U.S. Politics

[TheAuthority]

US Vice-President-elect Mike Pence was booed on Friday at a performance of the hit musical Hamilton.

After the show, a cast member thanked Mr Pence for attending and read a letter to him on stage.

"We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us," Brandon Dixon said.

The incident has angered President-elect Donald Trump, who has accused the cast of "harassing" his running mate.

The President-elect has gone as far as to demand an apology to a "very good man", apparently misunderstanding that the cast implored the audience to stop booing Mr Pence.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38036872

 

I love my city. A friend of mine who plays in the orchestra has been asked for an interview with USA Today because of her Facebook post about it. I had other friends who were outside the theatre when he left booing the sh*t out of him. About a thousand were there.

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by TheAuthority
added info

[StefanAVFC]

And the Trump response.

The hypocrisy of Trump and his staff is amazing.

[HanoiVillan]

Typical Generation Snowflake, always demanding safe spaces. 

[peterms]

On the wall issue, if anyone is interested in the wider question aboit borders and states, there's an ebook free from Verso, but only free until the end of today.  Here.

 

Quote

We face a future with increased borders, walls, and barriers. Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move – a major new exploration of the refugee crisis and borders – is available to download, for free, until November 19th.

 

[StefanAVFC]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/congressional-phones-jammed-by-calls-for-trump-conflict-of-interest-investigation/?postshare=4341479507504650&tid=ss_tw

Quote

If you’re trying to call the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, you might find yourself on hold for … the afternoon.

The committee’s phones became jammed most of Friday after several Facebook posts calling for an investigation into President-elect Donald Trump’s finances started to go viral. The messages urged readers to call the panel to “support the call for a bipartisan review of Trump’s financials and apparent conflicts of interest.”

[Why Donald Trump’s family being in the White House is problematic, explained]

Some mentioned the ethical questions surrounding Trump’s daughter and son-in-law’s choice to join his private meeting Thursday night at Trump Tower with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“This is a state meeting and they had no security clearance … and she is supposed to be running his businesses during his presidential term,” stated one post, referring to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. “Can you spell yyyuuuge conflict of interest?”

I genuinely don't think he has any idea what he's supposed to and not supposed to do.

[HanoiVillan]

44 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/congressional-phones-jammed-by-calls-for-trump-conflict-of-interest-investigation/?postshare=4341479507504650&tid=ss_tw

I genuinely don't think he has any idea what he's supposed to and not supposed to do.

He is currently in way over his head, and the only question is whether he sinks or swims. He's made the worst possible start in staffing his administration with Bush-era dead-enders. The sort of basic corruption highlighted in that article is, in my opinion, likely to be the dominant motif of the early part of his administration. Eventually, he'll either rein in his own excesses, they'll be reined in for him, or other more important events will take over, but yeah, I expect to see a lot about corruption. 

[coda]

2 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

And the Trump response.

The hypocrisy of Trump and his staff is amazing.

 

[HanoiVillan]

This story is an interesting tidbit:

'Donald Trump has reportedly left civil servants amused and befuddled by extending an unusual and un presidential invitation to Theresa May.

Downing Street refused to deny a leaked transcript in which the president-elect told the British prime minister: “If you travel to the US you should let me know.”

Given that this was the first conversation since the billionaire’s unexpected victory, and was meant to formally reassure both parties over the “special relationship” between the US and the UK, it has been compared by Twitter users to a casual invite to a friend, not a state visit.'

This raises three possibilities:

1) He was making a joke and it's lost in translation to the tapescript (the most boring possibility)

2) He is so dumb and/or out-of-his-depth that he actually thought that might be a thing you would say to a PM over the phone (the most frightening possibility), or

3) He's actually familiar with the British put down 'oh, we really must do something some time' and was very much putting her in her place (the most intriguing possibility)

Edited November 19, 2016 by HanoiVillan

[TheAuthority]

Lots of #nameapencemusical on Twitter - my favorite so far.

You're a Good Man Charlie, but You're Brown #nameapencemusical

[peterms]

3 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/congressional-phones-jammed-by-calls-for-trump-conflict-of-interest-investigation/?postshare=4341479507504650&tid=ss_tw

I genuinely don't think he has any idea what he's supposed to and not supposed to do.

Why do you think that?

Business is all about milking conflicts of interest, or "networking".

Blair and the Clintons made a mint out of their office by bending the rules.

Back in Thatcher's day, one of the first scandals about her government was her husband's use of Number 10 letterheaded paper to send out letters about his business in double glazing or package holidays or embalming or whatever it was.

