Archive 2017-2019 Political Thread

[Kory]

"Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has been sworn in as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

The Texas native, 64, was cleared for full Senate approval in a 56-43 vote.

The vote came after Senate Republicans changed the rules in order to approve Mr Trump's nominees for health and treasury, despite a Democratic boycott."

I like how the Senate Republicans just change the rules to get the nominee through without a 60-40 approval vote.

LOL only 51 votes are needed to confirm Secretary of State....it has been like that since the DEMOCRATS changed the 60 majority vote as sighted below.

Tillerson needed a simple majority — 51 senators — for confirmation. The final vote was 56 in favor, 43 against.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/rex-tillerson-confirmed-secretary-state-n715496

What Does the Confirmation Process Look Like?
3) After hearings, the committee votes to report a nomination to the full Senate, requiring a simple majority. It may vote to report the nomination favorably, unfavorably or without recommendation. If a committee sits on an appointment, the full Senate may vote to invoke cloture and move the nomination along.

4) If a nomination clears committee, it moves to the Senate floor for a simple majority vote. Filibusters are not an issue here because Democrats changed Senate rules three years ago to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for most nominations. Supreme Court picks are still subject to filibuster.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-confirmation-works/story?id=43643784

Simple majority = 51 votes in the Senate

Hmm...wonder why they changed it 3 years ago? Is that when they lost the 60 vote majority in the Midterms?

 

[Evan]

CBP is still refusing to obey the various court injunctions in place nationwide as pertains to Trump's Executive Order on immigration. Part of the difficulty of the groups that have sued him and won temporary injunctions or restraining orders is that CBP is still blocking access to legal counsel and playing various games to make it look like bureaucratic incompetence.

There are now also reports of Permanent Residents from non-ban countries as random as Trinidad being stopped because their sounds Islamic/Arabic in origin.

The Attorney General of Virginia has now filed a rule to show cause why DHS/CBP should NOT be held in contempt for refusal to comply with Federal Court orders. No, this is not commonplace. Especially in a situation like this where compliance is not complicated.

https://t.co/kUI9VR6Wxd

 

[Evan]

Trump makes a good SCOTUS pick and his move today to greet the remains of the fallen Navy Seal was outstanding(and IMO probably his idea), but then there's stuff like this.......

I wanted to add to this. First, I have previously mentioned that an extraordinarily high number of leaks are emanating from the White House. It was speculated that during the Campaign that Kellyanne Conway frequently sent messages to Trump through media interviews and through tweets. It was also speculated that Bannon did the same with articles in Breitbart. Similar things have been alleged in relation to Reince Priebus and even Ivanka Trump.

It seems pretty clear that these leaks are occurring for several reasons, but the most obvious is that aides feel like the best way to reach Trump is through the media and the resulting media cycle and opinion. The leaks appear to be primarily strategic although some from time to time seem to be a result of petty sniping and the result of a power and influence struggle between those part of his "inner circle."

If you believe some of what has been speculated, Priebus and his allies (although I'm not sure if this includes Spicer) are particularly taken aback and concerned about some of Trump's behavior.

With that in mind the following:









Although the WH pushed back against SOME of what has been alleged about his call with Mexico's President, quite a few of the main details have been confirmed, and the dispute seems to center around exactly how inflammatory his language was, and how he phrased the part about using the U.S. military on Mexican soil.

The details of the Australian PMs call with Trump doesn't appear to be in dispute, the PM himself was offered a chance to dispute the details and wouldn't do it. But, the WH spin machine will be in overdrive tomorrow and will be trying desperately to walk this back. Trump's tweet probably made a good number of staff seriously consider suicide. This isn't just a close ally. In many ways Australia has been a bigger ally to us than Canada or even the UK. You just don't do what Trump did. There was no reason to hang up on the PM or act so disrespectful.

Trump's narcissism seems to be increased after becoming POTUS, and he is acting like he is God. It won't end well unless his staff and Congress start reigning him in immediately. But how? Any dissent or questioning of his wisdom or choices leads to a hail of vitriol and more extreme behavior.

