Trump's America

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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I had not heard that, but if he did just appoint 17 of them those are probably the very nominees that Gardner is threatening to hold up.
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Re: Trump's America

Post by River »

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:I heard an interview with him today. He was not at all pleased. He said that Sessions assured him at his confirmation hearing that he would not do this. I'm not sure I believe that is true. He also said that he might block future Justice Department nominees over this.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3674 ... ana-policy
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

:notimpressed:
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Frelga »

We'll give Jeff Sessions our legal pot when he pries it from our warm, extremely interesting to look at hands. https://t.co/LF0RpdCiHG
The account is supposed to be Colorado State Senate Democratic Caucus, although it's not verified.
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Meanwhile, the other day it was reported that Moore's Jewish lawyer that Kayla Moore cited as proof that they were not anti-Semitic was actually a close friend and passionate supporter of Doug Jones. Now, however, it is being reported that Kayla Moore is clarifying that he was not who she was referring to. However, the lawyer that she says she was referring to is actually a practicing Christian, who is an Evangelical Protestant (just like the Moores) who attends Centerpoint Fellowship Church in Prattville, Alabama even though he was born Jewish.

Moore's Jewish Lawyer is a Practicing Christian

You just can't make this stuff up.
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Cenedril_Gildinaur
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Cenedril_Gildinaur »

I wonder about Jeff Sesson's stand on marijuana. Is it supposed to be evidence that the Republicans are small government, or proof that conservatives and libertarians are basically in agreement on the issues that both think are important?
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I'm confused by your comment. Sessions' stand on Marijuana is anything but evidence that Republicans are small government. And libertarian icon Ron Paul has called for Sessions to be fired over it.

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Griffon64
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Griffon64 »

I find CNN's constant pearl clutching over every tiny Trump thing to be cloying, but this is a little gem. While editing somebody's quote about him to make it more flattering, Trump missed autocorrect's helpful change of "consequential" to "consensual". Of course, he deleted that tweet, copy and pasted again, tweeted ... but left the unflattering quote in this time. We've all been there, but never as a freakin' head of state. Stable genius stuff right there.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/08/politics/ ... index.html

On a more serious note, I don't even find this kind of stuff anything but deeply depressing, because I am almost certain that there are millions and millions of people who will never stop believing this man is in fact a genius. While he certainly has his moments, and brilliantly rode Hillary Clinton's ill-advised candidacy and his own crassness and ability to play a crowd for suckers to the presidency, he definitely has a less genius side to him too. Unfortunately, as long as this is just the kind of stuff big chunks of the electorate wants, this is just the kind of stuff that will be given.
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Re: Trump's America

Post by River »

I've worked with some very smart people. It's sort of an occupational hazard for me. None of them brag about it. Most of them aren't even aware that they're not operating on the same plane as the rest of us. So I don't buy Trump's bragging. But I'm not one of his marks either.

This morning's tweet that's got everyone a-flutter isn't worth it, IMHO. Save that energy for when he's bullying subordinates or threatening nuclear war...again.
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Frelga »

Once again, what Griffy said.

I'm not sure if this goes here or the WTF thread, but per Nate Silver, "Oprah Winfrey is now the 3rd-most likely person to be elected president in 2020, after Trump and Pence, according to prediction markets. https://t.co/RIxXxy38Er https://t.co/vKFi2dgIue"
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Dave_LF
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Dave_LF »

Haven't we learned our lesson about making entertainers into politicians yet?
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Cenedril_Gildinaur
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Cenedril_Gildinaur »

It would be entertaining. We'd be watching the Democrats defending an entertainer with no political experience, and Republicans warning about the dangers of populism.
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Primula Baggins
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Primula Baggins »

I...I just can’t.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Griffon64 »

It would certainly be entertaining ( that's what entertainers like Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey are for, right? ) but politics isn't supposed to be entertaining :P
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I'm a big fan of Oprah Winfrey, but I don't think she is qualified to be president.

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Re: Trump's America

Post by Dave_LF »

I don't think the prediction market situation means she's actually likely to run; just that no one has any better guesses about who it will be at this point.
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Alatar »

Still, its a bad state of affairs where she's an improvement on the incumbent.
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Let's see now. Is there anyone in America that I can think of who would be an even more controversial Senate candidate that Roy Moore, the twice-removed-for-refusing-to-follow-Federal-Court-Orders former Chief Justice of Alabama?

And the winner is:

Joe Arpaio, controversial sheriff pardoned by Trump, enters Arizona Senate race
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Dave_LF »

It's pretty clear that the GOP no longer believes in things like governance and rule of law.

Part of the problem resisting this, IMO, is that so much of our cultural mythology centers on chaotic good defeating lawful evil--we don't know how to respond to chaotic neutral. In fact, the shared chaotic element serves to make it sympathetic. This was discussed in that cracked article I posted before the election, where the author argues that Trump is appealing because his behavior reminds people of Tony Stark, Dr. House, Gibson's William Wallace, etc.
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Griffon64 »

Well, let's not get too hyperbolic. I think plenty of Republicans still believe in those things. After all, Roy Moore was defeated in part by Republican voters not voting for him. But I think it is also fair to say that there is a non-negligible chunk of Republicans that admire the sort of thing Joe Arpaio or Roy Moore stands for, or they would not be holding or have held their offices.

But, I also think you're broadly right about a lot of cultural mythology - movie heroes and even television heroes tend to go against established rule and governance ( which is part of what creates tension in the narrative ). Makes for a good story, but falls flat in the three-dimensional world where "government" and "bad guys" are not just cardboard cutouts.

Aside: given how much cop-worship ( conservative? ) America tends to have, I was surprised that there are also lots and lots of movies portraying cops as incompetent and/or getting in the way of the "good guys", once I started thinking about it.
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