Condiv posted:

this seems self-destructive if dems want to hold power. reversing course as soon as they gain power seems like a good way to depress the turnout of their base

Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:

an anecdote.

quote:

You have probably heard that there is a crisis going on at the border right now. Hundreds of troops have been dispatched to the southern frontier to help staunch a massive flood of dangerous immigrants. (It turns out that the best way to defend the homeland is by filling out paperwork and succumbing to heatstroke, because that’s mostly what the troops have been doing lately.) But here’s an interesting puzzle. For the past few weeks, as the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric has steadily ramped up, the government has been casually mass-releasing immigrants from border detention centers in large numbers. Why would a government that was terrified about the security concerns posed by immigrants just empty out its immigration jails?

mistaya posted:

The calling of races on election night really needs to be moderated somehow, mainly because calls to violence over races called too soon are now a thing thanks to our ghoul of a President and his ghoul of a party. I don't know if our news organizations are capable of figuring that one out though.

Like sure, call races where "The total number of absentee ballots cannot exceed the current lead" but that's it.

Mahoning posted:

https://twitter.com/chemishalev/status/1061997607516561409?s=21

The Glumslinger posted:

https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1062003066675908609

Teddybear posted:

Nielsen on the way out; Kelly, who put Nielsen there, might be, too.

VitalSigns posted:

evilweasel posted:

also, facebook is apparently aware that it has only a little goodwill with the american public these days and wants to kill off that last bit

selec posted:

The man got results once with this method, and he’s gonna give it another run

Fritz Coldcockin posted:

Makes me think there are indictments coming today or tomorrow, because he only gets this salty about Bob Mueller right before someone else goes down.

Chilichimp posted:

Chilichimp posted:

I thought we were allowed to discuss news? I was just posting about how loving disappointingly dark America has become.

Someone stands up and shouts something in a theater and people start literally running, assuming that person is there to murder a bunch of people.

VH4Ever posted:

SUPPORT AR TROOPS! SUPPORT AR TROOPS!!

Another GOP lie exposed.

Hellblazer187 posted:

The IRS also has obnoxiously old computers. I remember reading that some big portion of the IT infrastructure is a holdover from the KENNEDY administration.

Oracle posted:

And yet all the conspiracy theorists are obsessed with pizza parlors hiding child porn rings.

OddObserver posted:

"Take control of their agricultural seed supply" does sound like an evil overlord kinda move, though.

tetrapyloctomy posted:

I do hope the "aspiring actress" accusing Avenatti ends up having a financial paper trail to Wohl.

Sanguinia posted:

I wonder what the fucks at r/T_D have to say about Daddy putting his tail between his legs and whimpering off to a corner instead of prosecuting Clinton like Q promised them was coming for sure.

Not enough to go there mind you.

tetrapyloctomy posted:

Youre right -- it was at best poorly-stated, and didn't add to the conversation meaningfully. Avenatti is savvy and slimy and probably is using the prior attempt to smear Mueller to cover his own abusive rear end. I had a post written up to clarify the difference between me hoping something and believing something, but ultimately you're right: it was a poo poo thing for me to say and I was wrong.

The Glumslinger posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55sjaEDJ65k

Chilichimp posted:

Everything was going fine... AND THEN THE BLUE WAVE HAPPENED

luxury handset posted:

melania's new 2018 creepy white house christmas decorations do not disappoint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM4T4dDOtng

quote:

On Wednesday morning, after a closed-door meeting that lasted much of the night, both houses of Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled state legislature passed a comprehensive set of measures limiting the incoming Democratic administration’s power. The consequences of the many provisions are still coming into focus. Buried under controversial moves to curtail early voting and strip authority from Gov.-elect Tony Evers is a sweeping codification of welfare restrictions that Republicans across the country have long sought.

The new legislation enshrines in state law outgoing Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial policy of forcing many food stamp applicants to submit to drug testing. It also limits the incoming administration’s ability to walk back the state’s strict new work requirements for aid recipients. After Walker’s approval, Wisconsin will be the only state that requires drug testing for non-felon food stamp applicants.

The bill appears to defy federal policy regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as the food stamps program is now known. The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not allow states to impose certain eligibility limits, like drug testing, on SNAP applicants without explicit permission. Walker sued the Obama administration for permission to implement drug screenings back in 2015, but a judge threw out the lawsuit on procedural grounds. Walker then sought permission from the incoming Trump administration in 2016, but his letter went unanswered. (Leaked emails in April of this year showed that the USDA was considering allowing states to implement drug testing, but such a policy has not yet been announced.)

Lacking federal permission, the Walker administration announced a workaround last December: an administrative rule requiring drug screenings only for participants in the state’s Employment and Training Program. (The specific process involves a preliminary screening followed by testing in some cases.)

exploded mummy posted:

any chance that this stuff's getting struck down by the courts or probably not

captainblastum posted:

That seemed like a pretty obvious facetious statement related to why coal jobs seem to be a focus of discussion to me and not the poster's actual opinion.

quote:

Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican recently elevated to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee after the death of John McCain, was implicated recently in what looked to be an insider trading scandal. A few days after meeting with President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to successfully advocate for a military budget increase, Inhofe purchased between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in defense contractor Raytheon, which stands to profit from additional defense spending.

Inhofe tried to manage the controversy by claiming that a third-party financial adviser handles his stocks and made the purchase without his knowledge. Minutes after being questioned about the trades, he wrote a letter to his adviser, asking him to no longer trade defense or aerospace stocks. Inhofe has even taken to carrying around a card with a stock reply to journalists about the matter.

But the Raytheon trades represent only a fraction of his trading activity. The same day that Inhofe revealed the Raytheon purchase, he also disclosed the sale of between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock from Celgene, a biotech firm, along with a similarly sized sale of stock in Aptiv, the auto parts maker formerly known as Delphi. A month earlier, Inhofe revealed trades in General Electric, Salesforce.com, American International Group, XPO Logistics, Albemarle, Intuitive Surgical, and Intellia Therapeutics.

There’s no way to test Inhofe’s claim that a third party manages his stock portfolio, absent a monitor tracking Inhofe 24/7: He could make a phone call or send a message to direct a trade at anytime. But it’s clear that Inhofe is trading millions of dollars worth of stock a year, while voting on legislation that affects public companies.

Herstory Begins Now posted:

I think a 'don't post literal state propaganda' in the thread might be a good rule going forward.

thegoatgod_pan posted:

It is not the same thing—Bloomberg isn’t trying to dismantle public agency and discourse.