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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Evil Turtle historically has led budget discussions happen, as government shutdowns usually didn't work out well for him. And of course judiciary confirmation votes.
In fact, I wonder if that last point is basically his grand plan:
- Reduce Congress's legislative output to (almost) zero, to the point that people now go to ask courts to get laws enacted, in the form of court rulings.
- Fill the American judiciary with conservative judges by using the confirmation process.
- Enjoy the Brave New World of judiciary-enacted conservative policy.
I'm pretty sure Mitch's master plan is as follows:
Step 1 - Fill the Judiciary with as many young conservatives in lifetime-appointment seats as possible in order to guarantee a decades-long Republican control over the Courts.
And then there are no more steps.
EDIT: Or, to be more specific, we're in the endgame of the master plan he's been enacting since the Obama Administration, where he was blocking court appointments to hold those seats open for the next Republican President to fill.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 9th 2019 at 12:49:20 PM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Cheng Guangcheng: Trump has the right strategy on Beijing. As a Chinese dissident, I'd know.
Trump, whatever his flaws, grasps this reality. Unlike many of his predecessors in the White House, Trump appears to understand innately the hooliganism and brutality at the heart of the CCP. He comprehends that - whether in the realm of trade, diplomacy or international order - dictatorships do not commonly play by the rules of democratic nations. While past administrations have curried favor with the CCP ("appeasement" is not too strong a word), Trump has made excising the party's growing corrosion of U.S. society - from business and the media to education and politics - a focus.
For decades, U.S. presidents have allowed themselves to be taken in by China. Think of Richard Nixon marveling at staged supermarkets and shoppers in Beijing, and paving the way for the severing of ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) in favor of the communist regime. Or Bill Clinton, after talking tough, declining to make "most favored nation" status for China conditional on human rights reviews, effectively eliminating any leverage the United States had over China with respect to fair trade, not to mention rights. As China's entrance into the World Trade Organization moved toward reality, in 2000, Clinton described it as "the most significant opportunity that we have had to create positive change in China since the 1970s."
He said there would be no downsides to freer trade: It was "the equivalent of a one-way street." Following the attacks of 9/11, George W. Bush turned a blind eye when Beijing used the U.S. war on terror as cover for persecuting ethnic minorities; Barack Obama repeatedly shied away from mentioning human rights to CCP officials, notably during a visit in 2009.
Some contend, with justification, that Trump has not made democracy and freedom central to his foreign policy. But where China is concerned, dissidents, both within China and in the diaspora, note and appreciate what he is doing
. Most activists agree that civilized talks behind closed doors have never elicited concessions from the CCP. The only way to make progress is by landing pointed blows, particularly against the party elites and their bank accounts (which are reliant on party-owned, nepotistic, monopolist companies).
We have to be clear about our values. China is a deep-pocketed, rapacious regime that poses a significant threat not just to American interests but to the entire civilized world. Yet after decades of empty talk about nudging China toward reform, we're at a point where it is American companies, news outlets and universities that feel pressured to play by Beijing's rules or risk losing access to its markets and resources.
Trump, with an admittedly unorthodox style, is trying to break down the systems, and the concessions, that have allowed the CCP to operate unchecked for too long. He deserves credit, not criticism, for saying: Enough.
The problem with that assessment is that Trump doesn't seem to actually be landing any blows, and is also a thug himself. Therefor, any good he's doing (and he's not actually doing any good in regards to China) is entirely accidental and can be reversed if the Chinese president decides to start flattering him the way Kim Jong Il apparently does.
I'd argue
that the trade war at least is pressuring American businesses to withdraw their manufacturing from China and replace them in other Asian nations that are democratic or simply far more friendlier to the US than China, such as Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, or Malaysia. This way, American businesses can at least escape from what I term the "abusive relationship" with the CCP, which demands as many concessions that it can milk from foreign businesses while persuading them to stay in China by threatening to cut them off from muh lucrative Chinese market and thus muh extra profits.
No really, one of the latest memes on the Chinese internet is "what foreign brand is apologizing to us this week?
".
Valerie Plame, the CIA agent who was outed by Dick Cheney's then Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is running as a Democrat for the House of Representatives in New Mexico's 3rd congressional district.
Trump granted Libby a full pardon in April of 2018.
PSN ID: FateSeraph | Switch friendcode: SW-0145-8835-0610 Congratulations! She/TheyDo you think America can decouple economically from China without horrific cost? Seriously?
Frankly, I don't give a damn about China's bad habits when this utterly pointless and idiotic trade war is causing such pointless damage to the US and her people.
