We're All Gonna Die - Open Thread

by Ugh

Well then.  This has been, uh, a quite something of a week. Latest is that McMaster is on his way out as NSA and one of the possible replacements is....John Bolton!  Mr. "Let's Launch a Preemptive Strike on North Korea Because Wheeee!"  These are not the good times you're looking for.

And woke up this morning to Trump tweeting that "trade wars are good!" and, more substantively, that Darrell Hammond was better at the SNL impersonation of Trump than Alec Baldwin.  Oh also Trump is in favor of gun confiscation with, uh, delayed due process, and increasing the age for purchase of assault rifles* to 21.  Or at least he was earlier in the week.

Also, too, Paul Ryan is the worst. 

Open thread.

*Or whatever the technical fncking term is. 

Comments

[wonkie]

I am glad that I am old and have no children. I feel sorry for people who do have kids. Seriously. The only hope I have is that if things get fucked up enough, there will be a voter revolution that puts the R party out on the fringes for a generation. But since contemporary conservationism is not so much a philosophy as an appeal to the worst in human nature and since there is always a lot of that around I'm not real optimistic

[Ugh]

It's tribalism all the way down...

[sapient]

This is fine.

"The Securities and Exchange Commission late last year dropped its inquiry into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate firm a $180 million loan."

Perfectly normal.

[Nigel]

Breyer is a good guy; Alito gives every indication of being a sociopath:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/justice-alito-just-signaled-the-supreme-courts-conservatives-might-not-consider-immigrants-to-be-people.html?

[liberal japonicus]

wonkie, this is the one thing that makes me glad that my parents have passed. I can't imagine them thinking what the world has become and worrying about their grandkids...

[Countme-a-Demon]

Immigrants will join the rest of we unincorporated nothings in the non-people category.

the republican party recommends taxpayers pay to protect the former's guilty selves:

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/03/01/nrangst-open-thread-the-elephant-in-the-house-and-the-senate-too/

They must be worried something is going to happen ..... to them , not the rest of us, not the country, to them .... their only constituency.

[sapient]

Thanks for the link, Nigel.

I plan to attend the March for Our Lives in DC on 3/24, and feel strongly about gun violence, but my "single issue," if I have one, is immigrant rights. It's the litmus test for our humanity.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Hope Hicks does American conservatism's facial expression, the murderer's low-tax smirk:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/white-house-dysfunction.html?mabReward=ART_CBD1&recid=11FGzfo6aEZV8fTsP9F2tyD5bqx&recp=1&moduleDetail=recommendations-1&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&region=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article

via Hullabaloo

Hicks needs to show a bit of leg with that.

When the nuclear missiles fly, conservatives across the country will be on rooftops cheering them on.

Their cell-phone video capabilities will be set on the "reality show" setting as the missiles arc and then descend.

[cleek]

yay trade war!

countdown to "conservatives have always loved protectionism!"

[Ugh]

Another day another school shooting.

Arm the fraternities!

[russell]

one of the possible replacements is....John Bolton!

our very own colonel blimp.

Alito gives every indication of being a sociopath

not a bug, a feature. the crueler we are, the less likely they are to try to come here.

if you think i'm being sarcastic, think again. we consider people who leave water for folks crossing desert borders to be felons.

for leaving water for people, so they don't die of thirst.

i'm surprised nobody's proposed salting the border with land mines. it'd be cheaper than a wall, so bonus.

[Nigel]

Since the largest importer of both steel and aluminium into the US is Canada (China is, I think, around 10th...), how does that justify the section 232 national security pretext (something that hasn't been invoked for 30 years) ?

Are you planning to go to war with the Canadians ?

[wj]

justice-alito-just-signaled-the-supreme-courts-conservatives-might-not-consider-immigrants-to-be-people

Nigel, fortunately there is a simple solution: If immigrants incorporate themselves, they instantly become people. And probably an LLC would be sufficient....

[wj]

Regarding the tariffs, as with most things Trump, there has been no sign that the details have been thought through. (Or even thought of.) So it is possible that the tariffs will not be applied to Canadian steel. Maybe even not to steel from the EU or other allies.

It's true that making exceptions for allies would involve nuance -- and Trump doesn't do nuance. On the other hand, if it is presented to him as striking at unfair Chinese steel, he might embrace it....

[Ugh]

Are you planning to go to war with the Canadians ?

Shhhhhhhh!!

