lost highway Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 The DeVos hearing today was a shitshow. God bless Tim Kaine, Al Franken, and Maggie Hassan (whom I am not at all familiar with besides this https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/821538909893099521). I have never been so worried about the future of my profession. We finally get rid of NCLB and now this. I couldn't even watch the entirety of the clips people were posting, it just kept making me feel embarrassed. Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I totally see your point in the "pick your battles" and "let's stick together against the real crap" type of lens. I think there is a danger of progressives dividing themselves over issues we don't even have the luxury of moving the dial on right now. Why do y'all keep talking in the future tense about this? We just experienced it with the Bernie or Bust/Never Hillary crowd. This is not something that might happen in the future. It happened, and it occurred without pause over the course of the entire primary and general election. Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Why do y'all keep talking in the future tense about this? We just experienced it with the Bernie or Bust/Never Hillary crowd. This is not something that might happen in the future. It happened, and it occurred without pause over the course of the entire primary and general election. Unless you have access to the TARDIS or some other time travel device, there is nothing we can do but talk about the future. 2018 is going to be very important to what happens in 2020. Progressives need to get their heads out of their asses and understand what is at stake. Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Unless you have access to the TARDIS or some other time travel device, there is nothing we can do but talk about the future. This is absolutely false. We just got done experiencing what you (or not you, but Lost Highway) say we're going to experience in the future. It'd be folly not to look at the past and examine what we just went through and try to figure out how to never let it happen again. Link to post Share on other sites
lost highway Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 This is absolutely false. We just got done experiencing what you (or not you, but Lost Highway) say we're going to experience in the future. It'd be folly not to look at the past and examine what we just went through and try to figure out how to never let it happen again. Yeah, I think that informed some of my view there. I'm very much interested in learning from the past and moving on with that knowledge. Yet at this point I'm pretty weary of picking through the ashes of the Clinton candidacy. I was a Bernie supporter, and then a Clinton apologist for many months. Having to justify her to my fellow uppity liberals got really tiring. I'm just sort of glad to be over that conversation. If the left is vetting candidates really hard now, that's good. We'll never have a perfect candidate, but at least it will be someone with less suspicion than Hillary. Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Unless you have access to the TARDIS or some other time travel device, there is nothing we can do but talk about the future. 2018 is going to be very important to what happens in 2020. Progressives need to get their heads out of their asses and understand what is at stake. Totally agree, which is why progressives (whatever that means at this point) need to stop looking to Bernie Sanders to solve all the problems and realize this is a pitched battle that needs many many players, not all perfect, to win. These hearings only prove that there is going to be alot to undo in the coming years and it must be done by coalitions of people, not one person. LouieB Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 There is only 3 hours left for Obama to take our guns. He better hurry up. Link to post Share on other sites
ih8music Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 He'll get around to that right after implementing sharia law. Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Politico did a good job of tallying all the Trump's 'untruths' since he won the election. Nice touch adding the cut off deadline: Politico cut off its count at 5 p.m. Thursday. Trump’s transition team did not reply to a request for comment. Here are 82 of Trump’s transgressions against the truth since his election win. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/trumps-transition-of-untruths-exaggerations-and-flat-out-falsehoods-214664?lo=ap_b1 Link to post Share on other sites
lost highway Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 So Trump's new press secretary Spicer had a shit fit with the media for reporting how few people came to the inauguration, especially in comparison to the Obama inauguration (and I imagine that they don't love being dwarfed by the women's march). He nit picked the difference in the conditions on the mall making things look different. Then he cited public transit data showing how many more people. From reliable sources his data is crazy inaccurate. My wife and I were debating. I said Trump is already damaging his standing by even talking about this crap, let alone lying. My wife says people are too stupid and his supporters will swallow anything. Never has a president been such a baby. Thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Not to mention the whole speech at the CIA, where he said the press created the whole Trump