Of course that Chinese dissident praised it, it's in their interests for everything to burn. They don't get a post-CCP government without chaos, and if it takes the US down with it (comparatively) too bad so sad.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Sep 9th 2019 at 4:09:57 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
What are these "horrific costs to the US and her people?" Less profits for the MN Cs who makes millions from relying on cheap Chinese labor with poor conditions? The real horrific cost IMO is American soft power and our economy being trapped in an abusive relationship with China, whose government is damnably clever enough to use the capitalist free-market economy that we are so proud of to cause our business leaders to happily apologize and surrender on everything ranging from how to label places on clothing, destinations on airline websites, and self-censorship in our film industry
.
PBS made a documentary on the trade war
that featured a cyber-security expert as a talking head. He described how the Obama Administration received reports of mass Chinese industrial espionage from the American companies affected, only to have those same companies urge the government not to take any actions against China out of fear of being shut out of their coveted Chinese consumers.
DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: I briefed them on what we were seeing with both Aurora, Night Dragon, Shady Rat.
LAURA SULLIVAN: What did they say?
DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: My impression was none of this was a surprise. And when I pressed them on why they were not taking stronger action against China, their response was, "It's complicated."
LAURA SULLIVAN: "It's complicated." Did they explain that?
DMITRI ALPEROVITCH: Well, they were telling me straight out, those same customers that are getting victimized by China, they are the same companies that are coming in to tell us, "Don't do anything to harm the relationship with China. We want to continue to do business there. We want to continue making money there. We need that market."
JAMES Mc GREGOR: You know, the U.S. government listens to companies, so if the companies are saying, "Chill" they'll chill.
LAURA SULLIVAN: How can businesses walk into United States agencies and complain about being treated unfairly if they're the ones that are preventing any action from being taken? How do they get to have it both ways?
JAMES Mc GREGOR: Sometimes two things can be true at the same time.
I mean, their incentives are to make money. If your business is in China, Xi Jinping is more important to you than Donald Trump or Barack Obama. And it's not that these are bad people who don't care about America, but their incentives are to shareholders, not to the government of the United States.
Edited by FluffyMcChicken on Sep 9th 2019 at 5:14:32 AM
Even if (and that's a big if) this tactic was valid and effective, you can't really endorse it when Trump is starting a multifront trade conflict. Any benefits it might have (realigning trade towards other countries, getting companies to move away from China) is basically negated because everyone is ticked with the US on this front right now.
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/09/09/day-963/
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/air-force-trump-scottish-retreat-1484337
2/ Trump denied being involved in the stays at Turnberry by Air Force crews, tweeting that "I know nothing," but that "they have good taste!" Air Force crews will typically stop at U.S. military bases in Europe to refuel, where it's cheaper to do so. Trump added: "NOTHING TO DO WITH ME." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/09/trump-air-force-scotland-resort-1486440
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/08/trump-resort-air-force-probe-1485447
3/ In 2017, the U.S. extracted one of its highest-level covert spies from inside the Russian government. The previously undisclosed secret mission was driven, in part, after Trump shared classified information with the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador in a May 2017 Oval Office meeting. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-idUSKBN1861V4
📌 Day 112: The White House was misled about the role of the Russian photographer and were surprised to see photos posted online showing Trump not only with Sergey Lavrov but also smiling and shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Russian officials described the person as Lavrov's official photographer without disclosing that he also worked for Tass, a Russian state-owned news agency. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 118: Putin offers to provide Congress with the transcript to prove Trump didn't pass Russia secrets, turning up the pressure on the White House to provide its own transcript of the meeting. Putin said Russia could hand over a transcript of Trump's meeting with Lavrov, if the Trump administration deemed it appropriate. (Reuters / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-putin-idUSKCN18D1EA
4/ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire NOAA employees after the agency's Birmingham office contradicted Trump's claim that Alabama would be hit "harder than anticipated" by Hurricane Dorian. Ross directed Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president. Jacobs initially objected to the demand, but was told by Ross that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not resolved. NOAA then sided with Trump over its own scientists, stating that Alabama was in fact threatened by the storm at the time of Trump's tweet that Alabama would "most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated." NOAA is a division of the Commerce Department. (New York Times / Washington Post)
NOAA's acting chief scientist is investigating whether the agency's response to Trump's Hurricane Dorian tweets constituted a violation of policies and ethics. The director of the National Weather Service, meanwhile, broke with NOAA leadership, calling the agency's response "political" and a "danger to public health and safety." (Washington Post)