[wj]

And wouldn't war with the Canadians be a Civil War? After all, much of the population is unclear that Canada is a separate country....

[Nigel]

So it is possible that the tariffs will not be applied to Canadian steel. Maybe even not to steel from the EU or other allies.

Under WTO rules, you can't discriminate between nations like that - unless you have an FTA with them (in which case the tariffs wouldn't apply in any event).

[CharlesWT]

Tariffs are just a version of "Cutting your nose off to spite your face."

[wj]

Under WTO rules

Oh, rules. But rules don't apply to Trump. See lots of his previous actions.

I'd bet that, if he is persuaded to discriminate like that, he would just go forward, apply the tariffs, and fight it out in the courts. He'd lose, but it would take a while.

[CharlesWT]

Look for your favorite canned beverage, alcoholic or otherwise, to go up in cost.

[wj]

And your next car. Or washing machine. Or the next plane or tank your taxes buy.

[CharlesWT]

Washing machines have already gone up in price due to Trump's tariffs on imported machines.

[Ugh]

Eagerly awaiting the rest of the World's BDS of the US around this time next year.

[wj]

Stupidity (yawn! what else is new?) from Trump:

trade wars are good, and easy to win.

Which, of course, is why nobody has ever won one. Ever.

But then, nobody who started one before was Trump....

[russell]

Are you planning to go to war with the Canadians ?

we better think twice. they kicked our butts last time we tried that on.

Tariffs are just a version of "Cutting your nose off to spite your face."

in the context of a balanced and equitable market, probably so.

[CharlesWT]

Ford went to a lot of expense to improve its trucks' mileage by replacing as much steel as possible with aluminum. I guess, now, they're screwed either way.

[cleek]

Trump's trade war is going to please a lot of people in a district that's about to have a special election.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/trump-may-tie-tariff-rollout-to-possible-pennsylvania-stump-speech.html

coincidence!

[wj]

So does that mean that, if Lamb wins anyway, Trump will drop the tariffs in an effort to get the stock market to rally again?

[cleek]

it wouldn't be the most transparently political thing he's ever done.

[russell]

and, trump buddy carl icahn unloads a bunch of equities in the days before the tarriff announcement.

make of it what you will.

[wonkie]

Can Trrump impose a tariff all by himself? Does he have the authority?

If he can do it by himself, does he have any idea how? He spent the first six months in office issuing decrees, many of which did not actually mean anything sometimes becuase there was no folllowup to make the decree happen.

So...How does a proposed ariff become a reality?

[hairshirthedonist]

I had exactly the same thoughts. WWS...

[Michael Cain]

Can Trrump impose a tariff all by himself? Does he have the authority?

Yes, on specific items (like steel, or memory chips), under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, if he declares that it's a matter of national security. There's effectively no definition of what counts as national security -- that's up to the President. In the 125 years since ~1890, Congress has given the executive branch enormous power to "legislate".

[wonkie]

Thank hou, Micheal. So he can do it, if he konws how to get it done. Of course he is surrounded by people who dont want him to do it. So they could do what one of his defense advisors does whenever he demands a plan for attacking Korea--say Ok Ill work on that, then just walk away...

[wj]

Of course he is surrounded by people who dont want him to do it.

Actually not any more. The tariff enthusiasts seem to have largely displaced the free traders in Trump's immediate circle.

Of course, they may be as clueless as he about how to go about implementing such a tariff. But I expect that the Commerce Secretary (who is a fan) can find someone who will help with that.

[Countme-a-Demon]

"So...How does a proposed ariff become a reality?"

In mp's case, same way my riffs become a comment, I consult my fundament and away we go.

[Michael Cain]

So he can do it, if he konws how to get it done.

My father used to tell a story about the tests for officer candidate school in the military. One of the problems gives a detailed list of available materials, a topo map, a description of the available men, a page-and-a-half of blank space for an answer, and poses the question, "How do you build a bridge across this particular stream/river?" The correct officer answer is two sentences: "Sargent, take these men and this pile of sh*t and build a bridge. I'll be back in three hours to see how things are going."

John Kelly did not make it to general officer rank without learning how to find and ask the career staff people how things actually work. In his current role, that means the civil service-level staff that persist across the political changes.

I believe the Javanka vs Kelly rumors. Also that after a year, Trump knows his kids are a liability that he's going to have to shed.

[sapient]

I believe the Javanka vs Kelly rumors. Also that after a year, Trump knows his kids are a liability that he's going to have to shed.

