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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
They would be horrible domestically and Kasich would probably hoodwink the American public into giving him a second term. Don't yearn for mediocrity because things are so obviously bad right now.
edited 10th Apr '18 12:37:41 PM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."You'd probably have deregulation going on still, and the tax bill would move on through. The ACA might have been totaled, but maybe not considering Republican holdouts. Democratic energy would probably be way, way down without a White House the produces scandals every week at least.
I doubt that the State department would end up gutted though. And POTUS wouldn't wage open warfare with the FBI, IC, and DOJ.
You definitely wouldn't have an erratic idiot dealing with potential North Korean/Iranian flare ups. And the world wouldn't be facing a possible trade war.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.See, this is how you get terrible zombie franchises. You make a mediocre series, wait a few years and then crowdfund The Movie based on nostalgia for something that was never particularly good to begin with.
I do to think Kasich could have won against Hillary, if he had the global economy might well have been in total freefall, as a switch to the gold standard (something he wanted) would have bought about economic ruin that would make the depression look like child play.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranKasich wanted a return to the Gold Standard? (Quick Google search doesn't really give an answer). And you sure you aren't thinking about Rand or Ron Paul?
And even if he did want that, wouldn't matter. The donors, Congress and other power brokers would deter him, and unlike Trump Kasich does know when to back off on something.
edited 10th Apr '18 1:14:15 PM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Sinclair pundit resigns after threatening to "Stick a hot poker up David Hogg's ass" on twitter
Jamie Allman, a St. Louis–based conservative TV and radio host, tweeted, “When we kick their ass they all like to claim we’re drunk. I’ve been hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass tomorrow. Busy working. Preparing.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the context of the tweet was unclear.
The tweet was posted on March 26. But it was resurfaced by the Riverfront Times and led to calls for advertising boycotts of his TV show on the Sinclair-owned local ABC affiliate and his talk radio show last week. A similar boycott effort took off against Fox News host Laura Ingraham after she mocked Hogg for not getting into four colleges.
By Monday night, Allman had resigned from Sinclair, the Washington Post reported.
“We have accepted Mr. Allman’s resignation, and his [TV] show has been canceled,” Sinclair spokesperson Ronn Torossian told the Post.
On Tuesday morning, the Post reported that Allman also didn’t host his radio show. The substitute host said Allman is “taking a couple of days off.”
Allman’s Twitter account is now private.
This is another post with a long audio story from NPR: for 4 months, an NPR team accompanied Arizona Senator Jeff Flake everywhere during the business of Washington, getting incredible access to the backroom maneuvering, legislative process, deal making, deal breaking, and all of Flake's attempts to get DACA to become a law, something which he certainly appears to have tired his utmost to do and is most likely still doing
. It's a step by step look into basically everything happening on Capitol Hill since the tax deal in late December, and for anyone who is interested in getting an insider's view on it all, it's fascinating.
The big takeaways for me, having heard about half to 3/4 of the story the other night and not having had the chance listen to the rest yet:
- Part of the reason why DACA will never pass during a Trump presidency is because it's so popular. DACA is always paired with other things to make it the spoonful of sugar that makes it easy to swallow other issues that would be very bitter to the other side. (i.e. a border wall for Democrats, legalization of current immigrants here illegally for Republicans.) Problem is that it always get derailed when one side or the other can't live with something the other side puts into a bill, at which point the whole thing gets tossed. It will never be moved by itself, however, because that means losing a ton of leverage to get other priorities through.
- The biggest other part of the reason is because every time a compromise is hammered out between Dems and Republicans, (as one was just before Trump's "shithole countries" moment) right wing immigration hardliners and racists from Fox News or Trump's inner circle (Stephen Miller and others) will get to Trump. And because Trump has no actual convictions of his own but is a suggestible angry old racist/white supremacist, it is uniquely easy to influence him into tearing up any immigration compromise, no matter how rigorously and painfully 50-50 it is.
- Jeff Flake is a well meaning, goody two shoes of a sap. Probably not a cynical or malicious bone in his body, but you could scam the guy at Three Card Monte all night long without him picking up on it. The man essentially forces himself not to believe bad things about other people. He's like a living embodiment of the stereotype of a naive, optimistic, always look on the bright side of life type of Mormon. And he was 100% sincere in his desire to get DACA passed.
- Mike Pence is the reason that Susan Collins' desire for an ACA fix got screwed. Remember how Collins was supposed to get that in return for her vote on the tax scam? Turns out on the eve of the vote Pence was hit by abortion hardliners who believed that Collins' ACA fix would allow Federal money to pay for abortions. As a result Pence put the screws to that. Collins apparently knew her demands were going to be screwed, but however reluctantly voted for the tax bill regardless.
