Octopus Overlords

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:17 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:32 pm At least some of them are self-aware. Not that it matters.

My side would be storming the White House if Barack Obama ever thought about declaring a national emergency.

It has nothing to do with whether or not it's the right thing to do, it's simply a matter of who does it.

Huh, they usually don't go so far as to outright admit that.

I'm happy to see it coming from anyone because it's true. It's just especially bile inducing when "the side" that is even now attacking government over reach is the side making rallying cries for government overreach and they are doing it by attacking "the other side" for the necessity of their action because "the other side" is using government overreach.

Imagine what happens if Warren runs and wins and she totally shits on McConnell and Graham and Shelby and Nunez and Geatz and... She starts by nationalizing banking and medical end to end, re-organizing the SEC, and then declares forgiveness on all college debt concurrent with cutting funding to private education while making all public education free, finally enacting the single payer system all because national emergency.

Also for the Amash fans out there. He is also vocally standing against his freedom caucus brethren. In other times, I could respect him and maybe vote for him in the right circumstance.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:45 pm Also for the Amash fans out there. He is also vocally standing against his freedom caucus brethren. In other times, I could respect him and maybe vote for him in the right circumstance.

This is where I'm torn. I like a lot of what he says and does but he folded early enough in Trump's reign that I'll never vote for him. Not while he has that "R" next to his name.

https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/ ... 0884022272

I can't parse that one. What does it mean?

Wut, you got problem wit grump''s grammar? Pretty sure that means no national emergency declared for at least today.

stessier wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:20 pm I can't parse that one. What does it mean?

I can parse it. I still have no idea what it means.

Is that a threat that he is waving national emergency if he doesn't get what he wants?
Is he saying national emergency was never on the table?
Is he saying he's been up an night exhausting options but is increasingly looking like he's trapped?

I think this consistently drives me nuts with twitter as news source. Context. Context. Context. I picture that being said in so many different ways.

And Trump Per Pool is that 4 foot hexagon felt table with the white and red balls, isn't it?

Enough wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:24 pm Wut, you got problem wit grump''s grammar? Pretty sure that means no national emergency declared for at least today.

Today? Trump guarantees come in five-minute increments. He could change his mind by 4 PM Eastern.

Enough wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:24 pm Wut, you got problem wit grump''s grammar? Pretty sure that means no national emergency declared for at least today.

It could mean that or it could mean that the current lack of action constitutes a national emergency.

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:29 pm

Enough wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:24 pm Wut, you got problem wit grump''s grammar? Pretty sure that means no national emergency declared for at least today.

Today? Trump guarantees come in five-minute increments. He could change his mind by 4 PM Eastern.

Good point. Another tweet I just saw was that OMB is preparing for the shutdown to last through February. Sure that's at least partially a precaution, but if it does go that long there is going to be a lot of destroyed families in its wake.

Can someone explain this word salad?

We lose 300 Americans a week, 90% of which comes through the Southern Border. These numbers will be DRASTICALLY REDUCED if we have a Wall!

Apparently the missing noun in that tweet is "heroin".

90 percent of it comes from the border, perhaps. But it's been proven time and again (through his administration's own studies even) that drugs primarily come through ports of entry. A wall would do absolutely nothing.

Defiant wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:29 pm Can someone explain this word salad?

We lose 300 Americans a week, 90% of which comes through the Southern Border. These numbers will be DRASTICALLY REDUCED if we have a Wall!

I'm guessing he is saying abductions and that the wall will keep people in. And like everything else twitter. Source?

Edit or maybe he was talking about drug ODs? *shrug*

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:35 pm Apparently the missing noun in that tweet is "heroin".

90 percent of it comes from the border, perhaps. But it's been proven time and again (through his administration's own studies even) that drugs primarily come through ports of entry. A wall would do absolutely nothing.

The way it reads it sounds like 300 Americans are leaving the country every week, 270 of whom go through the southern border. Sounds like we need a good Berlin-style wall down there to keep Americans in.

Henceforth, I think OO needs to call Trump's wall "Peaches" rather than "The Wall"

Fireball wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:19 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:18 am Didn't Pelosi already pass bills to keep everything but DHS open through the end of the FY, and DHS through Feb. 8? Is she now going to introduce more bills to hit all the closed agencies individually?

Yes, that is what we are doing.

HI Fireball - is there any way to get all the (Dem?) Senators to chant "We Vote to do our Jobs, open the government!" at McConnell in the Senate?

That sounds unbecoming of the world's greatest deliberative body! That august chamber is no place for games!

Three-quarters of Americans say the government shutdown, now tied for the longest in U.S. history, is "embarrassing for the country," including a majority of Republicans, a new NPR/Ipsos Poll finds.

link

In totally unrelated news, one quarter of Americans are dumb.

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:16 am In totally unrelated news, one quarter of Americans are dumb.

Last I heard, 77% of Republicans were still blaming Democrats. 77% of Republicans must be 1/4 of Americans.

Sitting here wondering if he was waiting to declare a "National Emergency" until sometime after he earned the Achievement for "Longest Government Shutdown in US History". He can add that to his list of Proud Accomplishments.