Perhaps we shouldn't have gotten ourselves into this situation in the first place. For supposedly being media savvy, Trump absolutely blew all the goodwill from his SCOTUS pick by starting a row with Australia. Unbelievable... unless you believed this is what would happen all along...

 

[Evan]

Becoming difficult to believe the leaked transcript of the call with Mexico's President is really that exaggerated.

Unless there is a conspiracy between journalists in Australia, Mexico, and the United States, there has to be a lot of credence in what is being reported.



Australia's PM is pretty brilliant. Listen to his radio call-in below. He constantly refers to Trump ad having "committed to honor the deal" or he "committed to the deal." That basically gives Trump zero way out and zero leverage. His only options are to keep the deal and try to spin it by claiming he got concessions(PM still wins), he breaks his commitment (Trump loses badly and the US' word is not trusted internationally), or he calls the Australian PM a liar (Trump loses as badly if he does this as if he breaks the deal). His only option is to keep the deal and spin it. He was out-negotiated, and anyone listening to the call and also paying close attention to the news can see that Australia got commitments from Spicer, the US Embassy, and the State Department.

Trump was out-negotiated and became angry due to that:

http://www.afr.com/news/politics/wo...-not-the-way-to-treat-an-ally-20170202-gu42py

As the Sky News report stated, Turnbull believes Trump is a bully, and to be effective you have to bully him back. So what did he do? Boxed him into a corner and essentially questioned his manhood (a man keeps his word when he makes a commitment).

Turnbull also offered a tiny olive branch by disputing that Trump hung-up on him, and downplaying how heated the call was to an extent (but listen to the radio interview... he chuckles when asked about how heated it was confirming that it was). But that's transparent to anyone that pays attention to foreign affairs. Presidents rarely dial and disconnect calls personally. Their aides or the switchboards do that. Obviously an aide or staffer is the one who hung up per Trump's orders. Per one of the tweets I posted Trump told an aide: "get me off this call" after 25 minutes. Turnbull didn't lie, but he was playing word games to protect his own rep while letting other countries and the media know what really happened.

 

[Kory]

Meanwhile, violent riots overnight at UC Berkley all because Milo Yiannopolis was scheduled to speak. Somehow stopping someone who says "feminism is cancer" by throwing large rocks, setting fires, and literally breaking windows/doors to get into the building is justified by the left. This is what ACTUAL fascism looks like....being committed by the left. So afraid of non-violent words that "hurt" their feelings, they literally destroy their OWN campus. The indoctrination of the youth at the University level is unreal....and it needs to stop.

Meanwhile, I attended a Milo talk at UA this past October. We had one protester. And he was non-violent just holding a sign in opposition. That's it. Welcome to how free speech is supposed to be done.

 

[Lori]

We've been so knocked down by political correctness since the Clinton Era....freedom of expression or whatever but I'm glad this guy acted from his heart, because it breaks mine and infuriates me to see our flag trashed or burned.

Warning: BAD LANGUAGE (I couldn't find an edited version)

 

[Evan]

Meanwhile, violent riots overnight at UC Berkley all because Milo Yiannopolis was scheduled to speak. Somehow stopping someone who says "feminism is cancer" by throwing large rocks, setting fires, and literally breaking windows/doors to get into the building is justified by the left. This is what ACTUAL fascism looks like....being committed by the left. So afraid of non-violent words that "hurt" their feelings, they literally destroy their OWN campus. The indoctrination of the youth at the University level is unreal....and it needs to stop.

Meanwhile, I attended a Milo talk at UA this past October. We had one protester. And he was non-violent just holding a sign in opposition. That's it. Welcome to how free speech is supposed to be done.

It was sickening. Violent protesters who damage property or injure people are not undermining Trump. Instead, they are giving him legitimacy and impacting the lives of thousands of innocent people. What happened at Berkeley was truly nasty. You don't use violence to stop free speech. Ever.