Maybe. Not sure what he considers to be a "liability".

In other news, this guy seems nice.

[Countme-a-Demon]

"John Kelly did not make it to general officer rank without learning how to find and ask the career staff people how things actually work. In his current role, that means the civil service-level staff that persist across the political changes."

See, "deep state" and "drain the swamp".

Also, "the bureaucracy".

Throw in "expertise" too, as passe.

Michael, I hope you are right, but if you are, then Kelly will be eaten alive by the chaos-loving, gummint-hating cannibals loose in the country under the title, "the conservative movement" and "MAGA".

There's not a Cabinet Officer in this Administration who believes career staff in their agencies have a single piece of practical knowledge or wisdom to impart to the former's know-it-all selves.

My Dad, eventually a Captain and engineer in the U.S. Army, took men and piles of shit and built lots of bridges in New Guinea during World War II, so you are precisely correct about how things should work.

[wj]

Otis is big on harsh punishments. (And ever higher prison populations.)

Hawaii seems to have found a better approach. But then, this administration has a positive allergy to real world data -- especially if it might contradict their pet enthusiasms.

[Girl from the North Country]

I idly followed a link on Crooked Timber (about Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, about whom I knew next to nothing) to this article called Sexing the Plants:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/sep/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

Apart from the absorbing interest of the thing, I was struck by the last line of one of his verses, on slavery, which could serve as the slogan against every kind of infamy today:

Conscience must listen to the voice of Guilt:
Hear him, ye Senates! Hear this truth sublime,
"HE, WHO ALLOWS OPPRESSION, SHARES THE CRIME".

Of course that grand, declamatory style is terribly unfashionable today, but it certainly is stirring!

[Countme-a-Demon]

General Kelly is the Chief of Nothing:

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/chaos-v-parkland-by-bloggersrus.html

*

Not one of his supposed bridges will be left standing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRHVMi3LxZE

*The Beatles t-shirt only reminds me that John Lennon had to come to THIS country to be shot dead.

[Pro Bono]

Protecting American jobs - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/02/electrolux-puts-250-million-us-investment-on-hold-over-trumps-tariff-hike.html

[CharlesWT]

On the whole, over time, the US would be better off if it engaged in unilateral free trade. Although trade agreements do prevent countries changing their minds every time they encounter a perceived or real disadvantage in their trade arrangements with other countries.

Politicians, or would be politicians in Trump's case, seemingly have no understanding of comparative advantage. Or just don't care when it conflicts with what they see as a political advantage.

[wj]

Most of the time, Trump's nostalgia seems to be for the 1950s. But on trade, he seems to go for mercantilism, which by the 1950s had been debunked by economists over a century earlier. So, not exclusively living in the 1950s part of the past.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

In the 1800's the UK went full-on "unilateral free trade", based on ideological reasons.

The eventually, painfully, discovered that it gave them ZERO negotiating leverage on trade deals.

Multilateral deals are a good way to thread that needle. Like the EU.

[Michael Cain]

But on trade, he seems to go for mercantilism, which by the 1950s had been debunked by economists over a century earlier.

What he wants is a return to the late 1940s/early 1950s, when the US could export essentially unlimited manufactured goods because so much of the rest of the world's ability to manufacture had been reduced to rubble. Mercantilism is a means to an end, not the end. I suppose a couple of nice wars, one between Germany and France, and one between Japan and China, that reduced those four to rubble again would also work :^)

[bobbyp]

What he wants is a return to the late 1940s/early 1950s, when the US could export essentially unlimited manufactured goods because so much of the rest of the world's ability to manufacture had been reduced to rubble.

Well, perhaps. But if the rest of the world is reduced to rubble, what are they going to use to buy stuff from us?

From what I understand, during that period trade was a fairly small part of our economy, as we were pretty much self sufficient.

[bobbyp]

In the 1800's the UK went full-on "unilateral free trade", based on ideological reasons.

Aided and abetted to a great extent by their cost advantage in manufactured goods.

And now you know some of the rest of the story.

[wonkie]

Telling the guys to get on with and then checking in three hours requires the mental ability to remember in three hours what the guys were told to get on with. Can Trump do that? OR will he change is mind thirteen times in three hours? Or does he know what guys to direct to do things? Or will he get distracted by something and forget about it until reminded?

