Wales2004

5 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

This is the second time in as many days, I heard someone say how stupid they think Trump is and both are from other countries.

Other countries really do think he is a big joke, everyone could well be laughing at this fool. Well, maybe except for Italy because...Berlusconi.

My mother lives in Italy and they are laughing despite Berlusconi because they live in that special we're the best at everything place as well.

While orange wax was melting in front of those hideous gold drapes (please forgive me to anyone who actually likes the drapes), Paul Ryan said the GOP has a replacement plan for the ACA.  Naturally, they cannot share the plan because the cost of the bill has to be estimated by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.  So why not wait until that was done before announcing it?  Because they can pretend they've done something before they go on their break.

@Juliajms Trump was asked about the rise in anti-semitism at that joint press conference yesterday and his response was to wax poetic about his electoral victory and point out that his daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren.  Then he mentioned how he was going to get rid of crime which was more Trumptopia.

Netanyahu gave him a hyperbolic assist--no one love Jewish people more than Trump blah blah blah.

His base will continue to believe the "illegals and blacks" are sucking up all the welfare until some of them take their last breath.

Meanwhile he is going after the deep state by putting his buddy Stephen Feinberg in charge of sussing out the leaks (at least that's the rumor).

I wouldn't expect the GOP to investigate anything more than who leaked the information.  They don't (except maybe a handful) seem to care about anything except pushing through their repeal ACA and cut taxes for the rich agenda.  Russia is a distraction to them.

Remember when we were hearing how unsafe America is because refugees are coming to terrorize the nation and only Trump can save us all?

I guess he's got to put that hysteria on hold for the rally he's holding on Saturday

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/trump-to-celebrate-rough-week-with-florida-rally-on-saturday.html

Maybe there will be protesters and how great it would be if they outnumbered his cheering squad in a classic battle of who can pay the most for a crowd.

42 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Every hour on the hour, it seems.

 

Exclusive: Puzder’s ex-wife told Oprah he threatened ‘you will pay for this’

 

" POLITICO obtained the 1990 taped appearance by the Labor nominee's former spouse."

This has been out there for a bit.  Anyway, it seems he has withdrawn.

Yes, Rip is a drag.  This programmed version of him makes the character a little livelier but he is not compelling enough to make his mission interesting. 

I don't have a problem with the cast as much as I do with how their characters are written.  Caitlin just seems to exist for the occasional medical emergency and to bond with the new guy.  The only change this season is that she gets to fret over becoming Killer Frost.  There's more they could do with Caitlin instead of periodically having a team member give her a pep talk.   

Kellyanne will continue to be used on shows, under the guise that she's admin staff, until she gets booted (if she gets booted) or reassigned to a position with no media contact.

She's an easy way for Jake Tapper, Matt Lauer, and whoever else to show that they are journalists in pursuit of the truth since it's a given that she's going to lie about something.  It's a lazy cheap way for them to get ratings.  CNN declined to have her on that one day but quickly got her on with a geared up Jake Tapper.  I read something about this yesterday and how it makes them appear to be journalistic heroes. 

“We’re bringing back jobs big league. We're bringing them back at the plant level, we're bringing them back at the mine level. The energy jobs are coming back,” he continued. “A lot of people going back to work now.” (regarding repeal of transparency rules for oil companies in Dodd-Frank)

I feel that fairytales are very integral to keeping his base happy since his words mean more than his actions.  Maybe someone can explain to me how this is going to bring back jobs.  This sounds like some more trickle down nonsense.  Now that those companies don't have to spend all that money reporting  payments to foreign governments they are going to be able to afford to hire thousands of Americans to do lots and lots of work a the coal mine.  I was thinking they were just going to give the execs bigger bonuses.

32 minutes ago, Roman said:

And Pres. Obama. just like W.....let's move on when scandal hits or we f'ed up really bad. 

The Republicans should never try to make the argument that their frivolous investigations are done in the interest of the nation.  Clearly, they are politically motivated and that's not to say that the Democrats don't have their faults as well but they do at least express concern for the people.

