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message 951:
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Jay
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Nov 30, 2016 09:51AM
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Trump picks general for Homeland Security post
Let's face it, if anyone should oversee a department well-known for bloated budgets and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars, it's someone with Pentagon experience.
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Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump
Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.
While I must applaud scientists protecting data, I still find this story difficult to believe. Our scientists are highly-intelligent, well-educated people, who should know that Trump doesn't care one whit about facts, evidence, hard data, authenticated documentation, truth, reality...
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Arte Johnson
Why Trump Had an Edge in the Electoral College
"...in the end, Mr. Trump won for a simple reason: The Electoral College’s (largely) winner-take-all design gives a lot of weight to battleground states. Mr. Trump had an advantage in the traditional battlegrounds because most are whiter and less educated than the country as a whole."
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Why repealing ObamaCare will be a trainwreck for the GOP
In the annals of American health policy, there's a legendary bit of absurdity remembered as the "doc fix"...
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Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.
Robert Graves
I, Claudius
With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office
“This is huge,” said Mr. Morgan, who now defends lawmakers targeted in ethics investigations. “It effectively allows the committee to shut down any independent investigation into member misconduct.
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No. No. They have a plan ready to go right now!
Just look for a barber pole whenever you feel sick . . .
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Today's Political Quiz
1. Would a major health insurance company lie about losing money on Obamacare in order to pressure the US Department of Justice in a lawsuit?
2. Would Republican politicians repeat the lie in order to make their case for repealing Obamacare?
3. Does a bear...in the woods?
The answer to all three is "HELL, YES!"
U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare
The judge’s conclusions about Aetna’s real reasons for pulling out of Obamacare — as opposed to the rationalization the company made in public — are crucial for the debate over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. That’s because the company’s withdrawal has been exploited by Republicans to justify repealing the act. Just last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) cited Aetna’s action on the “Charlie Rose” show, saying that it proved how shaky the exchanges were.
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Zoe Williams, was so on point with her opening, she made me LOL.
In the scramble to make sense of the post-inauguration world, Amazon has been forced to restock a few key titles: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four hit No 1 at the end of last week, after Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway used the phrase “alternative facts” in place of
“some bullshit I just made up”.
Here's the link to her column, though—fair warning—a discussion of Hannah Arendt's ideas is not a light read.
Totalitarianism in the age of Trump: lessons from Hannah Arendt
Has anyone seen the humor of politicians proclaiming that making a Supreme Court nomination in the 4th year of a president's term or in the last year of his presidency has never been done before? It's one of those alternative facts. See http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-met...
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Yes, it's ridiculous -- yet another "alternate fact". Why don't the Republicans admit that they are willing to promote their political agenda "by hook or by crook"...and they're especially fond of "crook".
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Scott Pruitt, Trump’s E.P.A. Pick, Is Approved by Senate Committee
A day after Democrats on the Senate environment committee boycotted a planned vote on Mr. Pruitt’s nomination, the panel’s Republicans reconvened on Thursday and temporarily suspended the committee’s rules, which require the presence of at least two Democrats to hold votes, and approved Mr. Pruitt.
Ignore the rules; ignore the law; ignore the courts; ignore our allies; ignore conventions of civilized behavior; ignore American citizens who don't agree with your agenda... It's called Republican governance.
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I'm going to join the others online, and start referring to them as "Rethuglicans." But then again . . . they get what they want. I think it was Bill Maher who said that Democrats are just too damned nice. It's time we put down our lattes, and started kicking some ass.
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I have to agree. I think the best option is 2018. Let's see how Trump deals with Democrats holding congress and as many governor and state legislature seats as possible.
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Thanks to gerrymandering and voter suppression, it's an impossible dream I fear.
Best chance may be in the Senate, but I think more Democratic seats are up for a vote than Republican seats. I guess how big an ass Trump makes of himself and the economy.
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Based on his performance after just one week in office, it's hard to imagine what this country will be like two years from now.
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Based on h..."
I agree, Melki. But what scares me the most are the people who are still convinced that he's the best thing since sliced bread, and can do no wrong.
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There are a lot of people who hold one idea that becomes so important, it becomes more important than other people, or even themselves, or their own self-interest. Many people have written on this, including Hannah Arendt, who I mentioned the other day.
Yes, it's a cliché comparison after all the memes that have been flying lately, but Hitler's Nazi Party would not have been able to hold power in Germany if not for this flaw in human character. Most Germans were not evil, yet a surprising number of them were able to commit horrors because they, very deeply, felt part of something larger than themselves, which MUST be right, so they "just followed orders."
People who are fixated on the current conservative ideal are the perfect fodder for a demagogue, and he can get them to march to their own destruction if handled correctly.
Unfortunately, people who ascribe to such rigid thinking organize very well; they need only follow the herd. People who seriously ponder a wide variety of ideas, consider that more than their own preferred ideas can be valid, and hold that there can be inclusion for all, do not organize well at all. When you're willing to view everyone as valuable, who do you organize behind?—It's now a complex and many faceted decision, and no longer as simple as planting a Trump poster on your lawn.
Melki wrote: "Gary wrote: "Best chance may be in the Senate, but I think more Democratic seats are up for a vote than Republican seats. I guess how big an ass Trump makes of himself and the economy."Based on h..."
Will there be an election in 2018? It does not seem likely. Democracy is crashing and burning. Trump will bankrupt this country by then if it hasn't been burnt to the ground by war. He is fast-tracking destruction.
We are in deep doo doo.
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I ran across another wonderfully descriptive phrase that is perhaps more apropos: "the toxic right."** However, I think it should be capitalized, The Toxic Right.
Let's face it, not all Republicans or conservatives are batshit crazy. Some of them stand firmly in opposition to Trump's deranged antics. Reasonable people who happen to hold conservative views should not be lumped in with the 'Heil Donald' crowd. I think 'The Toxic Right' fills this niche nicely.
The only other option is Toxic Right containment, and spending billions to build a wall that won't work will put a strain on everyone's wallet.
...Wait! Mexico says they'll contribute.
**Source: The Guardian - Column by Hari Kunzru
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To a wall to contain the Toxic Right?
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What can I say, Rebecca? Some jokes work, and some jokes don't.
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