Seems to me there are only a few things he sticks to: hates immigrants, the stupid wall, hating Sessions, the stupid wall, his military parade hates Sessions the stupid wall. I guess he could add tariffs to his cycle. Oh I forget everyone now and then he remembers to say something nasty to the North Koreans.

His administration has some notable and terrible accomplishments but it seems to me that very few of them are Trump's. He and his circle couldnt organize their way out of a paper bag. His Cabinet has accomplishments (of the negative kind). The Rs in Congress had accomplishments (of the negative kind).

I guess Trump did figure out how to order up a military parade and he is doing that through the tell the guys to get on with it model.

[Michael Cain]

Well, perhaps. But if the rest of the world is reduced to rubble, what are they going to use to buy stuff from us?

The six trillion dollars worth of US Treasury bonds that they hold?

[Nigel]

Aided and abetted to a great extent by their cost advantage in manufactured goods...

And captive colonial markets.

Britain's record on this is neither absolutely wonderful nor appalling... and by the standards of the day, just possibly a fraction closer to the former than the latter.

[wonkie]

I read in Wapo this morning a quote from some guy who had the job of implementing the tariff and he told the reproter that he was just going to stall until Trump forgot about it. I will see if I can find the quote.

[wonkie]

Well I found the quote and that was the initial tactic, but it failed. He didnt forget about it. I am being a bit nihilistic I guess but I find myself thinking, go ahead do your worst fuck everything up so that even the dumbest Republican voter cant fail to see the harm their horrible selfishness is doing.

[wj]

But they have convinced that themselves that the harm is being done to Other People. (And, if they feel the pinch themselves, it's due to others trying to sabotage Trump.) It's like conspiracy theorists insisting that lack of evidence just proves how devious the conspiracy is.

[Marty]

So trigger warning, this is positive view of Trump from a single metric.

He has now at least tried to implement almost each of his campaign promises. He has really, despite all press to the contrary, been perfectly consistent in trying to get those things done.

In addition, he has proposed solutions on DACA and gun control that would be good steps forward if the Democrats wanted to take yes for an answer. Both of which will likely pass if the Dems don't take the House and Senate in the fall.

DACA, with the immigration stuff, will likely pass if a court ruling goes the wrong way.

Now, all of those are policy, not style, things. But it would be great if every politician put every campaign promise on the table in their first 13 months in office.

And, as for drain the swamp, he did that. Almost no political operatives staff key positions for him. But that will hopefully turn out to be a lesson learned.

[russell]

He has now at least tried to implement almost each of his campaign promises.

from my point of view, that's one-half of the bad part. the other half is attempting to shred the procedural norms that help keep the wheels on.

which was, i suppose, also kind of a campaign promise as well, so maybe it's all of a piece.

the angry-grandpa archie-bunker-with-money vibe is annoying, but it's kind of a side show, really.

as far as drain the swamp, as far as i can tell it's just a different swamp. and likely a worse one.

but yeah, the personal style issues are not the primary problems. they mostly just keep everyone's focus off of the real damage.

[wj]

as for drain the swamp, he did that. Almost no political operatives staff key positions for him.

I think we have very different views of both what constitutes "the swamp" and what constitutes draining it.

Personally, I see it as people leveraging their work in government for personal financial advantage. In the past, that was largely a matter of moving to lobbyist firms after leaving the government. In this administration, it appears that leaving the government first is not considered necessary. This is not a step forward.

[Girl from the North Country]

And, as for drain the swamp, he did that. Almost no political operatives staff key positions for him.

.....

as far as drain the swamp, as far as i can tell it's just a different swamp. and likely a worse one.

I'm entirely with russell on this. It seemed clear that when he talked about "the swamp" it was intended to convey corruption, not just obstructive "deep state" and self-interested career pols. And it's equally clear that the levels of corruption in the administration now, from Kushner on down (and that's if you don't believe it's from Trump on down) are at an historic and extraordinary high. It's hard to pick what will be the most dramatic revelations to come out of the Trump presidency, but financial corruption will be right up there.

[Girl from the North Country]

And what wj said.

[wj]

For a President who constantly hungers to be "the best", it's looking like a case of "Harding move over!"

[Countme-a-Demon]

We don't need no stinkin trigger warnings! ;)

Every sociopath I've know at a personal level and every psychopathic political leader in history have been reliable promise keepers and consistently so, unless they can't get out of bed in the morning, in which case everyone tiptoes around trying not to wake the sleeping dragon.

But once they are awake, you can count on them to live up to expectations and reputation.