 

[Matt]

Meanwhile, violent riots overnight at UC Berkley all because Milo Yiannopolis was scheduled to speak. Somehow stopping someone who says "feminism is cancer" by throwing large rocks, setting fires, and literally breaking windows/doors to get into the building is justified by the left. This is what ACTUAL fascism looks like....being committed by the left. So afraid of non-violent words that "hurt" their feelings, they literally destroy their OWN campus. The indoctrination of the youth at the University level is unreal....and it needs to stop.

Meanwhile, I attended a Milo talk at UA this past October. We had one protester. And he was non-violent just holding a sign in opposition. That's it. Welcome to how free speech is supposed to be done.

The "tolerant" left is showing it's true colors. They are nothing but a bunch of anarchists.

 

[Evan]

This is pretty amazing. The writer responsible for helping to craft and insert the false intelligence about Saddam seeking Uranium into Bush's SOTU address now has a Senior NatSec role in the Trump WH. After he left the Bush WH he did the private sector dance at Citibank and at Blackrock Investments.

Pretty ironic that the guy responsible for inserting phony intelligence into the SOTU to sell a war now works for Trump. And the Trump admin just put Iran on notice.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-a...-works-inside-the-white-house/article/2006623

 

[Stormlover]

Great news. The fraudulent "clock boy" not only loses this bogus lawsuit, but has to pay attorney fees, court costs and other fees within 14 days. Obama tried to make him out to be a hero but this was a planned stunt that was political all the way.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/02/02/ben-shapiro-crushes-clock-boy-in-court-n2280520

 

[Matt]

 

[Kory]

These people are a bigger threat to our way of life than ISIS in my opinion. It's scary how this method of suppressing rights of others is accepted by a certain group in this country.

These people are terrorists. No sugar-coating it.

 

[gangstonc]

So the WH turned off the recording of the Trump/Putin phone call today...

 

[Kory]

So the WH turned off the recording of the Trump/Putin phone call today...

Do you have a source/link to reputable sites? I could only find stuff on tabloid-esque sites like Salon and Daily Kos. And I don't trust them farther than I can throw them...

 

[gangstonc]

Do you have a source/link to reputable sites? I could only find stuff on tabloid-esque sites like Salon and Daily Kos. And I don't trust them farther than I can throw them...

It's definitely unconfirmed. But notice that there are no quotes from the convo in even the breitbart articles.

Edit: notice how Russia has now stepped up their attacks in the Ukraine. Heavy fighting.

 

[gangstonc]

These people are a bigger threat to our way of life than ISIS in my opinion. It's scary how this method of suppressing rights of others is accepted by a certain group in this country.

These people are terrorists. No sugar-coating it.

Some on the left are trying to say anarchists snuck in and did this. I haven't seen anything to corroborate it. Seems to me like a bunch of drunk, entitled hippies decided to smash some stuff for fun. It's not exactly the way to get things done.

 

[Mike S]

My condolences to the victims of the Bowling Green massacre

 

[Kory]

Another victory for Constitutionally granted rights in this country that were infringed upon by the Obama Administration.

Under the law, the SSA has to provide the National Instant Criminal Background Check System database a list of recipients eligible and receiving SSI insurance based upon criteria they have determined makes a person mentally ill; thereby creating an unsubstantiated association of mental illness and a propensity to violence. This blanket decision – without any history, medical, or psychological determination on a per-person/case-by-case basis – is a generalization, based upon the type of disability a recipient receives. These categorizations determine a person’s eligibility to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms.

https://bearingarms.com/beth-b/2017...s-for-citizens-on-social-security-disability/

 

[Kory]

My condolences to the victims of the Bowling Green massacre

Yeah, alternative facts don't help the cause. In fact, they give political ammo to the opposing party to use.

 

[Matt]

Some on the left are trying to say anarchists snuck in and did this. I haven't seen anything to corroborate it. Seems to me like a bunch of drunk, entitled hippies decided to smash some stuff for fun. It's not exactly the way to get things done.

It is the folks from "Rent A Mob" who are on George Soros' payroll. He(Soros) needs to be dealt with in my opinion.