Trump to Chat With Putin Saturday, Bannon Says Media Is 'Opposition Party,' March for Life Today in Washington: A.M. Links

• 

  Kremlin Pool/ZUMA Press/Newscom

  Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

• "The media here is the opposition party," Donald Trump's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, told The New York Times.
• The March for Life comes to Washington this weekend; organizers estimated 50,000 would attend Friday's event, which includes a rally followed by a march to the Supreme Court.
• The latest list of open Title IX investigations from the U.S. Department of Education shows the agency's Office for Civil Rights has initiated charges against 225 colleges in 306 separate cases.
• A new Texas lawsuit accuses Choice Hotels (Quality Inn's parent company), Backpage, and convicted sex trafficker Santiago Alonso of having "conspired, enabled and/or otherwise worked together in a sex trafficking venture in which [the survivor] was victimized when she was just 17 years old."
• "The FDA's long-overdue response leaves key questions unanswered about the performance and effectiveness of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations," House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden told Reuters.
• Rolling Stone laments Trump's "war on facts"…

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

COMRADE, HERE ARE YOUR ORDERS.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

"Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday."

HOW MANY MORE APOCALYPSES CAN WE TAKE!?!

[EDG reppin LBC]

How many you got?

[Slammer]

Age of Apocalypse

[PBR Streetgang]

This is the dawning of the Age of Apoc-a-Lypse
Age of Apoc-a-Lyspe
APOCALYPSE.....Apocalypse

[waffles]

In the 90s Xmans cartoon I heard it as Apoc-a-lips because, well just look at him.

[John Titor]

"The Soviet Union is doing whatever we can to assist your operation."

"Wait, the Soviet Union? I thought you guys broke up?"

"YES, THAT'S WHAT WE WANTED YOU TO THINK."

[BiMonSciFiCon]

MUST DESTROY CAPITALISM

[Swiss Servator]

I MUST BREAK YOU!

[Private Chipperbot]

Whatever he hits, he destroys.

[Hayeksplosives]

WE WILL BURY YOU

[Swiss Servator]

He has more flexibility, after the election.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, snap.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Dawn, Stove, Nine, Kind-hearted, Homecoming, One, Freight car"

[Swiss Servator]

Trump has a metal arm?!

[commodious rebrands]

You'd think he'd have bigger hands.

[Mike Laursen]

What a coincidence. It's time for annual performance reviews wih my employer, too.

[Bee Tagger]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

In between all of the high-fives?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Drunk Putin (to Trump): Pst. Little secret, comrade. We DID meddle! Drink!

/Giggles. Downs swig of vodka from bottle.

[Anomalous]

So Trump DOES drink! I knew it!

[Monty Crisco]

In defense of being a FATASS:

http://theweek.com/articles/67.....ically-fat

Well, at least the fat bitch OWNS that shit?..

[Monty Crisco]

PS: aren't I a charmer?

[The Grinch]

She'll be dead by fifty.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...I don't want my BMI to be the calculus of my personal virtue.

Yet another BMI science denier.

[jarflax]

You make your choices in this life, and it is certainly her prerogative to choose to eat what she wants and never exercise. Of course all choices come with consequences. Not sure she is owning that shit when she babbles about alternate models of being healthy.

I know that during the part of my life when I ate whatever I wanted and never exercised my 'model of health' involved an awful lot of gasping for breath, being sick, and being uncomfortable. But I suppose she could have a different idea of health.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Exactly. I mean, do what you want. If you're happy with yourself being overweight or whatever, good for you. All I know is my 30s have taught me that carrying even just a little extra weight has given me back and foot problems. I've got self-esteem comin' out my ears, but physics and biology don't seem to give a shit about how confident I am.

[commodious rebrands]

but physics and biology don't seem to give a shit about how confident I am.

Not with that attitude.

[Not a True MJG]

I've got self-esteem comin' out my ears

You should have that checked out, too.

[Rich]

I once had a doctor lecture me about bariatric surgery during a consult for a sinus infection.

"I once had a mechanic lecture me about bariatric surgery during an estimate for a brake job."

"I once had a hairdresser lecture me about bariatric surgery during preparation for a shampooing."

...

[Citizen X]

You mama so fat, her doctor lectured her about bariatric surgery during a consult for a sinus infection.

[Rich]

"I once had a roofer lecture me about bariatric surgery while I was sitting around the house."

[Citizen X]

Yo mama so fat, she has smaller fat women orbiting her, lecturing her about bariatric surgery.

[Col. Chestbridge]

*standing ovation*

[Monty Crisco]

rotflmfao...

[Citizen X]

Yo mama so fat, she sat on a quarter and George Washington lectured her about bariatric surgery.

[bacon-magic]

Yo mama is so fat every time she sits down they add another country to the map.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

If you want to be fat and happy, be fat and happy!!

If you're hell-bent on insisting that it is "healthy", however, I don't think you're as comfortable with yourself as you claim.

[Bra Ket]

Also you still look repulsive. Sad but true.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Not always. Santa's a happy fat bastard but he doesn't look any sort of way that would repel.

[commodious rebrands]

She's an unhappy woman who wants to be fat.

[commodious rebrands]

Rather, she wants to want to be fat.

[invisible furry hand]

Why do we have to think she's unhappy? Because you think she's protesting too loudly to be believable? She's decided to say fuck it, I like eating Nutella for dinner, and damn the consequences and the lot of you. And as a freelancer she's also managed to make bank on it by selling a piece on her fat arse. Sounds like a form of happiness to me. Maybe not yours or mine, but that doesn't make it fake.

[commodious rebrands]

I suppose giving up is a kind of release.

I do think she's bending over backwards slightly at the waist to rationalize her preference. I'm struggling to think what problems I'd feel comfortable taking to the pages of The Week to defend. Maybe being a judgmental prick. It's a lifestyle, okay? I struggled for minutes trying to empathize with that woman, and in the end I gave in and embraced my inner prick.

[jack sprat]

"embraced my inner prick"
When my gf says that to me, it makes me happy.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

...rub their noses in the truth that I have walked 5ks as a fatty

...are you fuckin' with me?

[Private Chipperbot]

Was there a twinkie on a stick in front of her?

[Free Society]

In defense of being a FATASS:

http://theweek.com/articles/67.....ically-fat

Well, at least the fat bitch OWNS that shit?..

Trigglypuff agrees.

[Jimbo]

Hey Laura, stop Bogarting all the donuts!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Rolling Stone laments Trump's "war on facts"...

His lies aren't for the greater good.

[(((Renegade)))]

Rolling Stone laments Trump's "war on facts"...

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

[Anomalous]

It's like a black fly in your Chardonnay.

[Tyler.C]

Or rain on your wedding day.

[Drave Robber]

That just won't go away.

[invisible furry hand]

Yeah, it's ironic isn't it

[Dick N. Bimbose (n?e Cooper)]

No. IT'S FUCKING UNFORTUNATE, NOT IRONIC, YOU GODLESS CANADIAN WHORE!

Sorry. I just have a problem with that song.

[Lord Humungus]

Researchers Hilariously Debate Whether Or Not To Kill Bigfoot

The debate grows even more heated when Webb argues that killing a Bigfoot could conceivably be murder.

WEBB: "I'm trying to keep you from being a murderer."

JIM: "No! I'm not a murderer!"

WEBB: "You're going to be!"

JIM: "Here's the point I'm trying to make: What we do is hunting nuisance animals. Do you know what a nuisance animal is?"

WEBB: "They're not nuisance animals."

JIM: "You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about. They come up, beat on your house, and your children are afraid to go outside. He's killing your pets, your ducks, your geese. That's not a nuisance?"

Webb then suggests that diplomacy might be the best way to handle a trespassing Bigfoot.

"Here's what you don't believe," he says. "All you gotta do is ask them quit eatin' your chickens, and they will quit eatin' your chickens."

[Citizen X]

"All you gotta do is ask them quit eatin' your chickens, and they will quit eatin' your chickens."

BUT RAPE MAKE STEVE SMITH SO HUNGRY!

[John Titor]

STEVE SMITH OPEN TO DIPLOMACY, IF DIPLOMACY MEAN THREE-WAY.

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH QUIT EATING CHICKEN, RAPE ENTIRE FAMILY INSTEAD! THEN GO FOR PIZZA.