bashing the US intelligence community. Of course he brought up the inauguration attendance there, too. But the below was the most chilling spot of the whole CIA speech. Are we going to war with Iraq next week? The old expression: “to the victor belong the spoils” - you remember? You always used to say “keep the oil”. I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I didn’t want to go into Iraq. But I will tell you. When we were in, we got out wrong.And I always said: “In addition to that, keep the oil”.Now I said it for economic reasons, but if you think about, Mike, if we kept the oil we would probably wouldn’t have ISIS, because that’s where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil. But okay. [laughter] Maybe we’ll have another chance. But the fact is: we should’ve kept the oil. I believe that this group is going to be one of the most important groups in this country towards making us safe, towards making us winners again. Towards ending all of the problems -- we have so many problems that are interrelated that we don’t even think of, but interrelated -- to the kind of havoc and fear that this sick group of people has caused. His supporters will still continue to believe what he says and think that the media is 'out to get him; - but with the shear numbers out today - it won't last. Of course the opposition has to keep up the momentum that was started today. I think we will. Link to post Share on other sites
remphish1 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 So Trump's new press secretary Spicer had a shit fit with the media for reporting how few people came to the inauguration, especially in comparison to the Obama inauguration (and I imagine that they don't love being dwarfed by the women's march). He nit picked the difference in the conditions on the mall making things look different. Then he cited public transit data showing how many more people. From reliable sources his data is crazy inaccurate. My wife and I were debating. I said Trump is already damaging his standing by even talking about this crap, let alone lying. My wife says people are too stupid and his supporters will swallow anything. Never has a president been such a baby. Thoughts?Yep 100% insecure baby and Speicher's an Idiot too Link to post Share on other sites
brownie Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 So Trump's new press secretary Spicer had a shit fit with the media for reporting how few people came to the inauguration, especially in comparison to the Obama inauguration (and I imagine that they don't love being dwarfed by the women's march).He nit picked the difference in the conditions on the mall making things look different. Then he cited public transit data showing how many more people. From reliable sources his data is crazy inaccurate. My wife and I were debating. I said Trump is already damaging his standing by even talking about this crap, let alone lying. My wife says people are too stupid and his supporters will swallow anything. Never has a president been such a baby. Thoughts?I totally agree that he is acting like a baby. He has a narrow window of opportunity to connect with people who did not vote for him. He is not off to a good start. Link to post Share on other sites
brownie Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 The fact that he is harping on and on about the crowd size just reinforces in my mind that the one main thought in his head at all times is "Mine has to be bigger!". This makes it very hard for me to take him seriously about anything. You'd think being elected President would have sublimated some of that. Ugh. Link to post Share on other sites
lost highway Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 There's a great Louis C.K. bit about the time he played one of his casinos. Trump came out on the floor where all the slot machines are and kind of shmoozed with the old ladies giving him all of their money. Then Louie ended up on the elevator with him and observed he was the most miserable, sad looking person he'd ever seen. He was in his golden castle surrounded by people who believe he's a big deal, shoveling money into his slots and he's just wretched. Louie said he figures he had a "president sized hole" inside of him. I thought that was quite astute. We all know the psychology of people who try to derive their most essential satisfaction from financial numbers, or people who are only excited by the next contest. Donald Trump is a sad, sad man. Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Spicer lied about so many things that were demonstratebly false. So Conway had to defend him and noted that he was using "alternative facts". That should clear everything up. I'm pretty sure I've brought up the republicans leading the impeachment efforts against Trump at some point. Anyhow I was discussing him with my wife the other day and discussed my theory that the R's will pass through every manor of legislation on their wish list and when things go bad they will say it was all Trump, leaving them with some plausible deniability. (kind of like saying that democrats voted for the Iraq war and pinning it on them.) THe true believers believe it all regardless of facts. Anyhow I read this from Robert Reich yesterday on his FB page... I had breakfast recently with a friend who's a former Republican member of Congress. Here's what he said:Him: Trump is no Republican. He’s just a big fat ego.Me: Then why didn’t you speak out against him during the campaign?Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. I’d have been shot.Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do?Him (smirking): They’ll play along for a while.Me: A while?Him: They’ll get as much as they want – tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare – and blame him. And he’s such a fool he’ll want to take credit for everything.Me: And then what?Him (laughing): They like Pence.Me: What do you mean?Him: Pence is their guy. They all think Trump is out of his mind.Me: So what?Him: So the moment Trump does something really dumb – steps over the line – violates the law in a big stupid clumsy way … and you know he will ...Me: They impeach him?Him: You bet. They pull the trigger. Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Spicer lied about so many things that were demonstratebly false. So Conway had to defend him and noted that he was using "alternative facts". That should clear everything up. I'm pretty sure I've brought up the republicans leading the impeachment efforts against Trump at some point. Anyhow I was discussing him with my wife the other day and discussed my theory that the R's will pass through every manor of legislation on their wish list and when things go bad they will say it was all Trump, leaving them with some plausible deniability. (kind of like saying that democrats voted for the Iraq war and pinning it on them.) THe true believers believe it all regardless of facts. Anyhow I read this from Robert Reich yesterday on his FB page...I had breakfast recently with a friend who's a former Republican member of Congress. Here's what he said:Him: Trump is no Republican. He’s just a big fat ego.Me: Then why didn’t you speak out against him during the campaign? Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. I’d have been shot.Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do?Him (smirking): They’ll play along for a while.Me: A while?Him: They’ll get as much as they want – tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare – and blame him. And he’s such a fool he’ll want to take credit for everything.Me: And then what?Him (laughing): They like Pence.Me: What do you mean?Him: Pence is their guy. They all think Trump is out of his mind.Me: So what?Him: So the moment Trump does something really dumb – steps over the line – violates the law in a big stupid clumsy way … and you know he will ...Me: They impeach him?Him: You bet. They pull the trigger.If that is true the GOP are the biggest bunch of assholes. Intentionally keeping a dangerous individual as president just to get what they want, and then have a scape goat when it fails. Link to post Share on other sites
Winston Legthigh Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Yeah. That's some cynical shit right there. Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 This exchange Reich writes about, if true, helps explain why so many trump haters fell in line behind him. Before the election I was thinking that the R's would use him this way, and they may have promised people things to fall in line. For instance Cruz (a worse POS than trump imo) made nice, why? I think he's their choice to be VP. It gets him out of the senate, where he is roundly despised, and puts him into a position that is high profile, but fairly meaningless. Just my thoughts though. Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 This exchange Reich writes about, if true, helps explain why so many trump haters fell in line behind him. Before the election I was thinking that the R's would use him this way, and they may have promised people things to fall in line. For instance Cruz (a worse POS than trump imo) made nice, why? I think he's their choice to be VP. It gets him out of the senate, where he is roundly despised, and puts him into a position that is high profile, but fairly meaningless. Just my thoughts though. We are honestly getting into some House of Cards shit here. What if all along this is Ted Cruz's plan to get the White House. I mean his dad did help to kill JFK #alternatefacts Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I can't figure out why in earth Cruz would change views on Trump. Seems like there was some emnity built up there that should have taken longer to dissipate. Never seen house of cards, so I don't get the reference. Link to post Share on other sites
Winston Legthigh Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I can't figure out why in earth Cruz would change views on Trump. I bet he went about it very pragmatically. He decided that the upside of backing Trump outweighed the downside. Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Never seen house of cards, so I don't get the reference. Basically Kevin Spacey is the Majority Whip in congress. Gets passed over for Sec of Defense, and then exacts revenge, by orchestrating him become VP and ultimately President. He does this through many deceitful means, including murder. Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Ahhh, I get it. I can see Cruz manipulating the system and shitting all over others to get ahead, but I don't think he would have anyone killed. Thanks for the clarification. Link to post Share on other sites
KevinG Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 “I believe that we have to be honest with the American people, but I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts,” Sean Spicer. Yes, Mr. Press Secretary, we can disagree with facts, but when you do, you are wrong and you are lying. Link to post Share on other sites
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