We asked all 38 Texas in Congress if they'd endorse a "complete" border wall.
None would. https://t.co/aVMczUePDyhttps://t.co/6ko1zOzgkn
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) January 25, 2017
If there's one thing the Texas GOP hates more than facts & reason, it's eminent domain. https://t.co/qipazrpcdZ
— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) January 26, 2017
Well, that didn’t take long. From the Washington Post, last night:
The Republican congressman whose district includes more miles of U.S.-Mexico border than any other came out against President Trump’s new executive action ordering the “immediate construction” of a border wall to block undocumented immigrants from entering the United States.
“Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border,” Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) said in a statement late Wednesday.
“Each section of the border faces unique geographical, cultural, and technological challenges that would be best addressed with a flexible, sector-by-sector approach that empowers the agents on the ground with the resources they need.”
Hurd, one of 38 Texans in Congress, represents territory stretching from San Antonio to El Paso, including 800 miles of border. His 23rd District is majority-Hispanic and politically competitive: Hurd won a second term over Democrat Pete Gallego by fewer than 4,000 votes in November…
As per the top tweets, it’s become the latest Lone Star Stand — them cowboys never could stand fancy-talkin’ fellers from Noo Yark Cittay. This way the local GOPers get the benefit of ‘resisting’ an initiative that’s not gonna happen any time soon anyways.
***********
What other entertaining craziness is on the agenda for the evening?
To put cost of $14 b border wall into perspective, Obama final request for entire EPA was $8.2 b. and Congress said it was unaffordable.
— Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) January 26, 2017
When I hear cost estimates the border wall, I remember Rumsfeld predicting that Iraq would cost $50 billion. Only $1.95 trillion off!
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 26, 2017
Tom Levenson
Wanna bet we get the tariff and not the wall? That would match up w. Trump’s general rep. for competence.
scav
Ah, the sheer magnificence of ‘Merkan Business Management Expertise in leaderships, team-building and execution is blinding.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, to be fair, von Rumsfailed is a total idiot.
Oh, wait, I think that’s the point.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tom Levenson: “All proceeds to be donated to the Trump Foundation”
NotMax
Betcha the photo-op of the Persimmon Potentate troweling cement onto the first cinder block is already written on the calendar. In ink.
elm
Spicer’s statements today make no sense (as usual).
“We have a new tax at $50 billion at 20 percent of imports -which is, by the way, a practice that 160 other countries do right now.”
“Our country’s policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous. But by doing it that way we can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall. Just through that mechanism alone,”
US imports from Mexico total $295 billion per year, not $50 billion.
darrel wright
It’s a great issue to give Trump room to run into a political quagmire. In fact, it’s the only one that I can think of that doesn’t do unrepairable bigly damage.
JPL
@Tom Levenson: The tariff is a way to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
PST
Obviously Trump has decided that he needs a screaming headline every single day.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
I don’t think the ambulatory coprolite would want to get his tiny little hands dirty.
Ian
Reality is a bitch.
Villago Delenda Est
@NotMax: With a sharpie.
HeleninEire
So. I had a great dinner tonight with a man who was born in Belfast. That’s where my mom is from. Fabulous conversation. I really love it here. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.
Villago Delenda Est
@elm: Sphincter is just like his boss. Has no fuckin’ idea what the fuck he’s talking about.
Steve in the ATL
As I type this I am sitting on a vortex in Sedona, Arizona. You guys are totally harshing my mellow.
bemused
@PST:
Several times a day seems more accurate.
Was there really no one to meet Trump in Pittsburgh? I’m not finding it so far but sure hope it’s true.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Extra long handled 24 carat gold trowel, natch.
D58826
ok economists – what is the diff. between a tariff and a border adjustment tax? I have seen today’s news referred to using both terms.
darrel wright
@elm: Nothing should shock me anymore, but I really am kind of shocked that at this point on their central campaign policy they don’t even have a passing familiarity with anything like ballpark numbers. A 20% tariff? That’s a trade-war nuclear bomb, it would incinerate everything. 50 billion in trade? Maybe after you put on that 20% tariff. SAD!
JPL
BREAKING: Spicer tells me 20% tax on Mexican imports is NOT a policy proposal, but example of options how to pay for wall.
I guess Mexico coming out saying they would also impose a tariff, caused them to rethink the idea.
Ian G.
I’ll bet each and every one of you a bottle of Trump Vodka that you’ll still be able to throw a rock from Big Bend National Park into Mexico across the undeveloped Rio Grande come the end of Combover Caligula’s reign of error. I’m a little less sanguine on the Boquillas Port of Entry (Google it), but I like its chances better than I like New England’s odds of beating Atlanta next Sunday.
lollipopguild
@Villago Delenda Est: Sphincter? LOL funny-also stolen.
Iowa Old Lady
Wal-Mart shoppers will feel this. Where do they think those cheap goods come from? Economic distress be damned.
cosima
@HeleninEire: Glad that you’ve been liberated (liberated yourself, of course). It is good for the soul to live with so many like-minded souls with an appreciation of the social contract & multi-culturalism. The moment we touched down my heart & soul said ‘aaaaahhhhh, freedom!’ People in the US keep using that word — freedom — but I don’t think they know what it means, at least a sub-set (~27%) of them, anyway.
Lizzy L
@elm: Does Spicer (i.e. T) even know that he cannot impose taxes by fiat? I bet he doesn’t.
Oh, now they’re walking it back. Not a policy proposal.
FFS.
Roger Moore
@darrel wright:
Of all things, this should be the least shocking. Trump just says stuff without bothering to check if there’s any connection to reality. How have you not recognized that already?
dr. bloor
@NotMax: “Remember Mr. President, it’s NOT your oatmeal on the trowel. Put it on the bricks, not in your mouth.”
lollipopguild
@cosima: Freedom= free to be dumb and stupid to the nth degree.
bystander
I’ve wondered if this won’t just be the perfect excuse for Trumputin to blame Congress. Repubs can hide behind the Democrats’ reasoned objections and point the finger and the press can repeat their favorite mantra that has been falling into disuse: both sides.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
Shorter Spicer: Trump is making shit up again.
ToocanAnj
Republicans are in Philly for a retreat. Both Trump*and Theresa May here also.
Yuge queer dance party outside the hotel last night. Thousands marching in the streets all day today. A die in on the street by the hotel to support the ACA and more protests planned tonight.
I love Philly!
NotMax
Who has the hiring freeze already impacted the most? Choose one.
a) Veterans
b) Veterans
c) All of the above
Roger Moore
@Ian G.:
I’ll take that bet. I doubt anyone here has an arm good enough to throw a rock across the Rio Grande.
JPL
@Roger Moore: lol This is the one I like
Talk about magical thinking. It must be hard to be Spicer these days. It’s well deserved though.
HeleninEire
@cosima: Where are you?
NotMax
@NotMax
Bad linky. Fix.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Speak for yourself. I’m betting farmers here in California would be more than happy to provide.
Mnemosyne
Interesting essay from a Venezuelan on how to oppose a populist. Seems to have some good advice similar to what I’ve seen about how they got rid of Berlusconi.
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
Only vegetables Trump seems to eat are potatoes, in the form of french fries. I’m sure Guv LePage will send his idol enough to tide him over from autumn to autumn!
cosima
@HeleninEire: The Highlands
NotMax
@Roger Moore
There’s only so much one can do with almonds and grapes.
(I kid, I kid.)
Mister Forkbeard
@JPL: It’s almost like no one at TrumpHQ understood what a “trade war” was. Or that tariffs can be instituted by other countries too.
These guys can’t find their asses with both hands.
ToocanAnj
@efgoldman: LOL. That’s Great!
