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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
On a tangent, I realized just today just how similar the modern for profit prison complex is to pre-Civil War slavery. You have prisons using prisoners as slaves, keeping them from actually learning so they can be fast tracked back into the system (either because they don't know any better or because they think it's better), and even counting prisoners for voting purposes even when they aren't allowed to vote.
I knew it was bad before, but this made me realize it on a whole other level.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."From Politico: Chao created special path for McConnell’s favored projects
. Note that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is actually the wife of Evil Turtle, and while her career in that department began before her marriage, it's not the first time she has attracted scrutiny over conflicts of interest
.
“What has Mitch Mc Connell done to help Kentucky?” Jones asked in a POLITICO interview. “Mitch Mc Connell has been a master — a master at helping wealthy business interests get wealthier. If there is a rich guy Hall of Fame, he should be in it.”
Mc Connell’s answer to these criticisms is clear: He’s used his influence to deliver on Kentucky’s priorities.
"All 100 senators may have one vote," Mc Connell told the Lexington Herald-Leader last year, "but they’re not all equal. Kentucky benefits from having one of its own setting the agenda for the country."
By that logic, Kentucky ought to be the most awesome state in the country. Which it isn't — I'm fairly certain the state suffering food shortages is proof that it's not exactly taking the best care of its citizens.
Disgusted, but not surprisedIts beyond even Blatant Lies since Mitch and Bevin have made it a point to deny money to the people of Kentucky a major part of their campaigns. I remind people, of course, that Mitch's goal has been destroy the Affordable Health Care Act despite how many people whose lives it has saved in Kentucky.
They also have attacked regular Medicaid, Welfare, and any other forms of government assistance.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jun 10th 2019 at 7:36:52 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.At this point, it should be more surprising when McConnell tells the truth.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"FYI - Mitch is one of the major people who enforced the continued criminality of marijuana despite the fact Kentucky as a tobacco state is in a unique position to be able to make it a massive cash crop that could rescue tens of thousands of struggling farmers.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jun 10th 2019 at 1:37:56 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/06/10/day-872/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/10/politics/jerry-nadler-mueller-report-william-barr/
2/ Jerry Nadler agreed to delay a vote to hold Barr and Mc Gahn in contempt of Congress after reaching the deal with the Department of Justice for evidence from the Mueller report. The House will still proceed with a vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to take Barr to federal court to fully enforce its subpoena, but will not formally vote to hold Barr in contempt. "If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps," Nadler said. "If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies." (ABC News / NBC News / NPR)
3/ Trump backed off his threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods, tweeting that the U.S. reached an agreement with Mexico to reduce the number of migrants at the southern border. According to a joint statement, Mexico agreed to "take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration," including the deployment of thousands of national guard troops to its border with Guatemala to stop migrants from reaching the U.S. Mexico also agreed to an expansion of a Trump administration program to host more migrants seeking asylum while their court proceedings are in progress in the U.S. (New York Times / Washington Post)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/us/state-department-mexico-trump.html
4/ Mexico had already agreed to deploy its National Guard several months ago. The Mexican government agreed to the "deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border" during secret talks with Kirstjen Nielsen back in March. And, the agreement to host asylum seekers in Mexico while their cases proceed in the U.S. was reached in December. Trump, however, tweeted on Saturday that he was "very excited about the new deal with Mexico." (New York Times / Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-mexico-idUSKCN1TA0GM
5/ Trump claimed there are "some things….. …..not mentioned" in the deal with Mexico, promising they'll be revealed "in the not too distant future." Mexico's Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, however, contradicted Trump's claim that a "fully signed and documented" agreement would be revealed soon, saying there were no undisclosed parts of the U.S.-Mexico deal. Trump also claimed that Mexico agreed to "immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural product from our great patriot farmers." There is no evidence, however, that an agreement on agricultural trade was agreed to and three Mexican officials have denied that it exists. (Politico / Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Business Insider)
https://www.apnews.com/7bedd8e672dd4f6ca3ffe2b3fd78fe0f