So far the general response from them is Flynn is a good man and there is no reason to investigate anything except the leaks.  Orange Ignorance 45 wants to know if there will be leaks when he discusses what should be done about N. Korea....as if he wasn't a faucet himself over the weekend, in the middle of a public area, holding a meeting on N. Korea.

It's basically up to a determined journalist (or two) to dig up the truth.

This isn't headline stuff but may be of interest to someone:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-grants-injunction-barring-travel-ban-implementation-in-virginia/

40 minutes ago, Roman said:

That literally came out of that person's mouth. 

He said something about them having breakfast with their wives in response to why they haven't commented.  He said  Flynn's a good man and we need to move on.  You know like how they moved on from all those things of which they accused the Democrats.  Here's a link:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/14/chris-collins-flynn-resigns-newday.cnn

1 hour ago, Roman said:

so now they're going after the same person they let come on their show and lie through her teeth. what BS. 

Not surprising but they did go after Stephen Miller yesterday.  Hannity attacked Joe over Miller.

A GOP rep told Chris Cuomo on CNN that they cannot comment on Flynn today because it's Valentine's Day and the republicans are spending time with their wives.

25 minutes ago, Roman said:

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/13/trump-humiliated-front-canadian-pm-justin-trudeau-entire-world.html

Are the criminals with the very bad track records that he is keeping out because of his very very big electoral college win making America more dangerous than the psychopaths working with him or even his own pathological self?

44 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Trump allowed a paid guest to photograph and identify the U.S. official who carries the "nuclear football" for the president (it's all over social media).

Is this the first time that this has ever happened? I don't remember ever seeing the actual person responsible for this!

They had  emergency meeting on N. Korea in the middle of a public dining area and people used their smartphones as flashlights.  All you need is a club membership to learn government secrets now.

I know their crossovers are just a way to try to generate excitement and interest in all the shows but that gimmick seems to make them try to sync the other shows to The Flash.  That just doesn't seem to work well because of the writing.

The Legion of Doom is just an odd bunch to stick together but since the characters that make up the group are strong individually, they higlight the flaws of the LOT.  Ray is underwhelming and dramatic Jax is overwhelming.  The others are okay but they're not really a dynamic unit which coupled with the writing, tends to make the show mediocre.

The Flash has a lot of main characters but it worked okay previously.  I think this season is bad because their main villain is weak and basically MIA for the greater portion of the season so nothing sets him apart from any run of the mill villain of the week.  And instead of a gradual focus on Kid Flash, they've gone overboard with the introduction of groupies and making Barry seem less significant.  If Wally were a stronger character it might work but he's about as generic as Barry without any of the sensitivity.

6 minutes ago, Roman said:

something is WRONG with him. he looked like a robot just spewing stuff.

Which is what makes him seem frightening.  He sounds as if he's been programmed to seek world domination.  He really seemed to be saying that they are going to take over the nation and the world cannot stop them. 

Then there's Trump talking about weaponizing federal funds to keep states in check.  But instead of the media emphasizing any of this bizarre plotting going on, they are concerned that Trump didn't tweet before 8:15 a.m. and that psycho Miller brought up voter fraud again.

These people could seemingly plan something dangerous while they are distracting the media with a bunch of shiny objects and the media would be none the wiser.  So it's kind of useless for the media to keep declaring themselves guardians when they are constantly smarting over being labeled fake.

Did anyone happen to see Stephen Miller on the morning shows yesterday?

I watched him with Chuck Todd and was disturbed by him whereas the usual Trump puppets are more on the annoying liars level.  He just seems diabolical and power hungry.  After watching the first minute of this Morning Joe clip, he sounds even more disturbing.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/joe-takes-stephen-miller-to-school-on-law-875977283878

5 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

In case we're still into polls around here.

"Acts like a Politician".  Huh?!  If it's 'acts like a crooked politician', I think it may be too late for that.

Polls are even more useless when it comes to him.  He goes on twitter to pretend the protesters are supporters and the truth is fake news and his Trumpkins buy it.

Why expect better from them regarding him when Mitch McConnell won't come off a penny to help deal with the opioid problem in his state and still gets re-elected.  He will probably be okay with all those people dying so they won't need benefits anymore and he can rest easy cutting them all off since they must be such a financial drain to him and Paul Ryan (who probably thinks it's their own faults for not helping themselves). 