Whispering about McCain's situation
are slowly growing louder
I find it distasteful to speculate about the results of somebody's death, but long story short: McCain hasn't been in D.C. since December, for the tax vote. He's now been fighting an especially lethal form of brain cancer for almost a year. If he has to step down from his position before May 30th, his seat will be on the ballot in November, after May 30th, the Governor will appoint a replacement that will serve through the 2020 election. (Although there may be a gray area in the law that could leave it open to lawsuits.)
| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |Watching the Zuckerberg Testimony right now. It's with the Senate so it's mostly a bunch of older guys (particularly on the Republican side) that have no idea how the internet works.
Never seen a Republican this intent on regulation, as Thune was in the opening, for ages though.
edited 10th Apr '18 1:25:29 PM by megaeliz
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Don't give me that "reluctantly voted with the Republicans" thing. Of course Collins knew her fix wouldn't make it. She only wanted an excuse to vote for the tax cut. She's quite predictable.
Pence gave her exactly what she needed.
edited 10th Apr '18 1:42:33 PM by Larkmarn
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.In Tennessee, deep in the heart of Trump country, Jim Tracy, the president’s choice for state director for an Agriculture Department office that pumps money into rural areas served as a national co-chairman for state legislators for his main rival in the Republican primary, Ted Cruz.
In swing state Virginia, one of Trump’s nominees for U.S. attorney, Thomas Cullen, the son of a former state attorney general who long led the state’s biggest law firm, endorsed another Republican candidate, Marco Rubio.
And in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that helped Trump win, Daniel Di Lella, his pick to head the commission that will throw the United States a 250th birthday party wrote a $1,000 check to Republican John Kasich, a critic considering challenging the president in 2020.
All across the country, the White House has passed over diehard Trump supporters for state-based federal appointments, instead handing those jobs to people who didn’t back Trump, didn’t help Trump, didn’t even agree with Trump.
“My big joke is if I wanted a job in the administration I should have supported Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush,” said Scottie Nell Hughes, an outspoken supporter of Trump from Hendersonville, Tenn.
In more than two dozen interviews with Trump supporters in 13 states stretching from Florida to California, Mc Clatchy found the Trump base seething over a White House that has sidelined people who worked to get this unconventional candidate elected in favor of establishment Republicans and veteran operatives — the wealthy and elitist “swamp-dwelling” insiders this president swore to rid from government.
Worse, according to Trump’s backers, is that his team is appointing not only establishment Republicans, but Republicans who supported Cruz, Rubio and Kasich or worked for the last Republican president, George W. Bush.
“There is a general overall disgust,” said Mark Anthony Jones, a Trump supporter in the Kansas City area and chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party in Missouri. “The people are aware he isn’t getting the appointments. There is frustration. The swamp has way more control than the president does.”
Frankie Lax, of Jackson, Tenn. said he supported Trump from the day the New Yorker jumped into the race because of his background as a businessman and political outsider. Lax — who says he was known as the “Sean Hannity of west Tennessee” —- talked Trump up daily on his top-rated radio show through the primary and general election, distributed thousands of yard signs and donated $400. He was recently notified that he lost out on a U.S. marshal job to a former state legislator who praised Jeb Bush in what appears to be a now deleted tweet.
“The swamp is not getting drained fast enough,” Lax said. “I can’t think of one appointment in Tennessee who supported Donald Trump.”
Trump supporters largely don’t blame the president. Indeed, his base has remained loyal for 15 months even as he broke campaign promises by failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act and bringing troops home from Afghanistan and began feuds within his own party. But now, that base is showing signs of cracking.
His supporters warn that Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign could suffer if he doesn’t pay back activists who turned out in droves to propel the unlikely candidate — a businessman and reality TV star — into the Oval Office.
“Hopefully the president isn’t depending on these same people who were loyal when no one else was because he’s going to be disappointed,” said Ben Marchi, a home health care business owner and Trump delegate to the convention from Maryland who signed on as a supporter in the campaign’s earliest days and advised on operations in mid-Atlantic states. “He has abdicated this responsibility to people who have no loyalty to him or his agenda. He doesn’t even know this is what he should be focused on.”
“It’s clear that the West Wing has abdicated these responsibilities to institutionalized members of the swamp when the decisions really should be made by Trump acolytes who wants to shake up Washington,” Marchi said.
A White House official said the administration is looking to hire the best people for the job. “The president and his administration strive to hire the individuals of the highest caliber to serve our country and execute the president’s agenda,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.
Trump’s selections for Cabinet secretaries and top White House advisers have been well-documented over the last 15 months but little attention has been paid to the important but often overlooked jobs and appointments scattered across the nation. It was those initial top hires – many of whom didn’t support him during the campaign either — who ultimately were responsible for the appointments in the states. They, too, were new to the ways of government and political payback and didn’t select Trump supporters.
