Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Old Man]

Yes, but it's also exactly what got Flynn canned. (Well, almost. It's possible that Pence didn't know about Flynn's Russian dealings. But Trump knew about all of them. So he'd have known Sessions was lying under oath by January, if not as it happened.)

[Pattern Ghost]

That was a sarcastic .

[megaplayboy]

At this point in the movie, sane but skeptical Republicans finally begin to suspect that there's something to this crazy conspiracy theory after all. At least, that's how the script is supposed to go. The new director has gone wildly off script before, though.

[BoloOfEarth]

I worry that the movie is being directed by Michael Bay.

[TheDarkness]

With an occasional David Lynch scene in a Russian hotel room.

[Pariah]

I think this monologue by Hugh Laurie's character from the criminally underappreciated movie Tomorrowland says it better.  (Bolding is mine)

 

<snip>

 

And here I am, fresh out of Likes for the day.

 

I think Tomorrowland is one of the most important movies of the past decade precisely because of the monologue you quoted.

[TheDarkness]

And here I am, fresh out of Likes for the day.

 

I think Tomorrowland is one of the most important movies of the past decade precisely because of the monologue you quoted.

I literally just watched the first episode of Laurie and Lewis, and there is a skit in there about a man going to a bookstore looking for a book on a soccer team from another country, and, when getting the book, finds it's almost empty of pages, at which point there is a long argument about the merits of that country's soccer team, at which the bookstore owner questions his patriotism because he claims the British lost to the country in question, and no true Englishman would ever say such a thing.

 

I realized that I am now living in that skit.

 

It's much funnier than my description of it, mind you. I'm no good without a studio audience.

[Pariah]

From the New Yorker:

 

[csyphrett]

Mike Pence just got hit with the old using private email for public business charge. And then the account got hacked.

CES 

[Joe Walsh]

Using private email like that's allowed in Indiana.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/03/518286557/mike-pence-used-aol-email-for-state-business-as-indiana-governor

[Michael Hopcroft]

I have a feeling public vs. private e-mail is a grayer area than people believe it is. But this is another example of how, in politics, the morality of your conduct seems to depend entirely on which side of the aisle you stand on. Donald Trump has already gotten away with much, much worse because the conservative media loves him so.

[Iuz the Evil]

So in the discussing of ACA reform, I'm not hearing a lot about honestly one of the largest changes the GOP appears almost certainly set to push through. Block grants to states for Medicaid, and possibly even Medicare.

 

Essentially that takes a Federal entitlement, and puts a cap on Federal participation. Which makes it "not an entitlement".

 

This would impact EPSDT almost certainly, reducing protections for children and youth. And while it wouldn't likely look very different to start, the growth formula won't keep up with reality, so becomes seriously underfunded within a decade. And at that point, advocacy organizations won't have any standing to tackle the case in Federal court as they have in the past, because "hey, block grant".

 

If you want to get away with something really nasty, make it boring.

[Joe Walsh]

And the amazing thing is, once the block grants are at 50% of the need, and state governments are spending half of that on incompetency and general evil, conservatives will still complain about the people getting the few crumbs that are left. That's what has happened since Clinton and Gingrich ended welfare as we knew it....

[Iuz the Evil]

What's really fun, in California the state "realigned" their responsibility on this largely to the counties. The idea being in theory "gives more local control" (but in practice gets the State out of the responsibility line of fire and controls costs).

 

So block grants would shift responsibility to the State, who in turn shifted responsibility to local government. Guess what that does? You got it, local government bears a disproportionate (and in this scenario ever increasing) share of cost.

 

So if you administer these programs as part of the County systems, you have only a couple options: reduce access, reduce benefits, or raise funds through local taxes and fees (to whatever extent you can). Leads to a series of unfunded mandates and retroactive obligations that are "fully funded" with no additional resources, resulting in even more resource scarcity.

 

Block grants and their ilk do contain costs, you just have to be willing to see the inevitable reductions. You get what you pay for.

[megaplayboy]

Most Serene, Most Powerful Prince Regent! Most Gracious Regent and Lord!

 

I was born in Kallstadt on March 14, 1869. My parents were honest, plain, pious vineyard workers. They strictly held me to everything good — to diligence and piety, to regular attendance in school and church, to absolute obedience toward the high authority.

 

After my confirmation, in 1882, I apprenticed to become a barber. I emigrated in 1885, in my sixteenth year. In America I carried on my business with diligence, discretion, and prudence. God’s blessing was with me, and I became rich. I obtained American citizenship in 1892. In 1902 I met my current wife. Sadly, she could not tolerate the climate in New York, and I went with my dear family back to Kallstadt.

 

The town was glad to have received a capable and productive citizen. My old mother was happy to see her son, her dear daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter around her; she knows now that I will take care of her in her old age.