2 hours ago, Juliajms said:

This has always made sense to me for a number of reasons. Mostly because it's true that an unlimited supply of unskilled workers lowers wages.

Sure but  I think it's more common that over-saturated fields lower wages.  Certain fields are not going to command higher wages simply because they require lower skill levels or virtually no skills at all.  If a farmer is forced by law to pay workers minimum wage then that is all the workers will get.  Any farmer paying more than that would be the type of person who would not need to be told that workers should receive a certain minimum.  Independent contractors that are not operating under any type of regulation are likely to receive lower compensation for work they do.  Competition among businesses to move their products is probably a major factor when it comes to wages (and of course greed).

2 hours ago, Juliajms said:

We're always hearing that Americans don't want to be farm workers or elder care workers but this is an argument that really pisses me off when Republicans make it. If citizens don't want to work for your company or for the wages you are offering doesn't that mean that your business model isn't working? Republicans are always telling us about market economics, but they don't want to live by that when it comes to paying people or providing good working conditions.

This is true but there are also some people who refuse to do farm work, janitorial work, etc., who are unskilled and basically unrealistic.

2 hours ago, Juliajms said:

My answer to all this would be either a guest worker program or one more amnesty and then finally using e-verify. Having 11 million people living without papers is not a good plan.  Not only does it lead to exploitation, but to the kind of random round ups and deportations that seem to be coming.

Some of this is inconsistency because why let someone stay here for 20 years (checking in) before deciding to deport the person?  An amnesty program should allow them to keep the people who meet whatever criteria that they establish and it should not be discriminatory or arbitrarily applied.  If they are going to go guest worker then they should make it work with the H1B visa program.

2 hours ago, marceline said:

 

I see that as the Latinx version of black respectability politics. Just like Bill Cosby spent inordinate amounts of time and energy telling black kids to pull their pants  up while he was raping every woman he could get his hands on.

I kind of see where you're going but my experience with has been more I'm better than you than you're making us look bad.  I've got this one friend with a Mexican background who has deluded herself into believing that her Japanese step-grandmother makes her better than all the Mexicans period.  And since she can't speak Spanish because her parents wanted her to be American (which apparently means you can't learn other languages), she gets bent when anyone assumes she speaks Spanish.  I've got other examples but they basically have in common the snobbery.

The pull up your pants thinking is right up there with the whole you've got to work 10 times harder than the white people thinking, imo. It's that old way of thinking that being well-behaved and demonstrating that you are a super hard worker is going to fix racism.  I believe that people who dislike you because of something which you cannot change, aren't going to like you no matter how well-behaved you are.

Anyway, I wish people would stop encouraging non-white people to worry about what white people think about them instead of encouraging them to be concerned about what they think of themselves. I could go on but I'll leave it at that.

1 hour ago, Roman said:

You know Jane....ask the Trump supporters who have suddenly grown quiet in the last 3 weeks. that's what happens when people actually believe BS without the benefit of intellect and rational thinking.

The hard core Trumpkins will be that until they die.  He could cause them all to end up on the street with nothing and they will steal swear by him and place the blame elsewhere.  I'm sure some of them don't expect their conditions to change, they're just happy believing their version of what America is and should be is being realized. 

55 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I don't think people realize just how many Irish immigrants are among the undocumented but somehow I don't imagine ICE raiding any pubs or other places where undocumented Irish immigrants are known to work or live.

I doubt they would care.  Although their main targets are Mexicans because they love to believe that all the Mexicans are sneaking in over the border and spreading out all over America stealing the job of all the good ole Americans and sucking up all the welfare that the black people aren't getting. 

I remember seeing this destitute looking racist on one of those Soledad O'Brien specials bemoaning the illegals taking the jobs away from the "blacks," and thinking how considerate he was for looking out for other people he couldn't stand. 

What's really sad is when legal immigrants are against illegal immigrants because they "came here the right way." 

