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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#263776: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:02:07 PM

[up]I've been told the Huffington Post isn't exactly an unbiased source. You have anything else?

Edited by LSBK on Dec 7th 2018 at 3:02:26 AM

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#263777: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:03:33 PM

Also, Beto has an impaired driving citation on his record. To me, that's really close to disqualifying, no matter how mild (relatively low BAC, cooperating with police, no one hurt, etc) it was.

And that's really easy to write an attack ad about.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#263778: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:07:23 PM

I’ll take one low level driving under the influence 20 years ago, which never happened again, over foreclosing on thousands of homes.

[up][up] Huff Po isn’t a good or bad source; quality depends on the writer/article. The reporting looked thorough to me. The facts of the piece aren’t in dispute.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#263779: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:09:50 PM

Umm....

Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!

Dumb as a rock?

Look who’s talking...

Edited by megaeliz on Dec 7th 2018 at 4:11:21 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#263780: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:22:03 PM

Yesterday, Tillerson said Trump kept asking him to do illegal actions and Tillerson kept saying no and that's why Trump fired him, in case anyone is wondering what brought that on.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#263781: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:30:11 PM

[up]

For me, it depends on how long it's been since it was issued. If it was over 10 years ago, and they haven't had an incident since, that's one thing - if it was over 10 years ago, and they've had an incident or two since then, it's a red flag.

Also, Trump's new pick for UN Ambassador is Heather Nauert, a former Fox News host and current spokeswoman for the State Dept.

However, the giveaway as to why she got the pick has to be this from last month:

Nauert was camera-ready when she came to the State Department in April 2017, having worked at ABC and Fox. She never traveled with and was not close to her first boss at the department, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. With Mike Pompeo in charge of State, Nauert has been on the road much more.

Yet she faced some criticism for a tourist-like Instagram post from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on a trip that was meant to focus on the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

There have been other missteps, including the time when she cited D-Day — the Allied invasion of Normandy against the Nazis — as an example of America's strong relationship with Germany.

She has been a strong defender of Trump's at the podium, something he has clearly noticed.

"She's excellent, she's been with us a long time, she's been a supporter for a long time," Trump told reporters on Nov. 1.

[down]

While true, those have generally been to specific countries (hence Reassigned to Antarctica as a trope), not for the UN General Assembly.

Edited by ironballs16 on Dec 7th 2018 at 4:42:01 AM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#263782: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:34:13 PM

Does Tillerson have proof? I mean it's something that we'd expect from Trump but I have a vague suspicion that some people play a "well, we are not as bad as Trump!" card to make themselves look better when they say stuff like that.

Incidentally, if memory serves patronage appointments in ambassadorships aren't uncommon at all.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Dec 7th 2018 at 10:35:47 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263783: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:52:38 PM

At this point, Occam's Razor may be to take him at his word.

The thing is that Trump has proven unwilling to protect any of the people who stick their neck out for him.

Manafort seems to believe it, though.

Cohen seems to be aware it's not true.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#263784: Dec 7th 2018 at 1:56:10 PM

With Beto I don’t think he has the experience to be the top of the ticket, but I like him as a VP pick to a mid-western female democrat senator.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#263785: Dec 7th 2018 at 3:45:44 PM

[up] And does this hypothetical person have a name?

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#263786: Dec 7th 2018 at 3:54:12 PM

Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota comes to mind.

Friendperson Since: Aug, 2018
#263787: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:00:22 PM

Will running another woman be a good strategy?

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#263788: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:02:49 PM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/12/07/day-687/

    Day 687: Undisciplined 
What I'm Watching. Robert Mueller's office is expected to reveal details about Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort today. I'll update today's post as necessary. (New York Times / CNBC)

Cohen: Federal prosecutors will submit a sentencing memorandum outlining how much time Cohen should spend in prison for admitting to lying to Congress. Cohen will be sentenced next week and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller's team and prosecutors in Manhattan investigating the Trump's inner circle in exchange for leniency.

Manafort: Mueller's team pulled their plea deal with Manafort, accusing him of repeatedly lying to them. They left open the possibility of filing new charges against Trump's former campaign chairman. Mueller's team is expected to explain why it accused Manafort of lying to investigators.