<chime!>

We're #1!!!!!!
USA!!USA!!

I can report TSA is slower but still on the job this morning. When you mess with a worker's paycheck while expecting them to keep working like nothing is wrong, you're a jackass.

The guy ahead of me in line from the suburbs blamed Pelosi as much as Trump's "tantrum." His "both sides were at fault" covered for Mitch McConnell's blame. His solution? Sending 100 Senators to the bottom of the ocean because there are no longer any Statesmen. America! :sigh:

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:13 amThe guy ahead of me in line from the suburbs blamed Pelosi as much as Trump's "tantrum." His "both sides were at fault" covered for Mitch McConnell's blame. His solution? Sending 100 Senators to the bottom of the ocean because there are no longer any Statesmen. America! :sigh:

Americans seemingly have a dogged adherence to the narrative that both sides are to blame for our problems.

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:52 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:13 amThe guy ahead of me in line from the suburbs blamed Pelosi as much as Trump's "tantrum." His "both sides were at fault" covered for Mitch McConnell's blame. His solution? Sending 100 Senators to the bottom of the ocean because there are no longer any Statesmen. America! :sigh:

Americans seemingly have a dogged adherence to the narrative that both sides are to blame for our problems.

It's one handy narrative for people who aren't inclined to pay attention to politics. Lets you feel sophisticated and worldly and above it all.

Old joke that's making the rounds.



Somebody shop McConnell's face on there.

One rules reform that the Senate badly needs is some mechanism for the minority leader to force some votes. McConnell's in a deeply red state, so he can just bury votes that he thinks may pass (the popular ones), let his blue state members attack him for it to help themselves in their states, but shield GOP senators from any accountability or actual public record on this stuff.

It does seem strange that one man can keep democracy from happening because democracy gives him that power.

Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:20 pm Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

I say we give him the nickname Graham Crackers, if it isn't his nickname already.

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:20 pm Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

Honestly, seems promising. Graham's a pretty craven political animal these days, and so this would suggest that the political winds are blowing against an emergency and for re-opening the government.

Defiant wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:46 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:20 pm Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

I say we give him the nickname Graham Crackers, if it isn't his nickname already.

Hard pass. Graham crackers are delicious and wonderful, and he is not.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:47 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:20 pm Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

Honestly, seems promising. Graham's a pretty craven political animal these days, and so this would suggest that the political winds are blowing against an emergency and for re-opening the government.

Oh - it is definitely promising. I'm just remarking that Graham in particular is all over the place. That he is making contradictory 'big picture' statements days apart is 'un-senatorial' at best. He is unraveling; another long-time politician laid low sucking up to Trump. Let it be an object lesson.

tRump's wall is a metaphor for his penis. Nobody wants to see it and he can't get it up.

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:56 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:47 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:20 pm Lindsey Graham is losing his mind.

Honestly, seems promising. Graham's a pretty craven political animal these days, and so this would suggest that the political winds are blowing against an emergency and for re-opening the government.

Oh - it is definitely promising. I'm just remarking that Graham in particular is all over the place. That he is making contradictory 'big picture' statements days apart is 'un-senatorial' at best. He is unraveling; another long-time politician laid low sucking up to Trump. Let it be an object lesson.

I don't know that he's been laid low by Trump as much as his own ambition (and representing South Carolina, which naturally pulls him towards political insanity).

Speaking of the political winds:

Fox, in an attempt to stoke fires of unrest towards the Dems, is reporting on the outrageous activities of the Dems during the shutdown.

Apparently some have gone to see Hamilton while the government is shut down.

The.

Horror.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:12 pmI don't know that he's been laid low by Trump as much as his own ambition (and representing South Carolina, which naturally pulls him towards political insanity).

It is both. His ambition put him in league with Trump and Trump keeps fucking him up. Graham's original message about a 'National Emergency now!' was right after a meeting with Trump at the WH. You'd expect that Graham did it in coordination with Trump. However, deals with a devil and all that so Trump shortly thereafter tweets out that he wasn't going to declare a National Emergency. A day or so passes and Graham spits out his revisionist plan. That is being laid low by Trump *and* trying to be a big, important boy at the same time.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:52 pm Fox, in an attempt to stoke fires of unrest towards the Dems, is reporting on the outrageous activities of the Dems during the shutdown.

Apparently some have gone to see Hamilton while the government is shut down.

The.

Horror.

It is a bit more than that. A relatively big group is down in Puerto Rico with a small army of lobbyists on a junket. Not a great look from a PR viewpoint but also probably not much of a story outside a shutdown.

One more post. It looks like McConnell's strategy works again. Probably because Americans are blithering idiots who don't understand how Congress works. The 30% are obviously deplorables but 20% think it is 'the system'. Looks like we're doomed to a long shutdown.

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:55 am One more post. It looks like McConnell's strategy works again. Probably because Americans are blithering idiots who don't understand how Congress works. The 30% are obviously deplorables but 20% think it is 'the system'. Looks like we're doomed to a long shutdown.

Well, the very fact that we can have a "shutdown" is indicative of a broken system. We are a can kicking nation.

Pelosi should tell Trump that he can have his $5B for the wall in exchange for complete protection of the Mueller investigation.