JPL
Abby Phillip of the Washington Post is having trouble keeping up with Spicer today… link
Another Scott
Via Cole’s Twitter feed, Spicer is this guy.
How do Trump’s “best people” manage to brush their teeth without drowning?
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@Mnemosyne:
Also, too, notice in that essay that the Venezuelan opposition also tried the genius move of if we withhold our votes, the government will collapse!
That worked about as well as any rational person could have predicted.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Sure, but do you think the trade war would stop with China?
Elizabelle
@Steve in the ATL: Enjoy Sedona. Gorgeous area.
Mister Forkbeard
The Trump folks never cease to amaze. These guys are literally just saying whatever they feel like at a given moment, without bothering to consider past statements, reality, feasibility, or anything else. And they know Fox and Conservative Radio/Bloggery will back them up 100%.
cosima
When we lived in TX it never ceased to amaze me how stupid those shitheel entitled assholes were. It was soul-killing/crushing. Big Escalades with ‘nobummer’ & jesus bumperstickers (both, same bumper). Talking shit about Mexicans, but too damn lazy to mow their own grass, but guess who did it for them. We may have been the only people on our street who mowed our lawn. And don’t get me started about how cheap the produce was, and how did they think that was managed? I so hate Texas, and am so very glad that my husband now works for a dirty foreign oil company who will not (knock wood, please gaia, universe, who/whatever) send us back there.
darrel wright
@Mnemosyne: I BEG everyone to read that. That is exactly what I’ve been trying to say here, to varying shouts of “fuck-off” and “kumbaya is for sissies!”
Trump needs us as an enraged enemy that looks down on his army of deplorables. So far we’re doing a pretty fair job of giving him exactly what he needs.
Mnemosyne
@darrel wright:
Well, it’s not exactly what you’ve been saying. I think he explains it much better than we have to be nice to people! To me, his advice sounds more like Kay’s advice to use locals to do political organizing rather than parachuting people in.
randy khan
@Tom Levenson:
I’d take the tariff and not the wall, if it’s a choice between the two. The tariff is easier to get rid of.
Mnemosyne
We’ll see how this goes, but I signed up with an org called Swing Left that’s trying to flip red House districts in blue states. I will be focusing on CA-25, which is out in the desert by Palmdale.
randy khan
Just called Kaine’s and Warner’s northern Virginia offices about Sessions and DeVos. It took a while to leave a message for Kaine, since some of the mailboxes were full. I got a real person in Warner’s office and got to deliver both the message and a thank you when the staffer told me Warner had issued a statement saying he’s voting against Sessions earlier today.
Warner has long been “I’m a reasonable guy who reaches across the aisle” guy, so his public commitment to vote against a fellow Senator is kind of a big deal for him.
kindness
Pointing out hypocrisy is pointless but….This is exactly what happened when bush43 was building his wall. Texas Ranchers didn’t want a double fence with roads between and on either side separating their cattle from their cattle’s water the Rio Grande. They stopped the wall in Texas. Now why no one on their side pointed out the obvious while Trump was running – because hypocritical Republicans liked that ‘Build The Wall’ got the rubes riled up and voting Republican is obvious. Hypocrites.
At this point I hope they build that damn wall in Texas. Fuck those assholes. They would deserve it.
Another Scott
@randy khan: Excellent news. Thank you.
Maybe Warner finally got a bit of sense after coming close to losing last time? We can hope.
Cheers,
Scott.
darrel wright
@Mnemosyne:
Would you like me to cut and paste my missives that drew the holy righteous fire? That thing is EXACTLY the spirit I’m talking about, and yes, while I never said “we have to be nice to people,” it is actually mandated and assumed within his prescriptions there.
sigaba
@JPL: What I wonder is if the automakers and maquiladoras are somehow going to get an exemption.
dr. bloor
@Mnemosyne: For whatever reason, DailyKos had a “proceed with caution” comment about Swing Left last week–apparently, they had some questions vetting it and the quality of the info it provided. Dunno if the ambiguity has been cleared up one way or another.
JPL
@sigaba: If it is a broad tax, those on a fixed income will be screwed.
Elizabelle
@randy khan: Great to know that Mark Warner is voting against Jeff Sessions.
I shall call to thank him.
I know Tim Kaine is voting no on Betsy DeVos, probably Sessions too. I heart our Virginia senators.
Mnemosyne
@dr. bloor:
I get automatically nervous about people who label themselves as “progressives,” so I will take their advice with a large grain of salt.
However, it does look like CA-25 is currently represented by a Republican, so I think focusing my 2018 election efforts there will be good even if I end up going through something like ActBlue instead of Swing Left. Thanks!
Aleta
@Anne Laurie:
That vile slander is beyond disrespectful. One of his top priorities the first day was to decisively order a truckload of chips.
HeleninEire
@cosima: Scotland? please say you are in Scotland. I so want to visit there. One of my mom’s best friends is from there. She says it’s beautiful “but you can’t eat the scenery”. So she emigrated to America. That and Australia. Wanna go to Australia.
Roger Moore
@randy khan:
I think you’re wrong about that. The wall is a physical thing that will decay on its own unless we maintain it; in practice it will be knocked down even faster (ETA: than natural decay, since people will try to destroy it) if we don’t actively work to keep it up. The tariff isn’t just a tariff that can be repealed the first chance we get. It’s an attack on a global system of trade that we’ve spent the time since WWII building. Imposing the tariff risks sparking a trade war that will destroy the whole post-WWII order and cause massive disruption throughout the economy in the process.
De'Andre Grimes
@Mnemosyne: Some people seem to want us to (for visceral reasons) throw bigger bombs at them than they throw at us. Put me in the camp of “Trying to defuse the bombs before we all get blown to Kingdom Come”.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I recall the last time arround about The Wall even the boarder Republicans thought it was silly. Don’t these twits get they tunnel right under the walls that are up right now?
Ryan
He’s cracking up and becoming more deranged. Stir the pot some more, what could go wrong?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-president-cancels-visit-to-washington-as-tensions-with-trump-administration-intensify/2017/01/26/ececc3da-e3d9-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_mexicous-1210p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.45adbdc1f97e
Peale
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yes. Which is why we should be demanding that they dig trenches 40 feet down and make it 40 feet high. I think we need to egg Trump into starting the wall, costs be damned. If we prevent the wall from being built, it just continues to be a part of the politics in the non-border areas. If we need to ruin ourselves in the process of building it, so much the better. I know the arguement is that we could spend the resources on other things, but these are Republicans and they don’t spend money on better things. Instead, lets make building the wall as painfully obviously awful as possible.
Mnemosyne
@darrel wright:
I really don’t want to argue about it, so I’ll just say that what you thought you were saying was not coming across as clearly as what the writer of that essay says. Your message may need some adjustments for clarity.
JPL
@Ryan: Trump is deranged. It’s difficult to take that to the next step without him being taken away in a straight jacket.
randy khan
@Roger Moore:
Once a thing is built, maintenance is kind of automatic, in the sense that it will be part of what people do (and also in the sense that, once it’s built, there will be people who will scream bloody murder if it comes down).
I understand what you’re saying about the tariff, but my suspicion is that what would happen immediately is that it would be challenged under GATT and NAFTA, and so probably wouldn’t go into effect.
BillinGlendaleCA
@HeleninEire:
As did the shitgibbon’s mother.
catclub
@Ryan:
You do know he has access to the nuclear launchcodes, right?
Peale
@randy khan: Another advantage of spending on a wall is that if he’s focusing on that, he’s not spending money trying to get Iraq’s money. Unlike hoping that a war goes wrong to prove a point, no one is going to get killed by building a wall.
cosima
@HeleninEire: Yes, Scotland. Feel free to ask a front pager for my email addy and we can sort out a visit. We are in an amazing village, have a lovely new house with a guest room, and things are pretty darn fabulous in our little socialist-village-bubble.