1/ Trump kicked off the day by attacking the Mueller investigation in a series of angry, error-laden tweets alleging that Mueller is biased, full of "Conflicts of Interest," and best friends with "Leakin' Lyin' James Comey." The eight-tweet tirade, which did not include any supporting evidence, came hours before Mueller is set to deliver important court filings in his cases against Cohen and Manafort. (NBC News / Daily Beast / The Guardian)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-goes-tweetstorm-new-mueller-reports-n945151

Rex Tillerson: Trump is "undisciplined," "doesn't read briefing reports," and repeatedly tries to do illegal things. "So often, the president would say, 'Here's what I want to do, and here's how I want to do it,'" Tillerson said, "and I would have to say to him, 'Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can't do it that way. It violates the law.'" Trump responded by calling Tillerson "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell." Tillerson previously called Trump a "moron." (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/07/trump-tillerson-dumb-lazy-1051485

2/ Trump claimed that his lawyers are preparing a "major Counter Report" to rebut Mueller's findings in the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. According to Trump, his lawyers have already completed 87 pages, adding, "obviously cannot complete until we the see the final Witch Hunt report." Trump's statement contradicts Rudy Giuliani, who said he hasn't had time to consider drafting a response plan, let alone work on a "counter report." Giuliani added that he spent the summer answering Mueller's questions, describing the process as "a nightmare" that took "about three weeks to do what would normally take two days." (Washington Post / The Atlantic)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-unleashes-fresh-tirade-against-mueller-ahead-of-key-court-filings-expected-friday/2018/12/07/4ba2d57c-fa12-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html

3/ CNN received a bomb threat and had to be evacuated as Trump attacked the media on Twitter as "the enemy of the people." Trump's all-caps "FAKE NEWS - THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!" tweet was sent at 10:07 pm. A short time later, Don Lemon abruptly went to commercial break as CNN's New York studio was evacuated because of a bomb threat. The New York Police Department said the threat was not substantiated. Trump appears to be responding to a report that the White House does not have a plan for how to respond to the Mueller report. (Vox / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/us/cnn-new-york-bomb-threat-evacuation/index.html

4/ John Kelly is expected to resign as chief of staff in the coming days. Kelly and Trump have reached an impasse and neither sees the situation as tenable as the two have also stopped speaking entirely in recent days. Nick Ayers, who currently serves as Pence's chief of staff, is seen as a leading candidate to replace Kelly. (CNN / Reuters / Bloomberg / Washington Post)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-kelly-idUSKBN1O61DV

Mueller's team interviewed Kelly in recent months about potential obstruction of justice. The questions centered on Trump's attempt to fire Mueller in June 2017. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/politics/robert-mueller-john-kelly-obstruction-investigation/index.html

poll/ 71% of Republicans believe Mueller's investigation is a "witch hunt," while 82% of Democrats and 55% of independents see the investigation as "fair." Overall, 54% of Americans believe the Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is fair. (NPR)

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/07/674315848/poll-republicans-are-only-group-that-mostly-sees-mueller-probe-as-a-witch-hunt

Notables.

George Papadopoulos was released from prison after serving 12 whole days for lying to investigators about his contact with individuals tied to Russia during the 2016 campaign. Papadopoulos will have 12 months of supervised release, serve 200 hours of community service, and pay a $9,500 fine. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/politics/george-papadopoulos-prison/index.html

James Comey met behind closed doors with the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Lawmakers are expected to question Comey on a range of topics, including his memos about interactions with Trump, the details of his firing, the origins of the FBI's Russia probe, and whether bias contributed to the decisions to focus on Trump and to conduct surveillance on Carter Page. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/former-fbi-director-comey-to-testify-in-house-gop-probe/2018/12/06/8c1049f6-f9b2-11e8-8d64-4e79db33382f_story.html

Trump named William Barr as his next attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, Barr will take over from Matthew Whitaker, who has served in an acting capacity since Jeff Sessions was forced out. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/07/donald-trump-nominates-william-barr-attorney-general

The Justice Department hasn't filed required paperwork stating when Jeff Sessions left office. Federal law requires the vacancy and any acting appointment to be reported "immediately" to the Government Accountability Office. This reporting is important because Matthew Whitaker, acting attorney general, can only serve for 210 days. (Buzz Feed News)

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisgeidner/justice-department-sessions-whitaker-gao

Trump nominated former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as the next ambassador to the United Nations. Nauert currently serves as the State Department spokeswoman. Her post as UN ambassador will be downgraded from its current cabinet-level status. (Bloomberg / New York Times / The Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/06/heather-nauert-un-ambassador-pick-trump

The Trump administration finalized a rollback of school lunch regulations, relaxing restrictions on products allowed. The changes will impact 99,000 schools and institutions that feed 30 million children every year. (ABC News)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-finalizes-rollback-school-lunch-regulations-championed/story?id=59661517

TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#263789: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:04:52 PM

If she can win the votes where it counts, why not?