Of the nearly 4,000 political appointees a president makes, hundreds, perhaps 1,000 or more, are based in states, according to documents and government observers. The Office of Personnel Management declined to say how many there are, but a spokesperson who insisted on speaking on background urged a reporter to file dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests to find the one number. Some need to be confirmed by the Senate, but many do not.
They help America’s farmers, boost small businesses and monitor air and water pollution. They serve as judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers. And they come from all over to serve on boards and commissions, from the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad to the National Endowment for the Arts
...
Most supporters contacted by Mc Clatchy say they still support Trump, praising his accomplishments, particularly for pushing a fractured Congress to pass tax cuts and reducing the number of bureaucratic regulations. They don’t blame him for the appointments, saying he can’t possibly keep track of the thousands of political appointments the administration makes because he’s saddled with a long to-do list that includes a nuclear threat by North Korea and an influx in illegal immigration.
Instead they primarily blame Republican senators, many of whom have openly criticized Trump before and after his inauguration and who are regularly called upon by the administration to recommend candidates for appointments. A single senator of either party could hold up one of the president’s nominations if Senate confirmation is required.
...
The Presidential Personnel Office, charged with recruiting and vetting thousands of political appointees, remains short staffed and filled with young inexperienced aides who one former Trump adviser called an “unmitigated band of misfits.” Until recently it was run by Johnny De Stefano, who himself never supported Trump during the campaign and had worked for politicians who are synonymous with Republican establishment.
It didn’t help that his team disregarded the hundreds of potential appointees compiled by transition leader, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, when Trump fired him in November 2016.
“The problem is he’s in a bubble,” said Rion Choate, a longtime Trump supporter and investment banker from North Carolina who volunteered on the campaign for 18 months. Choate recommended one person for U.S. attorney in his home state who did not get the job and now is trying to secure a nomination as an ambassador to a Middle Eastern country for himself. “I’m not frustrated with Donald Trump. I’m frustrated with the system.”
The administration often consults with agencies — which each have a White House liaison to help with appointments — and GOP members of Congress for suggestions or refers back to the same people who have served in government, according to people close to the White House and government observers. In some states, nominating commissions comprised of influential leaders make recommendations.
“Some of the people picked he didn’t know or vet them deep enough. Many are good people but they’re not his people,” said Mel Grossman, a Trump supporter and president of the Palm Beach County Tea Party in Florida. “To change the system, it’s really impossible. It’s not going to be the first day or first year. In four years, hopefully he can clean house.”
Trump supporters say the administration should have opted for loyalty over experience. “I value loyalty and honesty above someone who is smart any day of the week,” said James Coyne, a Trump supporter in Columbia, Mo.
Fundraising campaigns associated with the Facebook page were suspended by Pay Pal and Patreon after CNN contacted each of the companies for comment. Donorbox and Classy had already removed the campaigns.
The discovery raises new questions about the integrity of Facebook's platform and the content hosted there. In the run-up to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress this week, Facebook has announced plans to make the people running large pages verify their identity and location. But it's not clear that the change would affect this page: Facebook has not said what information about page owners it will disclose to the public — and, presented with CNN's findings, Facebook initially said the page didn't violate its "Community Standards."
Only after almost a week of emails and calls between CNN and Facebook about this story did Facebook suspend the page, and then only because it had suspended a user account that administrated the page.
The discovery also raises questions about Facebook's commitment to change, and to policing its platform, even in the midst of its PR offensive leading up to Zuckerberg's testimony. Not for the first time, Facebook took action against a major bad actor on its site not on its own but because journalists made inquiries.
edited 10th Apr '18 1:57:50 PM by TheWanderer
| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
Any schadenfreude instantly dried up when I read the article and their response wasn't "Trump left us high and dry" but instead "Trump isn't powerful enough, he'd like to appoint us, but he can't. God bless Trump!"
Seriously. That's terrifying.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.So, Sarah Sanders probably just let it slip that the White House at least solicited advice on if Trump could directly fire Mueller.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-fire-fbi/index.html
On the subject, the GOP has finally started responding, by not changing their position. They won't protect him but do not believe that he should (or will) be fired.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/republican-reactions-trump-mueller-cohen-raid/index.html
Grassley and Graham in particular are vastly overestimating Trump's level of restraint.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Re: Jamming attacks in Syria, people have been jamming our drones for as long as we’ve been flying them. It’s not even a particularly new development in Syria.
If you remember, GPS was degraded across the western US last year for military excercises in an environment with active jamming.
It’s an unsurprising development, though.
They should have sent a poet.