Juliajms

^ I didn't even know that Joe and Kelly existed until recently. I kept seeing people talk about Morning Joe, but I only watch CNBC and CNN. Point being I got quite a kick out of "Failure Friday" and "Felony Friday", but I didn't know they were Pro Trump at one point. Failure Friday had to be killing 45. I saw a clip and it made me incredibly happy.

I've seen articles claiming that a small but significant number of people have stopped identifying as Republican and that's why the number is as high as it is. If I can find one I'll post it.

It's like Uber. I would even argue that it's a bit like certain police departments. Sometimes an entire organization has a sick culture .Very different from places that have a few bad apples that are rooted out in short order. For awhile I worked at a major conglomerate and there truly was zero tolerance, but I've worked at places where everyone knew things were off too. That's the sad part. When everyone knows, but the people who could stop it won't.

Maxine Waters saying first they would get Trump and then go after Pence.

Please God let the hearings and investigations take up the rest of his presidency. Even without those issues he's not accomplishing much though. I feel so lucky that he's both lazy and incompetent.

Over the years I've basically put myself in a liberal bubble without even realizing I was doing it. I'm not really a people person, so that made it a lot easier for me to just stop interacting with people who weren't to the left on social issues. I have no regrets, but that's why I was taken so off guard by Trump's rise. I hadn't realized how insane things had become. My husband has some Republican friends, but I just wrote them off as pendejos and limited my contact with them. Little did I know they were not outliers. 17 days?! That's pretty outrageous. The lazier he is the better off we all are though, so I won't bitch about it.

He's been pretty good for business so far. That's not a hard thing to be when you don't care about the environment, a fair tax structure or worker's rights. I think people underestimate how much money can be made if you decide to rape (and I never use that word lightly) the environment. It's unconscionable and unsustainable, but I do think they could keep it going for four years. When Jim Accosta (SP?) said "Aren't you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant in this country?" Miller should have simply said "yes". We are not bound by tradition. We should always be doing things because they are right not because we've always done them in a particular way. Tradition is among the worst logical arguments, especially if you live in America. I don't think many of us on this board want to go back to what's traditional. There are much better arguments for immigration. Meanwhile, the point system they are coming up with is pretty disgusting. Olympians? Really? Why not just simply ask if having a higher score means you are more entitled to food, freedom and shelter? If so, why? I'm starting to favor a lottery system for the most of the spots.

One thing Trump has achieved is to completely change my mind about immigration. Not that long ago I used to wonder how we could just ignore laws we don't like? How can it be OK to have sanctuary cities and how can we have a nation that's boarders are so insecure? Now I still find it odd to ignore the laws we don't like, but that's still better than rounding people up and breaking up families. It's sad that I had to see it happen to realize how awful it is, but there is often a difference between the abstract and reality. I've also thought (in the past) that we should stack the deck in our favor when it comes to immigration. Doesn't it make sense to let people in based on skills versus family relations? I don't think so any more. Of course doing it by family relationship is also somewhat unfair to people who don't have that foothold and we obviously do it to keep down welfare expenses. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm now against braindraining other countries simply because we can. I still don't care much about that poem on the Statue of Liberty and think it's been romanticized to a ridiculous degree, but I do think we need the immigration policy that does the most good for the most people versus one that is simply self serving. Luckily, there is no way Trump will get any law in this area passed. It's just not going to happen. Elite Republicans know we need customers, cheap workers and a tax base to keep growing.

I just saw new polling numbers showing that 45 has an approval rating of 33% I guess we are supposed to be shocked by how low it is, but all I can think is that 1 out of every 3 people we meet approve of him. How is that possible?

Trump is just playing to his base with this one. Almost anyone can get into college. There are so many of them. I've seen studies that show it mostly doesn't make a difference to your income where you go, unless you are going to an Ivy League school. The point being it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend $50,000 to go to a mid level school for a BA. My neighbor is talking about sending her daughter to a school that costs $38,000 a year because she wants to play softball. She's not good enough to make the team at UNL. This is shitty little private school in NE I'm talking about. It was all I could do not to stick my nose into it and tell her all the reasons this is a horrible idea.