These spivs are very well attuned to the commercial possibilities of high office for incumbents and hangers-on.  When they break the rules, it's not from ignorance, it's from pushing it.  Because above all else, they are a bunch of chancers.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They know it's wrong.  They will do it anyway, unless stopped.  That's the game.

This spiv is no different from the others.  Maybe more gauche, more arrogant, nastier, even more despicable.  But you'd put them on the same coach home without a second thouht.

[maqroll]

4 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

I genuinely don't think he has any idea what he's supposed to and not supposed to do.

He told Teresa May to give him a call if she ever comes over to the USA, LMAO! What a clown. 

 

D'oh, just saw HanoiVillan's post.

Edited November 19, 2016 by maqroll

[peterms]

35 minutes ago, maqroll said:

He told Teresa May to give him a call if she ever comes over to the USA, LMAO! What a clown. 

Fuckface von Clownnstick.

Or Herr Drumpf.

[mjmooney]

Can he possibly get through four years? 

[maqroll]

4 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Can he possibly get through four years? 

Good question. He's off to a rocky start, being the first president-elect to settle a massive fraud lawsuit. Calamity follows him everywhere, so expect much more of it, with far greater consequences.

Edited November 19, 2016 by maqroll

[HanoiVillan]

2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Can he possibly get through four years? 

 

2 hours ago, maqroll said:

Good question. He's off to a rocky start, being the first president-elect to settle a massive fraud lawsuit. Calamity follows him everywhere, so expect much more of it, with far greater consequences.

I don't see how he doesn't do four years. There are basically only two ways to stop being president; die or be impeached. He appears to be fairly healthy for a 70-year-old, and doesn't have a family history of cancer or anything like that. An average man of his income bracket lives an average of 14 or 15 more years from his current age. I've spoken before about why I think he's a slightly higher assassination risk than other presidents (and this was before I learned about his plan to return to New York for the weekend most weekends), but it's still very unlikely. 

Impeachment isn't going to happen. Republicans control both houses of Congress and will soon have more votes on the Supreme Court. That lasts for a guaranteed two years, but there's no reason to think Democrats will 'win' the 2018 midterms (the Senate map is horrible for them, and the House is too gerrymandered to be in play until after the 2020 census) so he will probably have the luxury of unified government for all of his first four years. I think he'll be okay to see them out. 

[maqroll]

2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

I don't see how he doesn't do four years. There are basically only two ways to stop being president; die or be impeached

 

[maqroll]

Interesting side show developing..

Quote

The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-and-intelligence-community-chiefs-have-urged-obama-to-remove-the-head-of-the-nsa/2016/11/19/44de6ea6-adff-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html

[mjmooney]

7 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

 

I don't see how he doesn't do four years. There are basically only two ways to stop being president; die or be impeached. He appears to be fairly healthy for a 70-year-old, and doesn't have a family history of cancer or anything like that. An average man of his income bracket lives an average of 14 or 15 more years from his current age. I've spoken before about why I think he's a slightly higher assassination risk than other presidents (and this was before I learned about his plan to return to New York for the weekend most weekends), but it's still very unlikely. 

Impeachment isn't going to happen. Republicans control both houses of Congress and will soon have more votes on the Supreme Court. That lasts for a guaranteed two years, but there's no reason to think Democrats will 'win' the 2018 midterms (the Senate map is horrible for them, and the House is too gerrymandered to be in play until after the 2020 census) so he will probably have the luxury of unified government for all of his first four years. I think he'll be okay to see them out. 

Two years of total shitstorm, promises broken, embarrassing bloopers, etc., and you don't think there could be a backlash in the Democrats' favo(u)r in the midterms? 

[HanoiVillan]

This is the 2018 Senate map:

You'll notice it is horrible for Democrats. They are defending 23 seats (the blue) plus effectively two independents (the yellow) who in practice always vote with them. Republicans are defending 8. You might also note that apart from Nevada and Arizona, all the states Republicans are defending are the sort of ruby-red states that will not, under any circumstances, vote for a Democrat. Democrats need to win 3 seats without losing any. The 'without losing any' part is not going to happen either - they have seats to defend in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which voted for Trump. They're defending seats in Montana, Missouri, West Virginia and North Dakota, states that *always* vote Republican on a presidential level. Just to add insult to injury, Democrat voters basically never turn out in midterm elections. It's more likely they lose 3 seats net than gain them. 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by HanoiVillan

[Mantis]

It's amazing how similar the alt-right and the regressive, campus left are. Both crying out for their "safe spaces".