[invisible furry hand]

STEVE SMITH NO EAT CHICKEN AFTER RAPING IT

[Tonio]

This is why I always press the question "what is a human being" in debates with anti-abortion people. While I think it extremely unlikely that there are any surviving populations of non-homo sapiens humans, I could be wrong. And more importantly someone may create a human-ape hybrid, or try to clone a Neanderthal. And then we will have a big ethical question. Do we define "human" or "person" based on genetics or on functionality?

If there are surviving non-homo sapiens humans they will most likely be found in the jungles of Borneo, not in the Northern Temperate or Sub-Arctic zones.

[Citizen X]

+1 Flores Island hobbit

[Tonio]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. Those folks are probably extinct but you never know.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

In the other direction, we may very well see autonomous, pseudo-intelligent robots in our lifetimes. Hell, maybe even something approaching AI, depending on whether you believe that's actually possible. People develop relationships with other people on the basis of interactions that a sophisticated enough robot could replicate without even being genuine AI. At what point do you say that something is a "person", human or not?

[Lord Humungus]

STEVE SMITH RAPE ROBOT ONCE. STILL FINDING STEEL SPLINTERS IN CROTCH.

[Jimbo]

Steel splinters, huh? That must be one powerful erection to shave off metal pieces.

[Tonio]

Which is a whole other can of worms because at some point that AI (doesn't have to have a robot body, could just be a computer, or more accurately software) starts out as something non-sentient, ie property. At what point does it become a person? What rights does it have? Free electricity and hardware upgrades for...ever?

[John Titor]

At what point does it become a person? What rights does it have?

Never, and none.

Science fiction has totally poisoned the public conception of AI and the debate around it. In the future I want the autistic as hell programmers to openly say:

"No, Johnny 5 is not alive, he does this because I programmed him to respond contextually based off of pre-existing data collected from previous events, I can show you the code. It's not living, it's not a person. I can give you a totem to turn into a rain god if you feel like anthropomorphizing something."

[ant1sthenes]

Now that you mention it, the Butlerian jihad might actually end up being a jihad. Anthropomorphizing machines is practically idolatry.

[bacon-magic]

Isaac Asimov taught me all I know. *short circuits

[juris imprudent]

STEVE SMITH MINDFUCK AI TOO

[Jimbo]

God-damn you! I'm trying to work here and you are making me crack up.

[GSL in E]

+1 Her

[Rasilio]

I don't know Siberia is awfully big and there may still legitimately be parts that no Homo Sapiens has ever set foot in before

[Not a True MJG]

And more importantly someone may create a human-ape hybrid

Are you volunteering?

[Swiss Servator]

HOW ABOUT HUMAN-STEVE SMITH HYBRID?!

[Citizen X]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

Pillow talk?

[Bee Tagger]

Rolling Stone laments Trump's "war on facts"...

Philly's "War on Drugs", though, they gave their album a B+

[PBR Streetgang]

That album is, at worst, an A-.

[Lord Humungus]

Surprise! Trump doing what he said he would

President Obama famously said that "elections have consequences" in explaining to Republicans why he was moving forward with a nearly $1 trillion stimulus plan and his signature healthcare bill.

Now Trump is showing Washington and the world the truth of Obama's words.

During the campaign, Trump's critics dismissed his ambitious agenda as rhetoric that he'd back away from once in office.

If candidate Trump beat the odds and made it to the White House, they said, The Trump Show will surely grind to a halt once he's confronted with the realities of governing.

It hasn't turned out like that at all.

[Juvenile Bluster]

For once I hoped a politician was lying, and I can't even get that.

[Swiss Servator]

Ever to be disappointed by politicians....such is life.

[John]

Following through and changing things will buy him a lot more support than rolling over and being "reasonable".

[John DeWitt]

Yeah, it makes perfect political sense. It just sucks, because I don't like a lot of what he does.

[John]

Look at the bright side. If Trump follows through and does what he promised and is rewarded for it, that means politicians who promise things you like will have an incentive to follow through as well. Also, not everything he is doing is bad. If nothing else, he is kicking the door open for change, which had to happen.

[bacon-magic]

You make a good point John. I support him as long as upholds the constitution and increases our freedoms. I still think he's PT Barnum and a dick.

[Not a True MJG]

Still plenty of time for 'realities' to grind some of these projects to a halt.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The media here is the opposition party," Donald Trump's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, told The New York Times.

And this mindset is different from any other administration how?

[Jerryskids]

Has anybody ever asked Trump's Chief Strategist what the strategy is behind looking like a Michael Moore impersonator? Or is that a tactical decision, to look like a wino just waking up and emerging from his cardboard box behind the 7-11 dumpster?

[Tonio]

I would imagine that job is extremely stressful, particularly for an administration where the president has never held elected office. Look at how much presidents age in office; this is simply that on a smaller scale.

Also, in previous administrations the press might have refrained from photographing these people at their worst.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't see Moore, but he does look like a heavier, more disheveled version of someone. I just can't place it.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.

[PBR Streetgang]

Bannon is lyin' in bed (and in the Oval Office, the press room, online...)

[Episteme]

I keep seeing him as a disheveled Robert Redford.

[Brett L]

Its like everybody in the Trump administration has to wear ill-fitting off-the-rack suits. I can't tell if that's a "unity with the common man" strategy, or they just don't know any tailors who are citizens or legal residents.

[Not a True MJG]

They're forced to shop exclusively at Macy's.

[(((Renegade)))]

We should celebrate. ENB wasn't too hungover to get Lynx up on time.

[Citizen X]

-1 Robby Soave

[(((Renegade)))]

I have an image of them huddled up with a nail and some wax.

[Tonio]

??? You mean nail polish and hair-removal wax?

[bacon-magic]

Dab?

[The Fusionist]

She's got early, she's so psyched to cover today's march.

[The Fusionist]

She got up early

[Lord Humungus]

Guess that state...

Woman Flashes Judge in Broward Bond Court

When Judge John Hurley asked Surrette what she does for employment, she said she works as an escort and porn star named Kayla Kupcakes.

While the judge was reading her charges in bond court, Surrette made some disturbing claims about being roughhoused by police. What she did next, however, left the courtroom in shock.

"I've been beaten on by police," Surrette told the judge. "And also, this too," as she proceeded to lift up her shirt and flash the judge.

Hurley remained cool and collected, while the courtroom let out a collective gasp.

"Okay, well I guess that kind of sums everything up," said Hurley as Surrette was escorted from the courtroom.

[Citizen X]

"Okay, well I guess that kind of sums everything up," said Hurley

I would imagine it takes a lot to faze a Florida Judge.

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, talk about people that have seen...everything.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Lady, I've seen a man eat another man's face.

[Citizen X]

"...and this is worse, but not much."

[Doctor Whom]

Xica da Silva lives.

[Aloysious]

"Kayla Kupcakes." ?

*gOOgles*

Oh. Now I get it.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Kayla once signed a poster for me.

*sigh*

[Lord Humungus]

go on...

[Chips&Salsa]

Then he fixed the cable.

[Private Chipperbot]

Euphemism?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the agency's Office for Civil Rights has initiated charges against 225 colleges in 306 separate cases.

Oh, to be able to drum up business for yourself at will.

[PBR Streetgang]

No agency ever kept getting funds by saying "Nope, we didn't find anything"

[Bee Tagger]

"The FDA's long-overdue response leaves key questions unanswered about the performance and effectiveness of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations," House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden told Reuters.

This leaves key questions about what on earth any of this means unanswered.

[Lord Humungus]

Sundance's Grossest Movie Ever? Multiple Walkouts Reported at 'Kuso' Screening

Audience members began walking out of the theater after just "10 minutes of boil-bursting, pus-oozing revulsion," according to Variety reporters.

Chris Plante, a reporter for The Verge, chronicled the exodus:

"I'll start with the footage of an erect penis being stabbed. As with most footage of an erect penis being violently gored by a long steel rod, it's certainly unexpected. A large chunk of the audience left my screening early, when a boil-covered woman choked a man with a strap until he covered half her face with semen that looked like a muted version of Nickelodeon slime. But the walk-outs continued in a consistent stream up to the final scene. Some gross-out films are one-note, but 'Kuso' finds new ways to test viewers' fortitude. Some folks stuck around after a woman chewed on concrete until her teeth disintegrated, but still peaced out when an alien creature force-yanked a fetus from another woman's womb (accompanied by a 'Mortal Kombat' sound clip: 'Get over here!'), then smoked the tiny corpse."

[Citizen X]

The world's not ready for SugarFree to branch out into moviemaking, i guess.