This is so ridiculous I have a hard time taking it seriously, even though it is serious. Of all the things they could be investigating resources are being wasted on this.

The sad thing is that's OK with way too many of "us". I've realized that even when we have empathy for people in other places sometimes it's too easy to dehumanize them by thinking of them as one big group. I think of people in Darfur or undocumented immigrants and feel bad for what they are going through. If I really think of them as individuals (mothers, fathers, someone's daughter or brother) the horror and loss is overwhelming. I'm not sure the human mind is meant to deal with that much pain for long, but if "we" are going to say "thousands of them will die" (but surely not us, because that's all that matters) the people in charge should really understand what that means. I certainly have no faith that 45 understands or cares. I'm not saying I think is USA could emerge from a nuclear war with North Korea unscathed, I'm just saying it should be horrifying to kill innocent people, but it doesn't seem like the Lindsey Grahams of the world have a problem with it at all.

Yeah, but I figure it's a year or so too soon to wag that dog.

I see Trump called the White House "a dump". This man is just unfailingly awful.

This administration has no idea what they're doing. I would be gloating if I weren't terrified.

He just won't stop tweeting. Now he's on China and "the foolish leaders of the past" who let them make billions on trade.

I'm reading White Working Class by Joan Williams at the recommendation of someone on Facebook. I know some people are well over this group, but I am learning some interesting things. For example few people making under $30,000 voted for Trump. The average income of his voters is $72, 000 (I did know that). It's a short and interesting read because it tells me some things I've been wondering about how the WWC is different from the working class as a whole. One thing she said is that black people look at people in poverty and think "There but for the grace of God go I". White people tend to think that it's their family values and adhesiveness to social norms that keep them from slipping into poverty. The implication she seems to be making is that both ideas are right. One divorce, once slip into addiction and people on the edge slip into poverty. It's just that the WWC way of thinking leads to resentment of people that do slip and need public assistance. Oh girl. Of course, black people will be good allies. I mean will white people find their souls and courage and do the same for you if it comes to that.

Absolutely. You're probably right that he will want to brutalize anyone who opposes him, but the response to his tweet banning trans people from the military gives me hope that people will stand with marginalized groups. The proof is in the pudding and I feel like many of us have not truly been tested. Not the way average people in Germany were tested in the 30's and 40's I mean. I'm hoping we won't be, but every day 45 is testing for weakness and seeing how far he can push into being an authoritarian leader. Today's speech proved that.

He doesn't apologize because he does not give one single f*ck about anyone else. There are days I still can't believe this terrible human being was elected our leader. Then I remember the majority did vote against him, so there is hope for our country yet. Next up tax reform. If they couldn't give a massive tax break to the wealthy by gutting healthcare they'll just do it directly. Still, I'll take this over repeal of the ACA.

They're probably the ones selling it!

OMG. She's obviously trying to trigger him. How funny.

Not just 16 million. Some of these people would burn it ALL down if they could.

I take back all of the cynical thoughts I've had about John McCain. That's what makes them trolls. It's only a real debate on your side. Block them and forget them.

Truth! I'm not sure how I could be more disgusted with our so called leaders. Meanwhile Ben Sasse is tweeting his daughter's entitled text messages complaining about "The lame vote a rama" or some such. I'll excuse her since she is a minor, but he disgusts me for tweeting that when he's in the middle of taking away people's healthcare. I doubt McCain cares about being in the crosshairs of his constituents right now. He's never going to run for office again.

This is an interesting article on Lisa Murkowski. I lived in Anchorage for a short time, but I haven't kept up with the politics there. It's sort of touching that the Alaskan Bush People learned to spell her name (and practiced writing it) and that she's made a point of not betraying them. Also a reminder of how dirty politics can be with Mitch McConnall trying to buy her off (something called the Kodiak Kickback) and we aren't even sure he's failed yet. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16030520/murkowski-republican-health-bill Then another article about Trump threatening to screw over the entire state of Alaska because of the healthcare vote. https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-threatens-isolate-alaska-093409489.html