The Politics Thread

[JaneAusten]

I hated Iraq, hated Libya, Syria - Obama, and now Syria Trump. I swear I just detest the bombing we conduct all over the middle east and drones are somehow supposed to be better. Why because we don't have to see the destruction we cause? I suppose I will always have empathy for the Israelis and yes the Palestinians, but Netanyahu is another nut.

 

I am having flashbacks to Iraq. But seriously we did this in the interest of National Security? Here is what we could have done. Up that quota of refugees they want to ban, and let those babies and their families come here to live.

[Max]

 

From a Democratic perspective, Neil Gorsuch is probably the best choice one could hope for from a Republican POTUS. And as you correctly mentioned, confirming him will not change the composition of the SCOTUS. I do think that Democrats are making a mistake by protesting as much as they have been; it would have been wiser to have saved their firepower for a nominee who will change the composition of the SCOTUS.

 

And I get that the Democratic base is upset about what happened with Merrick Garland. But there is no hypocrisy coming from me; in fact, I really wanted the GOP Senate to confirm Garland because I was convinced that HRC was going to easily win, and I also thought that Democrats would retake control of the Senate. (I knew that Garland was the best choice a Republican could realistically hope for from a Democratic POTUS. Had HRC won, Garland's nomination could very well have been withdrawn, and he could have been replaced by somebody much younger and more liberal.)

Edited April 7, 2017 by Max

[DRW50]

The markets trend down as the reality of Trump hits:

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/investors-trump-markets-doubt-236901

 

And the GOP callously letting the ACA die while passing nothing else to replace it continues to do its job:

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/house-obamacare-repeal-fallout-236967

 

Meanwhile, the political uncertainty over the fate of Obamacare is already hitting the health care markets. It drove two insurers to abandon the Iowa exchange in the past week, leaving much of the state with no more than one insurer in 2018. And even that company hasn’t publicly committed to staying.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I saw this on the Japanese broadcaster NHK before I went to bed last night. The Asian markets are a good predictor of what is going to happen in global markets and initially, the stocks were starting out steady as the markets opened before news of the missile strikes, after which, they promptly tumbled.

 

 

As for the health exchanges, fortunately, for me, I live in a state where the health exchanges are very successful, so I'm relieved (so far) that there is no plan to tamper with that success. 

 

 

 

I no longer think this to be the case. Before I went to bed, I checked some CNN social media and other news feeds and the warmongers have emerged in full force.

 

Just this morning on CBS This Morning, Michael Morell was already championing Trump's "decisiveness" in not waiting to get approval-he said he believes it was a successful strike, as long as Trump doesn't look for others to join him- AKA a "coalition of the willing" Part 2 (which he has already done, since he made a statement that he wanted other countries to join the effort).

Edited April 7, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Ian Bremmer has a much different perspective.

 

He stated that the longterm effects of the airstrike won't pan out as a victory-- in fact, he mentioned that the Russians have now moved to shore up Syria's air defense and that Trump has done more to dramatically worsen U.S./Russian relations in the last 24 hours than has occurred in several years!

Bremmer said the only smart thing that Trump did was to notify the Russians in advance.

 

He also chastized a comment made by HRC that she would bomb Syrian airfields (interesting that so soon after she mentioned taking action, Trump rushed to take action- does Trump look to Hillary as a leader to try to model himself on foreign policy since he clearly lacks a cohesive policy??). I don't know why Hillary made this comment and if this strike has negative consequences, I suspect Trump may try to blame her for his failure.

 

Bremmer also stated that the fact that Trump did not want to take in refugees or take any humanitarian action to help the Syrians, undercuts his entire argument that he supposedly took action to remediate the suffering. *(didn't Trump claim that he took action because he thought it was in the interest of national security? Oh was that just so he could strike without getting Congressional consent?)*

 

Bremmer also seemed dubious of Trump's argument that this was in the interest of national security because the U.S. was never struck by Syria- which doesn't even have the capability to attack the U.S.- the U.S. struck offensively and pre-emptively.

 

Edited April 7, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[JaneAusten]

Gorsuch is not more moderate than Scalia. He's in line or even to the right of him

 

I said long ago filibuster. You folks seem to believe the democrats are working with people who they can have faith in to keep their word. What good would agreeing to this do. We'd get Gorsuch in anyway and the GOP would break it on the next nominee and don't think for a second the next one would be more moderate.

 

And the nuclear option on legislation is next. The GOP will execute this as soon as the democrats threaten to filibuster one.

 

We aren't dealing with people who want what's best for this country, people who swore that they would leave the seat open if Clinton got elected and not vote on any of her judges. Do people remember WHY Reid executed the nuclear option on lower court apts? Because the GOP filibustered 80 straight nominees by Obama. Not the first one, 80. But what Reid refused to do was to use that for the Supreme Court position seeing the importance of it.

[marceline]

Exactly. Republicans don't negotiate in good faith and shouldn't be treated like they do.

[DRW50]

 

For me a filibuster wasn't so much about good faith as it was about keeping their powder dry for when a more vital seat opens up, although I know it wasn't likely. I don't really believe that Schumer did this for spine reasons, I think it was mostly because they fear their left more at the moments, so I still expect them to cave in future. So to me it was mostly foot stomping with no effect. 

[DramatistDreamer]

An independent investigator is still needed to investigate Trump's ties with Russia. People need to not get diverted away from this fact. The need becomes even more clear when you read articles like this-

 

C.I.A. Had Evidence of Russian Effort to Help Trump Earlier Than Believed

 

Between the FBI and Mitch McConnell's intransigence, surely things were stalled.

 

I was thinking of the Chinese President Xi Jinping sitting in his room at Mar-a-Lago and then finding out about the missile strike and wondering what their reaction to all this will be, especially since the Chinese have sided with Russia on Syria in the past and the Chinese are averse to other countries 'impinging' on what they see as a sovereign country.

I am curious as to whether the Chinese will now be reluctant to work with the U.S. on other foreign policy issues like, say, North Korea. Just a thought.

 

 

Surely the testosterone of despots runs amok these days. Oh look, another loose cannon with power!

 

Duterte Orders Military to Parts of South China Sea Claimed by Philippines

 

 

Not that it matters much, but 50 advertisers have now pulled out of O'Reilly's show. Things can change quickly and we all know that it will take much more than this to stamp out sexism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorsuch has been confirmed, by the way.

[DRW50]

Duterte really is a mess. What happened to all his kissing up to China? 

 

He and Trump are brothers from another mother. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Very unstable brothers from another mother.

[Wales2004]

This was done as another distraction and to pretend that Trump has placed himself at odds with Putin who was told ahead of time so that he could warn Assad. There is absolutely no reason to rush into something like this without careful planning and it accomplishes nothing except giving the media a new object over which to endlessly drone so that they forget about Trumpco's treachery.

[Khan]

Exactly, Wales.  Syria's just another part of the shell game.

[Eric83]

Gorsuch doesn't change much on the court. Just hope that Justices Breyer and Ginsburg can stay on the court/stay alive until the 2020 primaries. 

[Khan]

Even as we speak, I'm starting a GoFundMe to hire a whole fleet of physicians and personal trainers for the Justices.  I better NOT see so much as a fried chicken leg or Krispy Kreme donut in either one of their mouths.