When mp barged in on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms, no one was surprised.

Putin plays mp like a fiddle because the response is gloriously consistent.

"But it would be great if every politician put every campaign promise on the table in their first 13 months in office."

No, it wouldn't.

[Countme-a-Demon]

The entire White House, except for maybe Stephen Miller, is a wreck (and that's good, because they deserve it) right now, not because they don't know what to consistently expect, but because they do.

Anyone who has dealt with mp over the past 70 years is like a GI tunnel rat in Vietnam or an Iraq vet, fully expecting ambush, trip wires, and landmines, and IEDs.

You see them now, in the vicinity of VA hospitals, blithering to themselves.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Just so:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/during-trump-hotel-strife-a-trump-mojito-but-no-water/ar-BBJQQyA

Precisely how mp and the republican party are running the country ... into the ground.

The one percent get a mp mojito; everyone else gets a glass of grey water that smells like methane.

Perfectly consistent with expectations and promises made.

[liberal japonicus]

I, for one, appreciate the trigger warning--not because it is needed, but because it acknowledges that the shooter at least knows his finger is on the trigger. I guess awareness has to start somewhere...

I feel that one thing about being a liberal is that you have a lot of metrics you feel you have to weigh, and there is always the chance that you are going to weigh them wrong. It used to be that conservatives had multiple metrics and the question was giving up on some metrics (like hating on the gays or pissing on immigrants) was part of the bargaining process.

[russell]

it bears repeating, again, that about 10 million more people voted against Trump than voted for him. The only reason he is POTUS is because we have a way of electing presidents that is, by modern standards, undemocratic and bizarre.

Undemocratic, bizarre methods, undemocratic, bizarre result.

Trump's approval ratings hover between 35 and 40%.

In that context, "doing exactly what he said he would do" is not such a good thing.

And all of that leaves aside the fact that he is a crook, his kids and son-in-law are crooks, and most of his associates are crooks.

[wj]

I would say that, for used-to-be-conservatives, it used to be the trade-off was between "minimize changes" and "this is a problem that needs to get fixed." Or, to put it another way, it was a matter of deciding when a problem was severe enough to warrant (especially government) action to resolve it. And then deciding what was the smallest change that would actually address the root of the problem.

For example, we have people who cannot find work where they live. Yes, it is bad enough that something needs to be done. Now we think about what the actual root of the problem is, and how to address that:
- tariffs, to make obsolete industries economically viable again? Nope, the world has moved on. And tariffs just hurt everybody else. That's been proven beyond a doubt.
- job training? Maybe. But not everybody is able, never mind interested, in being a programmer or doing other jobs which can be done remotely. For some jobs, you just have to be there. And the jobs are elsewhere.
- subsidize companies to move to places with people but few jobs? Lots of places (both cities and states) have been trying this. How often do they actually get their money back (i.e. increased taxes greater than the subsidy)? Damn seldom, from what I've seen. Not to mention you still have to do the job training -- because if a workforce with the necessary skills was there already, the companies would be attracted by the low cost of setting up there.
- increased mobility? Probably. pushing/subsidizing home ownership seemed like a great idea at the time. But it locked people into places where jobs were disappearing. Time to reconsider that particular government intervention in the market. And then figure out how to get from where we are now (lots of people with much of their wealth tied up in homes in places that don't have jobs any more) to where we need to be.

There are other possibilities, of course. But that's the kind of thing that a real conservative would once have looked at. Pity there aren't more of us these days.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Russia didn't expect that their electoral interference would result in Trump's election.

al-Qaida didn't expect that their plot to hijack aircraft and crash them into buildings would bring down the two towers.

Black Swans all the way down.

[cleek]

And, as for drain the swamp, he did that.

holy crap. lol.

oh sure. he drained it. then strained it. then cooked it down to a thick syrup and poured over his two scoops of ice cream.

his is the most corrupt administration in modern history, top to bottom. from Trump's continual issues with foreign leaders staying at his hotels, to his charging the government to stay in his hotels to protect him, to his constant trips to FL to play golf (which we pay for), to his children's continual use of the their positions for personal enrichment, to the steady stream of Mueller indictments, to Ben Carson's dining room set, to Scott Pruitt's bilking of taxpayers, to the shady contracts in PR, to Melania's shady contractor pal. etc. etc. etc..

the guy's a crooked scumbag. always has been.