6/ The White House blocked a State Department intelligence agency from submitting written testimony that human-caused climate change is "possibly catastrophic" to national security. The written testimony by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research for a House Intelligence Committee hearing outlined that "absent extensive mitigating factors or events, we see few plausible future scenarios where significant — possibly catastrophic — harm does not arise from the compounded effects of climate change." Officials from the White House's Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and National Security Council all objected to parts of the testimony because it did not align with the Trump administration's official stance. The analyst, Rod Schoonover, was ultimately allowed to speak before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but the White House refused to approve Schoonover's written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional Record. (Washington Post / New York Times)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pompeo-climate-change-move-different-places
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/10/mcconnell-elaine-chao-1358068
A real estate company part-owned by Jared Kushner received $90 million in foreign funding since 2017. Kushner failed to list the company, Cadre, on his first ethics disclosure, but later adding the company and calling it an inadvertent omission. (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/10/jared-kushner-real-estate-cadre-goldman-sachs
A bipartisan group of Senators is attempting to block Trump's sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. Senators are using a provision in the Foreign Assistance Act to request a report from the Trump administration on Saudi Arabia's human rights record, which could trigger a vote to halt the billions of dollars in arms sales that Mike Pompeo is pushing for despite opposition from Congress. (Politico / NBC News / The Hill)
The Trump administration rejected requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles during Pride Month. An advisory cable last year directed diplomats to obtain top-level approval from the State Department's Office of Management to fly a rainbow flag. Requests by U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles have been denied. (NBC News / Washington Post)
The symbolic oak tree Emmanuel Macron gave to Trump last year has died. Macron tweeted at the time that the sapling would be "a reminder … of these ties that bind us" and the "tenacity of the friendship" of the two nations. (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/10/tree-planted-to-mark-trump-macron-friendship-dies
Trump has made at least 10,796 false or misleading claims since taking office. Trump has averaged about 12 false claims a day. (Washington Post)
Justin Amash leaves the conservative Freedom Caucus – Rep. Justin Amash on Monday stepped down from the conservative House Freedom Caucus less than a month after becoming the first Republican member of Congress to say President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses
Edited by sgamer82 on Jun 10th 2019 at 11:31:21 AM
Concerning the recent poll from CNN in Iowa...
538 podcast: Politics Podcast: Is Elizabeth Warren Surging?
Fair warning, It's a little under an hour long. I unfortunately don't have time to listen to it myself right now, but I figured people invested in Warren's chances might want to listen to it.
There's also a link to the RCP polling data that includes the Iowa poll from CNN.
Edited by M84 on Jun 11th 2019 at 4:18:32 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedExactly. Now that we're finally moving forward with holding Barr in contempt and empowering Nadler to pursue such charges more expediently in the future, we're seeing the bloody nose effect I talked about earlier.
As I mentioned, a bully's confidence is only so strong as his feeling of invulnerability. Bravado costs nothing. Anyone can say they'll gladly go to jail for Trump. But when you walk into that room and slap the handcuffs down on the table, a lot of people change their tune quick. Just like Michael Cohen did.
Despite being the one repeatedly pointing out that this will happen this way if the House would just find the nerve to take that step, I'm actually surprised at how fast it happened. I was sure we'd need to actually hit at least once, so to speak. That Barr would try to stubbornly stay loyal for a while after being arrested, but others would look at what happened to him and fall in line with the subpoenas now placed on their desks.
I overestimated Barr's fragile bully nerve. We didn't even bloody the Justice Department's nose. Nadler merely wound up the punch and Barr collapsed into a shrieking mess. Which is even better and should still have the "Oh, shit, the House is actually serious about this" effect with its other subpoenas that I anticipated.
This is precisely how you handle a bully: you have to hit them. It doesn't have to be with a literal fist, mind. But you have to create a cause-effect relationship between their behavior and their life becoming shittier. Smash their invulnerability confidence, make them see that their actions have real consequences that hurt them, and you'll see a change in attitude.
I'm very pleased with what is happening now that the House is finally willing to do this. And with the new motion empowering Nadler, I don't expect to see obstruction like this last month again.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Jun 11th 2019 at 8:31:58 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
I see we have Ender Wiggin in the thread.
Edited by GoldenKaos on Jun 11th 2019 at 4:28:11 PM
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."![]()
Yeah, there's no actual evidence backing that up. Bullies bullied just become worse bullies.

We’ll see. From that poll, 30% seem to be up for grabs, and I think Warren has a lot of potential to grab those voters.