 

But we were confronted all at once, as if by a lightning strike from fair skies, with the news that the High Royal State Ministry had decided that we must leave our residence in the Kingdom of Bavaria. We were paralyzed with fright; our happy family life was tarnished. My wife has been overcome by anxiety, and my lovely child has become sick.

 

Why should we be deported? This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if honest subjects are faced with such a decree — not to mention the great material losses it would incur. I would like to become a Bavarian citizen again.

 

In this urgent situation I have no other recourse than to turn to our adored, noble, wise, and just sovereign lord, our exalted ruler His Royal Highness, highest of all, who has already dried so many tears, who has ruled so beneficially and justly and wisely and softly and is warmly and deeply loved, with the most humble request that the highest of all will himself in mercy deign to allow the applicant to stay in the most gracious Kingdom of Bavaria.

 

Your most humble and obedient,

 

Friedrich Trump

 

 

(NB: Trump was deported back to the US for avoiding military conscription)

[DShomshak]

Apparently I am not the only person to look at recent events and think we're living in the Matrix, and something's gone wrong with the program. This article brings in other phenomena to which I pay little attention, to wit, the Superbowl and the Oscars, showing the trend is wider than I thought.
 

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/did-the-oscars-just-prove-that-we-are-living-in-a-computer-simulation

 

Dean Shomshak

 

[Starlord]

Matrix?  Sure all we need are millions staying in sleep pods

[Old Man]

[Michael Hopcroft]

trump now claims that his predecessor bugged Trump Tower in order to spy on him. A charge which makes me wonder if the President has a diagnosable and treatable mental illness.

 

It wouldn't be the first time. Nixon was utterly paranoid, and Lincoln went through prolonged bouts of "melancholy" that resembled depressive episodes.

 

Nixon's belief that he was the target of conspirators under every bed led him to the acts that undid his Presidency. Mind you, he was a veteran Cold Warrior and Cold War rhetoric commonly stated that there was indeed a vast Communist conspiracy with operatives everywhere, but Nixon took it to extremes. He also distrusted psychiatry and believed that seeking help during mental distress was a sign of weakness. He was delighted to hear that Daniel Ellsburg, the Pentagon analysis who helped leak the Pentagon Papers, was seeing a psychiatrist, and had bugs planted in the doctor's office in hopes of finding juicy material to discredit him.

 

As for Lincoln, psychology was in its infancy during his presidency (and still wrapped up in phrenology, the now-discredited view that some parts of the brain grow faster than others when someone has character and personality issues), so there was really no treatment that would have helped him at the time. His judgment was for the most part intact, but during his melancholy he was miserable. (His wife was mentally ill, and spent most of her later years institutionalized over symptoms that today could have been alleviated with medication and therapy).

[BoloOfEarth]

The actions/statements of Trump and the Trumpettes since taking office reminds me a lot of the "three envelopes" joke, that I originally told in the Jokes thread in 2007:

 

 

 

A newly-elected congressman is meeting with his predecessor, and that departing congressman hands the new guy three envelopes (numbered #1, #2, #3). "During your time in office, there will be occasions where you're not sure what to do. In those cases, open an envelope, in the order they're numbered."

 

The new congressman scoffs and tosses the envelopes in his desk drawer. Seven months later, however, the new congressman is embroiled in a scandal, and he's not sure how to handle it. Looking for a pen, he opens a desk drawer and sees the envelopes. "What the heck?" he thinks, and opens envelope #1. A slip of paper inside reads: "Blame your predecessor." So that's what the congressman does. "I am just cleaning up the mess left by my predecessor," he tells his constituents. Luckily for him, they buy this 'explanation' and everything calms back down.

 

A few years later, into his second term, the congressman's constituents are again up in arms, and he's not sure what to do. Spying the two remaining envelopes, he shrugs and opens envelope #2. A paper inside reads: "Blame the other party." Again, the congressman does exactly that. "I am attempting to solve this difficulty, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have blocked every solution I propose." Again, the people buy this, and things get better.

 

A few more years pass, and a third scandal erupts. No amount of spin seems able to contain the problem, and in desperation the congressman opens envelope #3. A slip of paper inside reads: "Prepare three envelopes..."

[Tom]

The actions/statements of Trump and the Trumpettes since taking office reminds me a lot of the "three envelopes" joke, that I originally told in the Jokes thread in 2007:

 

I've seen/heard this one before -- only it was the president, not a congressman...

[Pariah]

The actions/statements of Trump and the Trumpettes since taking office reminds me a lot of the "three envelopes" joke, that I originally told in the Jokes thread in 2007:

I'd like steal this for the Book of Face.

[BoloOfEarth]

Go for it.

[Pariah]

Thank you, sir.

[L. Marcus]

But ... now that you have permission, is it actually theft?