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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Hopefully I don't jinx it by saying this, but I think Bannon's time in the White House is limited. Trump isn't going to fire his own son-in-law, and considering how upset Trump got about people saying President Bannon, I get the feeling his ego narrowly outweighs he and Bannon's shared nationalist views.
Not sure if someone else posted this earlier, but I came across this humorous/satirical piece in the Washington Post
parodying the spate of recent sympathetic profiles of Trump voters, and I think also parodying the sympathetic yet condescending tone of such articles:
Each morning he arrives at the Blue Plate Diner and tries to make sense of it all. The regulars are already there. Lydia Borkle lives in an old shoe in the tiny town of Tempe Work Only, Ariz., where the factory has just rusted away into a pile of gears and dust. The jobs were replaced by robots, not shipped overseas, but try telling Lydia that. (I did, very slowly and patiently, I thought, but she still became quite brusque.) Her one lifeline was an Obama-era jobs training program, but she says that she does not regret her vote for Trump and likes what he says about business. She makes a point of telling me that she is not racist, but I think she probably is, a little.
Next to her sits Linda Blarnik. Like the rusty hubcaps hanging on the wall behind her, she was made in America 50 years ago, back when this town made things, a time she still remembers fondly. She says she has had just enough of the “coastal elitist media who keep showing up to write mean things about my town and my life, like that thing just now where you said I was like a hubcap, yes you, stop writing I can see over your shoulder.” Mournfully a whistle blows behind her, the whistle of a train that does not stop in this America any longer.
Linda’s sister, Carla Blarnik is married to an undocumented immigrant yet voted for Trump, who has vowed an increase in deportations. Asked to explain this contradiction, she shrugs. “Do not tell Bert this,” she says, “but I have been trying to find an unobtrusive way to break up the marriage for years and this seemed like just the loophole I was waiting for.” Huh. Okay.
edited 6th Apr '17 11:45:24 AM by Hodor2
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Well, in Atlanta, A Comedy of Errors...Ossoff’s GOP rival on his cash haul: ‘Only Jesus can save him’
@bluestein @wsbtv @ossoff It won't save him. only Jesus can save him
— Bruce Le Vell (@Bruce_LeVell) April 6, 2017
Some on Twitter took this to be a comment knocking Ossoff’s Jewish faith. Le Vell said he did not know about the Democrat’s religious affiliation and noted his mother was Jewish. He said he meant his comment more broadly about the tide of out-of-state money.
“Having $8.3 million from predominately special interest groups won’t save him,” he said this morning.
(We should note here that Ossoff attracted nearly 200,000 mostly small-dollar donors, not the typical “special interests” critics rail against.)
Another day, another poll in the Georgia special election showing about the same dynamic: Democrat Jon Ossoff with a commanding lead that’s still short of the majority he needs to avoid a runoff, and Republicans Karen Handel, Bob Gray and Dan Moody in a fight for the No. 2 spot.
Jon Ossoff leading GOP field in new GA-6 poll:
- Ossoff 43
- Handel 15
- Gray 14
- Moody 7https://t.co/2DX0hwkM11 pic.twitter.com/Nid B3j5ra W
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 6, 2017
That comes on the heels of a Meeting Street Research survey yesterday that put Ossof at 43 percent and Moody and Handel at 12 percent each.
The filling information is on the AJC page.
edited 6th Apr '17 11:52:11 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our livesAfter falling five votes short on Thursday of the 60 needed to confirm Mr. Gorsuch, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell retaliated by voting 52-48 along party lines to rewrite the rules."
Well , John McCain proved his a total hypocrite. Couldn't even just say "Present"; no, he had to vote for removing the Filibuster, which, in his own words, is a Bad thing for America's Democracy.
Freakin' fantastic.
You know, though, it'd be nice if Gorsuch, being the Constitutionalist that he claims he is, refuses to accept the nomination from this vote because it'd go against what the Founders intended for the Senate...
edited 6th Apr '17 11:51:44 AM by DingoWalley1
@Dingo Walley 1: Well, we said it before-all talk, and Mccain, Graham and Collins protested loudly before voting along party lines like the good little cultists they are. Especially humorous coming from those three, since no Democrat or Independent voted for the measure-if just those three had voted against it, they could have killed it outright without convincing any of their colleagues.
edited 6th Apr '17 11:54:31 AM by ViperMagnum357
McConell giving a thumbs up after nuking the filibuster.
Oh, finally something where the comments are the best part. And if you really want to play hardball, one mentioned this technically true statement: "Nothing in Const. says we r limited 2 9 SCOTUS seats. W/new rules, when we retake Congress we can add more w/simple majority".
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our livesIn partly serious mode, SCOTUS's power is entirely a product of tradition. Whatever one can scrounge to "prove" what people centuries dead intended, none ever wrote "And the Supreme Court shall strike down unconstitutional laws" except SCOTUS itself. (Not a few professors make rather convincing arguments that having one branch be the final word on constitutional matters—at least as the court is currently set up—may not be the best thing).
The last few years have been fruitful for all kinds of constitutional theories actually. At least one author of the Atlantic—the one who does a series of articles on constitutional interpretation—challenged the whole idea that the constitution is a "constitution of limits" and argues that Congress is effectively the parliament of the US and the President is an ersatzking (in the sense of formalizing the already diminished power the King had in the 18th century).
Alot of people who think the document is due for an upgrade may finally get their wish...
edited 6th Apr '17 12:24:20 PM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our livesTo anyone mourning the death of the filibuster: remember that this was always going to happen. Mitch McConnell made it clear at the start of this administration that he would only let the filibuster persist if it was never used.
The Democrats chose to let the filibuster burn out in a blaze of glory rather than sit and stare cravenly at it, daring never to touch it. The GOP hung the filibuster from a noose and said, "Stand up if you dare." The Democrats, in return, stood up.
edited 6th Apr '17 12:36:16 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Exactly. At least this means that when Dems retake the senate next election (if you look at special elections, they've been overperforming most results, so I assume they should at least get a 51-49 senate), the other SCOTUS seats will be safe if a liberal justice croaks.
RE: Bannon calling Kushner a "cuck"
Well, if earlier accusations of Bannon being anti-Semitic are true, the fact that Kushner's Jewish and is being trusted by Trump to the extent he's been (worryingly so, simply by how many tasks he's been given by Trump if nothing else) would be reason enough for Bannon to hate his guts.
edited 6th Apr '17 12:52:25 PM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"The problem is, even if the Democrats do take the Senate in 2018 (at which point, they'd have a majority, but not a Veto-Overriding majority), Trump will still be President. If Ginsburg does die in 2018-2020, Trump would still have to be the one to nominate a Justice. Nothing indicates he'd nominate a Liberal Justice to replace a Liberal Justice. We'd have up to 2 years of having only 8 Justices if the Democrats only reject every choice, and that'd make the Dems look bad enough that Trump could get a 2nd term. That is, of course, unless the Democrats also take the House and just begin Impeaching him immediately, but Pence probably won't nominate a Liberal Justice either.
This is funny satire.
http://www.breakingburgh.com/millions-disappointed-learn-senate-nuclear-option-not-thought
edited 6th Apr '17 1:10:53 PM by megaeliz

I mean, I get it. I just feel like it's rather insensitive to the very real problems we face.
Oh God! Natural light!