As for Australia, Little Cosima & I were watching some Nat Geo show about animals in Australia (not the cute fuzzy koalas) and it freaked me out so much I said ‘I never want to go back there’ and Little C said ‘I never want to go.’ That may change, but probably not in the near future! I can 100% do without the spiders, snakes & stinging things in the water, never mind sharks. I did date a ‘famous’ sports guy there back in my salad days though, he was on cereal boxes and stuff. Those were good days — too busy having fun to be arsed about spiders.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mnemosyne: And let us not forget their excellent idea of staging a coupe against Cavez. Nothing says Democracy in South America like a US backed coup.
scav
@randy khan:
Rather a large number of Ameican bridges and general infrastructure elements would love for this to be true.
JPL
@cosima: Now I’m jealous. I hope she takes you up on your visit.
Aleta
@Steve in the ATL: Soon those celestial chimes and humming auras will be replaced by the awesome thunder of reopened copper mines.
cosima
So how deep in the red with Russia holding the purse strings will the US be before we get rid of the shitgibbon? I’m guessing they’re our new bankers/backers for things like walls & wars?
HeleninEire
@cosima: Oh Hi. Front Pagers. Please send me cosima’s email addy. Um, while you’re at it, send me Baud’s too. Cuz; well you know. :;
HeleninEire
@JPL: Just did.
Oatler.
@Another Scott: Here’s a tweet from The Mighty Conan:
If Trump builds the wall, isn’t that going to trap the 3 million people who voted illegally inside the US?
Chip Daniels
Its also worth noting that HRC did better than expected in Texas, which is slowly trending blue.
Plus Mexico is one of our biggest trading partners, and a tariff/ shutoff of labor woould wreak hacov on the economy.
Wall St. and Andy Putzster will not be amused.
There are cracks in the GOP coalition we should be exploiting.
cosima
@JPL: We’re lucky here, but it was not an easy move for us, and is still tenuous in some ways (though we’ve been here many years, we’re not citizens). I’ve been communing with the forests of Scotland (with our lab, Lola, as company) to get me out of my funk — shinrin-yoku, every day, and it’s been helping. I was neck deep in the depths of political despair for the past 2 months, as we all have been. And our oldest lives in the US now, so I worry about her.
Brachiator
@randy khan:
You’re kidding, right?
Can you say, Washington DC Metro? From the Washington Post
The Moar You Know
@Roger Moore: We would be very happy to but can’t. All that SoCal ag land that used to supply the entire US with veggies is now buried under tasteless and tacky suburbs. I’m from one of those old school ag towns, and the famous commodity that we used to supply the entire US with is now exclusively grown in Guatemala these days, and we couldn’t grow them here again if we wanted to. No space to do so.
(We also, back until WWII, used to grow most of the nation’s lima beans, but most people just react in horror when told that. Never got it, I like ’em)
Yeah, ag is still our leading export (I think) and plenty of the state grows lots of awesome things, but we can’t be the veggie basket of America any longer.
Captain C
@Steve in the ATL: You’re the one reading BJ in Sedona.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@scav:
I am thinking; Large Wall + Bored People + Slow Friday Night in the Desert = Broken Wall, and that’s even before the politics, Westerners don’t like uptight East Coasters bringing their weird hair to their town and smugglers so just protecting the wall will be a logistical nightmare.
debbie
Driving home listening to Trump’s ridiculous remarks and Bannon’s offensive NYT statements, I think the only thing to do is keep up the marches. They can’t ignore us if the turnouts are comparable to Saturday’s.
Captain C
@Steve in the ATL: Also, check out Jerome (about 1/2 hour away) if you haven’t already. Funky little art colony on the side of a mountain, on top of what used to be a big copper mine.
cmorenc
@Steve in the ATL:
Surely there’s a shop there where you can buy crystals tuned to cancel out the intrusion of negative vibes, like a New Age Faraday cage does with electric fields.
geg6
@efgoldman:
Loving my governor today!
kindness
@The Moar You Know: Dude….The Imperial Valley still gets everyone winter lettuce. Out on the east side of S. Cal, it isn’t all tract homes.
debbie
@efgoldman:
Ach, they should have pulled away the stairs before Trump tried to get off the plane.
Gex
@Mnemosyne: We have a slight problem with this #4.
There is no way brown, queer, and/or non-Christian people can behave to be considered part of their tribe. Not one thing.
HeleninEire
@cosima: Did you move from America? And why are you not a citizen after all these years? Please know that while I would love to sleep in your extra room I am fine with getting a hotel room. I just need a guide around the safe parts of the city. Also, too, where are the good bars!!
The Moar You Know
@cosima: Russia does not have enough money to do these things for themselves, never mind us.
We won’t owe them a dime, because they have no dimes to lend.
Mike in NC
Beginning to look like Trump and most of his supporters saw the movie “Machete” and thought it was a documentary.
JPL
@HeleninEire: Bars are good. Last night Adam said not to panic with every thing that Trump said or did. So far today, he’s floated a 20 percent tariff and lifting sanctions on Russia. Also it appears that Russia arrested several sources the CIA has in their country. Trump has been in office for a week.
Bars are good.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: I haven’t read the story, but another big issue with the DC Metro is that people want it to run during most of the day, but that takes away time that can (and should) be used for maintenance. Plus the system is limited to a maximum (AFAIK) of 8 car trains (which are often packed). At the Women’s March last Saturday, I got on at the end of the line to go into DC and the car was instantly packed. Nobody at the next 7 stops was able to get on.
Metro is a great system, but maintenance and issues with the system being overloaded (even while it is continuing to expand farther into the suburbs) are serious. The federal government and surrounding jurisdictions not wanting to pay what’s necessary is a big issue, too.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Moar You Know
@kindness: And dates. But tomatoes, avocados, strawberries and oranges all used to be SoCal staples for America and save for a few hundred acres of avocados in Fallbrook (best avocados anywhere) they’ve all gone to other nations.
cosima
@The Moar You Know: They are moving an awful lot of money through the UK, to their own bank accounts, of course. However, don’t you think that Putin would be willing to tell the shitgibbon ‘we’ll lend you the money for your wall?’ and that the shitgibbon would jump at that?
Mike in NC
@Brachiator: Sounds like the people responsible for the upkeep of the DC Metro system decided priority would go to changing all the signs to include ‘Ronald Reagan National Airport’.
louc
@elm:
The $50 billions is the “trade deficit.” And how are they going to pick and choose which of the $250 billion in imports to levy that 20% tax on?
Not only that, but Mexico is the 2nd biggest importer of soybeans from the U.S. Iowa is going to be in for a world of hurt if this tariff is implemented. I’m sure Mexico will choose maximum pain for its levies.
Trumpsters are chortling about how the jobs are going to come back from Mexico. Idiots. Let’s say companies do decide (unlikely) to bring all those jobs back. The cost of a car won’t go up 20%, but considerably more because American wages are that much higher. Then Americans won’t buy the cars, and feedback loop begins. Americans make $27 an hour, Mexicans $5.
Renie
ok I know we now have alternative facts but am I hearing right that Spicer said it was not a policy about the tax just an opinion?
I can’t keep up with these lunatics
cosima
@HeleninEire: We aren’t in a city, so all of it is safe, always. That’s why we moved here, in spite of it being a long commute for my husband (who counts it as a bonus when he’s able to do the commute on his motorcycle). It’s a short walk from my house to a fabulous inn with great food and a good pub (that allows dogs, of course). I’ll fill you in via email.