[Tonio]

It's called Wartyvision. It's a thing. But with Wartyvision you don't just see, you experience...

[Monty Crisco]

I may be skipping that release....

[SugarFree]

"Force-yanked"? Unless you are getting a hand job from Darth Vader, that's redundant.

[SugarFree]

And it's incredibly difficult to to get a fetus lit.

[Private Chipperbot]

Usually have to hang them to dry for a few days.

[bacon-magic]

"I have altered the deal, pray I don't alter it further." /Darth *force chokes chicken

[EDG reppin LBC]

The make up and practical effects for that movie sound amazing. Kind of want to see it.

[John DeWitt]

Of course it is

[Azathoth!!]

The make up and practical effects for that movie sound amazing. Kind of want to see it.

I'd have to see a trailer, but I expect not.

I expect it to be a 'super gross' film to the type of people that go to the Sundance Film Festival, and a snore fest to the type who found Eli Roth's oeuvre trite.

[Steve G]

This is why we need the National Endowment for the Arts.

[The Elite Elite]

These euphemisms keeping getting less vague all the time.

[invisible furry hand]

All of this was artistically justified

[Lord Humungus]

Thousands of Terrorists, Foreign Fighters Tried to Enter America, New Data Shows

The Department of Homeland Security stopped more than 22,000 "high-risk" travelers from entering the United States in 2015, but officials remain uncertain about how effective these security screening methods are, opening the possibility that risky individuals such as terrorists are still being approved for entry into America, according to a new government report highlighting these flaws.

More than 8,100 "known or suspected terrorists, or individuals with connections to known or suspected terrorists, attempted to apply for travel to the United States or board U.S.-bound flights" in 2015, according to the report, which chides U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for failing to determine how effective its current screening methods are.

The report, authored by the Government Accountability Office, details potential flaws in CBP's pre-flight screening methods and recommends the agency make a greater effort to measure the effectiveness of its pre-departure investigative process.

[Jerryskids]

I would think "known or suspected terrorists, or individuals with connections to known or suspected terrorists" would cover a lot of ground, but if you were to throw "individuals suspected to have connections to known or suspected terrorists" in there you'd have everybody covered. Just ask everybody trying to board a flight if they're a terrorist or know of anybody that's a terrorist and if they say "No", well, that's just what a terrorist would say, isn't it? Pretty suspicious if you ask me.

[Monty Crisco]

This is where it becomes a really slippery slope for me - when any sort of association is illegal. We are kind of guaranteed freedom of association in our BoR, so it seems really problematic to me that if you engaged someone (who you may or may not have known had terrorist aspirations) on their positions or points of view or even just hung out with them, then YOU ARE A TERRORIST. That is bullshit.

[Bra Ket]

Guys named Muhammad. Risk level moderate to high.

[Jerryskids]

Have you ever heard of anybody named Muhammad? You're on the list.

[Rasilio]

I once watched a boxing match that had some guy named Muhammad Ali in it, does that mean I can't fly?

[Swiss Servator]

GROUNDED.

[Episteme]

...like a butterfly?

[The Fusionist]

President Trump calls out mainstream media for failing to cover March for Life

"ABC's David Muir asked Trump if he "could hear the voices from the women's march here in Washington?"

""I couldn't hear them, but the crowds were large," Trump responded. "You're gonna have a large crowd on Friday, too, which is mostly pro-life people. You're gonna have a lot of people coming on Friday, and I will say this, and I didn't realize this, but I was told, you will have a very large crowd of people. I don't know ? as large or larger ? some people say it's gonna be larger. Pro-life people. And they say the press doesn't cover them.""

Soon after that, on ABC's Web site:

DC's March for Life to Highlight Gains by Abortion Opponents

[John DeWitt]

Trump's War on Women continues, it seems.

[Monty Crisco]

Might as well call them out for not covering the Kermit Gosnell trial.

[Episteme]

DC's March for Life to Highlight Gains by Abortion Opponents Surviving Babies

[Bee Tagger]

"The media here is the opposition party," Donald Trump's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, told The New York Times.

[clears throat] THE MEDIA AND THOSE IN POWER ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO GET ALONG

[Tonio]

So much this. They got a lot of 'splaining to do.

[John DeWitt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFAogBBGgBs

[Bra Ket]

Yeah I think Bannon literally mean the media is part of the Democratic party. Which is not news.

[Slammer]

Jilted girlfriend blindfolds her lover and slices off his penis with a SICKLE after he said he was marrying someone else
Woman, 20, ran off down the street with her boyfriend's penis after cutting it off

Ban jilting

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Did not read the article but trying to picture what led to the guy allowing himself to be blindfolded after breaking up with her.

[Swiss Servator]

He is painfully stupid?

[John DeWitt]

Yeah, we should just all be grateful he's (hopefully) incapable of breeding.

[prolefeed]

Hey, sweetie, I wanna have one last fuck for the road. Oh, and to make it hotter, let me blindfold you ..."

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

The article's worth a read, but for the lazy, it happened in India and apparently the two are from different castes. The guy's parents arranged a marriage with a girl from the same caste.

[Private Chipperbot]

Is SD aware of this caste system? I assume she has an article about how it was implemented on the day of Trumps inauguration.

[Free Society]

Dalmia is perfectly aware that Trump's election reinforced the caste system in India. Also his bigoted, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic HITLER HITLER HITLER also caused an imminent slide towards the Hindu genocide of the Muslim population in India.

[Episteme]

Perhaps he was being overliteral on the "we can't see each other any longer" part of the breakup?

[Gadfly]

And you left off the most insane fact about this story: the man initially tried to cover for the jilted girlfriend by lying to police that he cut off it off himself.

[Lord Humungus]

Miami-Dade mayor orders jails to comply with Trump crackdown on 'sanctuary' counties

Fearing a loss of millions of dollars for defying immigration authorities, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Thursday ordered county jails to comply with federal immigration detention requests ? effectively gutting the county's position as a "sanctuary" for immigrants in the country illegally.

Gimenez cited an executive order signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump that threatened to cut federal grants for any counties or cities that don't cooperate fully with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since 2013, Miami-Dade has refused to indefinitely detain inmates who are in the country illegally and wanted by ICE ? not based on principle, but because the federal government doesn't fully reimburse the county for the expense.

[Episteme]

Cloud City administrator orders spaceportd to comply with Vader crackdown on 'sanctuary' planets

[invisible furry hand]

Hit and Run Public Service Announcement

Thanks to everyone who has already contributed. As promised, this is the last time I shall make this inquiry.

The basic idea is to gauge what we think success or failure for Trump would look like.

If you want to play, you have to set out:

(A) What Trump would have to do to be even a semi-success in your eyes

AND

(B) What Trump would have to do to be even a semi-failure in your eyes

Put your answers here, or email them to [e-mail]

I'll collate the answers and share the document next week. You can then use this as a way to keep track of people's positions (and your own) so we don't get to pretend we had different criteria four years down the track.

[prolefeed]

That might be tricky, since he's following both Obama and Bush, and the alternative was Clinton, so the bar for success is set purt damn low.

I suspect he'll do a lot of both. Gut the EPA and start a trade war, for example.

[Drake]

Speaking of which - enjoy the ambrosia!

EPA Employees 'Coming to Work in Tears' Because of Trump Win

http://freebeacon.com/politics.....trump-win/

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

This is a real thing. I work with EPA people. I'm a little surprised I haven't seen anyone jumping off the roof or tying a cinderblock to a foot and jumping into the creek.

[Drake]

Please send video if they do.

[Dick N. Bimbose (n?e Cooper)]

cinderblock to a foot and jumping into the creek.

That would be pollution.

[Endless Mike]

This is sort of how I am measuring semi-success right now. But, my expectations were pretty low.

[Jerryskids]

In case you missed my earlier answer, success or failure is simply a matter of whether or not the federal government gets smaller, cheaper, and less intrusive like the GOP has been promising and failing to deliver my whole life. Fewer employees and a smaller budget and fewer regulations - in real terms, not the phony slowing-the-rate-of-growth or compared-to-what-Hillary-would-have-done or as-a-percentage-of-some-other-metric terms - is a success. If the government has more employees or the budget is larger or the Federal Code is longer, it's a failure.