5/ Trump dismissed the idea of allowing Bahamians into the United States on humanitarian grounds following the destruction of Hurricane Dorian. Hours earlier, the acting Customs and Border Protection chief suggested that the idea was worth considering. Trump said that those struggling in devastated areas of the Bahamas should go to the "large sections" of their country that were not hit, because he's concerned that "bad people" could exploit the U.S. refugee process. (NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee will vote this week to define its ongoing "impeachment investigation." The vote would detail the parameters of its investigation and formalize procedures for an impeachment inquiry. Democrats say the move will allow the panel to work faster and potentially acquire more information about possible obstruction of justice and abuses of power by Trump. The resolution will also mark the first recorded vote related to impeachment by lawmakers, even though the committee has already informed federal courts and the public that it is currently in the midst of a full-scale impeachment inquiry. (New York Times) / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/house-judiciary-dems-impeachment-trump-1484435
7/ Trump called off a secret meeting with Afghan and Taliban leaders at Camp David to negotiate a peace deal to end the 18-year-long war. Trump called off the meeting after the Taliban admitted to a suicide car bomb attack at a checkpoint near the American Embassy in Kabul that killed an American soldier and 11 others. The secret peace talks were slated to happen two days before the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times)
8/ Michael Flynn refused to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee's subpoena for testimony and documents as part of its Russia investigation. The committee is now demanding that Flynn appear on September 25th and provide documents by September 18th. (Politico / CNN)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/09/adam-schiff-michael-flynn-1486508
poll/ 58% of Americans have confidence that stricter gun laws would reduce mass shootings, while 41% remain skeptical. 76% think improved mental health monitoring and treatment would reduce mass shootings. 89% support background checks for gun purchases, including for sales at gun shows. 86% support "red flag" laws that allow police to take firearms away from people found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others. (ABC News / Washington Post)
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/10-fear-mass-shooting-gun-laws-poll/story?id=65414785
Alaskan here: The PFD is not a universal basic income. It's an annual bonus, not something you can live on. What it does is it provides a buffer. Sometimes in the past, I either let my phone and electric bills slide in September or called Mom to ask for a loan, because my finances were running right on the edge. Then in October, the state waves a magic wand and I'm solvent again and can pay everything back. That happens a lot right up to the lower middle class. (Then for those of us in the black, October is a sale season. Think Christmas season, but for more big ticket items - Sears goes all out advertising new mattresses, I'm probably getting a new computer chair, and similar things.)
That said, it does distort our politics, but it doesn't distort our politics enough - we have a line-item veto that allowed Walker to pull his stunt in the first place, but getting that out of our Constitution is impossible as long as we're a red state, and the veto on PFD funding won't be enough to fix that.
Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, files for divorce over 'incompatibility of temperament' – Todd Palin filed to dissolve the couple's 31-year marriage with Anchorage Superior Court on Friday
Trump dismisses idea of allowing Bahamians into U.S. after Hurricane Dorian – "I don't want to allow people that weren't supposed to be in the Bahamas to come into the United States, including some very bad people
Edited by sgamer82 on Sep 9th 2019 at 8:27:27 AM
Do you think it's better to continue supporting them?
Isn't it better to decouple than financing a regime like that?
Shouldn't we decouple from hideous human rights abusers?
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
Again, the human rights abuses aren't why the trade war is happening. The trade war is happening because a couple of nationalist assholes are butting heads and dragging entire countries into it.
After the way he mishandled Puerto Rico, no, it's not a surprise.
Edited by M84 on Sep 9th 2019 at 10:44:25 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedThe Hill - "Warren gains support but Biden retains delegate lead in new poll"
.
So, this is a purely hypothetical count, right? I ask because I'm seeing a whole bunch of people (mostly Bernie supporters) screaming about rigged primaries on Twitter.
Oh God! Natural light!This is just how people deal with situations/phenomena they don't like these days: by making up BS conspiracy theories. Yang supporters were doing the same thing after the first Democratic debates wrapped up by claiming his mic was cut. Hell, even The Hill got in on this, claiming that the media is ignoring the bottom three candidates because they "spoke out against the Democratic establishment" or something. Trump supporters did the same thing when Eminem dropped his anti-Trump BET freestyle, claiming it wasn't even really him. This even happens outside of politics; look at all the people calling Billie Eilish and Cardi B "industry plants".
People just assume the world is naturally supposed to do only what they want it to do, and accuse someone somewhere of pulling the strings whenever it doesn't.
Edited by PhysicalStamina on Sep 10th 2019 at 7:55:32 AM
i'm tired, my friend

Nothing will happen because of McConnell. That's it; this session is now fully described.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"