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Re: Foxes in the Henhouse
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Fucking Garland was what older litigators used to call "sharp practice." That kind of thing comes back to bite you. And you can't whine when people call it what it is. |
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HRC and the DNC could sue Trump's campaign for civil conspiracy. But there was no interference with the US Govt. Nor was there any effort to undermine the US Govt. All efforts were aimed at a political opponent. HRC would only have qualified as a govt entity, triggering application of the espionage act, if she won the election. And even there, actions taken against her while she was a private citizen would not be espionage. I understand many people think they were entitled to have her as President, and she was robbed of the office. But at the time the actions at issue were taken, she was a private citizen. |
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Even entertaining the suggestion he is tolerable in some respects is heresy. BUT... It is the same thing we heard from the Right for eight years under Obama. Nobody on the right has authority to bitch. It's repayment for all of those years we had to endure "Socialist!," "Kenyan Muslim!," "Bill Ayers Acolyte!" and all the other cuckoo pants lunacy your right wing relatives stuffed into your email inbox every day. It's also a lot of fun to say, "I like Trump. I think he's doing a great job," to Lefties at parties. It works like that line in Dylan's "Motorpsycho Nightmare," where he screams "I like Fidel Castro and his beard!" to piss off the crazy farmer. Thankfully, the Lefties don't chase you from the room with a shotgun. I suggest trying it. It also works on Bush Republicans. |
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FEMA camps weren't real. He isn't a Muslim. He wasn't born in Kenya. He wasn't coming for their guns. Immigration raids are real. The travel ban is real. They really are coming for your health insurance. There's at least enough smoke to warrant looking in to how compromised by the Russians he is. |
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Unless Podesta and the DNC had classified info in their servers and accounts, which is arguably a separate criminal act by them, there is no theft of state secrets, and no espionage. I understand I just pulled an essential pin out of your argument. And the typical lawyer response is to try to build an alternative theory to shoehorn things back into your theory. But sometimes, you're just missing an essential element of the crime. And here, that element is the theft of state information. Unless the DNC and Podesta are the govt, you're coming up flat. |
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But I wasn't talking about Russia in the post to which you've responded. I was talking about the Left's general proposition that the only valid comment about Trump is negative, and any hint of tolerance for him, or even a blasé attitude toward him, is invalid or heresy. That's batshit. No intelligent person looks to the politician. They judge the policies. His immigration ban is idiotic and counterproductive. But his attempt to pare regulation is good. His unfortunately incoherent effort to undo McCarran Ferguson, allowing cross-border insurance competition, is good. His defunding of Planned Parenthood is abhorrent. His tax plan's feature which would allow repatriation of foreign held US corporate money is good. His tariff plans are abysmal. His relaxation of Dodd Frank, if it ever happens, is good. His preferred climate change denial is unforgivably cynical. Reasonable people could have a conversation about the good and bad of any candidate. Even Donald Trump. That he's a loon who speaks in absolutes does not mean we should do so. Look at the man as a dim sum restaurant. Compromise on the good dishes, register dislike with the bad ones. |
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Stop being intentionally obtuse. |
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I will have to say that my absolute favorite story of this year is how Shia Labeouf cannot even successfully fly a stupid flag in protest, even outside of the US. I know virtually nothing about 4Chan, but if the CIA showed that kind of initiative, the world would be a safer place.