The whole thing with Cisco's brother was more of that Flashpoint silliness which might have worked had Flashpoint not been reduced to less than one episode.  I don't care about any of the changes he caused since Ramon was a blip on the screen. I didn't know the professor didn't want kids so his time aberration daughter is just a so what.  And Diggle's daughter being erased for a son is not interesting me either since I don't watch Arrow.  It's more of the same Barry screws up by time traveling.

What did stand out to me was how they pushed Cisco being angry with Barry over his brother's death as such a big deal it created a rift between them and could potentially ruin the team, yet one of the reasons Barry gave Iris for leasing that apartment was that he was tired of sleeping on Cisco's couch.  I must have missed the two seconds where he moved out of Joe's to sleep on Cisco's couch while Cisco was mad at him.

I think the animated Justice League did a lot better job with storytelling and relationships than any of these Berlanti shows. 

The next two episodes in Gorilla City should be better than what's been going on so far.

Tuesday they reminded me why I cannot get invested in any character's death.  So they've been all Savitar is going to kill Iris and the season finale and we've got to stop that.  And Barry's constantly assuring her with his most earnest look that he's not going to let that happen--even going so far as to swear on his dead parents that he won't (which is odd for what I think are obvious reasons), but apparently it's not so serious if she dies that day. 

They expended some energy in trying to get Caitlin to freeze her arm and they all looked so serious about it and then everyone basically took off to go do their heroic things--phasing through a train is awesome!!! And voila, Iris is saved because all they needed was the bad guy's blood.  Joe who was so upset that his baby girl might die in May, just left her side not knowing if she might die that very day.  If they're going to write it so poorly than why should viewers care about her potentially dying down the road?  This is such a weak plot on which to build most of the season.

15 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Thanks to Betsybug, though, more kids will end up in charter/religious/private schools or will just be homeschooled.

 

I don't think she will get the chance to make that much of a dent in California, if any at all. 

Is it a thing to point out how Barack Obama did more conservative things than conservatives....because if it is then the conservatives ought to know that it only shows how much lying they've done about him.  Clearly he had moments when he was a better conservative than they and they still pretend he was nothing. 

@DramatistDreamer I am "naturalized" (placed in quotes because I think it sounds so odd).  None of this phases me personally because I'm just like that now, but I do have compassion for others.  I really hope your mother will be able to rely on her faith and find some strength in it.

Not only is the Bannon stuff pretty obvious but why should anyone be more shocked about his references to women when there's Trump.

It's interesting that they haven't confirmed the "salacious" part yet.  People don't find it odd that someone who uses being a germaphobe as the reason he couldn't be in that video, loves to grab other people's hands so much.

He is telling the truth about that video because the video they supposedly have of him is much worse (it's one of those rare instances that I was told something that my mind hasn't processed).  I'm just going to guess that someone heard there was a video and filled in the blanks.

1 hour ago, JaneAusten said:

Gerrymandering is the project Eric Holder and President Obama are going to be working on. Jason Kander the "nobody" from Missouri who might have actually beat Roy Blunt had the democrats invested some money there, has a new organization called Let America Vote that is focused on fighting voter suppression. Tom Perez who is running for DNC chair said initially voter suppression was going to be his champion cause but he seems to have flip flopped due to the insufferable Bernie wing. So there is stuff going on. But I am sure the Bernie people don't think gerrymandering or voter suppression is a big deal. They are only concerned about the WWC.

Hopefully they get some where with the gerrymandering project.

I am interested in seeing something established to help people obtain identification, e.g., if the problem is that some people live too far to get to a DMV, then maybe provide some transportation or if it's the fees, then a fund.  I know some of the suppression goes deeper than an i.d. card but if that is one of the main issues and it can be addressed by helping people get those cards, then it would be a good idea to try to do so. 

It's pretty hard to unify a party when voting blocs has seemingly been a mainstay.  Keeping everybody divided is great for politicians but now it seems to only be great for Republicans.  It's caught up to the Democrats in a most problematic way.  They've successfully managed to be integrated on the outside while being segregated on the inside.  It was just a matter of time before that started to catch up to them.  Reconciliation is a tall order but either they do it for real or they slap a band-aid on it until it opens up a big enough wound that cannot be ignored. 

At the end of the day, people want to feel as if they belong and are included and it cannot be that hard to talk to each other and really just listen.