[Hartmut]

Echoing cleek, I'd say that The Donald did 'drain' in the purest technical sense by removing all the H2O (i.e. the clean stuff) leaving the malodorous stuff at the bottom behind. Now the bottom feeders are naturally on top. The operation left no money for the proper dredging, so we will have to live with the stink of the sink for the time being.

[novakant]

"Flint Town" on Netflix is very good:

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

[Nigel]

Trump's economic advisers are as clueless as he is. They claim that VAT represents a trade barrier:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/09/26/trumps-advisers-claim-vat-is-a-trade-barrier-subsidy-flat-out-untrue-simply-wrong/#50458d96602a

Unbelievably clueless.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Nuclear trigger warning, compliments of Hilzoy:

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/03/04/incompetence-or-disloyalty/

Joe McCarthy and Ayn Rand were moles, deep Russian agents.

Their patience has paid off.

All these decades, innocent liberals serving on the PTA and trying to raise local taxes to fund public libraries have been called "commies" and "socialist" and "pinkos" by stinking conservative vermin, usually doofus fucks with beer bellies claiming the front row at public meetings (I've been there; I've witnessed it, before I came to the conclusion several years ago that confronting them with fists in the parking lot is the only way to fuck the conservative movement) and all along the latter have been the dupes, the plants, the imbeddeds, the Rosenberg undercover Soviet filth, subverting decent Americans' attempts to try to make a government of the people.

The vengeance will be gloriously complete and final.

Did Solzhenitsyn have an irony funny bone?

[bobbyp]

He has now at least tried to implement almost each of his campaign promises.

Well, he did "promise" to leave Social Security alone, but the we are not even halfway through his term...time will tell.

And, as for drain the swamp, he did that.

Bullshit.

[wj]

Trump's economic advisers are as clueless as he is.

You mean tariffs actually will result in increased prices to consumers?!?!?!? Who knew economics could be so complicated simple....

[russell]

And, as for drain the swamp, he did that.

I'm still trying to figure out what was intended by this.

Trump's cabinet.

Mattis was a pretty good hire, even if Trump had to bend the rules to get him in. I'm glad he's there.

Tillerson seems... OK, in the sense of not being an incompetent ideological nutbar, although the State Department has kind of been nutted in general. And "CEO of Exxon/Mobil" is a resume that brings its own baggage.

Mnuchin, Zinke, Ross, DeVos, Sessions, Perdue, Perry, Carson?

Mulvaney, Pruitt, Haley, Pompeo?

Linda McMahon, formerly of the WWF, at Small Business?

Seriously?

[russell]

In other news:

America respond to the Parkland shooting.

Darwin award nation.

And that guy in the picture needs some schooling on how to carry a firearm. He seems to think he's holding a baseball bat.

[sapient]

Tillerson seems... OK

Not so fast.

[Countme-a-Demon]

About that Cabinet:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/2nd-steele-memo-russia-blocked-mitt-romney-as-sec-of-state

We know for sure Tillerson as a candidate to head the State Department was A-OK and got a thumb's up from the ex-KGB, now Russian Mafia, running Russia.

Did Putin get to advise which career State Department employees on the Russian desk were cut loose by Tillerson from government service or are sidelined and working from their new digs in the files room or the janitor's closets at State?

Yet another item to add to the list of mp campaign promises to the Kremlin and right-wing, fellow-traveling America that were placed on the table and kept.

Admirable, that.

[russell]

Not so fast.

context is everything.

also, $120M to "combat Russian meddling" tells you everything you need to know about how serious we are about foreign influence in the electoral process.

the total state department budget is something over $50B. $120M is beer Friday money.

[cleek]

why would Trump want to combat the same group who helped him get elected last time?

Trump's very good at one thing: discovering conflicts of interest that nobody ever imagined and therefore never bothered writing laws to guard against.

[Countme-a-Demon]

So, those open-carry weapons-lovers in Russell's link?

Is there some requirement that in order to qualify as an asshole gun enthusiast, a guy or gal first has to go through a rigorous physical regimen of putting on rolls of belly-fat and undergoing some sort of neck-thickening surgery, and thigh-widening waddling practice?

Do their fat asses have to be a mile wide in order to get a license to carry, or just stout enough that they must enter the premises one at a time through the revolving door while getting their long-gun and one butt cheek stuck in the works?

Too, this expansion of right-to-carry laws by conservative f*ckwads to include keeping guns in your car in workplace parking lots?