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I'll be at two bars w/in the next 36 hrs. In them, I'll be able to speak with people who are varying degrees of left and right, moderate, or politically agnostic. This place lacks balance. |
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As for connecting to Trump personally, this seems a bit conspiratorial so I'm not going to vouch for it's credibility, but check out this Twitter thread. Quote:
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Meanwhile, he's till openly courting racists. Quote:
But we know, you don't care about other people. ETA: Oh, yeah, and how his DOJ is going back into private prisons. That's great. Quote:
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Or do you think health insurance doesn't need regulation? Because it very much does. If you want the federal government to take over insurance regulation, then fine, you can sell it across state lines. Quote:
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Creating a situation in which a foreign nation can exert influence over a sitting President is not a crime. In fact, it happens all the time. In your scenario, intelligence sharing among spy agencies could render their employees traitors. |
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The areas I follow closest are taxes and foreign policy. Here's the thing on foreign policy, where I'm accustomed to finding plenty of Rs to agree with in dealing with one issue or another: his approach to every situation is just incredibly assinine. He's a clown who has assembled a clown car for a team. There are - count them - two people on his foreign policy team who have avoided self-inflicted wounds in the first 60 days - Haley, who has done nothing useful but at least hasn't screwed up badly, and Greenblatt, who may be the surprise star of the administration in part because he seems to admit his shortcomings and be willing to learn. Tillerson, who ought to be at least competent, proved himself about the worst of them on the Asia trip. I never believed I would say this, but I really miss Cheney and his neo-cons. |
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Sebby: "Of course the Trump people talked to the Russians, who wouldn't?" Me: "Anyone with half a brain, as it compromises the Trump people." Sebby: "It only matters if they talked about something illegal." Me: "You're ignoring the espionage value to the Russians." Sebby: "No I'm not but talking to them isn't illegal espionage." Me: "Dude, the point is they compromised themselves." Sebby: "You're saying that being compromised is illegal espionage?" Me, having caught up to real time: No, I'm saying that letting yourself be compromised is a very serious blunder. Above and beyond whether the Trump people did anything illegal (I have no idea why you'd be certain they didn't), the contacts alone are a major scandal that undermines the administration's credibility, and may have left them compromised. It was stupid. It wasn't what "anybody" would do. It's bad even if it isn't illegal. ETA: And if you're really caught up on illegal behavior, it's not hard to extrapolate from the facts we know to Manafort or whoever joining in on an ongoing criminal hacking conspiracy. |
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Daddy has some soothing music to ease your woes. The Daily Dose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSERB93GYfw |
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About etiquette From glossy magazines Why should I try To talk correct Like they do In another scenes Say no more About imagery You're starting to confuse Just make an offer Of more romance Of course I can't refuse |
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Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
Health Care: Spending a year with people actually thinking about what to change that could get through Congress might be a good thing. An actually functional HC act would be a good thing. And I've felt forever that 2018 and the "Ford Pinto" tax kicking in would be the point that makes clear the ACA was a really evil deal. Once 50% of America sees its HC significantly lowered there might be critical mass to fix some shit.
And the failure to push through some half-baked hate act, despite the "it is all in our control" gives me a little bit of hope that we will ultimately be able to get through this*? *this being the next years, not just HC |
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The only people who can do a big health care bill, that addresses system-wide issues, on the scale of the Affordable Care Act or even Trump Care, are the republicans. What do you think their next bill will look like? Do you see any chance they'd even talk to Dems about the shape of the bill while they control both houses? Expect dems to put forward a series of little bills, fixing individual pieces or making proposals on one part or another - e.g., a government payor option at least for places where a state opts for it or where there is only a single option under ACA, an attempt to fund the coops, that sort of thing. Anything else is for show, and can't have a snowball's chance in Hell until they have control of at least one house, and probably at least one house and the Presidency. |
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A cynic would say Stone is being set up to take the fall already. I think he's just too dim to shut his mouth. |
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But the biggest allegation in the dossier is that Putin offered Trump a stake in Rosneft in exchange for lifting sanctions. There's no fall guy for that, if true. |
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Everything's funny. - Carlin Let's get ice cream. - Kaufman |
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But I would point out the tax change that Hank is upset by is the main component of the ACA bill that is a sop to folks with an approach that I think you have advocated: letting individual consumers bear the full costs of care and counting on them to then negotiate a better deal. Now, it only exposes the high-end plans to that rule, assuming that if it works those are the people with the most negotiating leverage able to fend for themselves. You can argue with Hank over its pros and cons, but the fact is, even with a substantial number of Dems willing to ride on this one, the Republicans can't muster the votes to take that tax subsidy out of the system. |
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Everyone wants to go big on healthcare, but there is a lot that can be done by fiddling around the edges and making little changes, and that's likely the only way to do anything positive in healthcare for the next couple years. That said, if Bernie can get any traction with his Medicare for all approach, he'll be hailed as a genius. He doesn't have a great history of finding folks across the aisle to work with him, but maybe with his newfound clout... |
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