We’ve got to live here 5 contiguous years to get leave to remain, then citizenship after, and with all of our oil company moves we haven’t managed 5 years in any place for a very long time. We’re nearly there this time, this is our second time round in Scotland. Crossing fingers.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@elm:
Uh… and how many of those imports are actually produced by American corporations via their Mexican subsidiaries? Like they just won’t pass that 20% tax along to the American consumers?
Will Mexican avocados end up costing, like, $5 a piece?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Been stuck in one block of downtown Philly for 15 minutes. Finally figured out why when the shouting cheering mob went up Broad Street in front of me.
This is like a stadium crowd. Yuuuge!
Mike in NC
@JPL: The week isn’t even over, and they love to pull sneaky shit on Friday afternoons.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mike in NC:
Machete would just fire a grenade launcher at the ground to propel himself over the wall on the way to his day job mowing lawns. Don’t these fools know even Don Johnson couldn’t stop Machete?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Renie:
Truthfully? Neither can they…
Less than a week into the Trump Presidency and look at the god awful mess we already have on our hands…
debbie
@JPL:
Panic aside, I think bars are about to be required.
JPL
Trump is a lunatic and the repubs don’t care, since the tax cut for millionaires and billionaires is the most pressing issue. Trump wants respect from Mexico, but has no problem kissing Putin’s ass.
Aleta
:
Terminating EPA studies and information outreach may affect the health of
a) Military families formerly housed on Navy bases
b) Military families formerly housed on Marine bases
c) Military families formerly housed on Army bases
d) Don’t worry about it
Another Scott
@Renie: It’s simple: The president refers to the fact that there is new material; therefore, this is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.
HTH!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
HeleninEire
@cosima: Well. Would love to visit you. What is the nearest airport from Dublin?
JerryRich
@Villago Delenda Est: Of the entire Bush II administration, I continue to be amazed that a man of such experience (Rumsfeld was SecDef under Ford) could be so incompetent.
Roger Moore
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
And what I was thinking is Large Wall + No Maintenance + People Who Are Desperate To Cross = Broken Wall. And, as I pointed out previously, if you build infrastructure to make maintaining the wall easier, you also make it easier for smugglers to get to remote areas of the border to pick people up.
Quinerly
@debbie:
I can’t spend the next 4 years in a bar. My liver won’t survive it.
Thru the Looking Glass...
And while we’re at it, it seems like a good time to ask this question…
And what happens when Donnie and Vlad break up, when their bromance implodes?
Or Vlad just decides to stick a shiv in Donnie’s back, period?
And releases whatever truly shocking material he amy or may not be holding?
les
@louc:
This, of course, is close to exactly backward.
darrel wright
@Mnemosyne: (some) people are just starting to be in a different mood now.
I can’t resist going back to the record. This is an argument that is going to go on here for a long time in a lot of forms.
Here’s my post that brought out the worst:
Here’s the responses:
I could paste in a lot more that is very specifically “Fuck them and Fuck you for not wanting to Fuck them.”
JPL
@Quinerly: The alternative might be worse. just sayin
Villago Delenda Est
@Gex: See, that is part of the problem. As a veteran, all those people ARE part of my tribe. And I am fiercely loyal to my tribe.
Yarrow
I’m sure this will go well for us.
Unilaterally lift sanctions on Russia. Now who would benefit from that happening?
patroclus
@Roger Moore: You can wade across the Rio Grande in the canyons of the Big Bend and it is only a few feet wide. My grandma could throw a rock across it. No need for a wall and it would cost billions to build it, maintain it and guard it.
Kay
Presidenting is hard. Much more difficult than inheriting real estate. Turns out you can’t just sort of dabble in it and be competent. That this is surprising to anyone is surprising.
I think about Obama reading a novel somewhere- laughing diabolically :)
Today in Philadelphia people said this to Donald Trump “we hate you” and “go home”. It’s really not a great job.
Chip Daniels
If Trump did nothing but sit quietly waiting for Ryan and McConnell to hand him tax cuts to sign, Wall St. would probably be happy.
But chaos and trade wars are bad for shareholder value and any CEO who isn’t terrified of Trump already, should be immediately fired.
cosima
@HeleninEire: Aberdeen :)
P.S. Bedtime here. Hopefully you’ll get me email from one of the FP folk and we can sort something out. Maybe even sort out a BJ meet up on this side of the pond…
Yarrow
@HeleninEire: Or you can look into taking the ferry across.
Roger Moore
@The Moar You Know:
There’s still a fair bit of citrus in Riverside County, strawberries in Ventura (at least), etc. And there are huge tracts of citrus and tomatoes, at least, in the Central Valley. AFAIK, the big thing that did in Southern California avocado growers were wildfires that burned most of the orchards. I don’t know if they’ve replanted or given up.
Baud
@Kay:
Oh….
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
I’m actually thinking a lot about Obama these days (and to think that exactly a week ago, he was still our POTUS!)
Half of me wants him to be following the news and, yes, laughing diabolically; the other half pictures him swimming and surfing, reading novels, going on “date nights” IYKWIMAITYD with the beautiful Michelle, and completely tuning out of all news coverage. Of course in the second scenario, he’s going to return feeling like Rip Van Winkle, even after just a couple of weeks away.
I also think a lot about Hillary. I hope she’s doing okay. Someone has to.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@debbie:
Yup. Keep fighting, pointing and laughing. De-legitimize the fools.
I found the Venezuelan article above interesting, but it seemed too… Berniesta to me, or, in other words, not workable.
HeleninEire
@Yarrow: Love the ferry. Been there done that.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: I feel the same way about both of them.
debbie
@Kay:
That’s why I’m beginning to think marches are more effective than post cards, emails, or phone calls. Seeing so many people turn out is so much more impressive than full inboxes. No way to spin that into anything positive for Trump.
Baud
@Chip Daniels: Trump can’t raise tariffs in violation of NAFTA without Congress. Do you really think Ryan and McConnell will pass that bill?
DesertFriar
The Representative that a majority of voters in my Congressional district voted for (Steve Pearce-R NM) has said nope to the dope to not build the wall.
Yarrow
@Chip Daniels: So….talked to a neighbor today. This neighbor works for a global company that develops and supplies parts for various industries, including aerospace, oil, medical and so forth. Neighbor said that the Germans have cancelled trips to the US and put a halt to projects because of the political chaos over here. It’s directly impacting my neighbor’s business.
I would guess that this kind of thing is happening all over but we haven’t quite heard about it yet. I guess this is how we make America great. Shut down business.
HeleninEire
@cosima: Good night. And thanks.
Lizzy L
@les: OMFG.
The export clause, found in Article I, Section 9, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution, directly states “No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.” The clause represents one of the few restrictions on Congress’s otherwise broad taxing power.
Can’t anybody here play this game?
Mike J
Byron Tau Verified account @ByronTau
Trump executive order signing — reportedly on the voter fraud investigation — abruptly canceled, White House pool reports.
Brachiator
@efgoldman:
RE: Can you say, Washington DC Metro?
DC Metro or San Francisco BART, the issue is that maintenance costs are not built into total project costs.
Trump’s wall, in addition to being a pointless boondoggle, is going to end up costing much more in the future as it withers and crumbles away.
Yarrow
@Mike J: Hilarious. He is so effing incompetent.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Who do you expect to be willing to pay to maintain the Yuge Wall of Trump? The biggest single problem with infrastructure in our country is that nobody wants to pay to maintain it. People just assume that once it’s built it’s good, and they don’t want to pay any more taxes after that.
Roger Moore
@Lizzy L:
You don’t actually expect anyone in the Trump administration to read the Constitution, do you?