If I were a supervisor with hire-and-fire bullet points on my job description at private businesses, I think twice about the concept of fire-at-will, given the firepower brought to the table by the jackasses who believe in real shoot-em-up fire-at-will procedures.

Guns in schools, airports, and churches?

So, what if, in any of those venues, one of these portly, armed mofos threatens to steal my healthcare insurance? Do I have the right, since I will not be carrying, to defend myself against that assault with my bare, murderous hands?

Further, I'm concerned that this usurpation of all public and private spaces by the Second Amendment may serve to curtail my First Amendment rights.

For example, say I notice in any of those venues that one of those fat f*cks in the photo in Russell's link sports a weapon-shaped bulge on his more than ample person and I saunter over and say: "Hey, knumbknuts, the law says 'concealed carry' not carry in such a way that Mae West might think you are happy to see her, which she wouldn't be because your other gun is not up to snuff. So, asswipe, what do ya say you stow that firearm completely out of sight before I stow it for you up your odoriferous republican fundament, hanh?"

Will it occur to him that he might have to shoot me for my free expression?

And, if that thought IS occurring to him, how is it that my unarmed person and my First Amendment rights, not to mention my 17th Amendment right to elect my Senators by popular vote, since that's another Constitutional Amendment these ilk want to get rid of, are being protected?

No, it's not going to be a polite society.

It's going to be as rude as it can f8cking get.

[Hartmut]

Someone please invent a paintball sniper gun*, so we can start operation "had this been lead, you'd now be dead" aimed at NRA mouthpieces/functionaries and the politicians they lease.
Admittedly, the result will be an instant ban for the device and a quick deregulation of self-defense anti-tank rifles and RPGs but at least we will have made a point.

*I assume these things are smooth-bore not rifled

[Sebastian H]

I saw the best explanation about Trump's 'joke' about getting a President for Life in the US.

Its funny in the way that musing about obvious longings is funny.

"Do I want this cookie?" Says Cookie Monster.

[cleek]

AI beats lawyers at interpreting contracts.

[Ugh]

The first thing we do, let's kill all the AI

[Countme-a-Demon]

Yeah, but, when has a cookie ever been safe from the Cookie Monster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1T_no7a-yM

Just so:

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/03/trump-might-provide-tariff-exemptions-for-favored-ceos/

[sapient]

This Jane Mayer piece on Christopher Steele is a must-read.

[sapient]

Also, regarding Russia, I wonder what will be done about this kind of thing.

[cleek]

This Jane Mayer piece on Christopher Steele is a must-read.

warning to readers: be sure to put a nice pillow on the desk in front of you, so when the uncontrollable urge to slam your head into the desk, you won't give yourself a concussion.

[Pro Bono]

"...one of his two phones rang...he kept his phones in a Faraday bag..."

Surely if you keep you phone in a Faraday bag, it doesn't ring.

[sapient]

Surely if you keep you phone in a Faraday bag, it doesn't ring.

If you keep your phone in a Faraday bag all the time, you probably don't need a phone.

[cleek]

maybe they were landlines?!

[sapient]

maybe they were landlines?!

Thinkin' outside the Faraday bag!

[Michael Cain]

maybe they were landlines?!

If you've gone to the trouble of a Faraday bag, why would you defeat the whole purpose by running a pair of copper conductors into it from the outside?

[CharlesWT]

Speaking of bags, a minor proof that not only Republicans can be more than a few marbles of a full bag.

$20 Fee for Porn Access Proposed in Rhode Island: Device makers would be required to block porn, prostitution hubs, and all content that fails "current standards of decency."

[CharlesWT]

My text came up short... :}

[cleek]

why would you defeat the whole purpose by running a pair of copper conductors into it from the outside?

the copper wires are sheathed in aluminum foil, obviously

[Michael Cain]

Re RI porn filtering...

Sounds like a guaranteed revenue stream for Google to maintain a list of every URL with suspect content. Are the legislators aware that Google's image processing software has an unfortunate tendency to mis-identify pictures of desert sand dunes as nude people? Who's in violation if I write a bit of Perl code to download such content?

[Hartmut]

Completely off-topic: Does any USian here know what EST could mean here?

"A few words in the right ears and this wet nosed EST would be glad to leave town."

Seems to be some kind of insult but I can't find something fitting on the acronym list.
Context: the person referred to is a bisexual masseur in Atlanta who just tried to blackmail the guy quoted above.
(Given that the quote is from "Atlanta Nights" it may make no sense at all though).