Forget the wall or trade deficits or whatever, supposedly the whole reason Trump ran was because the GOP wasn't getting the job done, they had repeatedly failed to deliver on their promises, they were as useless as teats on a boar hog. Doesn't matter to me if the economy grows, unemployment falls, we all get rich and Trump discovers a cure for cancer - that's not what was promised. That's a "yeah, but" excuse. If government still gets bigger and more expensive and more powerful even as people prosper and need less government, that's a fundamental problem even worse than the government getting bigger in bad times when more people might rely on government to help them out. My God, if you can't cut the size of government down when nobody needs it, when the hell can you?

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Ok, so I'll define success as what would cause me to refer to him as a good, or at least decent, president in four years. Comparing subtracting list two from list one, I'd say 0 is a draw, +1 or -1 is a semi-success or semi-failure, +3 is a definite success, and anything higher is pantheon-of-the-gods success, with the equivalent for negative numbers in failure.

Positive

1. No additional military actions and at least one draw down.
2. The elimination or at least rendering impotent of at least one of the following: DHS, FDA, FCC, EPA, DoE.
3. The repeal of the ACA without a replacement in kind (Paul's plan, for instance, is acceptable)
4. The elimination of the NFA tax.
5. Liberalization of federal firearms laws, e.g. national shall-issue/open carry, etc.
6. Appointment of a liberty-friendly (or at least strict constitutionalist) to the SC
7. General lessening of federal regulatory burdens.

(list #2 in reply)

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Negative

1. Significantly restrictive and/or silly immigration policies.
2. Appointment of anti-civil rights or "law and order" SC judge.
3. Introduction of tariffs.
4. Additional military conflict.
5. Significant worsening of foreign relations.
6. Regression on issues such as marijuana legalization, abortion, gay marriage. Note, "I don't like it but it's not the fedgov's business" is perfectly acceptable.
7. Expansion of police state, to include things such as domestic surveillance, additional funding to DHS (esp. the TSA), etc.
8. Increased federal spending

[Endless Mike]

If all of those things happened in the next 4 years, I would vote for him and wear one of the silly hats.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The FDA's long-overdue response leaves key questions unanswered about the performance and effectiveness of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations," House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden told Reuters.

"But we're going to keep shoveling tax dollars at them anyway."

[Lord Humungus]

Florida neighbors urge HOA to do something about home-invading wild boars

Residents of a Florida neighborhood said they want their homeowners association to evict some unwanted squatters -- wild pigs.

Neighbors in the Avalon Park area of Orlando said the boars, which live in a reserve bordering the neighborhood, have been spotted periodically during the past two years, and recently they have been sighted tearing up yards and even entering homes.

"Well, the problem is they come straight to your house," Carmen Caraballo, a 16-year resident of the neighborhood, told WFTV. "They're not afraid of coming in, and they make those huge holes everywhere."

"I know they start scratching; scratching the floor," she said.

[Citizen X]

So they're slightly better behaved than the local Florida Humans?

[John]

Pigs are evil. And they taste good. Blast them.

[Monty Crisco]

Seriously - SHOOT THE FUCKERS. Damn, aint a tough solution. Shoot 'em and eat 'em!

[Brett L]

Especially now. In the summer they're probably skinny and wormy, but in the winter? Kill the pests, roast them in the ground.

[Swiss Servator]

"Set phasers to 'broil'"

[Mickey Rat]

Alan Grayson is back in town?

[bacon-magic]

I smell an opportunity for more bacon here.

[invisible furry hand]

Kellyanne Conway does standup comedy and sings

[John DeWitt]

She can tap dance around pretty well, too

[Endless Mike]

Well, now she's even HOTTER.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

"No, you hang up the phone first."

"No, you hang up the phone first."

"Okay, okay we'll hang up at the same time, ready? 1...2...3..."

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's going to be an Instagram chat, dummy.

[invisible furry hand]

White House thinks British PM is a porn star

[Fist of Etiquette]

Now that's a special relationship.

[The Fusionist]

heh heh

[Swiss Servator]

*opera applause*

[yet another dave]

The limey's should send the porn star, if they are truly serious about being the US's new best little buddy. I mean really who's pussy would trump rather grab?

[Rich]

At least they didn't refer to her as "Her Majesty".

Yet, I mean.

[Lord Humungus]

German Newspaper Editor: Assassination Easiest Way To End 'Trump Catastrophe'

"There has to be a qualified two-thirds majority of the Senate in order for a removal of office to take place," a female panelist responded. "These are politically and legally pretty high hurdles, a lot would have to happen for it, we're far away from that."

Joffe then jumped in with a calm response.

"Murder in the White House, for example," he said.

You know who else almost got murdered by a group of Germans...

[Citizen X]

General Maximus in the opening scenes of Gladiator?

[Rasilio]

Those weren't Germans, they were Roman Praetorian Guards

[John Titor]

If you think assassinating a successful populist leader is somehow a solution to your problem, wait until Trump's Augustus shows up and starts proscripting people.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Obama is Augustus, Trump is Tiberius, Pence is Sejanus.

[Swiss Servator]

I can be Septimius Severus. That way I can keep my initials.

[Rasilio]

Are you a halfblood though?

[Swiss Servator]

I would have to pass that distinction to HM.

[John Titor]

That is way too kind to any of them. If we're going full Roman comparison Obama's a shitty incompetent Marius, Trump's a shitty incompetent Sulla, and American Caesar will show up eventually and abuse the shit out of the executive office.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I can picture Trump as Commodus, narcissistic and delusional. The Augustus comparison works for Obama because he's a slimy fuck that used every dirty trick in the book to get his office and then proceeded to be deified.

[John Titor]

Naw, the comparison falls flat when you factor in competence. Augustus, with all his flaws, was a competent leader who successfully clawed his way to the top, Obama was an affirmative action hire who was given the power and plodded along, unaware and unsure of anything. His deification comes from his sycophantic followers, while Augustus' at least came from good policy.

[Episteme]

Obama is Incitatus.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Actually let me revise that: Obama is Augustus, Trump is Tiberius, Bannon is Sejanus, Pence is Caligula, Rand Paul is Claudius.

[John Titor]

If we're going with more personality traits than a general "abuse of political power" chart, Trump is Clodius Pulcher, but more successful apparently.

[Dick N. Bimbose (n?e Cooper)]

Only Paul has the hair to pull off the Roman look.

[Azathoth!!]

Reagan was Augustus. Clinton was Tiberius. The Bush's were upstart aides--Sejanus and whateverthehell Julia's husband was called. Obama was Gaius, and Trump is Claudius

[Rhywun]

I'm sure our Left is plotting something similar too.

[Not a True MJG]

Sounds like he's saying Trump would need to murder someone in order for there to be a successful impeachment.

[ant1sthenes]

That was my take too.

[Dick N. Bimbose (n?e Cooper)]

Anne Frank?

[invisible furry hand]

Popbitch tells this story about the greatest living Australian:

Nick Cave was in Wellington this week for a show. While he was there, he popped into Aunty Meena's vegan cafe last Tuesday.

He was about to order, but then stopped before asking:

"Oh, this doesn't have meat in it?"

"No, it's all vegetarian and vegan," was the answer.

"OK," said Nick. And left.

[Citizen X]

Oh my god Nick Cave is so awesome.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Truth.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Yes.

[Citizen X]

Appropriate: "Red Right Hand" as illustrated by Dr. Seuss

[invisible furry hand]

Good God, that's wonderful - thanks Citizen X!

BTW, saw Cave last Friday night - fabulous as always

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

That is lovely, sir.

[Citizen X]

The same guy did a Seuss version of "The Call of Cthulhu" that is also amazing.

[Swiss Servator]

X,

That. Is. AWESOME!!!

[lap83]

"...then he stepped outside and ate the first thing that tried to kill him"

[Endless Mike]

I had never heard of Nick Cave until I started watching "Peaky Blinders".
The music in that series is excellent.

[invisible furry hand]

Dutch comedy!

The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words

[Rufus The Monocled]

Not bad.

But this thing about him making fun of the handicap guy is nuts. McInness did a good job of debunking that.

Alas, I don't expect the left to consider that since it's too good for them to continue whatever unhinged stupidity they have planned.

[Lord Humungus]

Police investigate money 'falling from the sky' in downtown Indianapolis

"I looked up in the sky and there was nobody standing around on top of the building so, it's just a blessing from above," he said.

A witness who called police pointed the officer toward the rooftop of the 10-story building located at One North Meridian Street, just off Monument Circle. The money could be seen blowing off the rooftop.

When the officer got up to the roof, he found a couple hundred $1 bills scattered across the roof. The officer found five partial money wrappers that read "Federal Reserve Bank." Four of the money wrappers were dated Dec. 29. The fifth wrapper was dated Jan. 20.

