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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
September 13, 2018

Won't vote because of lack of "inspiring candidate"....

Ok, I stipulate, having a Barack Obama or Beto O'Rourke to vote for is always better. I get it. But...

At best, our elected representatives are "statesmen" or "stateswomen" and do what's truly best for us. At worst, they just do what their donors want and what will line their own pockets. A neutral position is they are simply the proxy by which we express our will. That's how I view my Senators and Representative. My DEMOCRATIC PARTY-affiliated Senators and Representive will be a more perfect proxy for my wishes. The Republicans, we all know what they do.

I don't need to be fucking inspired. Did I need to be inspired to get up on Monday morning and go to work ? Well, it HELPED, yes, but 99% of the time I was NOT inspired.

Sorry, this Chris Hayes special is just pushing my buttons.

September 12, 2018

Trump pardons: will the base accept them, if they occur ?

I've heard it said on either MSNBC or CNN or both (can't remember) that if the Narcissistic-Sociopath-in-Chief pardons Manafort and/or his son, that part of the base will rebel and leave him. Did you hear that also, or is that just a fantasy ?

I lean towards pure fantasy, but I want to hear what you think. Thanks!

September 12, 2018

The State Department Tried to Rebrand As 'Department of Swagger' and Boy Did It Backfire

http://time.com/5392874/department-of-swagger/

The State Department made a surprising announcement on Monday, and it had nothing to do with international affairs. The branch of the federal government had rebranded itself as “The Department of Swagger.”

https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1039224343308455936

The re-branding campaign started when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched an Instagram account on Monday, posting an inaugural photo and declaring that the State Department has “swagger.” So much “swagger” that the entire department needed to be renamed to properly reflect the amount of “swagger” shown in Pompeo’s photo. “Thought I’d launch my Instagram account with some @statedept #swagger,” the secretary of state wrote alongside an image of a new (hopefully) joke state department seal, which was also posted on Pompeo’s Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1039316889183444993

Since taking over the State Department from Rex Tillerson, Pompeo has touted his drive to return swagger to the State Department. According to NPR, at his swearing in ceremony he said, “I want the State Department to get its swagger back.” Despite Pompeo’s swagger-driven mission, the internet, to say the least, was not impressed, seeming to see Pompeo’s rebranding effort as a dad joke with international ramifications. One Twitter user just commented “(cringe)”, while another told Pompeo, “you are so embarrassing.”
September 12, 2018

Trump tweets Russian propaganda from inside the White House

On the colonnade outside the Oval Office, McMaster spoke with Cohn and Porter. McMaster said that at 6:03 a.m., Trump had tweeted: “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign—‘quietly working to boost Clinton.’ So where is the investigation A.G. [attorney general]” It was clearly Russian propaganda, McMaster said. He and the NSC and intelligence experts had concluded that. But the president had picked it up and shot it out.

McMaster said he wasn’t sure how long he could stay.


Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House (p. 230). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

September 11, 2018

President Obama: We will always remember everyone we lost on 9/11

We will always remember everyone we lost on 9/11, thank the first responders who keep us safe, and honor all who defend our country and the ideals that bind us together. There's nothing our resilience and resolve can’t overcome, and no act of terror can ever change who we are.

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1039512025406349312


I wish we could have him back instead of the Sociopath-In-Chief

September 11, 2018

"(Trump) proceeded to lecture and insult (the Secretaries of Defense, State and Treasury) about how

A senior White House official who spoke contemporaneously with participants in the meeting recorded this summary: “The president proceeded to lecture and insult the entire group about how they didn’t know anything when it came to defense or national security. It seems clear that many of the president’s senior advisers, especially those in the national security realm, are extremely concerned with his erratic nature, his relative ignorance, his inability to learn, as well as what they consider his dangerous views.”


Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House (pp. 226-227). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Entire group = Tillerson, Mattis, Mnuchin, McMasters, Cohn, Dunford, Bannon


This passage came first, of course:

Trump got up and walked out.

All the air seemed to have come out of Tillerson. He could not abide Trump’s attack on the generals. The president was speaking as if the U.S. military was a mercenary force for hire. If a country wouldn’t pay us to be there, then we didn’t want to be there. As if there were no American interests in forging and keeping a peaceful world order, as if the American organizing principle was money.

“Are you okay?” Cohn asked him.

“He’s a fucking moron,” Tillerson said so everyone heard.


Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House (pp. 224-225). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

September 11, 2018

McCabe (ex-FBI):"It's total bullshit....It's not true, and we want you to know that"(NYT story 2017)

“You know this story in The New York Times?” Priebus knew it all too well. McCabe was referring to a recent Times story of February 14 that stated, “Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the elections, according to four current and former American officials.”

The story was one of the first bombs to go off about alleged Trump-Russian connections after Flynn’s resignation.

“It’s total bullshit,” McCabe said. “It’s not true, and we want you to know that. It’s grossly overstated.”

Oh my God, thought Priebus."


Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House (p. 84). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_McCabe


Hmmmmm.....
September 11, 2018

Trump: "I don't believe in human (CIA) sources...These are people who have sold their souls"

“I don’t believe in human sources,” Trump replied. “These are people who have sold their souls and sold out their country.” He wasn’t buying. “I don’t trust human intelligence and these spies.” This remark caused Brennan, whose CIA relied almost entirely on human sources, later to remark, “I guess I won’t tell the employees about that.”

Woodward, Bob. Fear: Trump in the White House (p. 68). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.


One more confirmation that Trump is an ignorant asshole. The above quote happened during Trump's 2017 confidential briefing before he took office.
September 10, 2018

Courtesy of the Republicans, the ACA individual mandate vanished....

Because of that, many of the people who only got insurance because of the mandate will not, and premiums are going to rise up to 30% or so, according to articles I've read.

Strictly political question: Can we Democrats reinstate the individual mandate eventually, or should we just go to Medicare for all ?

Before I get scolded, I was strongly in favor of the ACA as it was passed in 2009. The only way it worked long-term was the individual mandate.

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