Lizzy L
@debbie: We don’t need to give up any of our tools. We’ll use whatever works when it works, and discard what doesn’t. The calls and communications to the senators are working.
zhena gogolia
@Mike J:
Did he drop dead? Asking for a friend.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
One of my all-time favourite memories is taking the ferry from Mallaig to the Isle of Skye after a full day of rain and gloom and grey skies and general miserableness. Just as we launched out from Mallaig and left the strong aroma of kippered herring behind, the rain ceased, the dark clouds lifted exactly like a theatre curtain going up, and by the time we docked at Armadale, everything was sunny and gorgeous. Still gives me chills to think about how magic it was.
A Ghost to Most
@darrel wright:
Turn the other cheek with those fascist assholes just gets you rosy cheeks.
Many of us are done with that shit. You go on with your bad self and try to convert one. You’d have a better chance of converting me to [insert religion here]
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
One of the really smart things LA Metro has done is to include ongoing operating costs when they propose new taxes. We should actually be able to keep our system running even after we’ve finished our fairly ambitious construction plans.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@darrel wright:
I sort of get not attacking Trump supporters, some sixty million unenlightened, wilfully ignorant people. Sort of. They implicitly endorsed his misogyny, his juvenile, insulting antics. But after eight years of “Michelle is an ape” horse shit, I find it difficult to just forgive the poor, misguided darlings.
Gvg
@Roger Moore: a four year old could throw a rock across the Rio Grande at Big Bend when I was there. So much water is removed for drinking that the river wasn’t deep enou for a canoe when we were there about 10 years ago. I heard that we claim Mexico is taking too much before it gets to Texas so apparently they get it first, it starts in their mountains? And I bet they could take more and hurt Texas ranchers. It clearly is already impacting wild life. We saw Mexicans bring cattle and horses down to the river. We rode a raft down part. It is not the mighty Rio any more. I imagine it varies by time of year though.
Cutting off access to water would be pretty serious though. That landscape seemed almost lunar to me. I like my lush green Florida. Easy to believe in water wars when you see it. Wall is stupid. Could cause wars too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike J:
Wow.
waysel
@Lizzy L: I feel like we need to march every Saturday , and do phone calls every day.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Brachiator:
And crumble that wall will, like the Ozymandias stone tribute…. “Look upon my works, ye mighty….”
darrel wright
@debbie: Personally I think the mistake is thinking that “they” have a serious agenda, and hope to ignore us and just get to work and get it done. Yes, that’s true for the corporatist repubs. But it’s almost the opposite case for the populist wave that handed them power, and the maintenance of that powerbase requires angry division. That is what we can’t hand them.
This should be a pretty easy wedge to drive when you think about how the grain runs in this rotted GOP log. It kind of looks like the ONLY way it holds together is by the external pressure of a mutually hated enemy. Trump’s job is to keep creating and recreating that enemy, and to me our job is to keep tearing that image down.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore: They’re quite fond of the 2nd Amendment and can recite [half of] it at the drop of a camo and/or pointed hat.
? Martin
@Roger Moore:
That cuts two ways, though. Sure, they would, but they aren’t going to stop growing more profitable crops to do so. That means that they only benefit if the price of produce goes up – a lot.
It’s not like California farmland is terribly idle. It was 15% idle at the height of the drought and is expected to go back to about half that this year. We export $3B a year just in almonds, and about the same amount in dairy (largest dairy state). Almonds generate about 5x the revenue of tomatoes on a per acre basis, to give a sense of how much other produce prices would need to increase for California to absorb that.
People need to understand how free trade really works. We sent the low-revenue crops to mexico and keep the high revenue ones here (just as we shift low-wage jobs out of the country and expand the high wage ones here). Why would CA farmers want to pull out high revenue crops to plant low revenue ones? They won’t, unless the price of those goods goes up to match.
? Martin
@Mike J: Apparently he can’t get back to the WH in time to do it. Will do it another day.
Word also spreading that he has an EO to unilaterally lift all sanctions against Russia.
Gelfling 545
@JPL: That clearly never occurred to them. They don’t get the reaction part of the equation.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
You say that with a certain amount of (completely understandable) snark, but in all seriousness, it doesn’t look as though anyone in the new administration — certainly not T himself, but I would include his nominee for Attorney General — is conversant with the Constitution of the United States, let alone any legislation or court rulings or international treaties or other governing agencies. It would be laughable if it weren’t both ineffably sad and totally horrifying.
Lizzy L
@Roger Moore: LOL no.
scav
@Roger Moore: And how many examples can we come up with in that mythical land of Business Excellence! of exactly the same behavior? Place I worked at was littered with state of digital systems all simultaneously creaking along in exactly the same state as their initial rollout (which easily spanned decades). Every year the budget for generating and loading new data into the systems was cut (Rightsized!), so where the cash or expertise to upgrade with supporting systems was to come from was eternally mysterious. On the upside, it was rather like computing time travel or a really good living museum of database design.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: One of my funniest memories of the ferry is 30 years ago. Here I am, a backpacker in Cork getting on the ferry to England. I paid and the girl said “get in that queue” I had no idea what “queue” meant. It meant “line” in America. But I did not understand her.
Related here right now. For 30 years I have been saying the ‘Quays” along the river Liffey KWAYS. Well, no, stupid. it is pronounced “keys” Welcome To Ireland!!
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
Except that we export a fair amount of our crops ourselves. If we get into a nasty trade war- and that’s what’s going to happen if Trump gets his way- the export market for stuff like almonds and wine will dry up. If there’s a glut of almonds because we can’t export anymore, prices will crash and farmers will start thinking about tearing them out to grow something else.
vhh
@efgoldman: Well, lots of Martin guitars and ukeleles come from their Mexican factories. And Martin is a superb American company.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I’m not sure that this is entirely true, and Metro may run into future problems if there is a decrease in federal matching funds.
Also, Metro has cheated by cutting back on bus service, including bus service on lines that feed Metro. And ridership (apart from the wildly successful Expo Line) is decreasing.
Also, I frequently ride Metro, and have noticed that downtime incidents have been increasing as service has expanded, even when you take accidents and cars and trucks plowing into the tracks into consideration. This is especially true of the Gold Line, where the recently increased service to Azusa has seen an increase in wear and tear.
I note, though, that compared to DC Metro, LA Metro’s maintenance schedule, which includes more evening off time work, is superior to what appears to be happening in DC.
darrel wright
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Don’t get me wrong. My zen state WRT these people is hard won. I’ve gone through being screaming-at-the-walls angry, to looking at them as essentially sub-human, to finally seeing them simply as….potential. Like angry toddlers or drug addicts. They are what they are, but it’s important to remember that there really are reasons why they are like they are, and “there but for the grace of god go I” is never a bad thought. It helps to live out here and see it up close, especially to see how the very young get treated. It has it’s analogue in the inner city.
A Ghost to Most
@scav:
After 40+ years in IT, I’m afraid I’ve become both.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
A GF once flew into Heathrow for a London vacation and being puzzled how to get to ground transport asked strangers where the exit was. Nobody could answer until she said “The exit, you know, the way out” upon which the person pointed to a sign that read “Way Out.”
Two peoples separated by a common language.
HeleninEire
@HeleninEire: @Baud:
Oh hi.
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
AND DESPAIR.
waysel
@darrel wright: If you were to, for example, study a bit in depth say Nelson Mandela, and some of the post apartheid methods used to rectify ill will between parties involved, and come share some specific actions or scripts that might help ‘mend the fences’ between current adversaries , I’d be more interested in listening to your ‘be nicer’ advice. Seriously, there may be something useful, but with Fox, Rush, Brietbart constantly inflaming the tribes, I don’t have much hope that we can bridge any gaps.
NotMax
@HeleninEire
It’s pronounced “keys” everywhere. In the U.S. we seem to prefer wharf to quay.
debbie
@Lizzy L:
I’m not saying calls don’t work, but I don’t think anything has poked at Trump the way the march did.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
I was literally (“literally” literally, not Joe Biden literally) going to comment that same exact identical thing.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
“Wharf” is better because dogs can pronounce it.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
GMTA! Now, time to go get some thirsty Thursday ales!