The Qdoba restaurant, located on the ground floor of the building, reported a robbery on the evening of Jan. 20. It's not known if that robbery could be connected to the cash found on the roof of the building.

[Swiss Servator]

A small potatoes D.B. Cooper?

[commodious rebrands]

A blessing in the skies.

[Lord Humungus]

Mikhail Gorbachev: 'It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War'

The world today is overwhelmed with problems. Policymakers seem to be confused and at a loss.

But no problem is more urgent today than the militarization of politics and the new arms race. Stopping and reversing this ruinous race must be our top priority.

The current situation is too dangerous.

More troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers are being brought to Europe. NATO and Russian forces and weapons that used to be deployed at a distance are now placed closer to each other, as if to shoot point-blank.

While state budgets are struggling to fund people's essential social needs, military spending is growing. Money is easily found for sophisticated weapons whose destructive power is comparable to that of the weapons of mass destruction; for submarines whose single salvo is capable of devastating half a continent; for missile defense systems that undermine strategic stability.

[Episteme]

Gorbachev? Now I'm in the mood for jam...

[Certified Public Asshat]

Proggies rejoice (and fear Trump):

America's Largest Offshore Wind Farm Just Got Approved

On Wednesday, the South Fork Wind Farm, a proposed 90-megawatt (MW) wind energy plant to be built off the coast of Long Island, was granted a power-purchase contract from the state-run Long Island Power Authority. It's a significant milestone for the proposed clean energy project, whose parent company Deepwater Wind is now in a better position to convince investors to finance the wind farm's construction.

...

According to a press release issued by New York State Governor Cuomo's office, the 15-odd turbines comprising the South Fork Wind Farm will sit 30 miles southeast of Montauk, and produce enough juice to power 50,000 homes. Mashable reports that the plant will cost roughly $740 million.

[John DeWitt]

Well, that's only $15k per household. So it'll pay for itself in 12-15 years or so.

[Certified Public Asshat]

It feels good though.

[SoCal Deathmarch]

The life expectancy for most wind turbines is 10-15 years. The wind turbine industry claims a 20-25 year life span. If you figure in maintenance costs it becomes quite evident that most wind farms will at best have zero return on investment. This is confirmed by the fact that without subsidies most of these turbines would never be built.

[Endless Mike]

Plus 50,000 homes probably means 50,000 average-usage homes at peak output on a windy day.
Most of my house, for example, is gas, I have LED bulbs and flat screen TV's - my electrical bill is about $20 a month.

[Tyler.C]

I'm fully convinced that the reason three left is in love with wind is because it is completely an unviable solution to energy. Look at the viable sources of renewable energy, nuclear and hydroelectric, they hate them. If solar ever becomes viable they will hate it too.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

OMG they gonna use the doomsday machine!

[Swiss Servator]

"I'm sorry too, Dmitri. I'm very sorry. All right, you're sorrier than I am. But I am sorry as well. I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri. Don't say that you're the more sorry than I am because I am capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we're both sorry, all right? All right."

[Tonio]

+1 Miss Foreign Affairs

[Rhywun]

My morning news said scientists have moved the "doomsday clock" closer to "midnight". Sad!

[Tyler.C]

I don't know if there click can handle any more Republican Presidents

[GSL in E]

"Ze whole point of zis machine is lost... if you keep it a secret! Vy didn't you tell the world, eh?!"

[Lord Humungus]

My Post-apocalyptic "gosh haven't I already read this story a thousand time" book is now available for free on Amazon. This offer goes all weekend.

Feel free to bash, criticize, leave good or bad reviews. Just don't call me out here on Hit and Run since I'm a sensitive soul. Don't you remember when you watched "Where the Red Fern Grows" during school and you had to run to the bathroom so no one could see you cry? That was me.

[Slammer]

Thanks!

[Lord Humungus]

*times

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ugh. How many such corrections are we going to have to endure in the pages of your novel?

[The Fusionist]

Since when was someone named Lord Humungus interested in a post-apocalyptic scenario?

[(((Renegade)))]

I already bought it, stop nagging me!!!

[Lord Humungus]

I'm done! No more browbeating!

[Episteme]

Don't you remember when you watched "Where the Red Fern Grows" during school and you had to run to the bathroom so no one could see you cry? That was me.

For reasons unrecalled, my friends and I responded to reading WTRFG in middle school by filming a dark parody where the dog is saved by Saddam Hussein nuking the Ozarks (my brother in a fake mustache and beret holding a tiny paper missile over an open atlas and making rocket noises).

[Yusef Adama]

Cool, Thanks

[The Fusionist]

I haven't always been 100% enthusiastic about the Pope, but note how he declines to be baited by a TDS-afflicted interviewer:

Q. Your Holiness, going back to the global problems you just mentioned, Donald Trump is just now being sworn in as president of the United States, and the whole world is tense because of it. What do you make of it?

A. I think that we must wait and see. I don't like to get ahead of myself, nor to judge people prematurely. We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will form an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets predicting calamities or windfalls that will not come to pass. We will see what he does and will judge accordingly. Always work with the specific. Christianity is either specific or it is not Christianity....

Q. Aren't you worried about the things we have heard up until now?

A. I'm still waiting. God waited so long for me, with all my sins?

[Illocust]

Hot damn, give the pope an A+ for that interview.

[Brett L]

Subtext: "This Trump fucker is crazy enough to seize our assets"

[bacon-magic]

Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself.

[Episteme]

I remain convinced that Francis is an excellent pastor who's simply out of his depth on acting as a theologian and global leader (given his local focus throughout his career). A lot of the conflicts strike me his treating larger debates as he would personal council and not fully understanding (or necessarily being concerned) how the message is translated.

Oddly enough, I could easily see some making comparisons between Bergoglio and Trump on their rise to leadership as outsiders.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"The media here is the opposition party," Donald Trump's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, told The New York Times.

He wants to take away the media's free speech!

[Drake]

Department of Education shows the agency's Office for Civil Rights has initiated charges against 225 colleges in 306 separate cases.

Which is the real reason Democrats are going bonkers over Betsy DeVos. She will have the power to shut down these cases and change / reinterpret Title IX. She can (and hopefully will) put an end to this madness of weaponized feminism disguised as federal law.

[Tonio]

^This. But not just that, she will also endanger those taxpayer-funded, unionized teaching jobs.

[John DeWitt]

So she's trying to collapse the economy all on her own?

[Tonio]

The number of teaching jobs would not change greatly, but many of them would move from government jobs to private sector jobs.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Now the theme is Trump's 'icy' relationship with Melania.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Mannix died.

Mike Connors, who starred as a hard-hitting private eye on the long-running television series "Mannix," has died. He was 91.

"Mannix" ran for eight years on CBS beginning in 1967. Viewers were intrigued by the tall, smartly dressed, well-spoken detective who could mix it up with the burliest of thugs and leap on the hood of a racing car to prevent an escape. Episodes normally climaxed with a brawl that left the culprits bruised and beaten.

2017 is the worst year ever. (:

[Tonio]

Fuck.

And with this article I'm seeing a click-bait ad: "You won't believe what MTM looks like now..." Ugh.

[lap83]

That is sick

[Episteme]

So, the embalmer did a good job?

[John DeWitt]

wtf is this ---> (:

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Shut up!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The March for Life comes to Washington this weekend; organizers estimated 50,000 would attend Friday's event, which includes a rally followed by a march to the Supreme Court.

Don't put away the crowd calipers just yet.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Tattooed rapper known as 'Stitches' is arrested while backing his Porsche out of a handicap space at Whole Foods as cops find a hidden gun and marijuana in his car

Officers spotted the rapper's Porsche pulling out of a Whole Foods parking lot in Miami on Wednesday night.

They recognized him from previous arrests, and asked if he had a gun, reported TMZ.

He said no and immediately passed the officer a hand rolled and slightly burnt joint, saying 'sorry officer', according to a police report.

After searching the car, they found a Glock handgun under his seat, and two magazines of ammunition.

One of the magazines had 31 bullets, the other had 15.

According to the police report, Stitches apologized, saying that he though the police officers were asking if he had a gun on him, not if he had one in the car, according to TMZ.

Stitches told police he always carries a handgun for his protection, according to the report.

Police also found a mason jar with 39.2 grams of marijuana and one oxycodone pill. He does not have a prescription.

[Rufus The Monocled]

This story has it all!

George Constanza updated for 2017.