And preferably someone with no baggage. Which was the problem with Hillary. She was the most qualified person for the job, but in the minds of too many people where it counted, she was untrustworthy.

Which is idiotic, and resulted in a fool with no impulse control sitting in the Oval Office.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#263790: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:07:57 PM

[up][up][up]I have a lot of friends and family on the right, from what I've heard them say, the problem with Clinton isn't that she was a woman and I'm inclined to believe them. There were a lot of non-femaleness issues that overshadowed Clinton's gender. So I don't think running a woman would be an automatic mistake.

I think what is more important then gender is vision. Obama won his first election based on a vision that a lot of people could get around. Trump had a vision. Perhaps to us more like a horrible nightmare, but a vision none the less. By contrast, Clinton's promise was essentially, more of the same. So was Mc Cain I think.

Therefore, I think it is much more important for the Democrats to cast a vision of their own, rather than running on what amounts to "Trump Sucks".

Edited by Soban on Dec 7th 2018 at 7:08:09 AM

Gilphon Since: Oct, 2009
#263791: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:10:17 PM

I've read that there actually isn't much evidence to suggest that women are more likely to lose elections than men- it's just that they're generally discouraged from running at all.

Edited by Gilphon on Dec 7th 2018 at 7:10:42 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263792: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:18:39 PM

Hillary almost won.

Remove the Russians, e-mail, the Rust Belt anger, and any number of things and she would have won.

It wasn't a single thing, but a hundred tiny little things.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
MorningStar1337 Like reflections in the glass! from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
Like reflections in the glass!
#263793: Dec 7th 2018 at 4:43:44 PM

Yeah I doubt the alleged lack of vision is the issue with Hillary (as mentioned before she had a near victory and only lost due to cheaters). There is still more work to do regarding social justice (especially thanks to Trump and Pence trying to undo the progress already made) and I'd imagine that Climate Change and Healthcare are big enough issues that having favorable platforms to those would help get the votes.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Dec 7th 2018 at 4:44:48 AM

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#263794: Dec 7th 2018 at 5:28:29 PM

I doubt if we can win if we field another female candidate for 2020. Not unless the white female vote gets the stick out of their hypothetical asses and stop voting against their best interests. Which is not to say that we should pander to the white female conservative vote and whatever issues they have. It's a tricky tightrope to walk.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#263795: Dec 7th 2018 at 5:30:46 PM

I disagree. Again, Clinton was close to winning, and her gender was the least of the reasons why she lost. Any female candidate we put out would have a far better chance of winning than her.

And the thing is, anyone who won’t vote for women would vote for Trump regardless.

Edited by smokeycut on Dec 7th 2018 at 8:31:05 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263796: Dec 7th 2018 at 5:32:57 PM

Blackish, of all places, pointed out there's a distinct difference between white female voters and other minority groups. In the case of white female voters, they don't necessarily feel the need to vote as a block. Some have even suggested Hillary tended to invoke a "crab bucket" sense of irritation in many of that group. Meaning that her life choices didn't inspire the way, say, Obama's did black voters.

I do think there's a simple enough statement that we should probably be less worried about who, precisely, is the candidate (unless we're going to have one with a radical difference from the mainstream party as a whole) than simply THE CANDIDATE.

I may not like Bloomberg a great deal but it's not like he'll be worse than Trump.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 7th 2018 at 5:34:17 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#263797: Dec 7th 2018 at 5:46:48 PM

Yeah, Hillary losing has relatively little to do with sexism. The issue mostly is that she was predicted well ahead of time of being the DNC candidate, and the Republican propaganda networks did absolutely everything in their power to demonize her. So by the time she was running she honestly looked like a lesser evil to Donald Trump to many people-which is basically how someone like Trump was able to win.

I don't think it's necessary to run a minority, though I don't think it's a bad idea.

Edited by Protagonist506 on Dec 7th 2018 at 5:48:00 AM

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263798: Dec 7th 2018 at 6:00:16 PM

Even beyond the Republican party, not everyone was fond of Hillary. She was initially the opponent to Obama's Primary and a lot of people who were dissatisfied by the establishment DNC.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#263799: Dec 7th 2018 at 6:04:20 PM

I can see why someone would be less likely to be inspired by Hillary than they were Obama.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#263800: Dec 7th 2018 at 6:05:44 PM

I think sexism was VERY prevalent in 2016. It’s just... it wasn’t the primary reason Hillary lost, or even one of the leading reasons. And the reason for that is because the people who were saying sexist things were ALWAYS going to vote for Trump.


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