Ruviana
@The Moar You Know: Wait, was it broccoli?
debbie
@HeleninEire:
You might have better luck if you pick a FP from the Quick Links drop-down at the top of the page and ask them to send you the addresses. Just saying.
HeleninEire
@trollhattan: LOL you win.
Peale
@Roger Moore: And thank god if they have to. Do you know how much water those tree nuts take?
Anyway, I don’t think we should predict economic Armageddon in the trade war. It won’t happen right away and we’ll start to look crazy again. Mexico should ignore putting tariffs on soybeans if it consumes soybeans domestically. Then it is actually taxing its consumers in response to Trump and indirectly paying for the wall. It should not put tariffs on auto parts, that’s for sure. If goods are taxed coming and going, then the manufacturers will indeed look elsewhere.
I think lots of people are confusing tariffs and embargoes and quotas. Its not like suddenly Mexican goods disappear from the shelves. We just have to pay more for them. And we should. We’re the ones building an expensive wall, not Mexico. Mexico should avoid punishing its citizens with unseeded tax revenue just to get back at Trump. Instead, it should actually diversify its trading partners wherever it can, because right now 90 percent of its trade is with the USA and the USA is a bad actor right now.
If it wanted to get back at the US, it should tax specific items that can be substituted by other imports from other countries to make US goods uncompetitive with goods from elsewhere..
NotMax
@debbie
Cue the universe’s tiniest violin.
Doug R
@The Moar You Know: We get strawberries from Salinas and Watsonville at Costco ALL year. Sometimes from San Diego county.
debbie
@NotMax:
I know! The one bright spot in all of this! (Why is why I think the more marches, the more misery for that bastard.
NotMax
@HeleninEire
One time one of my grandmothers was trying to demonstrate how erudite she was by calling something gauche.
Except she pronounced it gowchee.
Chet Murthy
@darrel wright: Yeah, uh, sorry no. Chavez had lots of problems. Maduro has lots more. But they actually were opposed by oligarchs and the rich, not just by “the intelligentsia. We, who work hard and know how to do business.” It’s rather rich for Chavez’ opponents to talk about facism, when that is *exactly* what their intellectual fellow-travelers created, all over South America, with the US’ help.
So, no.
The more I read and re-read that article, the more disappointed I am. There *is* a difference between the poor of Venezuela, and Trump’s supporters in the US. For starters, Trump’s supporters aren’t poor. They’re just poorer than they thought they deserved to be. And the fact that many, many ni-clangs were and are poorer than them, doesn’t matter ttwo shits to them.
I could go on and on.
P.S. none of which is an excusing of Chavez/Maduro’s misgovernment. But when it started, it was trying to address -real- problems in Venezuela.
schrodingers_cat
Please ignore the concern troll.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Honestly, that poem gives me shivers every damn time I read it. In the year 2525, if man is still alive, it’ll still be relevant.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
I’ve never told you the embarrassing story about me and “Beefeaters,” have I?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
(adjusts tenterhooks) All ears.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Do tell..
HeleninEire
@debbie: Or you can read upthread where Cosima asked the front pagers to send them my email. And then about me and Baud..well.. whateves.
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Yup. I studied it in high school, probably somewhere around 1957-58, but until the last few months it was always fairly abstract to me. Today, it is like reading the news. A great poem.
debbie
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
If you haven’t heard Bryan Cranston’s reading of it, it’s worth finding it on YouTube.
Shana
@Mike in NC: The major problem, which no one can do anything about now, is that when it was built they didn’t build any extra track so that maintenance could be done on one section while routing trains around that track. Large sections are underground and there’s no way that the money will ever exist to build out.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: Spill it.
Lizzy L
Article in The Atlantic discusses why T’s people are going hard after the press and the intelligence community.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/why-the-president-is-feuding-with-the-media-and-the-intelligence-community/514484/?utm_source=atltw
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
@schrodingers_cat:
Yeah, so when I was quite young I learned about the Yeomen of the Guard and knew that they were called “Beefeaters.” But, in the way you do when you see a word but have never heard it read aloud, I pronounced it (in my head) as “bee-FEA-ters.” And I came up with a backstory (in my head, the way you do) that had all England fighting a plague of bees, and the Yeomen of the Guard fought them off, and became “Bee Defeaters,” or “Beefeaters.”
I seriously believed this until I was well into my 30s. Never occurred to me that there might be a somewhat more carnivorous origin to the name.
I am looking at 75 on my next birthday, and I still have to remind myself every time I see the word that the accent is on the first, not the second, syllable.
rikyrah
Karen Tumulty Verified account
@ktumulty
EXCLUSIVE: Trump pressured Park Service to back up his claims about inauguration crowd with @eilperin
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
Done, see #215.
rikyrah
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Pivot
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@efgoldman:
I feel for you… it’s vile.
Have you pondered electrolysis for that hairy keister?
Baud
@HeleninEire: Hello, lassie.
Peale
The tax is actually better than I expected. I was going to assume that they would go after remittances and tax those instead, which is way more cruel and targeted than a general tax.
darrel wright
@Chet Murthy: Maybe what I’m not being clear on is that I am offering this not as some moral corrective (maybe it has some of that, maybe it doesn’t) but rather as almost purely pragmatic.
We lost that election for a host of reasons, but “basket of deplorables,” which made us all feel good and was righteous and true, is one of them. A big one. The signs blossomed like mushrooms out here the next day and week. It inoculated him against the p##ssygrabing or anything of the other 10 things that could have sunk him around the margins of that base.
Of course there are huge differences between the Venezuelan lower classes and ours, the whole set up is completely different. The question of the article though is how does a populist tyrant (right or left or anywhere in between) operate. That is the practical question, and he’s giving what I think is great advice that we will learn one way or the other. I feel like a lot of people are getting hung up on “but you don’t understand, these people really are bad and stupid and undeserving, unlike the venezuelan poor, so it’s different…” Yes. Fine. That’s simply not the point though.
Van Buren
@randy khan: @Roger Moore: I think I once read a poem about some grand edifice built in the desert that slowly decays away.
rikyrah
lowdown muthaphuckas
Trump White House abruptly halts Obamacare ads
01/26/17 06:05 PM EST
The Trump administration has pulled the plug on all Obamacare outreach and advertising in the crucial final days of the 2017 enrollment season, according to sources at Health and Human Services and on Capitol Hill.
Even ads that had already been placed and paid for have been pulled, the sources told POLITICO.
The decision sends the clearest signal yet that President Donald Trump is determined to fulfill his campaign pledge to repeal Obamacare. Hours after being sworn in, Trump issued his first executive order allowing federal officials to start unwinding parts of the law.
“President Trump is signaling he’s the new sheriff,” said Rep. Chris Collins, (R-N.Y.), the president’s top congressional ally. “He’s been elected with a mandate. He’s not going to tolerate his employees contradicting and undermining his mandate to get this country going in another direction.”
Individuals may still sign up for Obamacare plans until the Jan. 31 deadline — but the Trump administration isn’t advertising that fact any longer.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: I can’t stop Laughing. Please come to Dublin and stay here. You and I would get along fabulously.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
You’re on! Have always longed to visit Dublin. And I know from your comments on BJ that we would, indeed, get along like billy-o!
Mike J
@trollhattan:
Was taking an American to a client site in Stockholm on the subway. When we get there he’s freaking out. “You got out at the wrong stop! This is some place called utgång!”
satby
@cosima: @cosima: hey, at some point I’m in for a meetup too!
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
You know what? Just PHUCKEM. PHUCKEM EVERY LAST ONE.
rawhide rawlins
I only got as far as: “texans are revolting”.