[Tonio]

"bullets"

[Tonio]

But the burning question...was he authorized to use the handicapped space?

[John DeWitt]

Wait...why would you want the name stitches? Is he a snitch? Why are the cops arresting one of their own?

[SugarFree]

He got a husband's knot.

[GILMORE?]

He's rap's GG Allin

[Episteme]

He was just temporarily handicapped by pot and pain pills; it's all cool!

[Pope Jimbo]

Hey Tundra, wanna go halfsies on Mary Tyler Moore's house?

It has been marked down from $3M to a measely $1.6M.

It might be worth it just to annoy our new Kenwood neighbors with backyard parties.

[Swiss Servator]

LIBERTARIAN PARTY HOUSE!

[Rich]

We're gonna make it after all!

[Pope Jimbo]

YOU DIDN'T MAKE THAT!!!!!

[Rufus The Monocled]

I'd chip in.

We're gonna need a place to stay once the lefty zombies begin to multiply.

[Pope Jimbo]

How long before people voluntarily walk into the zombie mob just to escape the arguments in the Libertarian Party House?

[Tonio]

But I suspect we will see the birth rate flatten out a bit among certain groups. They will not want their children to grow up in "Trump's America."

[Pope Jimbo]

Why do I think it would end up like this?

[Episteme]

"When's the party scheduled for?"

"The Libertarian Moment."

[invisible furry hand]

We've had many calls for a sin tax on soft drink in Australia. Even without one:

A consumer backlash has wiped tens of millions of dollars off the value of soft drink sales at Australia's major supermarkets, with demand plunging amid growing concern that sugary drinks are a major cause of diabetes and obesity.

Happy to bet the calls for a sin tax will increase, because now we've got to build on this and totally destroy the soft drink monster.

[commodious rebrands]

But only if it applies to sugar-free substitutes, because reasons.

[Rhywun]

And make sure you exclude favored drinks with just as much sugar like juices. You have to make sure the condescension falls mainly on the poors.

[Tonio]

So, Hand - are soft drinks in Oz sweetened with cane sugar or with HFCS? You folks grow a lot of corn (maize) down there? Where does your sugar come from?

[invisible furry hand]

They're sweetened with sugar cane grown here (sugar is a major export for us)

[John DeWitt]

Noooooo! That will ruin the narrative that an educated populace will reject things that are bad for them and require the government to tax them into good behavior.

[The Grinch]

They need to sin tax now so they can take the credit.

[LynchPin1477]

For some reason I find myself feeling worse about the Trump administration today than I have so far. It's not that I ever felt good about it (though I still contend there are some potential silver linings on things like education and regulatory reform --- results TBD). But it seems to have sunk in more fully that I oppose most of Trump's proposed policies and many of his actions so far and I oppose Trump's opposition. What's more, Trump's opposition will absolutely group libertarians in with anything Trump does, as absurd as that is. What's a libertarian to do?

[John Titor]

What we always do, bitch.

[Citizen X]

And drink.

[John DeWitt]

And smoke

[dantheserene]

CX-
JT already covered that.

[Citizen X]

Yes, but we'll be drinking a LOT.

[commodious rebrands]

This early? Maybe straffin.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Lynch, they think we want to replicate Somalia.

It can't get any worse.

[deepspeed]

"What's a libertarian to do?"

Drugs. Lots of drugs.

[LynchPin1477]

I'd be down for that, but I don't know the first thing about how to get drugs. If I tried it would probably be similar to the scene in office space where they look up money laundering in the dictionary.

[John Titor]

"HELLO, rough looking man hiding in the alley, I have heard you are an individual who I may purchase some DRUGS from. What median of exchange do you require? American dollar bills, or do you accept bitcoin?"

"Just...just tell me how many grams you want."

"Very well, I require whatever amount of marijuana I can purchase for sixty dollars."

[paranoid android]

More depressing than all of that, to me, is how many people that I had believed to be fellow-travelers who have decided to abandon all pretense of principle just because they want to see some people they hate suffer.

[Tonio]

^This.

[LynchPin1477]

Other than some commenters here at reason I don't know many fellow travelers.

[John DeWitt]

The pull to TEAM RED or TEAM BLUE is strong. Some are still weak. TEAM MAUVE just isn't appealing when we have a geographically illiterate weirdo at the head of the ticket, and a Clintonista sycophant as a running mate. We lost a lot of folks back to TEAM RED, but they'll come back. We're only a week into King Don's reign and the Schadenfreude will wear off soon enough.

[Illocust]

Do try to remember that John has never claimed to be a libertarian. He posts here and he agrees with us on a lot, but he has been open about being a Republican. You can't judge him on a purity scale he never lay claim to.

[paranoid android]

I wasn't really thinking of John; I've long thought of him as no different from AmSoc or Tony in that regard. That is, an antagonist.

[Citizen X]

+1 Red Tony

[Lord Humungus]

Meh - it could be worse.

Something Lenin something Stalin something Mao

and HITLER!

There will be good things and there will be plenty of bad things, but so far it certainly is better than Hillary. Trump will hopefully be a nice shakeup to the status quo. Or more likely, things will get even worse.

*slaps LynchPin1477 on the back*

Booze is the answer.

[LynchPin1477]

It's certainly different than Hillary Clinton would have been. We'll see if it ends up being better.

Clinton would have been awful on lots of issues I care about - 1A, 2A, war, welfare state. There also would have been a strong opposition party.

Trump may be awful on things on care about - trade, immigration, war, 1A. And the few things he may be good on could suffer from guilt by association. I also worry about the what things look like when the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

What I really want is to become independently wealthy and then just go backpacking all the time. Who wants to contribute to my charity?

[John DeWitt]

I also worry about the what things look like when the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

It's gonna fly right off the pivot, I hope.

[Lord Humungus]

when the pendulum swings back in the other direction

That's my fear too - in all probability we aren't going to see a return to "normalcy" or even a smaller government. Instead the presidency has become weaponized. With it comes so much power that the parties will do anything to capture it.

But this is hardly unexpected. It's the nature of Republics to fall into this trap.

[GSL in E]

I also worry about the what things look like when the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

Me too, and I'm not optimistic about it. This election showed me that I'd been blind to the angry, increasingly desperate segment of our population whose economic fortunes have been on the wane for decades, and who've never rebounded from the 08-09 recession. The lesson of Trump is that these people are (a) completely abandoning their faith in political elites to solve their problems, and (b) a large enough group to sway a Presidential election.

If Trump can pull off a miracle of returning growth, prosperity and opportunity to these folks (or if this occurs spontaneously on his watch, I guess), I could see a return to normalcy. But I'm not optimistic about it: protectionism isn't going to work, and I don't think anyone has any other good solution to help this group of people. And what the left - who desperately want Trump to fail - are not thinking through is this: if he is a disaster as President, the group of people who just carried him into office aren't going to replace him with some mealy-mouthed elitist career politician, like Hillary. They're going to go for someone even more radical and out there.

[Monty Crisco]

^This

[ant1sthenes]

Hunker down and try not to get caught in the crossfire.

[Drake]

A few years ago Reason TV did a great piece on the Oklahoma Surgery Center.

Here's an new article on them.

http://time.com/4649914/why-th.....only-cash/

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Interesting.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Really interesting read, but things like this just annoy me:

Twila Brase, president of the conservative Citizens' Council for Health Freedom and one of the most energetic advocates of free-market-based health care, acknowledges the problem. For a direct-pay system to work, she says, providers must be willing to give away care. "Charity has always been part of the medical practice," she says.

[Drake]

I expected a different spin on "free-market" care when I saw "Time" at the top.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Yes, but I guess the writer decided to be a real journalist and wrote a fair and interesting article. Shocking!

[lap83]

"Charity has always been part of the medical practice"
I imagine that's true...assuming the charity isn't mandated and replete with red tape and extra paper work

[Episteme]

Much as the "sin taxes" talked about above, the types of overregulation mentioned here acts as a sort of "virtue tax" with the same effects on market behaviors.

[Rebel Scum]

Rolling Stone laments Trump's "war on facts"...

Rolling fucking Stone!?!? ROTFLOL!

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/trending/20.....g-fck-you/

At what point does someone finally just kick one of these baboon's ass? That is not an assault. It is a temper tantrum.

[Drake]

It's coming. That big fat douche bag is a coward at heart. If some guys from the football or wrestling team were holding cameras, he wouldn't be saying shit. It would fun to watch but that won't happen.

