third seal there is a stone white man carrying balanced scales sitting on top a black beast of burden - Sessions?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

If you have engaged with the real alt-right on Twitter or anywhere else, you know Sebby is in no way alt-right.

So do you think Sebby is a secular lawyer?

[ThurgreedMarshall]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politi...inkId=33252933

TM

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politi...inkId=33252933

TM

For me, this is key. But, hey, this is just like Trumpians saying that the system was rigged for Hillary.

The two-page synopsis also included allegations that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government, according to two national security officials.

Sources tell CNN that these same allegations about communications between the Trump campaign and the Russians, mentioned in classified briefings for congressional leaders last year, prompted then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid to send a letter to FBI Director Comey in October, in which he wrote, "It has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government -- a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States."

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

But, to the extent I can makes guesses, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are going to suffer because of all this.

For example:

Anti-vaxxer to head Trump vaccine panel?

Mr. Trump on Tuesday asked a prominent anti-vaccine crusader to lead a new government commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity, ushering debunked conspiracy theories about the dangers of immunization into the White House.

Mr. Trump, who has embraced discredited links between vaccines and autism, has asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a nephew of President John F. Kennedy, to be chairman of the commission, Mr. Kennedy said after meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower.

Mr. Kennedy’s appointment spread alarm through the medical community, which for years has rejected claims that childhood vaccines are linked to conditions like autism. Medical experts warned Tuesday that Mr. Trump’s actions would endanger children by confusing parents about the need to have them vaccinated.

“It gives it a quasi-legitimacy that I frankly find frightening,” said William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University. He said Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy were being fooled by “long-discredited” theories about vaccines.

In the NYT. Make no mistake about it, if vaccine skepticism is given any sort of legitimacy, CHILDREN WILL DIE. But don't worry about that Sebastian, you're not a child. And think of how fun it will be to see the wacky hijinks this Trump fellow gets into during the next four years!

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politi...inkId=33252933

TM

ETA It seems Buzzfeed has released a file detailing Trump's Russian ties. It doesn't provide any evidence, but I cannot say that any of the allegations are implausible.

Um, yeah. I can tell all of us are shocked. I will not be surprised if Trump is impeached, and will be severely disappointed if the GOP in congress don't sign on.

It's still weird for me that I am frequently now on the side of Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

Deplorables are now putting KGB in their names because they're idiots.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

This is dated, but worth reading. Washio just gave up the ghost.

In other dated news, some of you may want to delete accounts and cookies - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.5d7ec2871b43 .

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

So do you think Sebby is a secular lawyer?

I prefer anti-theist gadfly.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politi...inkId=33252933

TM

Check #goldenshowers on Twitter.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

For example:

In the NYT. Make no mistake about it, if vaccine skepticism is given any sort of legitimacy, CHILDREN WILL DIE. But don't worry about that Sebastian, you're not a child. And think of how fun it will be to see the wacky hijinks this Trump fellow gets into during the next four years!

Dissent: #goldenshowers

"It's the gift that keeps on giving..." - Uncle Eddie