HeleninEire
@Baud: When you left us, were you in Europe? You know that the whole blog FREAKED OUT. Right?
Cacti
Tohono O’odam chief in southern AZ/northern Mexico says “over my dead body” will he permit a wall to be built across the tribe’s land.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: Well. Waste no time. Lemme know when I can pick you up at the airport.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
It is for sure really terrible. I have a vague memory of hearing that. Repressed/suppressed it as soon as I could.
Baud
@HeleninEire: I was in Europe. And I’m pretty sure the blog had more important things to worry about last September.
rikyrah
Luvvie’s at it again. If you need a laugh,not only the post is funny, but the entire thread on Facebook is full of gems.
Can We Drunk Text Our Bae, Barack, That We Miss Him?
The New Yorker published an imaginary text conversation between Barack Obama and someone who represents all of us still in our feelings about him leaving the White House. Here’s a snippet:
Barack: You knew this would be tough at first. Transitions are never simple.
Me: I miss you so bad
Me: Things without you really really suck
Barack: Does someone else have your car keys?
Me: Yes
Barack: Good.
This is basically all of us, wading in a pool of our feelings. Six days after he left and we’re watching the world crumble because a Walking Cheeto is blowing everything to hell. I just wanna send President Obama voicemail recordings of Toni Braxton heartbreak songs. “It’s just another sad love song racking my brain like crazy.”
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
Those were the dark days. I can’t even think of that period without …
No, I can’t even say it.
HeleninEire
@efgoldman: Irish pubs. REAL Irish pubs (not the touristy kind) rock.
Mary G
@Cacti: Joe Arpaio has probably already volunteered to arrange that, since he’s out of a job.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
Not sure if the exchequer is up to it, but I’m thinking I might like to come over for my 75th b/d in early August. Will look at bank balances and stuff.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: What is the story behind those furry helmets? Wouldn’t the bees hide there?
Peale
@Cacti: Good. Gives us someone to rally around who actually wants a rally. I want this wall to be a destructive to our own politics as possible.
Mike J
For the Rhode Islanders here, Louisa Chafee got a 3rd, a 4th, and a 1st today in the Nacra at the Sailing World Cup.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Someone needs to file a lawsuit to halt this, like immediately. If Obamacare is still in place, it is criminal to confuse people who can still sign up for it.
TriassicSands
I was shocked by that statement. It sounds reasonable. It couldn’t have been written by a Republican (not wasted on a brain-enhancing drug of some sort).
Rep. Hurd, what the hell have you been smokin’?
Brachiator
@darrel wright:
In America, it is considered bad form to call a racist a racist.
In America, it is considered bad form to call willfully ignorant assholes stupid.
Clinton could have dealt with this better, but “Basket of Deplorables” was too kind.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: Exchange rates are crazy now. Just moved lots of dollars. The rate was .92 CRAZY. But stay here with me. All you need to do is by me drinks. Happy Happy Birthday.
rikyrah
Lawd have mercy
Emily Roslin v Praze Verified account
@EmilyGorcenski
Here’s an updated State Department Org Chart.
Blue X’s are unfilled appointee positions. Red X’s are resignations.
HeleninEire
@Baud: Oh HI
rikyrah
A Former Side Piece to the Holy See?
The balls on these clowns.
Michael Tackett Verified account
@tackettdc
Callista Gingrich, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s wife, is being considered to be ambassador to the Vatican.
Peale
@TriassicSands: Which is why we should encourage a top down, uniform, very expensive, unpopular wall to be built. For the most part it is unnecessary as it is replacing barriers that are already there.
TriassicSands
@rikyrah:
If you can’t kill the program altogether immediately, then maybe you can prevent at least some people from getting health care coverage. That’s good, right?@efgoldman:
Peale
@rikyrah: Oh, I had forgotten that he converted to Catholicism. I’m fine with giving her a foreign post if it means hubby is out of the country with her.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Bearskin shakos (shakoes? Not sure of plural spelling.) Or busby/busbies.
But that’s not the YotG/Beefeaters. That’s the various Grenadier Guards (Scots, Irish, Welsh, etc.) The Yeomen wear a smushy Tudor-style velvet cap. Fifty years ago I was pretty good at knowing the distinctions among all the headgear and insignia, but I haven’t paid much attention recently.
Roger Moore
@darrel wright:
And a bullshit one. What Hillary was actually saying in that speech was that while there were some Trump supporters who were just a bunch of bigots, there were also plenty of them who were feeling legitimately left out who deserve our sympathy and help. But her main point was distorted, and Trump’s supporters proudly proclaimed themselves to be deplorables. I’m inclined to take them at their word.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
One more round, please, bartender!
Brachiator
UK Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Trump tomorrow.
The poor dear is looking forward to it. From the Guardian
I guess she will have to make up for the president of Mexico backing out of meeting Trump.
rikyrah
Touré
✔
@Toure
Trump’s 1st prime time network interview with ABC News on Wednesday night got 7.5m viewers. Obama’s 1st got 17m viewers. Trumpy lose again.
1:24 PM – 26 Jan 2017
TriassicSands
@efgoldman:
If Medicare won’t, maybe Mexico will.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@darrel wright:
I think, Darrel, emotions are still crazy raw and the idea of finding the humanity in Trump supporters is challenging for a lot of us. You know this, of course. I do maintain a ludicrous Star Trekkian hope that we can one day overcome our baser instincts and work together. However, as Eomer said, “But it is not this day.”
? Martin
@SiubhanDuinne: Shakos. 4 years as a marching band dad taught me some pretty useless information.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@TriassicSands:
And it will be a beautiful shorn keister, the best….
Spanky
@SiubhanDuinne: Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21. Might want to stay on this side of the pond for that day.
BillinGlendaleCA
@HeleninEire: I told Baud that this morning.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
On reflection, though, if it was good enough for Cokie Roberts’ mother ….
Renie
@Another Scott: LOL Not surprised that was a NIxon/Ziegler tactic.
? Martin
@rikyrah: California is still advertising our exchange. Just saw an ad yesterday. We’re past open enrollment, but they’re happy to remind you that if you change your job, get married, etc that you are still eligible to sign up.
SiubhanDuinne
@Spanky:
Yeah, that is definitely in my calendar. If I were to go to Ireland, I’d be back in time for the eclipse.
scav
@Brachiator:
Luffly little weasel is trying to have it both ways. “Little ol’ me? UTT-erly the opposite! {eyelash flutter} But we’re soooo going to be BFFs in our special special relationship way.” Queen Poodle the Second.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Would the Vatican accept a home wrecker?
SiubhanDuinne
@? Martin:
Thank you. That looks right.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Shakoes are cylindrical with a short brim and a plume at the front. Busbies are the big bearskin ones. I only know this because I was in marching band in high school, and we changed from busbies to shakoes while I was there.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Memo to the P.M.:
More like birds of a feather flock together (emphasis added).
Elizabelle
Texans have been revolting for a while now.
Are we abandoned?
Are there no pet blogposts out there?
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
No offense, but do you know anything about Catholicism?
Thoughtful David
@darrel wright:
Wait–you actually think those deplorables who put up “Deplorable and Proud of It” signs would have voted for any Democrat if only Clinton hadn’t called them that? Well, there’s some alternate reality thinking.
You’re buying into the WaPo’s “poor, misunderstood, economically disadvantaged folks are supporting Trump” line. The MSM has pushed that for a year, and it has never been anywhere near true. Those deplorables mostly weren’t poor or economically left behind.
Call them what they are: racists, bigots, and haters. The big issues getting the deplorables out to vote were imagined terrists, imagined Muslin infiltrators, imagined BLM cop-killers, and Obamacare giving money to the inner cities.