Someday he might make a mistake and swing at a smaller guy who knows how to fight. I will laugh and clap at the ensuing beatdown.

[John DeWitt]

I wonder if this will be on the next Title XI report...

[Rhywun]

Going by my local news, it's only Trump fans who are attacking and harassing liberals and Muslims. *shrug*

[commodious rebrands]

"Get the f*ck!

Some time ago I bought a mattress from a guy who was super peeved that the girl who checked it out before me decided she didn't want it. He kept punctuating his complaint with "Get the fuck!", all emphasis on the first word. GET the fuck!

[Rhywun]

I would have slowly backed out the door and fled down the street for good measure.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

The comments mention this, and I've seen it elsewhere: the best way to beat the hard left is to confront them and press them until they react violently, and then don't respond in kind. No matter what happens before, the moment a conservative or a libertarian or anyone not part of the left takes a swing at ol' Neckbeard or whoever, that's the lead story. Now you've got possible "neo-Nazi anarcho-capitalists" attacking liberal students, and the press goes nuts. Conversely, the more you drive the left to violence, the less sympathetic they become and the bigger a liability they are to their supporters. At a certain point, people stop being willing to provide cover, and people like Neckbeard suddenly find that campus security is no longer being shooed away and is taking a very active interest.

[Rich]

The incredible lunar TEMPLE: European space bosses reveal plan for 50m high 'dome of contemplation'

Talk about your "shove-ready" projects!

[John]

If you just have to throw money away on make work public works projects, you could do worse than building pyramids of Gothic cathedrals. At least those projects give you something to show for the money you spent.

[deepspeed]

"you could do worse than building pyramids..."

At least we'd have somewhere to store our grain.

[Rhywun]

Only if there's room left over after Obama's burial.

[ant1sthenes]

They do give you a granary in each city, I think.

[Rich]

At least those projects give you something to show for the money you spent.

So would spray painting "F*** TRUMP!" all over everything.

*** ducks ***

[John]

Yes. That is my point. I am not saying it is a good idea. I am just saying building shit is not as bad as putting people on the doll or creating the bureaucratic state.

[Lord Humungus]

putting people on the doll

Now there is a euphemism that you can sink your teeth into.

[Rich]

"Getting off welfare is HARD!"

[Rhywun]

If we bought every indigent a RealDoll maybe there'd be less mouths to feed later on.

[Episteme]

+1 flying buttresses

[paranoid android]

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Anger Dome Dome of Contemplation!"

[John Titor]

Humans have brought flags to the Moon, but they've been bleached white by sunlight since then ? almost as if the Moon is protecting itself from such terrestrial concepts.

So this Temple is intended as a mythic and universal structure that can hopefully bring people together in this new environment in novel ways.

Fucking artists man. No, it's solar radiation, stop projecting your idiotic views onto the moon.

[Citizen X]

THE MOON'S ASS BELONGS TO THE U.S.
SO DON'T BE LANDING YOUR SKANKY ROCKETS ON IT
DON'T EVEN BE LOOKING AT THE MOON

[John Titor]

THE MOON, AND ALL OF THE GALAXY, BELONGS TO THE EMPEROR HERETIC.

YOU AND YOUR 'UNITED STATES' WILL BE DUST ON THE WIND WHEN HE COMES AND SAVES US ALL.

IT IS BETTER TO DIE FOR THE EMPEROR THAN LIVE FOR YOURSELF.

[GSL in E]

STEVE SMITH TRY OUT SOME NEW MATERIAL

[Rich]

"We *said* "almost as if"!"

[John Titor]

Well add to it "but it's not, because that would be stupid" or I shall grumble some more!

[The Grinch]

The moon's trying to protect itself from terrestrial concepts. Hey, I know, let's build a temple there! What kind of logical process is this person following?

[Lord Humungus]

LSD?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

TW Breitbart (but their story is accurate): Fake News: Media Reports State Dept. 'Mass Resignation,' Officials Actually Fired

Patrick Kennedy is a weasel and should be in prison with my boy Stitches.

[John DeWitt]

Yeah, and it was four people. Four political appointees, appointed by someone with an opposing view.

[GILMORE?]

this should have been obvious to even a casual viewer, but what i think is ickiest about it is that Breitbart is the only source actually pointing it out?

i mean, no one else - et tu, reason - bothers noting how bullshit that claim of 'walkout' is?

[Free Society]

TDS is a wide yet shallow pool. Like that Vox article featured on the PM Links yesterday. I know that author was being hyperbolic and trying to get me to freak out, but the contents of the "leaks" that it covered were neither surprising nor undesirable.

[Rebel Scum]

Trump and Vladimir Putin have scheduled some time to chat Saturday.

Putin's puppet or beer burger summit? //Trumpocalypse.

[Slammer]

Macomb v media: voters who read little news think Trump had a great first week

In a Michigan county that helped get Donald Trump elected, people are actively choosing to ignore news they don't want to hear ? or not receiving news at all

Jeff Payne knows all about the low esteem in which newspapers are held locally. He is managing editor of the Macomb Daily, and he has found that criticism of Trump's falsehoods in the media tend to be far outweighed among his readers by distrust of the messenger.

"You can give readers 50 facts that show that Trump is wrong, but when he portrays us in the media industry as the bad guys, that seems to outweigh all those facts."

Why won't these ignorant pieces of filth believe us anymore????

[The Grinch]

He just needs to insult them harder and they'll eventually come around.

[Illocust]

Huh, so maybe just maybe stop trying to filter facts to prove Trump is wrong and start reporting facts that explain what happened today. Skip explaining the made up scandals and just tell people what policies got passed.

[John DeWitt]

Racist.

[Tyler.C]

I don't do the news other than reason. As far as I know, in his first week Trump has done a lot of stupid things that distracted from a lot of the things that he wanted to do. I don't like them all but that doesn't mean HE didn't have a good week.

[commodious rebrands]

He has been out of work for the past two years and says he is so desperate for a job he would "sweep floors for $10 an hour if I had to". So when Trump announced that he was reviving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, incurring the wrath of climate change activists and Native Americans, Redmond was overjoyed.

"I've had an application in with the Keystone pipeline for a mechanic's job for two years, but every time they came close to hiring me Obama would say the project was dead."

Can you believe this dummy?

[commodious rebrands]

He doesn't even know Trump tweeted something stupid, and the media harangued him about it!

[Drake]

Other people are noticing that the California rail project is a bottomless money-pit.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article.....-money-pit

[John]

It is emblematic of how dead Progressivism is. You can criticize progressives of the past like LBJ and FDR but there is no denying they at least built a few things. Progressives today are so intellectually bankrupt and incoherent, they can't even do that. They can only steal and spend the money.

[Rich]

Even people in Gothenburg, Sweden.

[Tonio]

They (Moonbeam and Company) knew this would never be completed, never move even one passenger-mile. The goal was always jobs, boondoggle, land-grab and something about water rights that I don't fully comprehend being a life-long East coaster.

[SFC B]

Last night I witnessed the worst incident of Trump-inspired hate I'd personally seen happening. A member of my extended family is a lesbian. She and her wife are expecting a child and, sadly, at 24 weeks to baby died in utero. Not sure what happened, and I'm not going to seek details. However since they'd announced they were pregnant at 20 weeks on Facebook they went on Facebook last night to say the baby had died.

Among all the condolences a friend of theirs said "It's sad, but at least she didn't have to be born into a world where the president abuses women and hates her mommies."

What. The. Fuck. How fucking sick in the mind do you need to be to make that message you want to convey. How fucking awful does your life, and the life of your acquaintences need to be to think sharing that thought was going to helpful?

Fuck.

[John Titor]

That's pretty damn scummy and unbalanced. It's reflective of a lack of empathy, i.e. she can't contextualize the grief the parents are feeling without contextualizing it within her own grief. So condolences have to be turned into a political statement.

[Tonio]

My condolences to your family.

That person making that comment is a real piece of shit. Sorry you have to endure that on top of everything else.

[Rich]

Seconded. 8-(

[lap83]

You don't have to be a decent human being as long as you know there is a Republican somewhere being a racist and forcing (first world) women into camps

[invisible furry hand]

It was helpful - helpful to the "friend's" sense of self-importance. After all, she won't let a little thing like a dead baby and devastated parents get in the way of her personal struggle against Trump

[Krabappel]

#RESIST

[Lord Humungus]

That's awful.

[Citizen X]

Your mileage may vary, but i'd feel a need to respond to that idiot and point out that they are an awful person. Condolences to your relatives.

[Tonio]

The best thing would be to ignore it if possible. But a private reply on behalf of (but not from) the couple would be an option. Something like: "Your ill-considered comment has brought additional pain to our family during this time of sorrow."

[The Fusionist]

My condolences, and that was a truly deranged comment. Maybe the person will realize (or have someone explain to them) how messed up that is.

[Drake]

I've never received condolences for being born during LBJ's Presidency.

[John DeWitt]

Well, we can knock them all we want. But you have to admit, those pink knit caps are a big improvement over tin foil.

[Tonio]

Hey, now!

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze, clings to foil roll*

[Episteme]

The pussy caps are actually lined with tin foil. They'd just wear the foil (with crimped-up ears), but the exposed metal gets cold in January and millennials are wimps.

[John]

That is disgusting and shows how politics corrupts people. These people have no lives outside of politics. Everything, including a deeply personal tragedy like that is seen trough the lens of politics. It is a seriously sick way to be.

And my condolences to your family member. That is a very bad thing. Sorry it happened to them.

[GSL in E]

That is fucking awful.

[Free Society]

"The media here is the opposition party," Donald Trump's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, told The New York Times.

How could anyone possibly get that impression?

[Drake]

SJW protest shut down by one honor-roll party-pooper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHhy2Gk_xik

[Citizen X]

Too busy studying to give a fuck.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Gangster.

[Not a True MJG]

I love that video. THIS IS LIBRARY ought to replace THIS IS SPARTA. If anyone still says that.

[Drake]

You're Fired

TRUMP FIRES BORDER PATROL'S PRO-AMNESTY BOSS

http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/265.....greenfield

[John]

Its like hiring someone to run the DEA who objects to the drug war. If you object to the drug war, you shouldn't even want to work for DEA. If this guy believes in amnesty, he should have long since left CPB.

[ant1sthenes]

Eh, sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose, as regards the Dept of Energy or EPA being taken over by people hostile to their very existence.

[Free Society]

Appointing a DEA chief that objects to the drug war sounds like a great idea actually.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

This.

Would love to see a gold bug, anti-tax IRS Commissioner and Fed Chairperson, too.

[Episteme]

Even beyond differences in opinion/politics, Obama's breaking of protocol in naming an outsider instead of allowing for traditional progression through the ranks was his usual douchery. So Trump is in the right here provided he lets the BP pick the new head.

[Brett L]

So I had a great Florida Man experience last night. Dropped off my wife's car for an oil change, walked over to a coffee shop that serves beer that was catty corner across two fairly busy roads at 5pm. As I'm crossing, there's a guy in a wheelchair trying to come towards me and a minivan is blocking the crosswalk trying to make right. I ask the guy if he needs help, but he doesn't care to talk to me because he's too busy shouting at the driver that she should back the fuck up and let him cross. It seemed to me that he could get down the ramp and across the street without too much extra effort, but what do I now. I get off the sidewalk and there's a cop sitting in his car. He calls to me, "Hey what's the guy in the wheelchair shouting about?" I tell him. He says, "huh". And then I hear the wheelchair guy slap the minivan. Then the cop backs up and drives off in the other direction. Probably for the best. Nobody got shot or tased. And no drugs were found.

[commodious rebrands]

That's some good work there, Lou.

[Citizen X]

The standard "Guy In Wheelchair Slaps Minivan" incident report is like 12 pages long. I don't blame him for driving off.

[Private Chipperbot]

For you history buffs, there is a new Hardcore History podcast out. Six hours worth!

What happens if human beings can't handle the power of their own weaponry? This show examines the dangerous early years of the Nuclear Age and humankind's efforts to avoid self-destruction at the hands of its own creation.

[Lord Humungus]

Clinton received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds

Political scientist Jesse Richman of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has worked with colleagues to produce groundbreaking research on noncitizen voting, and this week he posted a blog in response to Mr. Trump's assertion.

Based on national polling by a consortium of universities, a report by Mr. Richman said 6.4 percent of the estimated 20 million adult noncitizens in the U.S. voted in November. He extrapolated that that percentage would have added 834,381 net votes for Mrs. Clinton, who received about 2.8 million more votes than Mr. Trump.

Mr. Richman calculated that Mrs. Clinton would have collected 81 percent of noncitizen votes.

"Is it plausible that non-citizen votes added to Clinton's margin? Yes," Mr. Richman wrote. "Is it plausible that non-citizen votes account for the entire nation-wide popular vote margin held by Clinton? Not at all."

Still, the finding is significant because it means noncitizens may have helped Mrs. Clinton carry a state or finish better than she otherwise would have.

[Tonio]

I haven't delved into the details of this, but if the study is at all credible that would seem to justify an official investigation.

[ant1sthenes]

I'm hoping that Trump succeeds in baiting the media into working hard to provide his 3M number wrong.

"Look, it was, like 800k fraudulent votes tops. Just admit that you totally lost the popular vote, you deluded narcissist. WE WIN!"

[Rhywun]

My local news is going with "there are only a handful of illegal votes every election and to suggest otherwise is completely beyond the pale".

Any other result will just get memory-holed anyway.

[Tonio]

And the whole question of illegal voting (by individuals, or groups of non-government actors) completely ignores the possibility of wholesale ballot-box stuffing by insiders.

[Rhywun]

Frankly, I think it quite naive, given the systems and processes in use, to believe that there isn't lots of fraud going on, from all sides.

[Tonio]

I suspect that NPR's Maura Liason is already regretting badgering Press Sec Sean Spicer about this. She wanted evidence; now it appears that a very bright light is about to be signed into some very dark corners.

[Tonio]

"shined"

[The Grinch]

Interesting, I hope the guy already has tenure.

[American sociaIist]

It's crap pushed by right-wing ideologies. Don't worry... illegal voting is as rare as neutrino strikes.

http://www.politico.com/magazi.....ked-214487

[American sociaIist]

It's basically taking noise in your sample or a sampling error, multiplying it by a huge number and then, voila, you've got 600,000 non-citizens.

"In our article refuting the Richman study, we summarize our findings very plainly this way: "The results, we show, are completely accounted for by very low frequency measurement error; further, the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0." We are confident that such a conclusion would hold in 2016 as well."

[Swiss Servator]

SO NO LOOKING INTO IT, YOU RACISTY RACISTS!!!

[Tyler.C]

That isn't very compelling.

[Tyler.C]

But I've been assured that such a thing is non-existent and unpossible.

[Episteme]

The main reason to be concerned, more so than in the presidential race, is how a total of 800k-1m noncitizen votes might have affected local and state races (which often are decided by mere thousands or even hundreds of votes). Look at this year's NC gubernatorial race and its outcome (along with the concern over some of the votes cast), for example.

[Drake]

Try to PC your way out this one Sweden.

3 (immigrant) Men Gang-Rape Young Woman in Sweden, Broadcast It Live on Facebook

http://www.pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2017.....-facebook/

[ant1sthenes]

Facebook should be working harder to block fake news like this. It's absolutely tragic that people found out about this atrocity and might tempted into the sin of thinking that they should dislike the members of a movement based on sanctimonious hate.

[Free Society]

I'm surprised they didn't refer to them as "three Swedish men".

[Lord Humungus]

and a Cupen?

[American sociaIist]

Do you guys remember the South Park episode where the kids have all the parents sent to jail over false sexual accusations and then Cartman takes over the town and then South Park comes to resemble a cross between Children of the Corn and Lord of the Flies after only 10 days? Does this remind you on something?

[Not a True MJG]

You're going to call Preet on all of us, until the commentariat is only you and your socks?

[american socialist]

hey stop stealing my name.

[Tonio]

Nobody really cares what any of you has to say. But please do continue infighting among yourselves.

[Tonio]

The various AmSocs, not you MJG.

[american socialist]

Let's see what options we can look at

1. 740 million (15 wind turbine) that takes up a lot of space and produces 90MW which isn't reliable

2. Natural gas industrial engine producing 100MW+ for 30 million on 10 acres or less which is reliable

3. Nuclear plant with 1000MW for a couple billion which is reliable

Wind makes no sense period. It is all feel good-ism and cronyism

[american socialist]

Psa

American socialist is a new sock that just appeared. Pay no attention to that shit head

Love
american socialist (TM)

[Free Society]

You're doing this to yourself.

[Endless Mike]

I came her for snarky libertarian comments - what's with all of these socialists? Fake Comments! Sad!