And you think being nice to those folks is going to convince them? You live in an alternate reality.
Fuck ’em. They’re lost forever.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Thank you! That is very helpful. I knew there was a difference but I couldn’t be arsed to look up what it was.
PPCLI
These last six days have really been a Gish gallop of horrors. In the last 24 hours Trump has given an interview to ABC that was horrifying beyond description. By mid day we were talking about some new lunacy, and then a new one at 1PM, and… and by now the interview seems like it took place years ago.
cynthia ackerman
@Roger Moore:
It’s about fifty feet wide through most of Big Bend, in the dry season.
sharl
OT, more stuff has been dribbling out about Silicon Valley billionaire and libertarian sociopath Peter Thiel quietly becoming a New Zealand citizen in 2011 (he’s a German-born dual NZ-US citizen now, for the record).
Opposition Labour party in NZ Parliament is demanding answers, while their PM is saying he’s OK with Thiel being a citizen. And the reporter who broke this was expecting a document dump sometime in their afternoon.
rikyrah
In Photos: 35 Amazing Places Barack Obama Traveled During His Presidency
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Not to mention one can cache a bigger bottle of gin beneath the busby.
:)
Roger Moore
@PPCLI:
Get ready for the four year Gish marathon.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Laughing. So. Hard.
Baud
@rikyrah: Nice.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
That wasn’t a serious question, which I thought was obvious.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
I like a man who knows his priorities.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Did you learn this in the Bond training school?
/lame_joke
Quinerly
@PPCLI:
If if makes you feel any better, CNN and MSNBC have been showing portions of that interview all day…yes, the crazy portions. MSNBC shows tonight hammering him. CNN tough earlier.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Nor was my reply!
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Spicer tomorrow: Largest audience ever. Bigger than the final episode of M*A*S*H. Ratings are rigged.
Shana
@SiubhanDuinne: I LOVE that story. We all have our things, mine aren’t nearly as interesting.
Jeffro
I’m not saying they stole my idea from last month, buuuuuuutttttt:
Speaking of revolting in a good way here’s Madeleine Albright and Mayim Bialik vowing that if Trump institutes a Muslim registry, they’re signing up.
PS They’re not Muslim, they’re just patriots ;)
JMiotke
@Roger Moore: Except they are gunning for California, too. We will need the CA veggies to feed those of us in CA! All those “illegal” voters who harvest them will be sent to jail.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
I get it. But more people should have watched that train wreck. Impossible to explain if you didn’t watch it.
debit
@PPCLI: I have nothing left in me but a hearty Nelson Muntz “HAH HAH!” for every unforced error the shitstain makes.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Doh!
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
I think, perhaps, you are thinking of Daniel Craig.
HeleninEire
OK so it is 1:30am here. Time for me to go to sleep. We will talk later.
SuibanDuinne: please come visit.
Baud you too, but for other reasons. Wait, what?
Cosima, thanks for the invite. For sure I will get to the highlands this year.
Debbie: STFU until you know the facts.
Mike in NC
@scav: Who will be the first foreign leader that Trump tries to grope?
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Plus she wasn’t saying that the voters were deplorables. She was talking about the people like Bannon who were behind Trump, and she was 100 percent right.
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Smart money is on Vlad.
waysel
@Thoughtful David: Thank you. That’s what I meant to say.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Can you be the U.K. Prime Minister and First Lady at the same time? Sounds like May is willing to give it a shot.
Sab
@NotMax: I have always pronounced it “kay”, and tonight I just realized I have never heard it spoken in English. I had only heard it used in French, in an Edith Piaf song we heard in French class forty years ago. Wow. Live and learn.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
Maybe Baud and I could visit at the same time?
scav
@Mike in NC: Have to admit, it would be rather funny if it was the Pope. (Which level of the Vatican hierarchy might possibly be said to wear the shortest dresses?)
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne</a.
Even taking turns at the wheel it's gonna be a lo-o-o-ong drive.
;)
magurakurin
@darrel wright:
whatever, chief. It sounds like a good topic of discussion for us all in the gulag. maybe you can lead the talk circle around the gruel pot.
debbie
@HeleninEire:
Fuck you. Reread her post:
“Yes, Scotland. Feel free to ask a front pager for my email addy and we can sort out a visit.”
Shana
@Spanky: We’re going to Nashville to see the eclipse. Should be fun, we’ve never been. Ideas on what else to do while we’re in town. Not country music fans.
A Ghost to Most
@Brachiator:
Hey, Clinton was being charitable when she said half the GOP was deplorable; she didn’t say the other half was despicable.
HeleninEire
@debbie: Awe are your feelings hurt? I feel bad!!!!
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: This stupidity started with the malasstration of the shitty grade Z movie star, because tax cuts for the parasite 1% are more important than maintaining the infrastructure that makes their fortunes possible in the first place.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
Oh, I’m good at that.
Thanks in advance. One week from today I will be at my half-birthday, as close to 75 as to 74. But we have a ways to go until The Day.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: I just saw one of those ads tonight (on Comedy Central, I think). I thought it was interesting, given recent history.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
TriassicSands
@Peale:
Man, I’ll bet graffiti artists on both sides of the border are salivating…
Note: no one ever uses the word graffito, which is singular.
NotMax
@Triassic Sands
Not no one.
Look, there’s a paparazzo over there snapping a picture of the graffito. ;)
(Hell, I still say stadia and datum.)
randy khan
@Van Buren:
I get what all of you have been saying, but the wall would be an institutional commitment. The existing border walls didn’t stop getting maintained during the Obama Administration, for instance. Sure, money is required, but it becomes part of what the border patrol people do and gets stuck into their budget. Frankly, even in maintenance stopped entirely, a wall like the one Trump wants to build would last for another ten years, but that wouldn’t happen for a while.
magurakurin
@NotMax: I dropped a spaghetto on the floor.
philadelphialawyer
@Mnemosyne: Seems like content-free, meaningless, hipsteroni drivel to me.
Shalimar
@elm: From your link:
Which is suspiciously close to the $50 billion they think we import from Mexico. Trump is so ignorant, he’s proposing a tax on our trade deficit with Mexico rather than Mexican imports.
J R in WV
@Aleta:
Yeah. We have a winter camp with a cabin at 5500 feet in SE Arizona. Just before Christmas we got a letter from AngloAmerican mining about prospecting for copper in the area around our camp.
We are just past an abandoned silver mine, and only 25 or 30 miles north of Bisbee, AZ – which was a famous copper lode mining camp back in the 1890s-1950 or so. Huge wealthy mines, giant open pit called the Lavender Pit.
The whole city was a superfund site, they took away people’s yards and replaced them with new non-contaminated dirt. Processed the dirt from people’s yards to remove the copper and gold and silver lost into the atmosphere during the glory days of mining there.
Hoping they don’t find potentially valuable copper deposits in our neighborhood!
Schmend
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I love the quote, but in the interest of accuracy I believe you meant Aragorn, not Eomer, in his speech at the black gate: “A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.”
Peale
@Shalimar: which, if that’s what they think, is about as overreacty as you can be. If he had only $50 b I. Imports into our 17T economy, we would not even notice it.
cosima
@satby: Come on over! Notes about casa Cosima: We do not live in or near a big city, we’re in a proper village well outside (1 hr) the nearest ‘big’ city. So if you come to Scotland to walk the forests, lochs, etc., it’s all here or easily got to by car/bus (we even have a stone circle a 10 minute walk away). We have pubs/shops but not much else. Depends on what you want from a Scotland holiday. I’m flexible (not working, apart from my volunteer gigs, which are up & down in their busy phases). Feel free to ask a FP for my email addy. Maybe we can get a BJ meet-up planned on this side of the pond someday. I know there are others here that are this side.